The German Baseball-Bundesliga starts into the 2010 season this weekend. Defending champion Heidenheim Heidekoepfe opens at home on Sunday and Monday against the Saarlouis Hornets. Already on Saturday two doubleheaders will be played in the northern division. The majority of the games will be played on Monday.
Two new teams enter the league this year, which will restock each division back to eight teams. The Dohren Wild Farmers and the Neuenburg Atomics booked their tickets last fall. The regular season will be interrupted in July by the European Championships in Stuttgart, Heidenheim and Neuenburg and will last until August. The four best teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs, which will be played in the usual best-of-five format.
In 2009 the Solingen Alligators and the Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg won the regular season titles in the north and the south. But in the playoffs both teams got eliminated. The Heidekoepfe defeated the Dortmund Wanderers, Solingen and the Mannheim Tornados on their way to their first national championship in club history. Heidenheim, Regensburg, Mannheim, Solingen and the Paderborn Untouchables are once again favored to battle for the championship.
Team by Team Previews Northern Division
Team by Team Previews Southern Division
Schedule Week 1:
{mrb-schedule:2010-04-03|2010-04-05|DE}
Final Standings Regular Season 2009:
{mrb-standing:germany-2009}
German Champions of the last decade:
- 2000 Lokstedt Stealers
- 2001 Paderborn Untouchables
- 2002 Paderborn Untouchables
- 2003 Paderborn Untouchables
- 2004 Paderborn Untouchables
- 2005 Paderborn Untouchables
- 2006 Solingen Alligators
- 2007 Mainz Athletics
- 2008 Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg
- 2009 Heidenheim Heidekoepfe
Photo: © Gregor Eisenhuth www.eisenhuth-photographie.de