Happy New Year Everyone! It's 2025 and the weather seems to have only gotten worse, but the days are gradually getting longer and baseball season will soon be upon us!
So with that in mind, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look ahead at some of the most exciting events coming up in the British baseball calendar this year. There's a whole host of domestic action to look forward to, as well as a number of international tournaments if you're looking for some fun on the continent. Many dates haven't been officially released yet, so some approximations have been made based on previous years.
At Home
The domestic calendar is set to start off nice and early with the Herts Spring League, organised by Herts Baseball Club, due to begin its 17th year of operation in March. The HSL gives clubs from across the country a competitive pre-season schedule to get them ready for the season ahead. Around the same time, the London Youth Baseball League is likely to get underway at Farnham Park in Slough, providing young people of the Greater London and South East a well-coached, highly competitive and welcoming environment to develop their skills and a chance to play at the Youth Baseball National Championships later in the year
Speaking of youth, the British Universities and Colleges Sport National Baseball Championships are due to take place in mid-Spring, normally around April time. The Durham University Wolves will be looking to repeat as champions in the games fourth year as a BUCS recognised sport.
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| The Durham University Wolves celebrate winning the 2024 BUCS Baseball Championship (Jody Davies photography) |
There's mid-season festivities pencilled in as well. Aside from the various All-Star games that take place across a number of leagues in June/July, the Manchester Baseball Club will be hosting the inaugural Northern Baseball Festival on May 25th. The festival will have a number of exhibition games, with registrations open and available to players of any ability from across the UK.
Two stalwarts of the British baseball calendar will make their return this year. The battle for Britain tournament is typically scheduled for the end of May, with the BBF Summer Cup usually commencing shortly after in June. The last of the mid-season tournaments takes place on July 5th and 6th, the British Baseball London Tournament hosted by the Croydon Pirates Baseball Club is another new date for the diary and should be an excellent way to round out the Summer.
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| The Birmingham Metalheads celebrate in the dugout at the 2024 BBF Summer Cup (Louisa Kotlarzewski) |
As the nights draw in and Autumn enters the scene, the BBF National Finals Day and Youth National Baseball Championship conclude the season in the UK. Both of which are expected to take place in September, before the days get too short.
A necessary note for this season, there has been no London Series games announced by MLB for 2025. This leaves an extra weekend available in the domestic schedule, as in previous years leagues have designated the London Series weekend as a bye week for all teams.
On the Continent
If you're looking for something a little more far afield, and a great excuse to see some different parts of the world, then there's a tasty amount of European action on offer this year.
The BBF has been allocated two spots in the WBSC Europe Federation Cup Qualifiers, the lowest level of continental baseball in Europe, which is anticipated to take place some time in late spring however their has been no host or other competition details announced as of yet. Also in club action, the Buccaneers Youth Travel Team (Great Britain and Irelands premier travel ball team) will be participating in a three game series against the Irish Baseball Academy in Ashbourne, Ireland on May 31st to June 1st.
On the national team front, there is a packed schedule of tournaments to look forward to in 2025. The U-12 European Championship B-Pool hosted in Jánossomorja, Hungary takes place in the first week of July, with GB looking to gain promotion to the tournament proper. Also in July is the U-15 European Baseball Championship, no official dates have been given yet but the tournament will be hosted in Trieste, Italy. The newly promoted GB team will be looking to push on and come home with a medal.
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| GB U-15's celebrate promotion to the U-15 European Championship proper (Otilija Klara Galvelytė) |
Finally, the Coup de grâce, the EuroBaseball Championship will take place between the 20th and 27th of September in three different host cities. Antwerp, Belgium; Milan, Italy and Rotterdam, Netherlands will all host group stage matches with Rotterdam hosting the knockout rounds. GB will be looking to right the wrongs of 2023 when they lost out in the Final to a strong Spain side.
Their is the Women's EuroBaseball Championship scheduled for 2025 as well, the tournament was rescheduled from 2024 due to a restructuring of the global baseball calendar by the WBSC. There have been no official details released yet, but sources suggest that no host bids have been officially submitted, with discussions for Czech club Sokol Hluboká to host occurring within the Czech Baseball Association.
The best effort has been made to ensure the information in this article is accurate as of time of writing. If you feel any glaring errors have been made, please feel free to reach out and we will correct them.
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