Serie A1

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(Redirected from Italian League)

Serie A1 (known for a time as the Italian Baseball League), is the highest level of professional baseball in the Italy (and San Marino) and is overseen by Italian Federation of Baseball and Softball. It is currently a 9 team league that plays a 54 game schedule played mostly on weekends, with the season running from April to September. At the end of the season the top four teams qualify for the playoffs, with the winner earning the Scudetto. Both of the playoff rounds are best-of-seven. The league follows a promotion and relegation system with the Serie A2 in which the bottom two teams are relegated.

Many of the official team nicknames contain the name of the team's corporate sponsor. Most of the teams are based in the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy. The San Marino team and the top Italian team (usually the league champion) qualify to play in the European Cup.

Formerly a 10-team league through 2005 the league dropped to 8 teams in 2007. Before the 2006 season began, Palfinger Reggio Emilia, an A1 club, could not afford to stay in the class and was dropped to A2. The spot was then given to Acegas Alpina Tergeste (2nd to last place in 2005) but the team couldn't afford it as well. The league played with 9 teams in 2006 and dropped down to 8 the next year, with 3 teams relegated and 2 promoted. The league went back to 2 relegated/2 promoted in 2007.

Starting in 2010 the Italian Baseball League changed format again and became the first Italian sport league with the franchise system and without promotion and relegation. The number of teams was set at 8 and, after the exclusion of Catania Warriors for budget problems, Novara United joined the league in 2011. Each team has a farm team, the IBL2 team, and is allowed to transfer players between the two teams during the season, as in the U.S. Minor League system.

Current Teams[edit]

Franchise Official Team Name City Stadium
Parma Parmaclima Parma Stadio Quadrifoglio
Collecchio Collecchio Collecchio Centro Sportivo Giannino Zinell
Fortitudo Bologna Unipolsai Bologna Bologna Stadio Gianni Falchi
San Marino San Marino Serravalle, San Marino Stadio di Baseball di Serravalle
Macerata Hotsand Macerata Macerata Angels Park
Godo Godo Godo, Russi Stadio Antonio Casadio

List of Champions[edit]

Pre-Playoff Era

Playoff Era

MVPs[edit]

(not awarded, 1953-1976)

(not awarded, 1983-1999 or 2017-2018 - 1993-1999 retroactively awarded in 2015. It is unclear when 1992 was retroactively awarded)

Famous Players[edit]

External Links[edit]


Baseball in Italy
Federation National Team
Serie A1 · Serie A2 · Serie B
Italian Baseball Hall of Fame
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