Words and images by Joe Gray
The finalized schedule and post-season format for the National Baseball League (NBL) was announced this morning. The big news is that teams from the NBL North in 2008 have now dropped down a grade of competition, meaning that all top-tier teams in 2009 are from the south of England.
Games in the five-team NBL get underway on Sunday 19 April, with newcomers the HERTS FALCONS playing a double-header away against the CROYDON PIRATES and the RICHMOND FLAMES hosting the LONDON METS in another double-header. The BRACKNELL BLAZERS, the other team in the NBL, will start their schedule on Sunday 26 April.
The last time the FLAMES and METS faced each other was on a wet weekend last September when the LONDON squad justified their status as championship favourites by overcoming their opponents 11-4 in the national final.
Each team in the NBL will play 24 games, made up of three double-headers against the four other teams in the division. The full schedule will appear shortly on Mister Baseball.
Only the fifth-placed team will not qualify for the post-season, but a weighted double-elimination format in the National Baseball Championship will ensure that the higher-placed teams are rewarded going into the weekend of the finals (see below). Teams that lose their opening game will face the tough task of needing three wins on the second day of the National Baseball Championship to take the title. With the double elimination, the decision of which pitchers to throw when will be even more fascinating than it has been in recent seasons, because there is more of a temptation to take a gamble. Before we get there, though, we have the prospect of a gripping regular season ahead of us.
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Joe Gray writes for BaseballGB and also looks after Great British top-tier statistics, Project Cobb, and the Great Britain National Team archive.
