12th Round Review

Is this sport for real?

There are players moving up in the minors, getting drafted, or being recruited by prestigious universities. There’s the French U18 team reaching the final four of the European Championship (even if the clash with the very top tier was painful). There’s a magnificent U15 international tournament, featuring the Japanese team, organized by French baseball legend Jamel Boutagra. And then there’s what’s supposed to be the showcase of the discipline, the D1 championship. Which, last weekend, resembled an overgrown wasteland. A lack of seriousness that’s painful to watch for anyone who loves this sport. A match whose play-by-play didn’t work, no images to see, regional players called up to fill rosters, 3 mercy rules out of 6 games, including two by 15 points. None of it was pretty to watch. Sure, it was a makeup day smack in the middle of summer, with players selected for the national team. But still, the image given of the top-tier competition isn’t exactly glorious.

We’ll quickly gloss over Toulouse’s two blowouts in Sénart; Stade had so many players missing that the scores don’t mean much. Other than making life significantly harder for the Toulousains in the playoff race and making the Templiers regret their scorching heat forfeit in Montpellier. Rouen did their job against a PUC paying a heavy price to the French national team. The first game was tight, but since there’s no information or broadcast available, we won’t talk about it.

More interesting were Savigny’s two wins against Buccaneers who just suffered their first major setback of the season. Romain Krzykawiak was once again dominated, especially in that first inning that was his strength in the first half of the season, and that’s concerning for the rest of the campaign. The offense was unproductive, despite a few opportunities, especially against J. Neyraud, who’s had a tough season so far (14.40 ERA in 5 innings before this game). The Lions, on the other hand, are having a truly full and very interesting season; they’re starting to reduce their error count and remain as formidable as ever at the plate. They join Montpellier at the 1st spot, and it’s hard to argue that these two teams are the toughest to face this season.

The sprint is on, with an important novelty for the end of the season. Due to postponements and the Friendship Series between France and South Africa, the CFS decided to move the semifinal dates, which will now take place over a single weekend, best-of-two, on the higher-ranked team’s field. Needless to say, finishing in the top 2 spots is even more crucial, both sportingly and economically.

Savigny has the easiest schedule of the 8 teams. Their next opponents have a .402 win percentage. That should be enough for the Lions, given their current form, to finish the season in one of the top 2 spots. Who will join them? On the contrary, Montpellier has the toughest schedule (.598 win percentage for opponents). They’ll have to face top-tier teams. The Barracudas are capable of crushing a game, but also of letting a few slip away. We’ll trust them to barely hold onto a top-2 spot. Notably because the Buccaneers (.583) and the Huskies (.573) also have a tough task ahead. But these two teams should logically complete the top 4. However, Rochelle, Rouen, and Montpellier will all face off in the coming weeks, which could also change the picture. Sénart (.427) has an easier schedule, but the two forfeited losses could hurt in case of a tie. It will be very complicated for Toulouse, who combine a tough schedule (.524) and especially three away games, where Stade is never really comfortable. For the relegation battle, Béziers (.450) and PUC (.476) have relatively comparable difficulty rates. Will everything come down to the final showdown between these two teams, with the Pirates at a disadvantage due to the double forfeit? Maybe with all these games, the D1 championship will regain some luster, prestige, and interest.

F. Colombier

Photo credits: Julien Barrio