by Michal Hanus
Saturday’s games determined the participants of the playoff and playdown series. One week ago four teams fought for two free spots. Tuesday’s (September 2nd) win by Express against Draci 14-6 and Wednesday’s (September 3rd) victory by Technika against Skokani 5-3, brought both winners certain advantages before this weekend’s games.
First of all for Technika, it was the last game in the round robin and they preserved only twelve losses and got them certainty a promotion to the playoffs. MZLU Expresses had to wait till Saturday for the doubleheader against Krc Altron. At least one win in this series meant a promotion as the last team to the playoffs. Express lost the first game 3-5, so the situation was still open, but in the second game Express beat Krc Altron 12-5 and secured the fourth spot in the playoffs and sent Krc Altron definitively into the playdown series. The last game of Express was already without any stress and the 10-22 result versus the Tegola Titans meant that both teams tested batting before their upcoming series.
In the second weekend’s doubleheader Draci swept Skokani Olomouc 9-3 and 3-2. Based on this fact Skokani finished sixth. After their impressive start into the season, it must to be a disillusion for them. The round robin of Extraleague will be concluded on Tuesday in Brno, where Draci Brno will host Black Hill Blansko.
The playoff series will start already on Saturday with the semifinal series between 2007 champions AVG Draci Brno and runner up MZLU Express Brno, The second semifinal series will start in Ostrava, where home team Arrows Ostrava hosts Technika Brno. The favorite of the first series is obviously AVG Draci Brno, but we can’t forget that MZLU Express Brno defeated AVG Draci in the last week. The second series will be more open, but expectations are that Arrows Ostrava will revise their final attendance from 2006. Semifinal series are played as a best of five.
Schedule of playoff series:
Sat September 13th AVG Draci Brno vs. MZLU Express Brno
Sun September 14th AVG Draci Brno vs. MZLU Express Brno
Fri September 19th MZLU Express Brno vs. AVG Draci Brno
Sat September 20th MZLU Express Brno vs. AVG Draci Brno
Sun September 21st AVG Draci Brno vs. MZLU Express Brno
Sat September 13th Arrows Ostrava vs. Technika Brno
Sun September 14th Arrows Ostrava vs. Technika Brno
Fri September 19th Technika Brno vs. Arrows Ostrava
Sat September 20th Technika Brno vs. Arrows Ostrava
Sun September 21st Arrows Ostrava vs. Technika Brno
The play down series are also played as a best of five. The losers of these series will play against the best two teams from second division. The first ranked club is Patriots Liberec and the second is going to be determined in a series between Orlice Chocen and Hrosi Brno. Follow up series will played as best of five. The winners of these series will have reserved a spot in the Czech Extraleague 2009.
Schedule of play down series:
Sat September 13th Krc Altron vs. Black Hill Blansko
Sun September 14th Krc Altron vs. Black Hill Blansko
Fri September 19th Black Hill Blansko vs. Krc Altron
Sat September 20th Black Hill Blansko vs. Krc Altron
Sun September 21st Krc Altron vs. Black Hill Blansko
Sat September 13th Skokani Olomouc vs. Tegola Titans
Sun September 14th Skokani Olomouc vs. Tegola Titans
Fri September 19th Tegola Titans vs. Skokani Olomouc
Sat September 20th Tegola Titans vs. Skokani Olomouc
Sun September 21st Skokani Olomouc vs. Tegola Titans
{mrb-result:2008-09-02|2008-09-09|CZ}
{mrb-standing:czech-republic-2008}