With the postseason heading into view, many games in the British baseball schedule last Sunday took on even greater importance than normal.
National Baseball League: Splits for the Flames and Mustangs, while the Bulldogs may have barked for the last time in 2011
In the National Baseball League, Richmond Flames and Southampton Mustangs held station in the race for the Pool A title.
The Flames (17-5) split a double-header with the London Mets, giving the Mustangs the chance to draw level at the top of the Pool. However, the Mustangs could only manage a split from two fiercely contested games against the Southern Nationals, with extra innings being needed in both to separate the two sides.Â
Those results mean that Richmond maintained their one-game lead over Southampton, while holding two games in hand. All the Mustangs can do now is win both games of their remaining double-header against the Bracknell Blazers on 4 September and hope that the Flames slip up.
The Blazers themselves are still firmly in the playoff hunt as they swept a double-header over the Herts Falcons, albeit with the second victory being a narrow 10-9 win. Bracknell currently sit in the sixth and final playoff spot; however they have a tough run-in with double-headers against the Flames (this weekend), the Pool B-leading Lakenheath Diamondbacks and their final games against the Mustangs to come.Â
That may leave the door open for the Essex Arrows or even potentially the Croydon Pirates as it looks like the Mildenhall Bulldogs will not take any part in the remainder of the season.Â
The Arrows picked up two wins on Sunday courtesy of a the Bulldogs forfeiting the games and they have a double-header this weekend against the London Mets. If the Arrows could win those games they would have a great chance at making the playoffs. If they lose them, both Essex or Croydon could potentially still make the playoffs if the three remaining scheduled games between the two teams are played.
If, as expected, the Bulldogs are sitting out the rest of the year, that will hand two forfeit wins to both the Southern Nationals and Herts Falcons.
Finally, Lakenheath Diamondbacks gained two victories over the Croydon Pirates on Sunday to inch ever closer to capturing the Pool B title in their debut season.
AAA: Badgers disrupted by Olympic trials, Trojans improve to 19-0
The Bristol Badgers’ games against the Richmond Knights had to be postponed due to “Olympic trials being carried out in Londonâ€. That means their seemingly inevitable march to the AAA-South title will be made more complicated due to the difficulty of rearranging postponements and rainouts. The Essex Redbacks were able to get their games in and they took full advantage by picking up two wins against the Windsor and Bracknell Bears. Those wins leave the Redbacks 2.5 games behind the Badgers, although they have played seven games more than Bristol.
The Badgers will make up two of those games this Sunday as they have a double-header against the Oxford Kings. The Kings, currently sitting in the third and final playoff spot, put a gap between themselves and the fourth-placed London Metros by sweeping a double-header against them on Sunday.
In the North, the Liverpool Trojans may have already won the division, but they now have their sights set on an unbeaten regular season. They completed the nineteenth step of that journey with a five-inning, 16-3 victory over the Halton Jaguars, with Martin Godsall picking up another win on the mound. Despite the loss, the Jaguars remain in the hunt for the second National Baseball Championship spot, sitting half a game behind the Manchester A’s, with Manchester still having five games scheduled to be played against the seemingly unstoppable Trojans.
AA: Bolton beat the Torrent, Rebels move up to second, Bisons grab two wins
In the North, the Bolton Robots of Doom improved their season record to 18-2 following two victories over Manchester Torrent. The second-placed Sheffield Bladerunners had to forfeit their two games against the Humber Pilots, leaving them two games ahead of the Pilots in the standings with each team having four games left to play. Sheffield are scheduled to play a double-header against the Oldham North Stars on Sunday, while the Pilots are in Manchester to take on the Torrent.
In the Midlands, the Nottingham Rebels are now in second place after picking up two wins against the Leicester Blue Sox II team, while the Birmingham Maple Leafs were dealt two defeats by the Pool-leading Milton Keynes Bucks. That leaves the Rebels half a game ahead of the Maple Leafs for the second AA playoff spot. Nottingham have two games left, whilst Birmingham have three so it could go down to a tiebreaker.
