The Herts Raptors after the heart-breaking National Championship Semi-Final defeat last September. They have received another painful blow today.
Last month the Herts Raptors submitted an official bid to be promoted from the Single-A to the Double-A League. The club has just confirmed that it has received the decision of the British Baseball Federation and, unfortunately for Herts fans, the bid has been rejected.
A club spokesman indicated that Herts does not know which aspects of the entry criteria for the Double-A League were not met, but has asked the BBF for some feedback on this so that the club can put together a much stronger bid in the future.
The club indicated that the BBF did give them four alternative options for the Herts Raptors to consider. This included entry into the Triple-A South, Triple-A Central and Single-A South, however none of these options were suitable for the team for the 2014 season and as a result the club will be entering only four teams in the BBF adult leagues in 2014.
The Herts Falcons will be competing in the National Baseball League, Great Britain’s top tier. The Herts Eagles will be representing Herts in the Triple-A League. Fans of the club will recall that when the Eagles were formed in 2009, they represented Herts in the Triple-A League. They stayed in that league tier in 2010 losing in the National Championship Semi-Final to the Oxford Kings. In 2011 the Eagles did not enter the BBF leagues as the club entered only three adult league teams. A year later they were back in the league, but this time they entered the Single-A, where they have been playing over the last two seasons. With the Eagles moving up to Triple-A this year, their place in Single-A will be taken by the Herts Raptors. The Herts Hawks remain in the Double-A League.
This means that after just one season in the Triple-A League the Herts Ravens will take a year off, but hopefully we will see them back in the leagues in 2015.