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National Baseball League (UK)

British Baseball Beat: 2017 so far

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The British baseball season doesn’t stop for an All-Star break, but with the North American version rapidly approaching it’s a good time to take a step back and reflect on which teams are catching the eye in our domestic leagues.

Full standings, results, fixtures and reports can be found on the British Baseball Federation website.

All details included in this article are as they were recorded on the BBF website on the morning of Tuesday 4 July.

Birmingham and Norwich remain unbeaten

Team Div GP W L Pct
Birmingham Bandits AA-C 16 16 0 1.000
Norwich Iceni A-S 9 9 0 1.000
Richmond Knights AAA-S 17 15 2 0.882
Essex Archers A-S 8 7 1 0.875
East London Latin Boys AA-SA 14 12 2 0.857

There are two teams that remain unbeaten in the BBF leagues.

Birmingham Bandits won both games of a double-header against Leicester Blue Sox on 25 June to improve their Double-A Central win-loss record to 16-0 before going into two free weekends. They’ll resume their league campaign on 16 July with a home double-header against Stourbridge Titans, who they have deafeated four times so far at a combined score of 46-6. If they come through that unscathed they will have two away double-headers against Long Eaton Storm and Milton Keynes Bucks respectively before a final home twin-set against the Blue Sox.

Norwich Iceni, newcomers to the BBF leagues this year, won 15-3 on Sunday at Finsbury Park against London Musketeers to make it nine in a row. They will be favourites to make it a perfect 10 this Sunday in a home game against the 1-7 Tonbridge Bobcats, with four league games to follow in an attempt to go 14-0 in their debut season.

Elsewhere, Richmond Knights started the Triple-A season 12-0 before losing their unbeaten record on 11 June in a narrow 10-9 loss to Taunton Tigers. They avenged that straight away by winning the second game of the double-header 21-11 and whilst London Mammoths also got the better of them this past Sunday, the Knights are clearly a force to be reckoned with this season.

The most dominant teams

So far this season Single-A games have averaged approximately 32 combined runs, Double-A South 24 runs, Double-A Central and NBL 18 runs and Triple-A South 16 runs.

If we want to compare teams across the leagues one of the best simple measures is run differential, that is the team stat that looks at offence and defence by subtracting the total runs allowed from the total runs scored.

Team Div Run diff. RS/G RA/G
Birmingham Bandits AA-C 156 12.81 3.06
Norwich Iceni A-S 112 16.78 4.33
London Mets NBL 108 11.88 5.13
Richmond Knights AAA-S 102 11.06 5.06
Tonbridge Wildcats AA-SB 96 14.31 6.92
East London Latin Boys AA-SA 93 14.64 8.00

It’s quite possible, and not uncommon, for a team to be ahead of another in the standings despite having a worse run differential (take a look at the Minnesota Twins in MLB who, prior to Wednesday’s games, were posting a winning record of 43-40 despite having a minus 54 run differential). That generally means they are not blowing the opposition away, and often winning an unusually high number of close games.

Teams with the highest positive run differentials are generally those that are consistently winning well and so the fact that the top six teams are the current six BBF division leaders suggests all are worthy of their lofty positions (accepting, as always with British baseball stats, that we’re only dealing with a small number of games).

You can see that Birmingham’s pitching is being incredibly stingy in allowing just a touch above 3 runs per game, whilst Norwich’s batting lineup is dishing out plenty of punishment on Single-A hurlers.

Honourable mentions should go to Double-A Herts Hawks who have scored the most runs so far of any team (206) and Single-A London Musketeers who have the highest runs scored per game mark at 22 (note that the top 9 teams, and 11 of the top 13, in this category are in Single-A, reflecting the free-scoring nature of games at that level).

Teams looking to improve

Much as we should avoid being negative, it’s only fair to look at the bottom end of the run differential chart too.

Team Div Run diff. RS/G RA/G
Brentwood Stags AA-SA -144 6.69 17.77
Guildford Mavericks AA-SB -117 8.83 18.58
Herts Falcons NBL -110 5.22 11.33
Bracknell Inferno A-S -91 8.67 18.78
Tonbridge Bobcats A-S -84 15.00 25.50

There are a few unsightly runs allowed per game figures among this group and it likely will contain some newcomer pitchers and more than a few liberties being taken on the bases.