There will be a carnival atmosphere at Western Park in Leicester this Sunday as the Blue Sox celebrate their five-year anniversary. If you’re in the area, head along to enjoy all the baseball and festivities on offer.
In the South, the Thames Valley Bisons captured two wins against the Essex Redbacks 2 to draw within half a game of the Sidewinders for the second spot in Pool B. The Sidewinders kept ahead thanks to a 15-5 victory over the Poole Piranhas. The Guildford Mavericks need one win from their remaining two games to guarantee first place in the Pool. The Mavs next play on 28 August against the Essex Archers.
This Sunday, the Pool A champion Latin Boys have a double-header scheduled against the Croydon Pirates III team. The Essex Archers host a double-header against the Richmond Dragons, the Sidewinders are at home against the Herts Hawks and the Bisons take on the Piranhas.
A: Marauders make it to the playoffs
The London Marauders are heading to the playoffs in Single-A after a 17-12 victory over Tonbridge secured second place for the team in Pool B.  It’s the first time that the Marauders have made it into the playoffs and, as they noted on their Twitter feed, comes just two years after battling through a win-less season. The Marauders’ prize will be a trip to Cambridge to take on the Pool A-winning Royals. Cambridge defeated the Marauders 21-15 in their regular season meeting at Coldham’s Common at the beginning of May.
The only questions remaining to be answered are whether the Royals can complete an unbeaten season and if the Old Timers will take up their playoff spot? The Old Timers decided not to compete in the postseason last year so the Braintree Rays may get a reprieve and enter the playoffs despite finishing third in Pool A. The Rays face the Maruaders this Sunday, while the Old Timers have a trip to Godalming to take on the Guildford Mavericks II.
Hi Matt,
Very nice write-up, as always.
I think that Mustangs-Blazers double-header will remain unplayed, as the league is moving the play-offs to 3 September and the Finals (now a single-elimination 9-inning set-up, from what I’ve heard) to 10/11 September to be played at Hemel.
It’s slightly annoying that I had already reorganized half a dozen appointments (including three family birthdays) to fit around the surprisingly long initially advertised postseason, and now I have to go and unrearrange those, if I can. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Hopefully, factors will fall into place to allow a much more stable NBL next season. This year has been very trying.
And with the Finals, it’s difficult to see how they can succeed as a showcase event if there are last-minute changes to a date that was originally released quite late anyway, and then very little time for an organizing committee to be expected to put on a good show.
For me, the way to approach it is you start by choosing the postseason format, get the venue set early, and then work backwards from that, building in rain-dates towards the end of the regular season, and get as many games as you can in without having to start the league earlier than mid-April.
Of course, I’m sure any league commissioner, past or present, reading this is probably saying “Yes, I know that. But you try doing that,” given many British baseball teams’ lack of ability to commit to anything before it becomes last minute.
However, while this may well be the case, I think NBL membership should be set much earlier in the calendar year than it was done (if a team cannot guarantee nine players each week by February, then perhaps they should not be in the NBL anyway, as forfeits do a lot of damage). The other leagues can then fall into place behind it, sequentially. While this might mean that a couple of new or hovering teams end up missing out on inclusion in the league in one year, and have to play some friendlies and wait till the next, I think that the added structure and stability is the all-important thing for the game’s future. The approach of waiting till the last minute to get as many teams in the league as possible has to stop, in my opinion.
Just my two dollars’ worth.
Joe
The lack of consultation and information has made it more difficult than it should have been to organise a team for the NBC.
The original date, which was 3 weeks after the traditional NBC date of the first weekend in September, created a nightmare clash with a senior player’s wedding which he had booked thinking he would easily avoid the final 4.
The new date is now 3 weeks away and we still can’t book accommodation as the venue has not been officially confirmed (although i’m assuming it’s Hemel). On top of this players and supporters are having to rearrange leave, where they can.
