Challenge de France: More Open Than Ever
From May 8 to 11, in Metz and Argency, Moselle, the Challenge de France will bring together the eight teams of Division 1 baseball. The champion earns the right to compete in the European Championship.
For a long time, the Challenge was the exclusive domain of the Huskies and the Templars. Thus, from 2012 to 2019, the two teams shared the 8 titles and faced each other 5 times in the final. Since the Covid pause, the competition has opened up: 3 different winners, the Barracudas, who had been waiting for a title since 2006, Rouen, because the Huskies don’t like to share, and a brand new champion, Montigny. We even had a new finalist, Metz, last season. Montpellier even imposed itself twice and reached the semifinals twice in these 4 editions. And what if the Barracudas were the new kings of the Challenge?
In any case, Montpellier is one of the big favorites of the event, which is taking place for the first time on the fields of Metz and Argancy. The Barracudas have the assets that allow them to get through the 4 days of competition, and notably a pitching staff of the highest level. One can thus imagine that Vera and Quinonez will each have a start, and that for the innings JFL, Polit, Couvreur, Deleau, Brossier have enough to do the job. The offense, which has been functioning quite well since the beginning of the season, is reinforced by a solid Canadian hitter in giant format, Dawson Walters. And the return of Bouniol will give more assurance to a defense that has been quite fragile at times. Montpellier can claim to achieve the 2024-2025 double, a feat that has not been accomplished since Rouen 2015-2016.
Rouen, precisely, missed the competition last year, yet organized on its own field. The Huskies are thirsty for revenge and want to add an 11th title to their trophy case. As always for nearly a quarter of a century, removing Rouen from a chance of winning is a dangerous bet. After all, the Huskies are the current leaders of the championship, and their severe defeat last Sunday in Savigny (1-8) seems too heavy to be true. The kind of missed match that happens in a season, and which comes at just the right time to put minds in the right direction. The Huskies are not at their best on the mound, in the absence of Mercadier, with a Prioul who is slow to find his best level, a Gore who had a lot of trouble against Savigny. But you will have to count on an attack that is always very dominant and very complete.
If we were to look for an outsider to prevent the final between these two powerhouses, we could turn to La Rochelle. Last season, after 5 unsuccessful attempts, the Buccaneers finally made it past the first round. It was more complicated in the semifinals against Metz, but the psychological block has been overcome. The Buccaneers have an offense that is on par with the two teams mentioned above, a quality pitching staff, within which we hope for the return of Louis Perrois, and certainly a grand-scale desire to turn everything upside down. The Thursday afternoon match against Montpellier will give a good indication of what the rest of the competition could look like.
We will also have to deal with Savigny and Sénart. The Lions are surely pumped up after their win against Rouen and the arrival of a Venezuelan pitcher. The JFL pitching remains problematic behind a dominant Coste. Sénart also risks lacking resources on the mound to get through the competition.
We cannot neglect the chances of Béziers, who are discovering the Challenge. We know the devastating offense of the Pirates, we know that the non-JFL bullpen is of the highest order, if the young JFL arms manage to hold the fort (for recall, seven JFL innings and one JFL start are mandatory in the first phase), the Pirates could well get out of a pool completed by Metz and Toulouse.
The Cometz will no doubt struggle to repeat their 2025 run. They suffer too much from a JFL bullpen that cannot control opposing offenses to hope to get out of it. Toulouse is rarely successful at the Challenge: after reaching the semifinals five times between 2005 and 2008, the Stade has only returned once, in 2016, and has lost 10 of its last 11 matches. But what if it was Toulouse, the surprise? The young red and black guard has the talent to move mountains. If Rojas can forget his injuries, Toulouse can count on Laot, Garcia-Martinez, and Duquenoy to make the difference. Crossing France to play only two days is not worth it. We would bet a small coin on a beautiful run by Randy Perez’s men.
