The German Baseball and Softball Federation hasn’t announced anything official yet, but it seems that the Baseball-Bundesliga will be back with 16 teams in 2010. It could be the last year with 16 teams, as several teams have worked on a concept to change the format of the league over the next couple of years. Check Mister-Baseball.com for more information on this topic in the next couple of days.
We already knew since a few weeks that the Dohren Wild Farmers will receive the promotion into the northern division after finishing in second place in the 2nd Baseball-Bundesliga in 2009 behind the second team of the Paderborn Untouchables, which had won the league. Additionally the Pulheim Gophers secured their spot by defeating the Berlin Sluggers in the relegation series.
In the southern division there was no relegation series. The Darmstadt Whippets finished in second place in the 2nd Baseball-Bundesliga behind the farm team of the Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg, but they waived their right for promotion. The Neuenburg Atomics announced on their website a few days ago that they will take the spot of Darmstadt and will return to the Baseball-Bundesliga in 2010. They finished in third place in the 2009 2nd Baseball-Bundesliga season. No team gets relegated this year, as the league only consisted of seven teams in each division.
Unofficial League Setup in 2010:
Northern Division:
Solingen Alligators
Paderborn Untouchables
Dortmund Wanderers
HSV Stealers
Cologne Cardinals
Bonn Capitals
Pulheim Gophers
Dohren Wild Farmers
Southern Division:
Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg
Heidenheim Heidekoepfe (2009 German Champion)
Mannheim Tornados
Mainz Athletics
Haar Disciples
Saarlouis Hornets
Gauting Indians
Neuenburg Atomics
Heidenheim Heidekoepfe (A-Pool) and Solingen Alligators (B-Pool) will represent Germany in the 2010 European Cup Tournaments