Opening Day is here
Opening day for the British Baseball Federation (BBF) adult baseball season is this Sunday (16th April) with over 80 teams and over 1,000 players taking part across the country.
This follows the outstanding performance by GB Baseball in the recent World Baseball Classic, which has pushed the national programme into the World Baseball and Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) top 20 rankings for the first time.
GB Baseball’s victory over Colombia in Pool C guaranteed automatic qualification for the 2026 World Baseball Classic once the USA had beaten the South American side in the last group match.
“The World Baseball Classic performance is an important milestone for the development of the game in Great Britain and is the result of the hard work put in by many people on and off the field over many years,” said Tom Thornhill, President of the British Baseball Federation (BBF).
“The 2023 domestic season promises to be the best ever with more players and teams playing baseball in every corner of the country. Its also important that more and more youth players are getting in touch with clubs which means the future is bright for the sport.”
The National Baseball League (NBL) will feature six teams this season. East London Latin Boys, Essex Arrows, Herts Falcons, London Capitals, London Mets and Sheffield Bruins will all compete for the title of national champions.
The London Mets, the 2022 NBL champions, will host Essex Arrows at Finsbury Park with the first game of the double header starting at 12 noon.
The 2023 BBF AAA division will feature eight teams, AA boasts 21 teams and A 25 teams.
The Southern region of the Women’s Baseball League starts on 29th April with the Northern region starting on 27th May.
In addition, the British Baseball League, the East of England League and the North East Baseball League have affiliated to the BBF from the 2023 season.
The three regional leagues, who currently administer 23 adult teams including two university teams, will now receive a variety of support from the BBF under a new affiliation and governance model introduced this year.
The South West and Wales Baseball League (SWWBL), which affiliated in 2021 has nine A teams. The Bristol Bats, the 2022 SWWBL champions, have moved up to the BBF AA Division for 2023.
The British Baseball League covers the North West and Yorkshire and represents seven clubs based in Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Hull and Wragby.
The East of England Baseball League is based around Norfolk and Cambridge and also includes teams from Northamptonshire and Harwich.
The North East Baseball League covers Newcastle and County Durham and is the newest regional adult league in the country.
The full schedules for all BBF matches can be found at https://stats.britishbaseball.org.uk/en/calendar
