Wikipedia - Bundesliga (baseball)

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. However, the league disbanded following the 1970 season, leaving Germany without a national league for 11 years.

The Baseball-Bundesliga, in its current incarnation, was established in 1982. 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.

In 2010, the league promoted the Dohren Wild Farmers and the Neuenburg Atomics. 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. 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.

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.

Germany 1.Bundesliga Süd är den högsta nivån av baseboll i södra Tyskland. Ligan består av 12 lag som spelar en dubbelserie mot varandra under säsongen. De fyra bästa lagen kvalificerar sig till slutspelsserien, medan de två sämsta lagen degraderas till 2.Bundesliga.

Ligan grundades 1981 och har sedan dess dominerats av Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg, som har vunnit mästerskapet 11 gånger. Det nuvarande mästarlaget är Heidenheim Heideköpfe, som vann sitt första mästerskap 2021.

1.Bundesliga Süd är en av de starkaste basebollligorna i Europa, med flera lag som regelbundet kvalificerar sig för Europacupen. Ligan är också känd för sin höga kvalitet på ungdomsarbetet, vilket har lett till att flera tyska spelare har draftades till Major League Baseball.