The Division 1 Baseball regular season has delivered its verdict. No more doubt hangs over the final standings: now it’s time for the playoffs, scheduled to begin on August 16th. For the past two years, the format has evolved: no more ‘plays down,’ and four teams have already seen their season come to an end.
Among them, the Cometz de Metz, who finish the season in eighth place. A ranking synonymous with relegation… unless the future Division 2 champion chooses not to exercise their right to promotion to the elite in 2026.
In this context, we met with David Ten Eyck, president of the Messin club, for an in-depth interview. An opportunity to look back, with frankness and lucidity, on the standout successes and disappointments of a 2025 season rich in emotions.
BTVF: The year 2025 ends with a mixed performance, with a spot in the France Challenge final and an eighth-place finish that means relegation to Division 2. How do you explain this gap between these two results?
We showed what we were capable of during the France Challenge—and in some other games this season. Unfortunately, we weren’t consistent enough and didn’t step up at key moments. We lost too many close games for that reason.
Of course, this season is a failure for us. A failure we must collectively own. We’ll work hard to bounce back properly.
But we weren’t blown away either. I don’t think our opponents thought: ‘We’re playing Metz this weekend, these will be easy games!’ In D1, for the past two seasons, anyone can beat anyone in any match. The last two editions of the France Challenge are proof of that. But over the entire season, the difference comes down to consistency, regularity, discipline, concentration, squad depth, and club structure…We showed twice that we can make an impact in a four-day competition. But there’s still a step to take to replicate that over a four-month season.
BTVF: Six years in Division 1… the club has shown it belongs at the top level, but the limit of eight leaves no room for error. Montigny paid the price last year, and this year, it’s your turn. Is the eight-team format too harsh with this direct relegation?
The level of Division 1 with eight teams is very high, and it’s getting better every year. The leaders of our club all agree that the level of D1 today has nothing to do with that of 2019, when we were promoted.
As for the playoffs, the rules of the game were clearly presented before the season. We all signed up to play knowing that the eighth team would go down directly. And the Division 2 champion will fully deserve the sporting rights they have earned by winning their title. I certainly don’t want to give the impression of minimizing the work done by the D2 champion.
But, apart from the sporting situation of my club, if I give a ‘political’ answer to your question, I must say that I was not in favor of the abolition of the playoffs, and my opinion on the subject has not changed.
We need to be pragmatic: How many clubs are currently capable of playing in D1? I’m not just talking about the sporting level, but also the budget, infrastructure, training of officials and coaches, the requirement to film matches, the pool of JFL in the territory, etc. If we’re optimistic, we can push to eleven or twelve. If we’re strict, we’ll probably stop at eight. Or even less. And even among these teams, most don’t tick all the boxes.
So, given this fragility, do we have an interest in making this small handful of clubs play with the knife constantly at their throats? Economically, a club that goes down risks losing a lot of subsidies and institutional support, and very quickly. Whereas a club that goes up usually has to spend several years building revenues in line with the higher level. It took Metz five or six years to start building a really solid legacy from our D1 journey. For me, direct relegation creates instability that is not in the interest of the development of our discipline.
But that’s the game, and it’s certain that it creates spectacle for those who follow D1! We paid the price in 2025. We’ll have to try to take advantage of it in 2026 to reclaim our place in the elite.
BTVF: The club is known for its school and the training of its juniors. These youngsters are the feeder for the first team, but it’s clear that the level they’ve reached creates a fragile line-up, with batting and pitching averages too low. Is the playing time and the level difference with foreigners the only explanations?
