(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers coming series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (August 17), the final 3-game series in both the Top-4 Pool and Bottom-5 Pool will begin.
With that, the regular season will end coming Sunday.
Next week, on August 24, 26 and 27, the best-of-three Wild Card Series will be played.
The upcoming series comes after two days (Monday, Tuesday) of make-up games.
These game rained out two weeks ago and could not be made up earlier, as the the season was interrupted last week due to the Under-23 European Championship in Vienna (Austria).
That event ended last Saturday and was won by the Netherlands.
In the Top-4 Pool, leader Curaçao Neptunus has secured first place and with that, qualification for participation in next years European Champions Cup-tournament.
RCH Memorie Sieraden will finish in fourth place in this Pool.
But second and third place will be decided in the upcoming series, as Amsterdam Pirates and reigning champion HCAW are currently tied with the same total of points.
Those points are not based on their current record in the Top-4 Pool, but also includes point they earned in the first half of the season.
In the Top-4 Pool, the record of Pirates is 14-10 and that of HCAW is 11-13.
In this Pool, Pirates has won the head-to-head nine-game series against HCAW, 5-4.
In the coming series, Pirates meets Neptunus and HCAW will play against RCH-Pinguïns.
In the Bottom-5 Pool, Twins Oosterhout and DSS/Kinheim already secured themselves of the first two positions, meaning they will advance to the Wild Card Series.
When Twins won its make-up game last Monday, the team finished in first place, meaning DSS/Kinheim (which lost its make-up) will end in second place, a ranking that is important for the pairing of teams in the Wild Card Series.
As said, when the coming series ends on Sunday, the regular season ends.
That means that the 2023 season also will come to an end for Quick Amersfoort, Hoofddorp Pioniers and UVV.
With that final game coming on August 20, that of course is an early season-ending for these three teams.
But for Twins, it could have been even earlier.
In case, Twins would not have finished in the top-two of this Pool and didn't had to make up a game, they would have played their final game already on Sunday, August 6, as the team has no games scheduled in the upcoming final series.
In the previous series, it was Pioniers who had no games scheduled and so, the team will play its first game on Thursday since July 30.
As mentioned, on Thursday, August 24, the three best-of-three Wild Card Series will begin.
Neptunus will play in the Wild Card Top Series against the number two team of the Top-4 Pool.
Both these teams also qualify for the following best-of-five Play-Offs.
The team that finishes in third place will meet Bottom-5 second placed DSS/Kinheim in the Wild Card Bottom Series 1.
RCH-Pinguïns will meet Bottom-5 winner Twins Oosterhout in the other Wild Card Bottom Series 2.
In the Play-Offs, the winner of the Wild Card Top Series then will meet the winner of the Botttom Series 2.
The loser of the Top Series will play against the winner of Bottom Series 1.
The winners of the Play-Offs then will play in the best-of-seven Holland Series to decide the Championship.
In case all seven games are needed in the Final, the last game will be played on Sunday, October 22, which will be a very late season's conclusion.
The two Play-Off Series begin on Thursday, August 31 and end on Sunday, September 10 in case all five games are needed.
Another interruption of the season then will follow thereafter.
The Netherlands Team will play three games against the Czech Republic on September 15,16 and 17 in Rotterdam.
On September 24, the European Championship opens and will be played on six different sites in the Czech Republic.
The Final is scheduled for Sunday, October 1.
The two teams that will play in the Holland Series then will open the Championship Final on Saturday, October 7.
In the conclusion of the regular season and the postseason, several teams will miss some of their players.
In the past few days and in the coming days or after the weekend, the players who are attending college (and play there) in the USA have left or will leave.
DSS/Kinheim already saw eight players leave and two more will leave after coming weekend.
On the other hand, a veteran righthander made his comeback in the highest league last Tuesday, as Dave Draijer pitched in relief for RCH-Pinguïns in a make-up game against Amsterdam Pirates.
The last time that the former Netherlands Team-pitcher pitched in the Dutch league was in 2013 when he was with Hoofddorp Pioniers.
The rotations are set for the upcoming final series of the regular season.
Again, HCAW is the lone team that has not announced its starters (yet).
RCH-Pinguïns only announced its starter for the opener.
As the team has played two make-up games, it has yet to be decided who will take the mound in the weekend.
Beneath are the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming 3-game series that opens on Thursday-evening, August 17.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days.
Listed between the first parentheses behind the team-name is the record in the second half, listed in the second pair of parentheses is the record in the first half of the season.
(August 16)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | HCAW (11-13) (20-3-1) | vs. |
RCH MEMORIE SIERADEN (4-20) (12-11-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers HCAW | G | # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns |
| Date, Time & Site |
| | not announced yet | 1 | 35 | RHP Mike van den Berg (1-3) | Th. Aug. 17, 7:30 PM, Bussum (1) |
| | not announced yet | 2 | | to be decided | Sa. Aug. 19, 3:00 PM, Heemstede (2) |
| | not announced yet | 3 | | to be decided | Su. Aug. 20, 2:00 PM, Bussum (1) |
| (1) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum; (2) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede |
| TOP-4 POOL |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (19-5) (20-3-1) | vs. |
AMSTERDAM PIRATES (14-10) (16-7-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pirates |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 33 | RHP Kevin Kelly (14-1) | 1 | 32 | RHP Scott Prins (3-4) | Th. Aug. 17, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (8-2) | 2 | 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (6-3) | Sa. Aug. 19, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (4) |
| 10 | LHP Ryan Huntington (5-1) | 3 | 27 | RHP Yassir Lachkar (2-2) | Su. Aug. 20, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (3) |
| (3) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (4) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpak 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | DSS/KINHEIM (15-5-1) (10-14) | vs. |
HOOFDDORP PIONIERS (4-16-1) (6-17-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim | G | # | Starting Pitchers Pioniers |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (10-2) | 1 | 27 | LHP Maarten Smit (2-3) | Th. Aug. 17, 7:30 PM, Haarlem (5) |
| 27 | RHP Nick Boxelaar (6-7) | 2 | 33 | LHP Sem Nijman (2-8) | Sa. Aug. 19, 2:00 PM, Hoofddorp (6) |
| 15 | RHP Donny Breek (0-2) | 3 | 22 | RHP Just van den Ouweelen (1-5) | Su. Aug. 20, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (5) |
| (5) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem; (6) - ETO Ballpark, Sportpark Hoofddorp Pioniers, Park21, Hoofddorp |
| BOTTOM-5 POOL |
| Roster | QUICK AMERSFOORT (9-11-1) (5-19) | vs. |
UVV (5-15-1) (3-19-2) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Quick | G | # | Starting Pitchers UVV |
| Date, Time & Site |
| | to be decided | 1 | 18 | RHP Allard Helms (1-7) | Th. Aug. 17, 7:30 PM, Amersfoort (7) |
| 18 | LHP Brian van Laar (1-7) | 2 | 27 | RHP Sam van der Meer (1-9) | Sa. Aug. 19, 2:00 PM, Vleuten (8) |
| 15 | RHP Jack Wagner (5-8) | 3 | 13 | RHP Jurjen van Zijl (4-6) | Su. Aug. 20, 2:00 PM, Amersfoort (7) |
| (7) - XL Lease Park 'Dorrestein', Amersfoort; (8) - Sportpark 'De Paperclip', Vleuten |
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