I know it’s a thankless task trying to set a schedule, especially when you are a volunteer who no doubt has club commitments.
Maybe it’s time to create a paid position who’s role it is to organise competition/events and assist NBC host clubs.
Joe/Dave – Many thanks for your well-considered thoughts.
To say the uncertainty is far from ideal would be an understatement. I’m sure you’re both correct in noting that scheduling everything is a thankless task, but particularly in an amateur sport, you need to have a firm idea of the season’s schedule (with a bit of leeway – rain dates etc, as you say Joe) so that people can plan ahead and make arrangements.
A situation where people have to change plans at the last minute isn’t conducive to convincing players and other participants to either join up to the sport or stay in it. That’s especially true with the end of season event (you’d feel very hard done by if your club has worked hard all year, but the late arrangements now mean players can’t make it).
I may have missed it, but I don’t think there has been anything about any of the postseason plans on the BBF website and the regular season is almost at a close.
Maybe, as Dave suggests, there is scope to think about how the scheduling process and event planning is actually carried out in future. I’ll be interested to see what the final NBC plans actually are and the potential impact they’ll have.
From a personal point of view, the potential move to 10/11 Sept unfortunately will almost certainly scupper my plans to make it along this year.
I’ve just been given two weeks notice that we are expected to play a double header (the reason we’re in the league we’re in is specifically because we don’t have the pitching depth for double headers) at an as-yet-undisclosed location for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Not very helpful, you might think but still not a problem, seeing as this merely replaces the scheduled final game of the season on Sunday the 4th September that all my players have made themselves available for. But no, that would be far too logical, so instead our double header is being scheduled for the Saturday instead! So now half my players are working that day, and the rest have already made other commitments. Brilliant.
It’s as if those in charge are deliberately doing everything they can to sabotage baseball in this country. Why else suddenly change the day of the week we play on, just as it gets to the important games? Surely they can’t seriously expect amateur players with jobs and families to keep both days of the weekend free for the whole summer? Utterly, utterly ridiculous.
I am really unhappy with the decisions that have been made and am waiting to see how they pan out, because currently for a top-level league the end of season standings could be ludicrous.
As it stands Bracknell will get to avoid playing two of the teams with the best records due to scheduling, but Essex will miss 3 games against croydon a team we expect to take a few wins off. This could definitely change the playoffs composition.
It is a bit disheartening playing (and paying for!) a whole season for it to be cut short and some teams short-changed.
Maybe we need to make a requirement that there is no such thing as a postponement for the top two divisions going forwards – if there’s a scheduled double-header that can’t go ahead maybe each side would ‘win’ one, then it adds more pressure to play the games if there’s a team that needs to win both to have a chance of the post-season.
Not many people seem to have taken advantage of rain dates and along with forfeits it means that quite a lot of baseball isn’t played and teams are going to have vastly different amounts of games played; mathematically the Redbacks could still not qualify for the playoffs if the Metros win all their remaining games (7 games in 2 weeks!) and the Kings win their remaining matches. And the Redbacks have won as many games as anyone in the country (19) this season so far!
Perhaps for the future we should have consultation with other better-structured sports groups in the UK. Maybe league commissioners from cricket, hockey or soccer, as well as American Football, ice hockey and basketball where there are playoffs in the schedule on top of the league fixtures. Collaborative efforts going forward can only be a good thing.
Glad I have found somewhere that confirms that the whole play-off and finals have been moved forward, the BBF have just advertised as if nothing has changed and that this was what was proposed from the start of the season, what the BBF board seem to be missing is the fact that all the teams have played hard all season, and just by making such a late change to the play-offs and finals, some of the teams will either not be able to play full stop or only be able to feild weakened teams, as Adam states above, even if they are not doing it on purpose, it does look like barriers are being put up by the BBF board at every opportunity.