The Belgian Baseball and Softball Federation has released a first draft of the 2013 schedule. The Belgian First Division will start on April 13. As reported last fall, Belgian Baseball is no longer solely playing single games each Saturday and Sunday, but will be able to play doubleheaders too. Most of the teams take advantage of the twin bill format according to the schedule.
The second major change is the absence of defending champion Hoboken Pioneers. The club withdrew from the top level in Belgian Baseball. The league will be comprised by the Namur Angels, LLN Phoenix, Brasschaat Braves, Deurne Spartans, Borgerhout Squirrels, Mortsel Stars and record title holder Royal Greys. The Belgian Baseball Academy is going to play games each weekend against the club which will have a bye.
The 36-game regular season will be played from April 13 to September 8 with an interruption for the B-Level European Championship in July. The top two teams will qualify for the Belgian Series (Best-of-Five). The seventh ranked club will be relegated directly. The team in sixth will play a best-of-three series against the 2nd ranked second division team for promotion/relegation.
A minority of teams (3 out of 7) take advantage of the single day double header, but the rest of the teams – which protested this new format – are forced to play 18 innings on one day against teams prefering Sundays off.
The majority of teams keep to the game a day format on Saturday and Sunday, but are only allowed to do so against eachother.