In 2008 the Baseball Club ZAGREB ended the two-year reign by KELTEKS KARLOVAC (since last year: OLIMPIJA KARLOVAC) at the top of Croatian Baseball and won the championship. The new season starts with match-ups between the four first-ranked teams this weekend.
Similar to last year ZAGRAB, OLIMPIJA, NADA SSM and VINDIJA will play in the Interliga (against clubs from Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia) during the regular season and they already have secured their spots in the Croatian quarterfinals (best-of-three), which are scheduled to be played in September.
The four remaining playoff participants will be determined in a round-robin format between GAJNICE, SISAK, DONAT, KAPTOL, MEDVEDNICA and VINDI ISO-SPORT. Their regular season will start on the weekend of April 4th and 5th.
After the quarters best-of-five semi-finals will follow. The Croatian finals are being played in a best-of-seven format. In recent years there was a big gap between the four first-mentioned clubs and the others and it will be interesting to see, if this will change this year.
Schedule Hrvatska Liga 1st Game Day:
Saturday, March 28:
13:00 Nada SSM Split – Olimpija Karlovac
13:00 BK Zagreb – Vindija Varazdin
Sunday, March 29:
13:00 Nada SSM Split – Olimpija Karlovac
13:00 BK Zagreb – Vindija Varazdin
Complete Schedule (pdf-file)
Last Year’s Final Standings:
1. Zagreb
2. Karlovac
3. Nada SSM
4. Vindija
5. Gajnice
6. Sisak
7. Donat
8. Kaptol
9. Medvednica
10. Grabrik
Past Champions Croatia:
1992 Nada Split
1993 Zagreb
1994 Olimpija Karlovac
1995 Olimpija Karlovac
1996 Zagreb
1997 Olimpija Karlovac
1998 Olimpija Karlovac
1999 Olimpija Karlovac
2000 Olimpija Karlovac
2001 CEB: Hask Zagreb/IBAF: Kelteks Karlovac
2002 Kelteks Karlovac
2003 Kelteks Karlovac
2004 Nada SSM Split
2005 Nada SSM Split
2006 Kelteks Karlovac
2007 Kelteks Karlovac
2008 BK Zagreb
(Data courtesy ‘Baseball in Europe by Josh Chetwynd’)