The baseball school is indeed at the heart of our club, and we are very proud of it. I plan to get back to coaching our young players in 2026. As for the rest, it’s a broad subject. But I don’t share your analysis. Several young players trained in our school have shown at times that they are capable of evolving in D1. And we have one of the youngest JFL groups in the championship (only Béziers had younger JFLs), so our margin for progress is significant. We are proud that ten young players from our 12U and 15U sections participated in several D1 matches in 2025. Only Savigny and Sénart fielded as many homegrown players in D1 this season. For me, the issue is not really the young players from our school. Having this large pool of players trained together, who train together all year and who carry our club in their hearts, is a huge strength that many other clubs would like to have. The problem is rather that almost ALL our JFLs are players trained at the club. ‘Our’ young players fulfill their role, but they are not supported by players trained elsewhere in our region or elsewhere in France. They are therefore constantly in the front line and under pressure, from a very young age—an age where they must balance baseball, studies, entering the world of work, and the uncertainties that come with it.
If you look at the two most successful clubs of the past four years—Rouen and Montpellier—you find squads balanced between players trained at the club, players trained elsewhere in their region, players trained elsewhere in France, and foreign players. With us, there are the players from our school and the foreign players. And almost no JFL profiles from elsewhere.
BTVF: Hosting the France Challenge and reaching the finals two years in a row shows that the seven-inning format suits you better, both for batters and pitchers. Regarding the latter, how can we better train them to compete with other pitchers?
We are proud to have organized a great 2025 edition of the Challenge, with our neighbors from Argancy. Apart from the sporting result, it was a historic moment for baseball in Moselle. Frankly, I don’t think the seven-inning format had the slightest impact on our Challenge results. No more than for other teams, at least. We were already playing seven innings in 2023, when we were swept in two games by La Rochelle and Rouen. Last year, with all our pitching options, we would probably have been favored by a nine-inning format. This year, if we had played nine innings, we might have been able to come back in the final against Savigny… or not held our Friday match against Béziers to the end. But what’s the point of overanalyzing that? The keys to the 2025 Challenge were the performances on Thursday: Timothy Guyonneau for Béziers and Hugo Py for us, who allowed our two teams to perfectly align the pitching for the rest of the competition. And then Orozco, who was there for Savigny at all the key moments, and Acuna, who was decisive when needed. As always.
Playing seven innings remains anecdotal.
For the second part of the question—improving our pitching—we will work hard with the pitchers already at the club, try to set up a specific pitching coach to support them, and try to attract more pitchers to support them… Our pitching in 2024 was a strong point. It will be again in 2026.
BTVF: Unless the D2 champion decides not to promote, you will play in Division 2. Do you already have a strategy to bounce back in 2027 and win this championship in 2026?
It’s tricky to answer this question as long as the identity of the D2 champion is not known and that club has not made its decision regarding the level it wishes to play at in 2026. The D2 champion will have earned the right to make this choice. It must be respected. I certainly won’t start saying: ‘If such and such a team wins, they might decide this or that for such and such a reason.’
The D2 champion will be master of its destiny, and we will potentially have to wait a few weeks after the final to know if we will play in D1 or D2 in 2026. So, at the moment, we are preparing to play in D1 again. It’s easier to prepare for D1, then adapt to the reality of a D2 season, than to do the opposite.
In both cases, almost all the players based in Metz will return, with the desire to be stronger than in 2025. If we play in D2, the goal will clearly be to win the title and return directly, and stronger, to the elite. If we are administratively maintained, the goal will be to get out of the bottom of the table and play for a playoff spot.
BTVF: What can we wish you for the future?
The bitter irony of this eighth place is that it comes at a time when the club is stronger than it has ever been during our entire D1 journey.
On August 31st, we will inaugurate our new clubhouse, which will open up enormous possibilities on the sporting and associative levels. This winter, the outfield drainage will be done. After years of financial difficulties related to investments, we will end 2025 with a very solid financial situation. We have just made a major investment for video capture of matches, which will put us on par with the most successful clubs in this area. And more… What we can wish for the future is that this sporting setback does not constitute a brake on the associative project as a whole. That the successes achieved off the field in 2025 quickly translate into successes on the field, in order to take our club to a new dimension.
Photo credit: Jeremy Pruzsina, Ffbs (Glenn Gervot)
