by Finnish Baseball and Softball Federation
After a long winter of indoor training, the summer baseball season in Finland will start with the Finnish Cup (Suomen Cup) the first weekend of May in Turku. On Saturday, Finland Series (Suomi-sarja) teams will play and the winner of the day will continue against the Finnish Championship Series (SM-sarja) teams on Sunday.
The SM-sarja season will open with the defending champion Espoo Expos taking on the Malmi Bullets in Leppävaara, Espoo on Friday, May 9th. This year the SM-sarja will have 6 teams competing for the Finnish championship with the addition of the Helsinki Mets and the Lahti Pirates to the previous two season’s four teams, Expos, Bullets, Helsinki Puumat and Tampere Tigers. The SM-sarja best-of-3 semi-finals will take place at the end of August and the finals will be played in a best-of-5 series the first two weekends in September.
The Suomi-sarja will get its start on Saturday, May 10th with a 3-game capital-city derby at Ruskeasuo Sports Field in Helsinki. There will be 8 teams competing in the Suomi-sarja this season. The Suomi-sarja is a recreational/developmental league for those new to baseball and seeking lighter competition.
2014 will see the Finnish Men’s National Baseball Team playing in the C-pool tournament in Ljubljana, Slovenia the last week of July. Tryouts for the team were held in March and at least one other tryout will be scheduled closer to the tournament.
This season will also have other baseball related events, starting with the batting cage being set up at a Helsinki Roosters American Football game on May 17th at Helsinki’s Velodrome, a kickball day on June 7th in a few locations around Helsinki, World Softball Day on June 13th with softball games at Ruskesuo Sports Field, and baseball’s participation for the second year in a row at the annual Pesäpallo Itä-Länsi (Finnish National Baseball East-West All-Star Game) in Seinäjoki the weekend of July 18-20.