Home British baseball British Baseball Beat: An early glimpse at playoff contenders

British Baseball Beat: An early glimpse at playoff contenders

by Matt Smith

BBBWe’re not far into the regular season, but teams are already starting to jostle for position in their respective divisions in British baseball. 

We don’t yet have a published playoff format so the number of teams set to head to the postseason, and exactly how they will qualify, is still not completely clear.  Hopefully those details will be published relatively soon, but in the meantime we can look back at last year’s competition and take a few educated guesses.

Last Sunday’s games included both the Bristol Badgers and Bolton Robots of Doom having their unbeaten starts to the season brought to an end.

NBL: Mustangs feel the Flames behind them

The National Baseball League, British baseball’s top tier, has increased from eight to ten teams this season and the league is now split into two divisions.  Last year the top two teams in the eight-team division went straight on to the National Baseball Championships, with the third to sixth-placed teams playing an additional playoff round to add two more teams into the mix.

There are two obvious ways that the NBL postseason could be set up this year: either simply sending the top two teams through from each division or having the division winners qualify automatically, with the second and third placed teams competing in a playoff.

The decision could be particularly significant in Pool A.  The pace-setting Southampton Mustangs (8-0) sat out over the last weekend and Richmond Flames (7-1) took full advantage by winning twice against the Croydon Pirates.  That brought the Flames within one game of the Mustangs in Pool A prior to their double-header this coming Sunday. If only the division winner qualifies automatically for the NBC, it could be a very tight battle all the way to see who ends up with a possible banana skin in a single-game playoff.

Judging by the early going, either postseason qualification format will be tightly contested in Pool B.  Lakenheath Diamondbacks (6-2) took two victories over London Mets (4-2) to lead the division on Sunday, while both the Southern Nationals (4-4) and Mildenhall Bulldogs (2-4) swept double-headers against the Essex Arrows and Herts Falcons respectively.   The Falcons are still without a win this season and their next attempt at breaking their duck should come this Sunday in a rearranged double-header with the Croydon Pirates.

Triple A: Trojans take two from the A’s, Bears break the Badgers’ unbeaten run

The top two teams from the AAA North went straight through to the NBC last year.  The Liverpool Trojans are a strong bet to head back to the main event in 2011, but second place could be an exciting tussle.

The much-anticipated clash between the Trojans and the Manchester A’s wasn’t quite the thriller that was hoped for after their previous meeting.  The A’s travelled to Bootle Stadium without several key players and Liverpool Trojans showed no mercy.  The Trojans’ dynamic duo of Martin Godsall and Rob Vondy picked up a win apiece as the home team battled the wind to earn two relatively comfortable victories.  The teams are scheduled to meet again on 12 June and the A’s will surely be desperate to be back at full strength to challenge Liverpool next time.

Meanwhile Halton Jaguars earned two victories over Menwith Hill Patriots to move ahead of the A’s into second place in the division.  The Jags and A’s will face each other in six out of their last ten games, which could make for a grandstand finish.

In the South, the seemingly unbeatable Bristol Badgers were brought back down to earth by the Windsor and Bracknell Bears.  The Badgers took the opener 12-2 in a shortened mercy rule win and most would have expected them to make it a 10-0 start to the season in the second game.  The Bears were having none of it and showed great character to win the second game 10-8, proving to the rest of the league that while the Badgers are clearly a force to be reckoned with, they can be beaten.

London Metros beat the Essex Redbacks twice, Club Chairman Matt Jennings being refreshingly honest in stating that “it was an off-day for the Redbacks today, we were rubbish”, and they sit second in the division ahead of Oxford Kings, who were handed two forfeit wins by the Richmond Knights.  Last year the second and third-placed AAA South teams went into a single game playoff to join the division winners at the NBC.  Right now, it’s shaping up to be a three-way dice between the Metros, Kings and Redbacks behind the Badgers.

Double AA: Sidewinders stay hot, Bucks stay unbeaten, Robots of Doom suffer a malfunction

The Double-AA postseason included two playoff rounds before the NBC last year, with the top two teams from each division extending their season.

The Sidewinders improved to 5-0 and stayed ahead in the South Pool B thanks to an 18-5 victory over the Richmond Dragons.  Guildford Mavericks (4-1) kept the pressure on by beating Herts Hawks 21-8, with Poole Piranhas (2-1) not playing at the weekend.  The Piranhas will be in action this coming Sunday against Latin Boys (4-1), who split a double-header with Thames Valley Bisons (3-2) to stay in second in Pool A.  Essex Archers were another team sitting it out on Sunday, so they remained on top of Pool A with a 3-0 record prior to their significant double-header against the Sidewinders this coming Sunday.

In the Midlands, the MK Bucks kept their winning run going with two victories against the Leicester Blue Sox, while the Birmingham Maple Leafs recovered from being swept by the Bucks the previous Sunday by taking two games from the Blue Sox II.  The challenge to the top two looks most likely to come from the 4-4 Nottingham Rebels, but it would be dangerous to completely count out the Leicester Blue Sox from making a charge as the season progresses.

The Bolton Robots of Doom have a healthy lead at the top of the North, but their unbeaten start to the season was brought to a halt by Manchester Torrent.   Bolton led their opponents 7-1 before Manchester defied the odds and made a memorable comeback to win the game 8-7.  Suitably annoyed, the Robots hit back with an 11-3 victory in the second game to rescue a split.  There was also a split in the other double-header of the day between Humber Pilots and Sheffield Bladerunners, leaving those two teams on 2-2 records and Manchester half a game back on 2-3.

Single A: Top two continue their winning ways

The top two teams from each Single-A division went through to the playoffs last year, competing against teams finishing third and fourth in the AA-Midlands and AA-North.  There’s no doubt which two teams are early favourites to win each A-South division as the Cambridge Royals and Southampton Mustangs II both made it five wins from five on Sunday, with victories over Braintree Rays and Guildford Mavericks II respectively.

Second place in each pool is much more open.  Old Timers won 36-3 over Tonbridge on Sunday to nip ahead of the Rays by one game in Pool A, while London Marauders took advantage of Guildford’s loss by beating the Herts Raptors and joining the Mavericks II on 2-3 records.  The one game scheduled for this Sunday sees the Marauders hosting the Mustangs II at Finsbury Park in what should be an interesting test of London’s recent good form at home.

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2 comments

Michael Jones May 26, 2011 - 9:08 am

Great summary of the weekend again, Matt. I bet you’ve been waiting all season for the Robots of Doom to ‘malfunction’!

I fancy the Bears to push hard over the next few weeks to reclaim some of that slow start to the season, but as you say I reckon it’ll still be the shoot-outs between the Metros, Kings and Redbacks that determine position (Redbacks are yet to play either the Knights or the Bears so far this season).

Kings-Badgers next weekend (5th June) will be an interesting one to watch out for, with this year’s league leaders against last year’s AAA Champions.

Mike

Reply
Matt Smith May 26, 2011 - 8:07 pm

Hi Michael. I’ve got plenty of robotic puns lined up, don’t worry! The Kings-Badgers matchup certainly looks like being another good test for Bristol if the Kings are up to full strenghth.

Reply

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