Tag Archives: bbf

British Baseball Beat: 2011 Opening Day is nearly here

BBBAt last!  The 2011 British Baseball season is nearly upon us. 

The curtain came down on the 2010 season at the National Baseball Championships on 5 September last year.  Ever since, teams have been waiting for another season to arrive, either to continue improving after promising years, making amends for near misses or to get that winning feeling once again.

Last weekend saw the climax of the Herts Spring League played out in glorious weather.  A pessimist would think that the sunshine was mocking the baseball community, setting us up for a rain-fest over the opening weekend proper. 

Thankfully the current weather forecast suggests that most areas should be fine, if not sun-drenched, to get their seasons underway as planned.

Here’s a quick guide to the top games to look forward to this Sunday. 

National Baseball League

The Richmond Flames enter the season as the reigning National Baseball League champions after their stunning victory at last year’s National Baseball Championship.  The Flames have started their 2011 season well by winning the Herts Spring League on Sunday with a 6-5 victory over the Southern Nationals.  They will get their 2011 regular season underway with a double-header on the road against the Essex Arrows, who have had some bad luck with injuries in recent weeks.

The newcomer Nationals start with a trip to Finsbury Park to take on the London Mets, while the other new team, Lakenheath Diamondbacks, begin their season with a double-header against Mildenhall Bulldogs.  There will be plenty of bragging rights on the line in that all-United States Army Air Force clash.

Croydon Pirates host the Bracknell Blazers and Herts Falcons welcome Southampton Mustangs to Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead.

AAA

Liverpool Trojans had a great 2010 but fell agonizingly short of their goal by losing the AAA Final against Oxford Kings.  They will try to make amends this year and begin their season by hosting the Halton Jaguars at Bootle Stadium.  Meanwhile the Oxford Kings start the defence of their title against AAA South newcomers the Richmond Knights. 

The Knights had a season for the ages in 2010, winning 20 straight regular season games after dropping their season opener and going on to win the AA title.  They will want to get off to a good start to prove they belong in the higher league, although after last year they probably will not be too worried if they lose the opening game.

AA

There has been a host of changes in the AA South, with five new teams compared to the 2010 lineup ensuring that this will be a very interesting opening weekend in that league.  However, the standout battle in AA comes in the Midlands where two familiar foes have been thrown together from the off.  The Leicester Blue Sox and Birmingham Maple Leafs continue their rivalry with a double-header at the former’s Western Park.

It’s been agreed that the AA-North will start their season on 1 May to allow some extra time to iron out a few scheduling issues.

A

Guildford Mavericks II host Tonbridge, while the Cambridge Royals return to the British league with a road trip against Herts Raptors. Braintree Rays travel to Enfield to face the Old Timers and London Marauders are off to Southampton to take on the Mustangs II.

Good luck to all the teams.

BBF’s new website

You can see the full schedule of games, and plenty more besides, on the BBF’s fantastic new website.   The old site worked fine, but was undoubtedly in need of a makeover and instead of splashing some paint on the walls and fixing a few odds and ends, they’ve moved into a brand new house.  In fact, three distinctive new houses for the BBF, the British Softball Federation and the overarching BaseballSoftballUK. 

A lot of hard work has gone into getting these sites planned, designed and launched. First impressions are that they look great and include all the functionality that will make them excellent resources for players, coaches, fans and newcomers looking to get involved in baseball and softball.  Congratulations to the BSUK’s Jason Greenberg and everyone else involved in the project.

British baseball on Twitter

The Essex Redbacks’ Michael Jones recently brought up a good idea on agreeing some common Twitter hashtags to help link British baseball news.  #bbfscore was a suggestion for results and in-game updates, possibly including the league level as well (#bbfnblscore, #bbfaaascore etc).  If you have any other ideas, please pass them on via the Comments section below.  Stats relating to the NBL will be posted by Joe Gray on the @NBLstatsfeed feed.

I’ve created a British Baseball list on Twitter that you can follow.  There are 23 Twitter accounts linked to it so far, including club Twitter feeds and individuals involved in the sport.  If you know of any others that are not included, or if you want to be added to the list, please pass on the details via the Comments function.

British Baseball Beat: The season has begun

bbbHlsqThe British baseball season got underway last Sunday, for some teams at least, and the games produced plenty of action and entertainment.

National Baseball League (NBL)

The Croydon Pirates got stuck in a miserable rut last year.  There was almost a dismal inevitability about them going win-less throughout 2009 once the season had passed halfway without the Pirates coming out on top a single time. 

A new season wiped the slate clean, but it didn’t necessarily take away the pressure.  After suffering a 23-3 mauling in Game One of their doubleheader last Sunday against the Richmond Flames, few would have blamed the Pirates for collapsing in a heap thinking ‘here we go again’.  So it says an awful lot about the character of Dave Ward’s team that they bounced back and earned a 6-5 win in the second game.  With their first win on the board, Croydon firmly put their 2009 season behind them.  Continue reading

British Baseball Beat: 2010 BBF League details published

bbbHlsqDetails of the 2010 British Baseball Federation (BBF) league structure and fixture list were released at the end of last week, revealing that there is much to look forward to on the domestic circuit this year.

Provisional plans of new teams and divisions for 2010 were being mentioned as 2009 came to a close.  The optimism that they caused has proved to be well-founded.  The finalized details reveal that teams are continuing to progress through the divisional structure of the BBF leagues, established organizations are expanding and new teams are joining the fold. 

These are all clear signs that the sport is in a healthy position and, bit-by-bit, is building on its successes to put in place firm foundations from which to build a positive future for baseball on the British Isles.

The top tier of British baseball, the National Baseball League (NBL) is expanding from five to eight teams.  Essex Arrows and Southampton Mustangs have been promoted from the Triple-A league while Mildenhall Bulldogs’ Double-A winning debut last year has seen them move straight up to the premier class.  These are fully deserved promotions, expanding the NBL without watering down the level of competition, and each organization brings its own qualities to the table.  The Arrows are an established club who are making impressive renovations to their facilities, the Mustangs have strong links with university baseball, while the Bulldogs continue the long tradition of United States Air Force teams competing in the British leagues.  Continue reading

British Baseball Federation 2010 Schedules

BbfLogoWant British Baseball Federation (BBF) schedules in your calendar? Well we aim to please here at BaseballGB.

Below are all of the BBF 2010 schedules with links to XML,  HTML, CSV and ICAL formats.

As always these schedules are correct at time of being published, but you should check with the club before travelling to the event etc. If you do notice a mistake then please comment below so we can correct it. Matt will be taking a closer look at the structure of the 2010 BBF season in next Thursday’s British Baseball Beat.

National Baseball League (NBL): XML, HTML, CSV, ICAL

AAA North: XML, HTML, CSV, ICAL

AAA South: XML, HTML, CSV, ICAL

AA Midlands: XML, HTML, CSV, ICAL

AA North: XML, HTML, CSV, ICAL

AA South: XML, HTML, CSV, ICAL

A South: XML, HTML, CSV, ICAL

All Leagues: XML, HTML, CSV, ICAL