As one of the last countries in European Baseball, the Dutch Hoofdklasse Baseball opens the curtains for the 2014 season on Thursday evening. It is a year with a slightly different format, as the regular season will be split into two different portions with the top two teams after 21 games qualifying for the playoffs. The other two will be determined after the second phase. Additionally half of their points will be taken into the round-robin semi-finals.
All eight teams from last year are back again. Defending champion DOOR Neptunus, who played a rather dominant 2013 season with a young squad, is the clear-cut favorite for a repeat. However probably the highlight are not the players or the teams, but the brand-new ballpark of the Vaessen Pioniers, which sees its Hoofdklasse debut on Sunday against Mr. Cocker HCAW. Live Play by Play will be available through www.knbsbstats.nl.
Schedule Week 1:
Thursday, April 17, 2014:
19:30 DOOR Neptunus – ADO Lakers
19:30 Mr. Cocker HCAW – Vaessen Pioniers
19:30 L&D Amsterdam – UVV
19:30 Corendon Kinheim – Mampaey The Hawks
Saturday, April 19, 2014:
14:00 DOOR Neptunus – ADO Lakers
14:00 Mr. Cocker HCAW – Vaessen Pioniers
14:00 L&D Amsterdam – UVV
14:00 Corendon Kinheim – Mampaey The Hawks
Sunday, April 20, 2014:
14:00 ADO Lakers – DOOR Neptunus
14:00 Vaessen Pioniers – Mr. Cocker HCAW
14:00 UVV – L&D Amsterdam
14:00 Mampaey The Hawks – Corendon Kinheim