(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers Opening Series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (April 29), the 100th season in the highest Dutch baseball-league gets underway with the opening games of the first 3-game series of the year.
The season was initially scheduled to start on April 8, but the opening has been postponed due to ongoing measures against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Reigning champion L&D Amsterdam Pirates opens at home on Thursday-evening and meets Hoofddorp Pioniers.
Last year, Amsterdam Pirates led 2-0 in the best-of-seven Holland Series against Curaçao Neptunus.
However, due to stricter measures against the coronavirus, the Championship Final ended abruptly.
Two days later, it was announced that there would be no champion in 2020.
In 2019, Amsterdam Pirates and Neptunus also faced each other in the Holland Series.
Pirates then became the first team in history to win four games in a row after having lost the first three.
Therefore, the team is still the reigning champion when the 2021 season gets underway.
The team that will be crowned this year as champion this will be the 99th since Quick Amsterdam was the first in 1922.
Traditionally, Grand Slam * Stats & News will weekly publish the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming 3-games series.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days.
This season, the starting pitchers will be published (or updated) on Wednesday-evening, as some of the teams conduct their practice sessions on Wednesday instead of Tuesday, which has to do with the testing of the players for the games on Thursday.
There will be some new faces this season.
And there will be a lot of familiar faces, some of them with a new team.
But here are the first probable starting pitchers for the 2021 season.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News wishes everyone, players, coaches, umpires, official scorers, commissioners, fans and others an wonderful 2021 season.
Play Ball!
(April 28)
| Roster | L&D AMSTERDAM PIRATES (0-0) | vs. |
HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pirates | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 20 | RHP Tom de Blok (0-0) | 1 | 7 | RHP John Michael Halley (0-0) | Th. Apr.29, 7:30 PM, Amsterdam (1) |
| 45 | RHP Juan Carlos Sulbaran (0-0) | 2 | 8 | LHP Ryan Huntington (0-0) | Sa. May 1, 2:00 PM, Hoofddorp (2) |
| 24 | LHP Nick Veltkamp (0-0) | 3 | 25 | RHP Lars Broersen (0-0) | Su. May 2, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (1) |
| (1) = Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam; (2) = ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park 21, Hoofddorp |
| Roster | QUICK AMERSFOORT (0-0) | vs. |
DSS/KINHEIM (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Quick | G | # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 52 | LHP Jhan Rifaela (0-0) | 1 | 23 | RHP Jelle Bing (0-0) | Th. Apr.29, 7:30 PM, Amersfoort (3) |
| 14 | RHP Jan-Willem Geerts (0-0) | 2 | 12 | RHP Glenn Wassink (0-0) | Sa. May 1, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (4) |
| | to be decided | 3 | 99 | RHP Tom Stuifbergen (0-0) | Su. May 2, 2:00 PM, Amersfoort (3) |
| (3) = XL Lease Park 'Dorrestein', Amersfoort; (4) = Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem |
| Roster | SILICON STORKS (0-0) | vs. |
CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Storks | G | # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 8 | RHP Jayden Gonesh (0-0) | 1 | 35 | LHP Diegomar Markwell (0-0) | Th. Apr.29, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (5)(*) |
| 25 | RHP Twan Naessens (0-0) | 2 | 38 | RHP Orlando Yntema (0-0) | Sa. May 1, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (5) |
| | LHP Nelmerson Angela (0-0) | 3 | 27 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (0-0) | Su. May 2, 2:00 PM, The Hague (6) |
| (5) = Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (6) = Sportpark 'Kijkduin', The Hague |
| (*) - Thursday's home-game of Storks will be played at the site of Neptunus in Rotterdam |
| Roster | HCAW (0-0) | vs. |
TWINS OOSTERHOUT (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers HCAW | G | # | Starting Pitchers Twins Oosterhout |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 25 | RHP Lars Huijer (0-0) | 1 | 8 | RHP Koen Postelmans (0-0) | Th. Apr.29, 7:30 PM, Bussum (7) |
| 45 | LHP Jim Ploeger (0-0) | 2 | 62 | RHP Taisei Nakamura (0-0) | Sa. May 1, 2:00 PM, Oosterhout (8) |
| 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (0-0) | 3 | 24 | RHP Simon Gross (0-0) | Su. May 2, 2:00 PM, Bussum (7) |
| (7) = Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark Zanderijweg, Bussum; (8) = Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout |
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