2011: Newcomers shout their successes
2011 is the year of the newbies in British baseball. The Lakenheath Diamondbacks, new to the BBF leagues but highly skilled as most American forces-based teams have proved time and again here in the UK, are dominating Pool B of the National Baseball League (NBL), while fellow NBL newbies the Southern Nationals are playing above .500 themselves, like their namesakes in Washington DC.
And at the other end of the league structure, the newly reformed Cambridge Royals (nee Monarchs in the 80s and 90s) have gone unbeaten through the first half of their debut season in A-level baseball; although for many of the players it is far from their first endeavour into ‘ball in Britain.
In Pool A of the AA League it’s the Latin Boys who are dominating, winning 11 of their first 13 games. The Croydon-based outfit have added some much needed spice and flair to the season and their infectious enthusiasm has been a breath of fresh air in 2011.
However, it’s not just the new guard that are performing well. The Richmond Flames, the 2010 National Champions, lead Pool A of the NBL, while the Liverpool Trojans, the oldest club still competing in British baseball, are unbeaten at 11-0 in AAA North.
The AAA North and NBL were hit hard by a disagreement between the BBF and ABUA-GB umpiring association at the start of the season, leading to the ABUA-GB being officially derecognised by the BBF, meaning the summer was slow to get going in the top regional divisions. However, since the BBF have taken over in appointing umpires the leagues are thriving and aside from one shocking match between the London Mets and Croydon Pirates, little controversy has since arisen from the situation.
This wasn’t the start that anyone in the sport wanted, but it could be argued that with most of the divisions used to sourcing their own officials or even resorting to allowing members of the home team to umpire, it was only the top tiers that were really affected. And even then only for the first fortnight of competition.
So where does this season rank among recent summers?
Teams throughout the divisions have shown they are able to beat up on opponents whatever the standard, ranging from last beating first or even fourth sweeping second in double headers, so in some respects this is among the most exciting of seasons as there are few runaway leaders at the half way point.
However, with a few teams unbeaten and some that are yet to record a win, there may be a case to rethink which divisions teams play in going forward provided these runs continue.
With the London Tournament at Roundshaw Playing Field, Croydon, this weekend, coinciding with the All-Star Break in MLB, it’ll be interesting to see where teams rank in relation to one another from different regions and a good prelude to what might happen when the postseason playoffs and National Baseball Championships get underway in September.
There’s plenty of time for standings to change, with up to 16 games remaining for some teams in their divisions, and in recent years a number of second-half runs have finalised playoff berths in all the leagues, and so the highs of July and dog days of August will
