| New teams in the ascendancy in National Baseball League |
June 27, 2008
British Baseball's top league has a new name and new leaders. The National League has been re-titled the National Baseball League to give it more clarity among sports and within that league two teams have been confirmed the new dominant forces in their respective divisions.
Over the previous two years Manchester Eagles have been steadily improving their end of season records to the point that at the halfway stage of this season they have soared to the top of the northern section of the league, four games ahead of Liverpool and Menwith Hill who usually tussle for first and second places. In the southern half, last year's National Champions the London Mets have replaced Croydon Pirates as the dominant force, already within a few wins of sealing the NBL South division title.
In 2007 the Pirates were unbeaten on the way to taking the South title, although they were eventually undone by the Mets in the National Championships. Now a new-look Croydon team is struggling with a 1-11 record while the Mets have continued the form of their playoff success and have a 16-0 record in 2008.
They have rarely looked like surrendering that winning form and it is quite conceivable that they will repeat Croydon's feat of going the complete league season unbeaten. While London's season streak would last 24 games and so be two short of Croydon's 26-game streak in 2007, it would be achieved against a schedule totally composed of fellow NBL South opposition whereas Croydon had the benefit of playing just under two thirds of its schedule against lower division teams in interleague.
Given the disparity in their league positions, it is unlikely that games between Croydon and London have taken on as much significance as those of 2007 which culminated with their appearances in the final at the playoffs. However, their fates have been linked in other ways. Bearing in mind how the Mets have superseded the Pirates it is somewhat appropriate that on the opening day of this season it was London which ended the Pirates' regular season winning streak at 38 games (which had run through the 2007 season but dated all the way back to July 2, 2006).
Intriguingly, the Mets had a fine run of their own terminated by the Pirates on the last weekend of the 2007 regular season. Before Croydon won that double header London had won 19 on the bounce. Had fortunes been different and the Mets won those pair of games, Croydon's streak would have been halted at 36 and the London's would now have passed that mark at 37.
Throughout the season, fixtures, results and standings can be found at the Baseball Leagues section of britishbaseball.org and updates will be included in the monthly British Baseball Bulletin.
NBL SOUTH STATISTICS AVAILABLE ON SCORERS' ASSOCIATION SITE
Launched before the start of the season, the Great Britain Baseball Scorers' Association website is keeping a record of players' statistics from the South division of the National Baseball League (NBL North stats are not currently available). Updated each week, www.gbbsa.org.uk gives you category leaders plus complete records for every player who has played in the NBL South this season.
The website is also a useful resource for those interested in baseball scoring or simply learning ways to analyse the game and the stats which emerge from it. The GBBSA Southern Commissioner Joe Gray also writes a weekly blog about the National Baseball League at www.baseballgb.co.uk, Matt Smith's baseball blog site with a British fan's perspective.
|
|