The line that stands out for me is the NBL’s Herts Falcons. Clearly they are up against the toughest competition and the NBL can be a harsh environment when things aren’t going your way. The Falcons are 5-13 and whilst they are certainly conceding more runs than they’d like, what’s really hurting them so far is the relatively low number of runs they are scoring.

Close competition

Another thing that we can look at when comparing the leagues is how competitive each division is based on the gap between the best run differential and the worst.  The idea being, the smaller the difference, the closer the competition is.

Div Best run diff Worst run diff Difference
AAA-S 102 -77 179
A-S 112 -91 203
AA-SB 96 -117 213
NBL 108 -110 228
AA-SA 93 -144 237
AA-C 156 -83 239
AA Combined 156 -144 300

This is only a quick guide and far from the full story, but nonetheless it’s interesting to see Triple-A coming out as the closest using this measure. I’ve added Double-A combined (as the other divisions all represent a single level of play) and they produce the widest difference, suggesting there’s a broader range of ability in this level of play, which would make sense with it being the level up from the lowest rank.

The NBL

Finally, let’s take a closer look at the top-tier of British baseball.

Team W L Pct GB GP RF RA Run Diff RS/g RA/g
London Mets 13 3 0.81 – 16 190 82 108 11.875 5.125
London Capitals 10 7 0.59 4 17 160 127 33 9.412 7.471
Southampton Mustangs 7 6 0.54 5 13 116 79 37 8.923 6.077
Essex Arrows 8 7 0.53 5 15 144 164 -20 9.600 10.933
Brighton Jets 3 10 0.23 9 13 112 160 -48 8.615 12.308
Herts Falcons 5 13 0.28 9 18 94 204 -110 5.222 11.333

The Mets are once again proving to be a formidable side and they are doing so by leading the way on both sides of the ball.

Reigning NBL champions the Mustangs have been close to them when it comes to keeping runs off the board though, with their 6.08 runs allowed per game being the fifth best mark in the BBF, one behind the Mets. Southampton have some games in hand on both the Mets and the Capitals so we’ll see if they can keep that up, whilst improving their run scoring, over the next few weeks.

British National Baseball League starts on Sunday

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With Major League Baseball in full swing, it’s time for the top-tier of British baseball to get going for another competitive season.

The National Baseball League (NBL) has reduced down to six teams for 2015 after the departure of the Southern Nationals. They certainly left their mark in the British baseball record books by securing three consecutive national titles between 2011 and 2013, but the record books is where the Nationals will now reside as the team has ceased to exist.

No teams have been promoted up from Triple-A this time around; however the introduction of a new BBF Cup will see those teams getting the chance to have a crack at the NBL stars and potentially proving that they may belong among the elite in 2016. The cup competition will hopefully provide additional impetus to the season, giving teams something else to play for if – for various reasons – fielding their strongest side week-in, week-out across the regular season is not so easy.

The Essex Arrows will head into the season as reigning champions and it will be interesting to see how they respond to having the big target on their back for the first time. Alongside the Southern Nationals, the London Mets (2007, 2008), Croydon Pirates (2004, 2005) and Brighton Buccaneers (2001, 2002) have all achieved the impressive feat of retaining the title over the past 15 years and the Arrows will be doing everything they can to join that list.

They will face plenty of competition, not least from the London Mets (who the Arrows beat in the final last year), the Southampton Mustangs and the Herts Falcons. The Falcons took a step back in 2014 after impressive campaigns in 2012 and 2013. They’ve shown their intent by signing Maikel Azcuy and Robbie Almanzar who were part of the Nationals and Arrows championship winning teams.

Farnham Park near Slough and Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead will be the Opening Day venues on Sunday. The Arrows and Mets will meet in a repeat of last year’s final at Farnham Park, with the Bracknell Blazers facing both teams on the day too. At Grovehill, the hometown Herts Falcons will play games against the Mustangs and the South London Pirates, with those two teams also facing off against each other.

Clive Barker’s NBL preview provides further details over on the BBF website.

 

BaseballGB previews tomorrow’s NBL play-offs

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September in British baseball, with only a few exceptions, has in the game’s modern era become the October of Major League Baseball. Building on this tradition, in 2013 the National Baseball League postseason and the ninth month share a start day.

Tomorrow, the teams ranked third through sixth from the regular season will travel to Hemel Hempsetad, where Grovehill Ballpark will be hosting the first round of the play-offs. Following 28 games of jostling for seedings, going back to April, each of these sides now has 27 outs between them and a spot in the national semi-finals at Farnham Park on 14 September.

