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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 thirteen 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 1st Bundesliga is split into two 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 two 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).
