It’s only mid-August, and already we’re at the Division 1 Baseball French Series final.
The two best teams in the championship, the Lions de Savigny and the Huskies de Rouen, will face off this weekend and next to decide the winner in a best-of-five series (first to three victories).
As for the third and fourth place match, the decision has already been made as the Boucaniers de la Rochelle chose to forfeit rather than travel to Montpellier due to financial reasons. We’ll have the chance to revisit this issue, which has been happening for two years. The Barracudas finish third and the Rochelais fourth, a standing with no impact on the championship or the 2023 France Challenge.
Back to our two finalists, we’ve already analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of each team (see previous articles). All matches will be played at Rouen’s stadium, and this is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage for either team, as the last two meetings between these two sides took place there, with Savigny pulling off the upset as the away team, creating the necessary suspense we need. Savigny is still playing away as they don’t have a competition-worthy field (see club portrait article). Finally, Savigny has already secured a spot in the European Cup, either Group A if they win the final or Group B if they lose, and this is already a true achievement for them.
Broadcasts will be handled by Huskies TV, allowing us to follow both matches this weekend with the technical expertise of Jean-Christophe Deslile and commentary by François Colombier.
On the statistics side,
- The Huskies hold the advantage in the first four final meetings (2003, 2005, 2009, and 2010), but these teams look nothing like they did twelve years ago!
- The Lions are on a 13-game winning streak, including two against Rouen, but longevity records are made to be broken!
Our editorial predictions are quite similar, with a split of the two matches leaving room for suspense in the following weekend, except for François Colombier who, half-heartedly, hopes for a 2-0 sweep for the Rouen side.
This Saturday live at 3 PM and tomorrow, Sunday, August 14th, live at 2 PM. These times may change due to extreme heat.