According to a schedule posted on the Essex Arrows’ Facebook page, the timings are likely to be as follows.

  • 11h00 first pitch: Bracknell Blazers @ Harlow Nationals
  • 14h00 (approx) first pitch: Essex Arrows @ Southampton Mustangs

Below, we examine each of the four teams involved.

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British Baseball Beat: Falcons sweep but Harlow head into first

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The Herts Falcons (12-4) swept a double-header over the Southampton Mustangs (12-3) last Sunday, but it was the Harlow Nationals (13-4) that moved back to the top of the National Baseball League thanks to a sweep of their own over the Essex Arrows (7-11).

Full details can be found in the BBF website report.

Harlow had to work hard for their two wins, particularly in the opening game when starting pitcher Barry Wiles and the Arrows’ restricted them to just two runs.

Unfortunately for Phil Chesterton’s men, that proved to be one run too many as Roberto Almanzer once again pitched well for the Nationals in a 2-1 victory.  The second game included a rare appearance on the mound for Will Lintern as the Nationals got the better of Matt Gilbert on this occasion for an 8-2 win to secure the sweep.

That was enough to put the Nationals on top of the NBL despite the Falcons’ own sweep over the previous league leaders. An 18-8 opening game win, ended early on a seven-run sixth inning, and a 9-2 win behind Darrin Ward made for a very successful day at Grovehil Ballpark for the home team. They trail the Nationals by half a game, having played one game less than their rivals.

After facing the Nationals and Arrows, the Falcons will have an equally tough assignment this Sunday as they welcome the London Mets (10-3) to Hemel Hempstead. The Mets took two victories over the Croydon Pirates (1-15) last weekend to move within one game of Harlow and they have four games in hand on the reigning champs. Meanwhile the Mustangs are hosting the Nationals in what is shaping up to be a cracking Sunday of NBL action.

In the other double-header from last Sunday, the Bracknell Blazers (2-12) earned a split with the Lakenheath Diamondbacks (5-8) courtesy of an extra-inning, walk-off win in the second game. GB Juniors Dexter Stewart and Guy Packham combined to bring the winning run home in a real confidence booster for the Blazers.  They will look to build on that with a home double-header against the Pirates, while the Diamondbacks host the Arrows.

Triple-A: Badgers and Jaguars at the double

The Cambridge Royals (9-7) and London Metros (7-8) split their double-header at Coldham’s Common in Cambridge, with the home side taking the opener 8-6 and the visitors earning a split with a 6-1 win in the later game.

There was good play on show from both teams, although perhaps the most impressive feat of the afternoon was the restraint shown when a couple of cycling clowns (without the face paint and oversized shoes) decided to take a short-cut directly across the outfield during the sixth inning of the second game. The Royals and Metros collectively resisted the urge to chance their arms by taking pot-shots at the peddlers, although a repeat performance at a future game might lead to Cambridge turning it into a promotional event, with cries of ‘roll up, roll up’ and funfair music filling the air and the first ‘dead eye Dick’ winning a cuddly toy and one of the Royals’ very smart new caps.

Elsewhere, the Bristol Badgers (12-4) secured an impressive sweep over the Richmond Knights (11-7) for their sixth and seventh wins in a row, and the Latin Boys (7-8) and Essex Redbacks (13-5) took a win apiece from their double-header.

Thoughts are already turning to potential playoff spots in Triple-A. The play-off qualification in the South may well be revised owing to the Bracknell and Windsor Bears withdrawing from the competition. The initial format had the two Pool winners qualifying automatically for the National Baseball Championship, with the two teams with the next-best win-loss records competing in a play-off for the third Southern slot. Crucially, that meant those two teams could come from the same pool.

Each team’s 26-game regular season schedule is geared towards playing more games against the three teams in your own pool (six games against each, combined with two each against the four teams in the other Pool). As all of the games involving the Bears are going down as forfeit wins for the opposing team, that hands six wins apiece to each of the remaining Pool A teams, while the Pool B teams will only benefit from two forfeits.

If the season ended today, the second and third placed teams in Pool A would both qualify for the play-off game and that might remain the case if the Pool B teams keep taking wins off each other. Of course, the Badgers, Kings and Knights could all argue that they might have won their games against the Bears on the field and therefore to diminish the value of their victories isn’t fair. That’s a valid argument and really there is no ideal solution to the problem, so it will be interesting to see how it is resolved.

Whichever way they go, it will be a fiercely contested competition and some good teams will be left looking in at the play-offs from the outside.

