Since its constitution last June, the new Executive Board of the Polish Baseball and Softball Federation is striving to improve the situation of both sports in Poland.
At the end of December ‘09 the Board has issued the schedules both for men’s Baseball Extraleague and women’s Softball League. Additionally, significant changes to the scheduling methodology have been introduced for all leagues.
In the past, Polish baseball and softball teams were playing only two games against each other during the regular season. Beginning from this season they will play more games – the new Executive Board has enacted double-headers (two games a day, which means that now the teams will play four games against each other in the regular season).
Since such solution is highly experimental and expectedly difficult for Polish leagues (most teams don’t have the necessary bench depth, especially when pitchers are considered) the games during the regular season will be limited to seven innings. However, the playoffs will feature full nine-inning games.
The inning reduction will not affect the softball league – the ladies will play seven-inning doubleheaders. Unfortunately, the Board decided that the softball Champion will be determined after the regular season, without playing a playoff round.
Despite the fact, that it will be hard for many teams to “survive” this season (as it was said, most of them haven’t got enough players on the active roster and moreover, a necessity for larger budgets is inevitable – one team of the 1st Division has already resigned from attending the league due to financial matters), for the last few years most of the club representatives have been opting for the game count increase.
The Polish baseball and softball communities have high hopes regarding the schedule novelties, as quite obviously, the increased number of games can positively influence the overall playing level in Poland.
