Bundesliga (baseball)

Current season, competition or edition: 2023 Baseball-Bundesliga
Sport	Baseball
Founded	1984
No. of teams	13
Country	Germany
Most recent champion(s)	Heidenheim Heideköpfe (7th title)
Most titles	Mannheim Tornados (10 titles)
Official website	baseball-bundesliga.de

The Baseball-Bundesliga is the professional elite competition for the sport of baseball in Germany. In it, the men's German championship is determined annually. Like most European sports leagues, the Bundesliga uses a system of promotion and relegation. The highest division of the Bundesliga currently consists of thriteen teams in two divisions, with each team playing four games against each other team. The league is regulated by the German Baseball and Softball Federation (DBV).

History

A precursor to the Baseball-Bundesliga was founded between 1951, with the Stuttgart Phillies winning the inaugural national championship.^[1] However, the league disbanded following the 1970 season, leaving Germany without a national league for 11 years.^[2]

The Baseball-Bundesliga, in its current incarnation, was established in 1982.^[3] Two teams produced dynasties during the league's first two decades of operation: the Mannheim Tornados won every championship from 1984 to 1989, and the Paderborn Untouchables won every championship from 2001 to 2005. The league claims that in 1990, there were 2000 baseball players in Germany, while that number has grown to exceed 30,000 today.^[4]

In 2010, the league promoted the Dohren Wild Farmers and the Neuenburg Atomics.^[5] At the end of the season, the Neuenburg Atomics were relegated with the worst record in the Southern Division (1–27). The Saarlouis Hornets voluntarily relegated themselves for financial reasons, despite posting the best record (19–21) in a ten-year history in the first division, causing the Southern Division to contract from eight to seven teams.^[6] The two teams were replaced by the Bad Homburg Hornets. In the Northern Division, the Cologne Cardinals were relegated at the end the season and replaced by the champions of the second division, the Berlin Sluggers.^[7][8]

A motion to reduce the league from 16 to 12 teams was denied by a Competition Commission established by the DBV prior to a general meeting of all the baseball clubs in Germany in Frankfurt am Main on 13 November 2010. At the meeting itself, it was agreed to add an All Star Game for the 2012 season.^[9]

Season Format

The Regular Season For The 1. (1st) Bundesliga is split into 2 different sub-divisions, Nord (North) and Süd (South) each having 8 teams. The season has a total of 28 games with each team playing every other team in 2 games which are normally hosted on the weekends. The game format is the same as The MLB with a 9-inning format and extra-innings after if the game is still a tie. Unlike The MLB the 1. Bundesliga also has a mercy rule if one of the 2 teams is leading by 10 runs or more before the last 2 innings of the game, they will stop playing and give a automatic win to the team that is winning by 10 or more runs.

The four best-placed teams in each group/sub-divisions of the 1. Bundesliga play in an interleague round with subsequent play-offs for the German championship, while the other teams in each group determine possible relegation in the play-downs.

In the interleague round, the top four of each group play in a match against the top four of the other league, with teams playing back-to-back double-header matches in a ballpark on the same day, giving each team a chance to play at home and away.

After the interleague round, the seeding list for the playoffs is determined, this only includes the games of the regular season and the interleague round, between the eight teams involved in the interleague round. 1st vs 8th, 2nd vs 7th and so on.

The play-off rounds are a little bit different to the inner-league round although they have a similar concept. All rounds are best of 5 games with the quarter and semi-finals being in a double header format over 2 weekends and on Saturdays. If a game 5 is necessary then the final game will be played on the Sunday after game 3 and 4. The final series is played in individual games instead of the double header format and games are divided up between the teams. Game 1 and 2 are played at the team who did better in the regular season and game 3 and 4 are played in the worse teams home field. Game 5 is played at the better regular season team again if needed which crowns the German Champions (Deutscher Meister).

Champions

See: German champions (baseball) § 1982-present

Current teams

Division	Team	Location	Field	Founded
North	Berlin Flamingos	Berlin	Flamingo Park	1990
	Bonn Capitals	Bonn	Stadion Rheinaue	1989
	Cologne Cardinals	Cologne	Baseballstadion Köln	1983
	Dohren Wild Farmers	Dohren	Baseballfeld Wild Farmers	1990
	Hamburg Stealers	Hamburg	Baseballfeld Langenhorst	1985
	Paderborn Untouchables	Paderborn	Ahorn-Ballpark	1990
South	Regensburg Legionäre	Regensburg	Armin-Wolf-Arena	1987
	Heidenheim Heideköpfe	Heidenheim an der Brenz	HellensteinEnergie Ballpark	1992
	Hünstetten Storm	Hünstetten	Dickman Field
	Mainz Athletics	Mainz	Baseballstadion Hartmühlenweg	1988
	Mannheim Tornados	Mannheim	Roberto-Clemente-Field	1975
	München-Haar Disciples	Haar	Ballpark Eglfing	1990
	Stuttgart Reds	Stuttgart	TVC-Ballpark	1986

Untouchables

Capitals

Stealers

Cardinals

Wild Farmers

Flamingos

Legionäre

Heideköpfe

Tornados

Disciples

Athletics

Reds

Storm

2023 Bundesliga teams (North Division and South Division )

See also

• Baseball awards § Germany
• Baseball awards § Europe

References

External links

• German Baseball and Softball Association official website (German)
• Buchbinder Legionäre Internet Live
• Haar Disciples Internet Live