The top two teams in the North will contest a one-game play-off for the final NBC spot. The 12-0 Liverpool Trojans seem a shoo-in for one of those spaces, with the Cartmel Valley Lions (8-4), Menwith Hill Patriots (7-5) and Halton Jaguars (5-7) looking the likeliest contenders for the other place. The Jags added two wins to their total in the only AAA-North action last weekend, condemning the Bolton Robots of Doom to an 0-12 record.

This Sunday, all eyes will be on Bootle Stadium where the extremely impressive Lions become the latest team to try and end the Trojans’ winning run. Liverpool swept a double-header between the two sides back on 6 May.

Double-A: Wins for Mavericks, Piranhas, Mammoths, Scorpions and Rebels

In the AA-South, the Guildford Mavericks (12-0) and Poole Piranhas (9-1) continued their formidable form last Sunday as they lead the way in Pool A.  The Mavericks had the brooms out on the road in a double-header against Richmond Dragons (3-8), while the Piranhas eased their way to a shortened 24-1 win over the luck-less Brentwood Stags (0-8). Guildford are away to Daws Hill Spitfires (4-3) this Sunday, with the Piranhas taking on the Thames Valley Bisons (5-4).

In Pool B, the London Mammoths (5-3) celebrated a sweep in their home debut against the Essex Redbacks II (3-7), with both teams contributing to an enjoyable day of baseball at Finsbury Park. The Redbacks’ Arun Mandalia had the horrible misfortune to end the second game by giving up a bases-loaded walk, but both he and Matt Cartwright impressed on the mound throughout the 2-1 game. The Mammoths host the Pool B-leading Sidewinders (6-2) this Sunday, with Essex taking the Sunday off.

In the North, the only games recorded from last Sunday show the Hull Scorpions lifting themselves above .500 to a 7-5 record with two victories over the rookie Newton Aycliffe Spartans (0-12). The Spartans continue their search for their first league win in their debut year against the Oldham North Stars this Sunday, while there is a top of the table clash in the offing between the Sheffield Bladerunners and Harrogate Tigers.

In the Midlands, the Nottingham Rebels improved to 8-0 with their two latest wins coming at the expense of the second-placed MK Bucks (4-4). Meanwhile the Birmingham Maple Leafs (2-4) got their first two wins of the season on the board against old adversaries the Leicester Blue Sox (5-6). Birmingham will look to add another win to their tally this Sunday when they host the Bucks, while the Stourbridge Titans (0-5) have the tough task of taking on the Rebels.

Single-A: Archers on target again

In Single-A, the Essex Archers (7-0) edged a keenly contested game with the Old Timers (4-1) by a score of 18-13, lumbering the veterans with their first loss of the campaign. Tonbridge took a 9-0 victory over the Braintree Rays, while the Herts Raptors won the bragging rights in the intra-Herts game against the Eagles, much to manager Arnie Longboy’s delight.

This Sunday, the Raptors look to continue their winning form on the road against Tonbridge, Guildford Mavericks II host Hove Tuesday and Richmond Dukes welcome the London Marauders to Flood Field.

British Baseball Beat: Postseason plans announced

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After some soggy conditions over the last couple of weeks, the British baseball leagues got back on track on Sunday with plenty of games being played throughout the country.

The progress on the field was matched by progress off it, as the full post-season format and schedule was published this week allowing everyone involved to start planning their play-off push early.

NBL

The NBL-leading Herts Falcons (5-1) were not in action on Sunday and the team that took best advantage was the Southampton Mustangs. They collected a double-header sweep over the Croydon Pirates to improve their early season record to 5-2.  The Mustangs didn’t quite claim the second spot in the league after the London Mets (4-1) pushed past thanks to a 9-1 victory over the Harlow Nationals.

Essex Arrows (4-4) also secured two wins over the Lakenheath Diamondbacks (1-4) in the other NBL match-up to even up their early season record.

It promises to be a gripping race for the playoff spots as we head through the summer as five of the eight teams will qualify, with the top three going straight through to the National Baseball Championship (NBC) and the fourth and fifth placed teams playing a single nine-inning game on 19 August to determine the final entrant.

The Falcons, Mets, Mustangs and Nationals have been the pace-setters early on this season and if that remains the case then one of those four will have to battle through a nervy sudden-death encounter to ensure their season doesn’t end early. The Arrows and D-Backs will certainly have something to say about that – and also a potential top three spot – whilst it’s far too early to count the Blazers and Pirates out of the running either.

