(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Starting Pitchers Opening Series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM -
It's time for a new season!
On Thursday-evening (April 7), it's Opening Night and the 2022 regular season gets underway in the Dutch big league with four games.
Weather permitting...
Since early March, we had a month of very acceptable weather with sunny days and nice temperatures (and yes, also some cold days).
The big league-teams were able to play almost all their games in the exhibition-season.
But just before last weekend, there was a change in the weather.
Temperatures dropped, there was snow and there was rain.
And it was cold, sometimes very cold.
It also rained on Monday and Tuesday and some more rain is expected.
Whether of that will be of influence on the games in the Opening Series will be seen, as fields might be unplayable.
In some cases, the Municipality can even cancel a game due to field-conditions.
But that are later concerns.
Let's hope that all games can be played!
In case, a game is cancelled on Thursday, it will be re-scheduled for Friday-evening.
When Saturday's game is cancelled is will be re-scheduled for Tuesday-evening.
When Sunday's game is cancelled is will also be moved to Tuesday-evening.
Or to Monday-evening in case Saturday's game is also cancelled.
This season, there are nine teams in the highest league and no one can relegate.
The odd number of teams means that in each round one team will have no games scheduled.
In the Opening Round, Silicon Storks is the team that will not play.
The new season will have two halves.
In the first half, all teams will face each other three times in a 3-game series (Thursday, Saturday, Sunday).
After all teams have played 24 games, the league will split.
In the second half, the top-four will play against each, as will the bottom-five in their second half.
With that, the teams that play in the top-four will play 42 games in what is the regular season, the teams in the bottom-five will play a total of 36 games.
The top-four teams are far from securing a spot in the deciding season-ending series, as the team from the bottom-five will also remain in contention.
The two best teams of the bottom-five will meet in a best-of-three Wild Card Qualifier.
This will be followed by three best-of-three Wild Card Series from which the best four teams advance to the best-of-five Play-Offs to decide which two teams will meet in the best-of-seven Holland Series.
...The players of Amsterdam Pirates celebrate...
...repeating as Champion in 2021...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Last year, L&D Amsterdam Pirates repeated as Dutch champion, winning the best-of-seven Holland Series against Curaçao Neptunus, 4-3.
In 2019, Pirates captured the title by becoming the first team in history to lose the first three games in the Championship Final, then win the next four when it also faced Neptunus.
In 2020, Pirates and Neptunus again were the two finalists.
Pirates then won the first two games, but the season and thus also the Holland Series, was then abruptly ended due to new measures against the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Also last year, RCH-Pinguïns won the best-of-three Promotion/Relegation Series with a 2-0 sweep against Storks.
With that, the team promoted, while Storks relegated.
However, less than two weeks later, the clubs and the Dutch Association (KNBSB) agreed to a new format for the highest league, which became closed, meaning no club can relegate.
The clubs and the KNBSB also agreed to maintain Storks in the big league, but also resulted in a ninth team.
RCH-Pinguïns will make its comeback.
The team last played in the highest league in 2009.
When the team takes the field on Thursday-evening in an away-game against Amsterdam Pirates, it will do so as RCH Memorie Sieraden, as it recently came to an agreement with a main-sponsor.
Traditionally, Grand Slam * Stats & News will weekly publish the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming 3-games series.
Beneath are the announced starters for the games in the Opening Series.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days, that's up to the coaches.
The webmaster of Grand Slam * Stats & News wishes everyone, players, coaches, umpires, official scorers, commissioners, fans and others a good, sportive and successful 2022 season.
Play Ball!
(April 6)
Opening Day Rosters
Live play-by-play
| Roster | L&D AMSTERDAM PIRATES (0-0) | vs. |
RCH MEMORIE SIERADEN (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pirates | G | # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (0-0) | 1 | 40 | LHP Lochlan Southee (0-0) | Th. Apr. 7, 7:30 PM, Amsterdam (1) |
| | to be decided | 2 | 41 | RHP Jeremy Young (0-0) | Sa. Apr. 9, 2:00 PM, Heemstede (2) |
| | to be decided | 3 | | to be decided | Su. Apr. 10, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (1) |
| (1) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam; (2) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (0-0) | vs. |
DSS/KINHEIM (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 45 | RHP Juan Carlos Sulbaran (0-0) (*) | 1 | 27 | RHP Nick Boxelaar (0-0) | Th. Apr. 7, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| 27 | RHP Kaj Timmermans (0-0) | 2 | 17 | LHP Rick Rizvić (0-0) | Sa. Apr. 9, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (4) |
| | to be decided | 3 | 50 | LHP Kaien Oukes (0-0) | Su. Apr. 10, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| (*) - it is possible that the new shirts of Neptunus will not be ready in time for Opening Night, in that case, Sulbaran's number will be 15 |
| (3) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (4) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem |
| Roster | HCAW (0-0) | vs. |
HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers HCAW | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 45 | LHP Jim Ploeger (0-0) | 1 | 3 | RHP Mathijs Oosterbeek (0-0) | Th. Apr. 7, 7:30 PM, Hoofddorp (5) (*) |
| 39 | RHP Lars Huijer (0-0) | 2 | 31 | RHP Benjamin Meyer (0-0) | Sa. Apr. 9, 1:00 PM, Hoofddorp (5) |
| 7 | RHP Dennis Burgersdijk (0-0) | 3 | 25 | RHP Lars Broersen (0-0) | Su. Apr. 10, 2:00 PM, Bussum (6) |
| (*) - home-game for HCAW, played at Hoofddorp, as home-field in Bussum is unavailable due to maintenance work to lights |
| (5) - ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp; (6) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark Zanderijweg, Bussum |
| Roster | TWINS OOSTERHOUT (0-0) | vs. |
QUICK AMERSFOORT (0-0) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Twins | G | # | Starting Pitchers Quick |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 11 | RHP Koen Postelmans (0-0) | 1 | 70 | RHP Johnaickel Acosta (0-0) | Th. Apr. 7, 7:30 PM, Oosterhout (7) |
| 10 | LHP Ryan Huntington (0-0) | 2 | 5 | RHP Stijn Bruins Slot (0-0) | Sa. Apr. 9, 2:00 PM, Amersfoort (8) |
| 6 | RHP Simon Gross (0-0) | 3 | 25 | RHP Kevin Schnorbach (0-0) | Su. Apr. 10, 3:00 PM, Oosterhout (7) |
| (7) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout; (8) - Sportpark 'Dorrestein', Amersfoort |
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