To help you make your predictions, a quick look at the statistics of the 8 teams:
Offense
- Batting Average: 1. Béziers .319, 2. Rouen .316, 3. Montpellier .270, 4. La Rochelle .259, 5. Toulouse .255, 6. Metz .252, 7. Savigny .247, 8. Sénart .237
- Slugging: 1. Rouen .419, 2. Béziers .396, 3. La Rochelle .366, 4. Montpellier .348, 5. Savigny .345, 6. Toulouse .330, 7. Metz .324, 8. Sénart .320
- One Base: 1. Béziers .408, 2. Rouen .407, 3. La Rochelle .388, 4. Metz .374, 5. Montpellier .369, 6. Toulouse .352, 7. Sénart .348, 8. Savigny .340
- % Stolen Base Success: 1. Montpellier 87.5, 2. Savigny 86.67, 3. Béziers 85.71, 4. Sénart 84.00, 5. Metz 78.57, 6. Toulouse 77.78, 7. Rouen 74.29, 8. La Rochelle 71.43
- % Strikeouts: 1. Rouen 11.8%, 2. Béziers 18.0%, 3. La Rochelle 18.4%, 4. Metz 19.5%, 5. Montpellier 19.7%, 6. Toulouse 20.0%, 7. Sénart 20.7%, 8. Savigny 22.4%
- % Walks: 1. La Rochelle 12.5%, 2. Metz 12.0%, 3. Montpellier, Rouen 11.2%; 5. Savigny 11.0%, 6. Béziers 10.9%, 7. Toulouse 10.0%, 8. Sénart 9.5%
- Runners Left on Base per Game: 1. Toulouse 5.5, 2. La Rochelle 6.4, 3. Sénart 6.7, 4. Savigny 6.8, 5. Metz 7.5, 6. Montpellier 7.6, 7. Béziers, Rouen 7.7
- LISP (Last Inning Pressure Situation): 1. Béziers .333, 2. Sénart .265, 3. Savigny .259, 4. Rouen .250, 5. Metz .243, 6. Montpellier .238, 7. Toulouse .204, 8. La Rochelle .187
- RISP (Runners in Scoring Position): 1. Béziers .347, 2. Rouen .309, 3. Toulouse .305, 4. Montpellier .304, 5. La Rochelle .295, 6. Sénart .279, 7. Savigny .237, 8. Metz .232
Pitching
- ERA: 1. La Rochelle 2.60, 2. Rouen 2.90, 3. Montpellier 2.92, 4. Sénart 3.88, 5. Béziers 4.50, 6. Toulouse 5.44, 7. Savigny 5.70, 8. Metz 7.00
- Opponents’ Batting Average: 1. Rouen .201, 2. Montpellier .242, 3. Béziers .245, 4. La Rochelle .269, 5. Sénart .291, 6. Metz .300, 7. Toulouse .307, 8. Savigny .309
- WHIP: 1. Rouen 1.25, 2. Montpellier 1.34, 3. Béziers 1.48, 4. La Rochelle 1.53, 5. Sénart 1.70, 6. Toulouse 1.77, 7. Savigny 1.90, 8. Metz 1.92
- K%: 1. Montpellier 22.91%, 2. Béziers 22.03%, 3. La Rochelle 21.12%, 4. Rouen 18.83%, 5. Metz 18.51%, 6. Sénart 17.55%, 7. Savigny 15.62%, 8. Toulouse 13.60%
- BB%: 1. La Rochelle 9.09%, 2. Montpellier 9.25%, 3. Sénart 10.78%, 4. Savigny 10.86%, 5. Toulouse 10.98%, 6. Béziers 11.44%, 7. Rouen 11.90%, 8. Metz 13.48%
- FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching): 1. Montpellier 2.67, 2. Rouen 2.80, 3. Béziers 4.46, 4. La Rochelle 3.80, 5. Sénart 4.13, 6. Toulouse 4.70, 7. Savigny 4.91, 8. Metz 4.97
- LOB (Left on Base Percentage): 1. Rouen 67.5%, 2. Montpellier 63.9%, 3. Sénart 62.2%, 4. Béziers 61.7%, 5. Toulouse 61.0%, 6. La Rochelle 60.9%, 7. Metz 54.1%, 8. Savigny 49.5%
Defense
- Fielding Percentage: 1. Rouen .969, 2. Toulouse .947, 3. Montpellier .945, 4. Sénart .943, 5. Béziers .940, 6. Metz .939, 7. La Rochelle .927, 8. Savigny .910
- % Stolen Base Attempts: 1. Montpellier 68%, 2. Metz, Sénart 72%, 4. Savigny 79%?, 5. Toulouse 83%, 6. Rouen 86%, 7. La Rochelle 87%, 8. Béziers 97%
- Double Plays per 9 Innings: 1. Sénart 2.98, 2. Savigny 2.85, 3. Béziers 2.34, 4. Rouen, Toulouse 2.30, 6. Metz 1.84, 7. La Rochelle 1.81, 8. Montpellier 1.24
- DER (Defensive Efficiency Ratio): 1. Rouen .614, 2. Montpellier .532, 3. La Rochelle .513, 4. Sénart .490, 5. Béziers .485, 6. Toulouse .473, 7. Savigny .412, 8. Metz .401