Triple-A

Liverpool Football Club hasn’t done a good job of turning performances into wins over the past year and manager Kenny Dalglish could do worse than head over to Bootle Stadium this summer to try and pick up the winning habit from the Trojans. They made it six wins from six this season with two victories over the Cartmel Valley Lions, although the Lions put up a strong showing in defeat, especially in the second game.

Menwith Hill Patriots (4-2) are the Trojans’ closest rivals so far in the North after they took two wins from the Halton Jaguars. The competition for second place in the North is going to be important because only one team from the division will qualify for the NBC and that team will be determined by a single game play-off between the first and second placed teams.  Whilst Liverpool have been the top team in the North for a while, another brilliant regular season will only give them home-field advantage in the play-off and the Jaguars or another Northern team could pip them to the NBC if they emerge victorious from the sudden death game.

The Northern play-off winner will join three teams from the South in the NBC. The two pool winners will qualify automatically and the Essex Redbacks (5-1) have made an early claim for one of those spots, although they did suffer their first defeat of the season on Sunday in a double-header against the Latin Boys (3-2).

The other NBC participant will be determined by a play-off game between the two non-pool winners with the best regular season records. The fact that it’s not simply between the two second-placed teams means that we could have, for example, the Latin Boys and London Metros facing each other in the sudden death game. The Metros (2-3) swept a double-header over the Bristol Badgers on Sunday to earn their first wins of the season.

Double-A

The Double-A play-offs will involve two rounds before the NBC for the southern teams. It looks like the top four teams from each Southern pool will make it through to the first round, with the second round then producing two finalists that will represent the South in the NBC. The current (version 2) ‘Road to the Finals’ document refers to games between “South Pool” and “North Pool” teams, but that presumably should be South Pool A and B. London Mammoths and Poole Piranhas are out in front so far with both improving to 3-0 on Sunday.

In the Midlands and the North, it’s a simple case of the top two teams from each heading into a play-off round where the division winner from one will face the second-placed team from the other to determine the two Midlands/North representatives. Hull Scorpions and Sheffield Bladerunners swept double-headers on Sunday to become joint-leaders in the North on 4-0 records, whilst the Leicester Blue Sox defeated the Milton Keynes Bucks 8-3 to improve their record to 3-0 at the top of the Midlands.

Single-A

The Southern section of the Single-A postseason will take the same format as in Triple-A, with the two pool winners being joined by the two remaining teams with the best records. The Essex Archers and the Guildford Mavericks II are the early favourites for two of those spots as both took victories on Sunday to make it three wins from three to start the season.

The third and fourth-placed teams in the Midlands and Northern AA divisions will continue to join the Single-A play-offs again this year. The two-round play-off structure will result in a team from the Sourth and a team from the Midlands/North qualifying for the Single-A final at the NBC.

The NBC itself

The main change with the National Baseball Championship this year is that it will be split over three days (the 25-27 August Bank Holiday weekend) rather than the normal two. This means that, excepting the single game Single-A final, the teams that make it to the NBC will be there for two or three days, making it much more of a season-ending event than a ‘turn up and go home’ affair.

The announcement of the postseason structure has come at the perfect time, rallying the rain-soaked teams to really get their play-off push on track after the stop-start beginning to the regular season. Plenty of teams will have an extra bounce in their step this Sunday as they run out onto the field knowing what their path to glory may be this year.

[NOTE: article updated at 16.55 on 10 May to correct the section on the Essex Arrows’ victories over Lakenheath Diamondbacks. The initial version incorrectly stated that the Arrows and D-Backs had split the double-header]

Rainy Britain, but Mets Pony Team shines in Prague

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It was to be expected really.

The British baseball season was entering its second Sunday of full competition across all four leagues, while water companies had announced hosepipe bans in various regions around the British Isles.

It was always going to pour down; you didn’t need Michael Fish promising a heatwave to know what was coming our way.

Consequently, many games understandably fell foul of the weather with the persistent rain leaving fields unfit for play.  However, some games were able to be played here and the weather was kinder in Prague where the London Mets Pony Team were competing in the SUMA European Qualifier.

National Baseball League – GB Juniors joining in

One game was played in the National Baseball League.  The Southampton Mustangs lifted themselves above a .500 record with a 6-2 victory over Lakenheath Diamondbacks.  The two teams had split a double-header on Opening Day at Croydon and they were back at Dave Ward Field on Sunday.

