by Peter Ferak
The 2010 edition of the Russian Baseball League was played with only 4 teams in the elite group (Gruppa A): MGPU (The Moscow university team), Tornado Balashikha, Severneye Zvezdy, and Moskvich. However, this was the first year that teams played a round robin to determine who would qualify for Gruppa A. A total of 10 teams from Moscow and Yaroslavl competed during the first stage which was won by Tornado Balashikha, later the 2010 Champion of Russian Baseball.
In the second stage teams were split into two groups and competed against all teams of their respective group. At the end MGPU and Tornado Balashikha qualified for a spot in Final Series, a Best-of-Seven Series that took all seven games to be played out. Tornado took all odd-numbered games (1,3,5,7) and thus won the Series with a final score of 10-4 in the decisive game 7. The team rallied behind their Ace Anton Shirokyi who posted a 3-1 record in the Final Series. The offense was a complete team effort as Tornado had 6 or more hits in each game.
The final standings of the 2010 Russian Baseball League are as follows:
- Tornado Balashikha
- MGPU
- SeverneyeZvezdy(Moscow)
- Moskvich
- CSK Balashikha
- Yaroslavl Medvedi
- CKB
- SeverneyeZvezdy (Sankt Petersburg)
- Spartak
- Green Sox