I believe children are the future

Like Peter Kay said, after garlic bread and cheesecake, kids are the future.

And while this weekend is the climax of the adult baseball season in Britain at the National Baseball Championships, the first round of playoff fixtures is taking place across the country to decide which junior teams will be attending the Youth NBCs at Richmond next weekend.

With youth baseball somewhat centred around a few hubs and a few clubs, there’s a little less competition, although ironically a higher proportion of teams take part in the postseason compared to the senior levels.

Four spots are open to teams for the youth NBCs at each of the Ponies (under-17) and Broncos (under-14) levels, and the reigning champions at each level – London Mets for Ponies, Herts All-Stars for Broncos – are both well in the hunt.

Action in the south kicks off on Saturday with matches at two venues; Finsbury Park (home of the London Mets) and RAF Daws Hill, High Wycombe (home of the London Youth Baseball League). Current league standings determine initial seedings and who will play to begin with, but there’s a lot more at stake going forward.

In the Ponies division, the 2010 Champions, the London Mets (14-1), will reach the NBCs with just one win, over either the Herts All-Stars (1-11) or Essex Redbacks (6-11), who are playing against each other as the lowest seeded competition. The other NBC berth will go to either of the Cobham Cougars (2-4) or Horsham Hornets (12-6).

At Finsbury Park, the Mets’ Bronco team (11-3) will also just need one win to go through, against either the Essex Atoms (0-8) or Herts All-Stars (3-5). The Forest Glade Redbacks (9-5) and Bracknell Broncos (1-5) are facing off for the right to take on the #2 seeded London Youth Baseball League (2-0) to progress to the final 4. But there is also a third spot up for grabs, which will be contested by the losers of the third and fourth games, so to go through to the NBCs some teams may be required to play three games in the day. Heroic.

There are no playoffs in the north as the league standings have decided positions; Cartmel Valley will be representing the region at the Broncos level while the Halton Polecats and Cartmel Valley Ponies will play for the under-17 trophy.

The selection process for youth teams making the playoffs is somewhat less discriminatory (15/21 teams that have played in the BBF leagues) than the senior teams (where ‘only’ 53% of teams make the post-season here in Britain!), but it doesn’t mean that the competition isn’t as high. There are some power-house teams that only know how to win, and some who are there to make up the numbers, but generally everyone will enjoy their experience of playoff action.

It’s hard to bet against the Mets winning both age groups, but there’s a lot of baseball to be played and the strength of the northern teams is often misdiagnosed before it’s too late by clubs in the south; Cartmel Valley, Northwich and Halton have provided a lot of good players in the past and there’s every chance that there may be some upsets come finals weekend.