The Mustangs took an early lead with two runs in the first inning and starting pitcher Gary Davison, alongside some impressive fielding, made sure that the Diamondbacks were never able to catch back up.  Davison picked up the pitching win for the Mustangs, conceding two runs with six strike-outs and only four hits allowed, with the Mustangs improving to 3-2 on the season.

The Southampton-Lakenheath game was one part of a new venture by the BBF. The day of baseball at Croydon involved two NBL teams meeting for one NBL game and then both playing a game against the GB Juniors.

The GB Juniors will face all of the NBL teams this season in preparation for their European Championship qualifier in France later this year. As you would expect, the Mustangs and Diamondbacks both came out on top over their youthful rivals, but Head Coach Will Lintern’s comments on the BBF website show that the young stars of Great Britain’s future will have benefitted from challenging themselves against a tough standard of competition.

Mets Pony Team does British baseball proud

The London Mets Pony Team represented British baseball in outstanding style in the Pony Group stage SUMA European Qualifier in Prague, making it all the way through to the semi-finals.

The Mets topped their group with a perfect 3-0 record, starting with a memorable 10-5 victory over the Israeli National team and then winning twice on Friday against Technika Brno of the Czech Republic and BC Vilnius of Lithuania respectively. A comprehensive 11-1 win over another Czech team, Hlubloka, set up a semi-final under lights against a German Academy All Star team. Sadly, that’s where the Mets’ dreams ended, yet their tournament play can only be seen as a great success.

Congratulations to all involved for showing the rest of Europe that we have some talented youngsters here in the U.K. Further details on the tournament can be found on the London Mets’ website.

Back around the leagues

The Liverpool Trojans won twice at home against the Menwith Hill Patriots to make it four wins from four in 2012 and to continue their residence at the top of the AAA-North standings.  The Essex Redbacks have matched the Trojans’ 4-0 start in the South after they picked up two wins against the London Metros.

Last year’s AA-Midlands champions MK Bucks got their division defence underway with an 8-5 win over the Maple Leafs; however the Bucks needed a five-run seventh inning to fend off a spirited display by Birmingham. Meanwhile the Leicester Blue Sox followed up their Opening Day victory over the Birmingham Maple Leafs with a 26-9 win over the Stourbridge Titans. The result was the perfect way for the Blue Sox to toast the official unveiling of their new Sport England-funded backstop structure at Western Park.

In the AA-South, BBF league newcomers the Latin Tigers and the Daws Hill Spitfires both got their first ever wins at the second time of asking. The Croydon Pirates III scored eleven runs in the final two innings to get past a depleted Herts Hawks team with a 19-9 win, while Southampton Mustangs II showed their debut Double-A victory on Opening Day was no fluke by winning 18-3 on the road against the Brentwood Stags.

In Single-A, the Essex Archers made it two wins on the spin to start the season with a comfortable 33-3 victory over the developing Richmond Dukes side. The Herts Raptors defeated the Essex Redbacks III 9-0, while the Herts Eagles just fell short in a dramatic high-scoring affair with the Guildford Mavericks II. Guildford took the win by a score of 22-19 to improve their season record to 2-0.

This weekend

British baseball will once again be at the mercy of the weather, putting an asterisk next to every potential fixture either due to rain on the day of the game or the diamond being rendered unplayable due to downpours this week.

No one will be keener for games to go ahead this weekend than the Essex Redbacks. Former Eurovision contestant and Laindon resident Josh Dubovie will officially open the Essex Redbacks Baseball Club’s new Pony and adult diamond at Forest Glade Football Club on Saturday 28 April.

According to the Redbacks’ press release:

Josh, who performed live to a television audience of tens of millions at the Song Contest in 2010, will sing and entertain the crowds before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the Forest Glade Ponies’ first match against the Feltwell Redbacks – the newest team to join the Redbacks Baseball Club.

Josh will be presented with an Essex Redbacks playing shirt, alongside fellow VIP Kevin Blake, Basildon’s Councillor for Leisure and Arts.

Josh said: “I’m honoured to be invited to perform and throw out the first ever pitch on the Redbacks’ new diamond at Forest Glade Football Club. The Club has made great developments since it set up three years ago and I am looking forward to being involved in their continued progress.”

The matches at Forest Glade Football Club on Saturday 28 April are the first home competitive games of the season for the Redbacks junior section.

Fingers crossed that Essex, and many other clubs around the country, will be able to play ball this weekend.

