Preview French Baseball League Part One

The French Baseball League started on Saturday into their new season, the reigning champion Huskies Rouen on Sunday. They had defeated the Templiers Senart last summer in five games to capture their fourth French title. Both also met in the Cup finals with Rouen again being victorious.

However the Lions Savigny led the league in the two major categories, team batting average and ERA. Montpellier was the fourth club in the playoffs. All four in addition to fifth place finisher Toulouse are considered as favorites for the top four spots in the standings.

Besides La Guerche and Paris only winning a combined five games, there was no relegated club, as they had only seven teams in the league. Clermont Ferrand won the second division and received the promotion to the elite league.

The last five French champions:
2007 Huskies Rouen
2006 Huskies Rouen
2005 Huskies Rouen
2004 Lions Savigny
2003 Huskies Rouen

A last look at 2007:

1. Huskies Rouen 20-4
2. Lions Savigny 19-5
3. Templiers Senart 15-9
4. Montpellier 13-11
5. Stade Toulouse 12-12
6. La Guerche 3-21
7. Paris 2-22

Playoffs:
Semi-Finals:
Huskies Rouen – Montpellier UC 3-1 (6-7, 7-4, 13-3, 6-4)
Savigny Lions – Templiers Senart 1-3 (6-7, 3-4, 6-1, 8-10)
Finals:
Huskies Rouen – Templiers Senart 3-2 (0-1, 3-1, 8-0, 2-3, 9-8)

Players to look for:
The five best position players:
Dany Scalabrini IF (Rouen)
Kenji Hagiwara IF (Rouen)
Jerome Rousseau (Savigny)
Romain Scott Martinez (Savigny)
Frederic Rouge (Toulouse)

The five best pitchers:
Keino Perez (Rouen)
Samuel Meurant (Senart)
Jason Kosow (Rouen)
Jeffrys Blanco (Savigny)
Evan Blesoff (Senart)

Check part two of our preview for notes on all eight teams.