Herts Baseball Club has revealed that it will be entering four teams in the 2015 British Baseball Federation adult leagues, same as last year, but the allocation of those teams is different from previous years.
As expected, the Herts Falcons will play in the National Baseball League, Britain’s top league tier. The Herts Eagles will continue in the Triple-A League (second tier), same as last year. The big change comes for the club’s third team, the Herts Hawks. They will submit their application to enter the Single-A League (fourth tier). The Hawks made their league debut in 2005. That was in the Double-A league (third tier). They remained members of the Double-A League every season between 2005 and 2014. 2015 will be the first season that the Hawks enter a league other than the Double-A. The club’s fourth team the Herts Raptors will submit its entry to the Single-A League (fourth tier), a league it has played in ever since its inception in 2008.
This allocation of Herts teams is similar to the very successful 2012 season when the club had one team in the NBL, one in Double-A and two in Single-A.
Of course all of these, with the exception of the Herts Falcons’ entry in the NBL, are subject to approval from the BBF. Last year the BBF rejected the Herts Raptors’ application to move from the Single-A to the Double-A league. This was a major surprise as they were offered the alternative choice of playing in the Triple-A, which is higher class than the Double-A, so it was not clear why they would be eligible to play in the Triple-A but not the Double-A league.
If the club’s 2015 entries are approved we can look forward to a Herts derby between the Raptors and the Hawks in the Single-A. In the club’s history there have been only three seasons when two Herts teams have competed in the same league. In 2007 the Falcons and Hawks were both in the Double-A. In 2012 and 2013 the Eagles and Raptors came head-to-head in the Single-A league.