British Baseball Beat: Back on the Beat

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British baseball followed MLB’s lead this year in deciding that one Opening Day just wasn’t enough.

While the top-tier National Baseball League got started on 1 April, the Opening Day for the rest of the leagues took place on Sunday 15 April. That made last Sunday the first full day of British baseball league action and it provided all of the twists and turns seasoned followers have come to expect.

The BBF website has plenty of division reports and scores to peruse, but these are the stories that caught my eye.

Northern sweeps

There were double-header sweeps all over the Northern baseball landscape on Sunday.

Least surprising were the two wins taken by the relentless winning machine that is the Liverpool Trojans Baseball Club. After a perfect 22-0 regular season and an AAA National Baseball Championship title in 2011, the Trojans got right back to it with a pair of victories over the Halton Jaguars.

Reigning AA National Champions Bolton Robots of Doom began their new era in Triple-A baseball with two home games against fellow newcomers the Cartmel Valley Lions. The Lions are a new adult team added to the club this year following nearly two decades of T-ball, Bronco and Pony baseball in the North-West. The double-header didn’t answer the important question of whether a robot or lion would win in a fight, but it did result in the Lions earning two victories to start their season in style. Meanwhile Menwith Hill Patriots were awarded two forfeit victories over the Manchester A’s.

In Double-A, the Sheffield Bladerunners would be seen as pre-season favourites for the division after finishing second last year behind the promoted Bolton. They picked up two wins over Oldham North Stars on Opening Day and are joined on 2-0 records by Hull Scorpions and Manchester Torrent thanks to sweeps over the reformed Harrogate Tigers and newcomers Newton Aycliffe Spartans respectively.

Redbacks rise above the Royals

Liverpool Trojans’ perfect 2011 season was matched in Single-A by the Cambridge Royals, who went 12-0 in the regular season before defeating the Birmingham Maple Leafs in the Single-A National Baseball Championship.  After such a successful first season back in the British leagues, the Royals took the brave decision to skip the Double-A level and move directly up to Triple-A.

Sunday proved to be a challenging introduction to the new division for the Royals as the Essex Redbacks travelled to Cambridge and came away with two victories by scores of 11-0 and 9-2. The Redbacks put together a strong 21-9 campaign last year and will be one of several contenders in what looks like being a very competitive Triple-A South.  The Bristol Badgers and Oxford Kings, and the Richmond Knights and Bracknell and Windsor Bears, both split double-headers to provide further evidence that many of the teams will be evenly matched this year.

The Royals have two more home double-headers in a row coming up and they will hope to take advantage of home comforts at Coldham’s Common to gain confidence for the rest of the season and to potentially give them a shot at being in the mix down the stretch as well.

Mustangs II make a winning Double-A debut

The Southampton Mustangs II, the Royals’ main adversaries in Single-A last year, have made the step up to Double-A in 2012. Coincidentally, like the Royals they also started against the Essex Redbacks club, their Redbacks II team in this case, and Southampton were able to gain a winning start with a 21-9 victory.

Guildford Mavericks and Poole Piranhas both had strong seasons in 2011 and they picked up victories on Opening Day, against the Sidewinders and newcomers Daws Hill Spitfires respectively, to quickly state their credentials for being at the sharp end again this year.

We could also see a new team come to the fore and challenge the established Double-A teams this season. The London Mammoths are the latest addition to the successful London Mets club and Matt Cartwright’s team got off to a great start with a 17-7 win over the Latin Tigers (another team that were making their debut on Sunday).

In the Midlands, Nottingham Rebels and Leicester Blue Sox started their seasons with a win, while last year’s Midlands champions the MK Bucks sat in wait to make their season debut this Sunday with a home game against the Birmingham Maple Leafs.

A tonic for Tuesday

Single-A contains eleven teams this season including newcomers Hove Tuesday, who put in plenty of work to get Pavilion Field in Brighton in good shape for their inaugural game and capped off a memorable day by earning a 14-1 win over Tonbridge.

The division includes two teams from Herts Baseball Club, the Eagles and Raptors. The former picked up a 28-6 victory over Richmond Dukes, while the latter played a final Spring Training game against the London Marauders. With the Herts Hawks also winning 13-4 over Richmond Dragons in Double-A, the question was whether the NBL Herts Falcons would be able to make it a perfect day for baseball fans in Hemel Hempstead and keep up their unbeaten start to the season.

