Spanish Division de Honor starts into 2010 Season

This weekend the Spanish Division de Honor kicks off the 2010 schedule as the first elite league in European Baseball. And they beat the other federations by a mile. However the early start already has a weather victim, since both games between Halcones de Vigo and the FC Barcelona already were postponed on Friday due to rain.

It is actually a good thing for “Barca” since their two major acquisitions this winter, Delio Miguel Martinez and Oscar Angulo, will not arrive until next week. Additionally new center fielder Rafael Llames was hit in the head by a pitch in a preseason game last weekend and had to spend two days in a hospital. In other first game day notes, CB Sant Boi is going to start without Yaeko Vazquez against CD Pamplona since he is still sitting out a suspension of last year.

2010 Team by Team Previews Spanish Division de Honor

Sant Boi was very active throughout the offseason, which will makes them a favorite for the title besides defending champion Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz and the FC Barcelona. After these three teams we can expect a little gap towards the rest of the field. Most of the teams between fourth and ninth in the 2009 standings were able to maintain their level of play. Only El Llano had to take a hit and doesn’t look so strong anymore. We also should expect a lot more from last year’s tenth-ranked club Astros Valencia, which was able to bring in several good players to close in with the other teams.

The format remains the same. The ten teams in the Division de Honor will play a double round robin with 36 games on 18 weekends. Unfortunately there will be no playoffs, so the best team after these 36 matches will be the new champion. Due to this the key dates of the season probably will be March 13 and May 22 with Tenerife Marlins vs. FC Barcelona, March 27/28 and June 5/6 with Sant Boi vs. FC Barcelona and April 10 and June 19/20 with Sant Boi vs. Tenerife Marlins, although the latter will be rescheduled due to the European Cups.

The first week this weekend features the duel between reigning five-time champion Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz and San Inazio Bilbao. Live play-by-play will be available for the matchup between Baseball Navarra and CB Viladecans. CB Sant Boi hopes for a good start at home against CD Pamplona, while the revamped Astros Valencia could make an early statement hosting the battled El Llano. The postponed two-game series between Barcelona and Vigo is likely being made up on the weekend of May 1.

Schedule Week 1:
February 27:
12:00 Tenerife Marlins – San Inazio Bilbao
15:00 Tenerife Marlins – San Inazio Bilbao*
Halcones de Vigo – FC Barcelona postponed
17:00 Baseball Navarro – CB Viladecans
17:30 CB Sant Boi – CD Pamplona
February 28th:
10:00 Astros Valencia – El Llano
10:30 Baseball Navarro – CB Viladecans
Halcones de Vigo – FC Barcelona postponed
11:00 CB Sant Boi – CD Pamplona
13:00 Astros Valencia – EL Llano*
(*begins after completion of game one)

Final Standings 2009:

Standings

#	Team	W	L	R+	R-	.pct	GB	Streak
1	Tenerife Marlins	34	2	286	66	.944	0	W10
2	FC Barcelona	30	6	249	95	.833	4	W6
3	Sant Boi	23	13	230	113	.638	11	L6
4	San Inazio	19	17	172	154	.527	15	W6
5	Béisbol Navarra	18	18	142	180	.500	16	W10
6	El Llano	16	20	150	183	.444	18	L3
7	C.B. Viladecans	16	20	181	164	.444	18	W2
8	Halcones de Vigo	15	21	134	183	.416	19	L10
9	C.D. Pamplona	8	28	134	300	.222	26	L2
10	Astros	1	35	95	335	.027	33	L12

2009 Team-by-Team Reviews

Champions of the last Decade:

2009 Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz
2008 Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz
2007 Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz
2006 Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz
2005 Tenerife Marlins Puerto Cruz
2004 Rojos de Tenerife
2003 CB Sant Boi
2002 CB Viladecans
2001 CB Viladecans
2000 CB Viladecans

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