As what passed for the summer begins to slip into the distance and the nights start to draw in, so the British baseball season nears an end for another year.

The 2011 regular season has been concluded. The results and final standings will be etched in the British baseball history books (or websites, to be more precise), although currently it’s not clear in every case quite what the definitive final picture will look like.

Not all the games were played. In fact, based on the results published on the British Baseball Federation website, the majority of teams were unable to complete their full schedule. 

Forfeits and postponements interrupted proceedings and the late change to the playoff schedule gave teams less chance to make those games up.  Some clubs were able to go the extra mile to add games in recently.  For example, both the London Metros and Essex Redbacks played games on Saturday and Sunday last weekend to make up for games lost earlier in the season. 

It does pose the question as to whether the structure of British baseball at different levels needs to be looked at. 

A regular season league of decent length followed by a short postseason is the ideal format and certainly that should be the case at the National Baseball League level.  However the integrity of the competition, and more importantly the enjoyment of being part of the competition, demands that realistically it can be completed and brought to a conclusion in a fair and open way.

Teams should be playing schedules that they can meet – even accounting for bad weather and the occasional need for a postponement for other unavoidable reasons – and when they get to the business end of the season they should know what’s at stake.  Uncertainty over unfulfilled fixtures and the specific postseason format shouldn’t be a factor as you head into the final month. 

It goes without saying that organizing the competition in this way is much easier said (or written about) than done.

Players and coaches are involved because they want to be, but everyone has other commitments and last-minute hitches always have the potential to get in the way of the best laid plans. 

Managers can find that a good-sized group of recruits suddenly reduces in number due to injuries or other interests, a few rain-soaked weekends in a row can mess up the schedule: some of the problems that arise are simply unavoidable.

This is what brings me back to the importance of constructing a clear and realistic competition.

Take the AAA South division.  That called for each team to play 30 games this season. Would those teams be better off playing a reduced league schedule – maybe even down to 20 games – with sufficient gaps to make up for bad weather and the potential to add in a few friendlies or a mini-tournament for those that can play the extra games if they want to. 

A longer competition would be a better competition, but not if it isn’t one that can be completed by all.

Whether one concept would be ‘better’ than another comes down to personal choice and from there it goes back to what the players want to do.  While you will never get a complete consensus, I’m sure it would make sense to spend part of the offseason evaluating the 2011 competition and seeking the views of players on what sort of competition they want to be part of in 2012.

The playoffs

There are some excellent round-ups on the BBF website, bringing together the results from the games played over the past weekend and looking ahead to the playoffs this weekend where those details were confirmed at time of writing. 

Rather than repeat what is written there and speculating too much on playoff match-ups that haven’t been officially confirmed, I’ll direct you on to their website for the latest BBF news.