Mustangs temporarily ground the Falcons

Herts Falcons had lived up the hype of their offseason headline-grabbing moves with four wins to start the season, but they were grounded by the Southampton Mustangs in their fifth game of the year. The Mustangs took the first game of the double-header 7-5 to quickly end any thoughts of the Falcons powering their way to a perfect season, but the fight and talent that Herts showed to win the second game against the Mustangs was a reminder – if one was needed – that they have what it takes to mount a serious challenge in the NBL this season.

The same could be said for reigning champions Southern Nationals and the London Mets.  The Nationals and Mets split a double-header on opening day at Finsbury Park and they have both won all their games since.  The Mets didn’t play on 8 April but followed their Game Two win against the Nationals with two comprehensive victories over Croydon Pirates on Sunday.  On the same day, the Nationals defeated the Essex Arrows twice at Harlow to make it five wins from six games after earning two home wins against the Bracknell Blazers on 8 April.

Highlights from this Sunday’s fixture list

In the NBL, the Mets host two games against the Bracknell Blazers, while Sunday will hopefully mark the first games played by the GB Juniors team against the Mustangs and Diamondbacks respectively, with the two NBL teams also set to play a game against each other.

In Triple-A, Liverpool Trojans have two home games against the Menwith Hill Patriots, the Essex Redbacks put their 2-0 record on the line against the London Metros and the Cambridge Royals look to bounce back as they host the Latin Boys.

In Double-A. after celebrating their debut win, the London Mammoths face a tough test on the road against the Guildford Mavericks. Herts Hawks and Croydon Pirates III meet both intent on inflicting the first loss of the season on the other, while things could either tighten up or spread out in the North as the 2-0 Bladerunners, Scorpions and Torrent are all facing 0-2 opposition.

In Single-A, Hove Tuesday have another home game, this time against the Old Timers, while the Herts Eagles and Guidlford Mavericks II meet at Grovehill Ballpark with the Herts Raptors also playing against the Essex Redbacks III to make for a good day of baseball in Hemel Hempstead.

NBL Opening Day this Sunday

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The British baseball season will get underway on Sunday as the eight National Baseball League teams compete over four double-headers.

We’ve enjoyed some glorious weather over the last week or so, the type that might be described as ‘baseball weather’ in the States. In the UK ‘baseball weather’ really covers the whole spectrum from heat waves to hailstorms, but of late teams have been warming up for the season in the sunshine.

Typically, the temperatures are forecast to take a downward turn over the coming weekend so we won’t quite have the sunny start to the season that we were hoping for. However, that’s not going to dampen the enthusiasm, nor reduce the temperature of the competitive contests.

The Southampton Mustangs and London Mets will be out to get some revenge over the teams that knocked them out of the play-offs last year (the Lakenheath Diamondbacks and Harlow – previously Southern – Nationals).

The Essex Arrows and Croydon Pirates will both see their double-header as a decent chance to get an early win or two on the board, while the Herts Falcons have been making plenty of noise in recent months and will want to show in their double-header against the Bracknell Blazers that ‘winning the offseason’ is only the start of their ambitions for 2012.

Games will be played at Grovehill Ballpark in Hemel Hempstead, Finsbury Park in North London, the Townmead Leisure Centre in Waltham Abbey and – it seems – at Dave Ward Field in Croydon (it looks like the Southampton Mustangs and Lakenheath Diamondbacks will play their double-header at the Croydon Pirates’ ground).

Those who can’t make it to any of the games should be able to catch-up with all the action courtesy of the impressive new GameDay feature on the BBF website (Nationals-Mets example here).

Meanwhile, plenty of other teams around the country will be continuing their pre-season games, including more action at the Herts Spring League and the Leicester Spring League.

The view from across the pond

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The crack of leather-bound cork on wood. The soft thud of ball in glove. The smells of summer: of hot dogs and beer and freshly cut grass. Baseball season is truly here!

Well, it’s been here fSummeror a while now, and we’re not even half way through yet. At the time of writing my team, the Milwaukee Brewers, have just completed a closely fought four game sweep of the Florida Marlins, immediately followed by a fairly disappointing series at home to the New York Mets.

The long painstaking draft was completed earlier this week and the All Star Game, marking the spiritual if not physical half-way point in the baseball season, is still a way away.

If I were to start at the start, which by all accounts would be the logical thing to do, I should let you know just how a young Briton from the rural county of Dorset came to be such a fan of this most American of pastimes. Continue reading →