(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Starting Pitchers Wild Card Series
Nederlands
 AMSTERDAM (Neth.) -
On Thursday-evening (August 24), the first games are scheduled in three best-of-three Wild Card Series.
Last Sunday, the regular season in the Dutch big league ended.
Wih that, on the early date of August 20, the season also came to an end for Hoofddorp Pioniers, Quick Amersfoort and UVV.
In the upcoming days, the remaining six teams open the postseason.
The teams that finished in first and second place in the Top-4 Pool will meet in the Wild Card Top Series.
These two teams also secured in the best-of-five Play-Offs.
The teams that finished in first and second place in the Bottom-5 Pool will play against the teams that finished in third and fourth place in the Top-4 Pool.
Curaçao Neptunus finished in first place in the Top-4 Pool, a spot it already had secured.
Before the final series of the season, Amsterdam Pirates and HCAW were tied for second place.
In case the two teams would finish in a tie, Pirates would have ended up in second place, as it had won the 9-game head-to-head series against HCAW in the Top-4 Pool (5-4).
That almost happened.
Pirates almost swept Neptunus in its 3-game series, that began with a 10-0 shutout-win in seven innings in the opener on Thursday.
That was the first 7-inning, mercy-rule loss of Neptunus since August 30, 2018 when it lost 13-0 against HCAW.
Pirates also win the second game on Saurday.
HCAW won its first two games against RCH-Pinguïns, which already had finished in fourth place.
On Sunday, HCAW faced an 1-0 deficit in the ninth inning.
A loss would mean that Pirates would end up in second place.
HCAW won 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, but still wasn't sure of second place, as Pirates was leading 2-1 in the ninth inning at Neptunus.
And with a win, Pirates would finish second.
The suspense also rose in Rotterdam, and Neptunus also won in the bottom of the ninth (3-2) on a walk-off hit.
In the meantime, DSS/Kinheim closed its season with a 3-game sweep against Hoofddorp Pioniers to finish in second place in the Bottom-5 Pool behind Twins Oosterhout, which had no games scheduled.
UVV closed its first season back in the highest league with a sweep against Quick Amersfoort.
On Sunday, UVV was led by Acting Head Coach Marlon Fluonia, a Head Coach Frank Koene had left for the Dominican Republic earlier in the day for a vacation.
With these results, the pairings for the Wild Card Series were decided.
At least on paper, but there was more going on.
The pairings were confirmed on Wednesday-afternoon.
A few weeks ago, Pirates got two points subtracted for what was determined the 'use of an ineligible player'.
On July 16, Head Coach Mervin Gario inserted himself as pinch-hitter towards the end of a home-game against RCH-Pinguïns, which won that game with a 12-4 score.
Although Gario was listed as a player on the line-up sheet of Pirates the entire season (and is a so-called 'playing member' of the club), he hadn't played yet.
According to he rules, a player has to play in a game of his club before July 16 (which is mentioned as deadline-date), to eligible for the remainder of the season.
Several reports regarding this situation circled in the following days and Pirates appealed the decision of subtracting the two points.
On its website, Amsterdam Pirates published on Monday (August 21) that
''The Amsterdam Pirates have appealed against the points subtraction implemented by the KNBSB due to the participation of an allegedly ineligible player (coach Mervin Gario in a game that was lost earlier this season).
The Dutch Federation previously decided not to apply points-subtraction because there was uncertainty due to communication with the Federation's office about the rule, but that decision was reversed on appeal from one of the other big league clubs.
We have now appealed against that and against the first decision.
The Board of the Federation has declared one of the two appeals admissible and is currently processing the appeal.
Of course they will have to make a decision before Thursday.''
On Wednesday (August 23), the Pirates-board published the following on its website:
,,Amsterdam Pirates has a dispute with the board of the KNBSB about a decision by the head office to declare a coach an ineligible player and also about a decision to deduct two points for that.
This dispute has led to a complex procedure in which another club from the big league was also involved.
Pirates has commenced this dispute because it believes that the letter of the regulations counts and not the free interpretation of the federation office or the arbitration committee, which is not based on the literal texts.
For that reason, Pirates has appealed against two decisions.
The Federation's Board declared one of the two appeals admissible.
We have now received a response to our appeal from the Board.
The Board maintains its view that the coach was not entitled to play and that two points are rightly deducted.
This decision requires further consideration as it may be of great importance to the course of the competition; it's about automatic seeding for playoffs and home field advantage during playoffs.
At the moment, Pirates wants to let her team focus on the games, after all, this is primarily about our sport and not about wrangling over regulations.
Therefore, Pirates will play in the Wildcard Bottom series.
We will take the time this weekend to study the decision of the Federation's Board and possibly come back to it at a later stage.
Let's play ball.''
There also was an appeal submitted by DSS/Kinheim regarding the game against Twins Oosterhout, that was halted on July 30 due to a bench-clearing.
It was determined that an intentional hit batter by a pitcher from DSS/Kinheim triggered the bench-clearing and therefore, the Haarlem-team was declared as being the 'guilty party', resulting in the game to be halted.
