On Saturday the Italian Baseball and Softball Federation (FIBS) gathered in Parma for the annual Gala dei Diamanti, honoring the best players and teams of the past season. Prior to the festivities the council board also met to discuss and finalize the plans for the 2013 season in the Italian Baseball League.
As revealed by FIBS President Riccardo Fraccari earlier this week there will be ten teams in the Italian Baseball League next year. Reggio Emilia, Ronchi dei Legionari and Mastiff Arezzo (playing in Florence) will join Bologna, San Marino, Rimini, Nettuno, Novara, Godo and Parma in the IBL. They will play two games per week and reduce the use of foreign players in the lineup from four to three (seven players from Italian school are required to be in lineup). In one of the two games foreign pitching (manager choice) can be used.
The championship in the IBL will start on April 6 and ends on September 21. There will be three interruptions for the European Cup, the European Cup Finals and the annual All Star Game (date, site not yet announced). The top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals, which will be played in a best-of-five format (no round robin anymore). Teams ranked fifth to tenth after the regular season will play in the first round of the Coppa Italia. The final of the Coppa Italia will be played on September 28 and 29.
The second division of the Italian Baseball League will be a U23 league. However teams are allowed to use up to five players, which are older. Details of the IBL2 will be discussed in the coming weeks.
FIBS also published a preliminary schedule for the IBL. Defending champion T&A San Marino will meet with Reggio Emilia on the first day of the competition. European Champions Cup winner Unipol Bologna takes on Novara. Also Arezzo is facing Ronchi dei Legionari, Rimini squares off with Godo and Parma hosts Nettuno.