Serie A1

From BR Bullpen

The Serie A1, 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 regulated.

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 will drop 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 be Acegas Alpina Tergeste (2nd to last place in 2005) but the team couldn't afford it as well. The league will play with 9 teams this year and drop down to 8 in 2007, with 3 teams regulated and 2 promoted. The league will go back to 2 regulated/2 promoted in 2007.

1 Current Teams
2 List of Champions
3 Famous Players
4 External Links

[edit] Current Teams

The nine teams that will play in the top level of baseball in Italy 2006 are:

Franchise	Official Team Name	City	Stadium
Nettuno	Caffè Danesi Nettuno	Nettuno	Steno Borghese
Parma	Ceci & Negri Parma	Parma	Stadio Europeo
Grosseto Orioles	Colonie Maremma BBC Grosseto	Grosetto	Stadio Jannella
Modena	Comcor Modena	Modena	Stadio Torri di Modena
Godo Baseball	De Angelis Godo Baseball	Godo	Campo "A. Casadio" via Rivalona
Fortitudo Bologna	Italeri Fortitudo Bologna	Bologna	Stadio Gianni Falchi
Anzio Baseball	Orel Anzio B.C.	Anzio	Stadio Renato Reatini
San Marino	T & A San Marino	Serravalle, San Marino	Stadio di Baseball di Serravalle
Rimini	Telemarket Rimini	Rimini	Stadio dei Pirati