The game was declared a win for Twins, which led 3-0 at the moment the game was halted.
DSS/Kinheim appealed the ruling, but that was upheld and so, DSS/Kinheim finished in second place and Twins in first place of the Bottom-5 Pool.
As the subtraction of points for Pirates also was upheld, it means that HCAW finished in second place of the Top-4 Pool and Pirates in third place.
With that, HCAW will meet Top-4 leader Neptunus in the best-of-three Wild Card Top Series.
Amsterdam Pirates will play against Bottom-5 Pool second placed DSS/Kinheim in the Wild Card Bottom Series 1.
RCH-Pinguïns will meet Bottom-5 winner Twins Oosterhout in the Wild Card Bottom Series 2.
In the best-of-five Play-Offs, the winner of the Wild Card Top Series 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 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.
First, 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 winners of the Play-Offs then will play in the best-of-seven Holland Series to decide the Championship.
The first game in the Championship Final is scheduled for Saturday, October 7.
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.
As more and more players have left for college in the USA, or due to some injuries, we again saw some new faces in the final series, who came into action for the first time this season.
On Thursday-evening, pitchers Dylan Eshuis (DSS/Kinheim) and Casper Rammeloo (Amsterdam Pirates) made their debut.
On Saturday, pitcher Rutger Bray made his debut in the team of RCH-Pinguïns, while Head Coach Joshua Zara was the first baseman of the Heemstede-team.
And on Sunday, Arjan Kuijer (DH) played in his first game for UVV.
The rotations are partially set for the upcoming Wild Card Series.
Neptunus only assigned starters for the first and second game.
Righthander Kevin Kelly, who was the most successful pitcher this season with a 14-1 record, will not be available, as he is recovering from an injury.
Righthander Orlando Yntema, who was sidelined for a long time and made his comeback some weeks ago, also is still rehabbing.
Opponent HCAW has not announced its starters (yet), which is had not done since early June.
It is expected that righthander Lars Huijer will be the starter in the opener on Thursday-evening.
Twins Oosterhout and RCH-Pinguïns only announced the starters for the first game.
Beneath are the announced starting pitchers for the upcoming Wild Card Series that opens on Thursday-evening, August 24.
As always, these assignments can change on game-days.
The third game will only be played when needed.
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 23)
Rosters
Live play-by-play & live-streams
| WILD CARD TOP SERIES |
| Roster | CURAÇAO NEPTUNUS (20-7) (20-3-1) | vs. |
HCAW (14-13) (20-3-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Neptunus | G | # | Starting Pitchers HCAW |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 37 | RHP Tom de Blok (0-0) (7-0) | 1 | | not announced | Th. Aug. 24, 7:30 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
| 39 | RHP Shairon Martis (0-0) (8-3) | 2 | | not announced | Sa. Aug. 26, 2:00 PM, Bussum (2) |
| | to be decided | 3 | | not announced | Su. Aug. 27, 2:00 PM, Rotterdam (1) |
| (1) - Neptunus Familiestadion, Sportpark Abraham van Stolkweg, Rotterdam; (2) - Rob Hoffmann Vallei, Sportpark 'De Sportvallei', Bussum |
| WILD CARD BOTTOM SERIES 1 |
| Roster | AMSTERDAM PIRATES (16-11) (16-7-1) | vs. |
DSS/KINHEIM (18-5-1) (10-14) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers Pirates | G | # | Starting Pitchers DSS/Kinheim |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 32 | RHP Scott Prins (0-0) (4-4) | 1 | 3 | RHP Martijn Schoonderwoerd (0-0) (11-2) | Th. Aug. 24, 7:30 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| 54 | LHP Nelmerson Angela (0-0) (7-3) | 2 | | to be decided | Sa. Aug. 26, 2:00 PM, Haarlem (4) |
| | to be decided | 3 | | to be decided | Su. Aug. 27, 2:00 PM, Amsterdam (3) |
| (3) - Loek Loevendie Ballpark, Sportpark 'Ookmeer', Amsterdam; (4) - Pim Mulier Stadion, Pim Mulier Sportpark, Haarlem |
| WILD CARD BOTTOM SERIES 2 |
| Roster | RCH-PINGUÏNS (4-23) (12-11-1) | vs. |
TWINS OOSTERHOUT (19-5) (12-11-1) | Roster | Game-info |
| # | Starting Pitchers RCH-Pinguïns | G | # | Starting Pitchers Twins |
| Date, Time & Site |
| 5 | RHP Jeremy Young (0-0) (4-11) | 1 | 14 | RHP Filip Čapka (0-0) (7-3) | Th. Aug. 24, 7:30 PM, Heemstede (5) |
| | to be decided | 2 | | to be decided | Sa. Aug. 26, 2:00 PM, Oosterhout (6) |
| | to be decided | 3 | | to be decided | Su. Aug. 27, 2:00 PM, Heemstede (5) |
| (5) - Heemsteedse Sportparken, Heemstede; (6) - Sportpark 'De Slotbosse Toren', Oosterhout |
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