Baseball Bundesliga 1998

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The 1998 Baseball Bundesliga was the 15th season of the Baseball Bundesliga . The Cologne Dodgers won at the end of the season in a tight final against the Paderborn Untouchables and dethroned the Mannheim Tornados .


Regular season

A rule change increased the number of games in the regular season from 28 to 40. To compensate, however, only the two best teams in the Bundesliga North and South qualified for the play-offs, which were therefore played out without quarter-finals.

After the actually regular season with 28 games, each season was divided into an upper and a lower half, in which each team played four games against the other three teams and took their victories from the regular season with them.

1. Bundesliga North

Last year only one team was relegated with the St. Pauli Knights , so the Ratingen Goose Necks were the only promoted teams. The decision to participate in the play-offs was very tight due to the reduction in the play-off places. In the end, the Cologne Dodgers won the Bundesliga North with a victory over the Paderborn Untouchables. Equal on points with Paderborn in 3rd place, the Bonn Capitals narrowly missed the knockout round.

At the end of the table, Berlin Phoenix and the Düsseldorf Senators had to relegate.

Table:

team G V Pct. GB
1. Cologne Dodgers 31 9 .775 0
2. Paderborn Untouchables 30th 10 .750 1
3. Bonn Capitals 30th 10 .750 1
4th Lokstedt stealers 18th 22nd .450 13
5. Wolfsburg Yahoo! 15th 25th .375 -
6th Ratingen Goose Necks 14th 26th .350 -
7th Düsseldorf Senators 13 27 .325 -
8th. Berlin Phoenix 9 31 .225 -

1st Bundesliga South

The Trier Cardinals had withdrawn their team for the 1998 Bundesliga season and so only the Mannheim Amigos had to relegate. The Grünwald Jesters and Ingolstadt Schanzer were newly promoted to the Bundesliga. For the latter, however, it should only be a short detour to the Bundesliga, at the end of the season they were relegated to bottom of the table with just 6 wins from 40 games.

Unsurprisingly, the defending champion Mannheim Tornados qualified at the top of the table as the season winner with only four defeats for the play-offs. They were accompanied by the Mainz Athletics, who were able to secure second place with a victory ahead of the Regensburg Legionnaires.

Table:

team G V Pct. GB
1. Mannheim tornadoes 36 4th 0.900 0
2. Mainz Athletics 30th 10 0.750 6th
3. Regensburg legionaries 29 11 0.725 7th
4th Ladenburg novel 15th 25th 0.375 21st
5. Grünwald Jesters 18th 22nd .450 -
6th Tubingen Hawks 17th 23 .425 -
7th Friedberg Braves 9 31 .225 -
8th. Ingolstadt Schanzer 6th 34 .150 -

Play-offs

After the 12 games of the four best-placed teams, the two top teams moved into the play-offs. The teams from the Bundesliga South saw no country and lost both semi-finals. In the resulting pure northern final, the Cologne Dodgers were able to defeat the Paderborn Untouchables 2-1 after three games and thus secure the German baseball championship in 1998.

Semifinals   final
S1  Mannheim tornadoes 7th 11 2      
N2  Paderborn Untouchables 14th 1 3   N2  Paderborn Untouchables 4th 8th 2
S2  Mainz Athletics 3 4th   N1  Cologne Dodgers 3 11 8th
N1  Cologne Dodgers 7th 12    

Web links

Individual evidence