2023 is the 94th season of competitive baseball in the United Kingdom.

This season saw the National Baseball League contract from 7 teams to 6, with BC Vetra and both Legends clubs (London and Lancashire) leaving, being replaced by the Herts Falcons (who last competed in 2021) and the East London Latin Boys.^[1]

Three previously independent leagues, the British Baseball League (Featuring teams from the North West of England), the East of England Baseball League (Representing teams from the East Midlands and East of England) and the North East Baseball League all affiliated themselves with the BBF, being added to the pyramid.^[2]

The BBF season had its opening day on 16 April, with the NBL season ending on 13 August.^[1] The Playoffs were held at the Farnham Park National Baseball & Softball Complex in Buckinghamshire, with the Single-Game Semi-Finals happening on the 20th August, and the Final (reverting to a Best-of-3 series for the first time since 2018) being held across the 26th and 27th August.^[3] The London Mets won the NBL Final, besting the Capitals 2-1 across the 3 game series

National Baseball League

Capitals, Mets

Latin Boys

Falcons

Arrows

Bruins

Location of the 2023 National Baseball League Teams

British Baseball Federation and Affiliated Leagues

Triple A Level

BBF AAA

Teams

Bears

Badgers

Metroes

Pirates

Cardinals

Buccaneers

Redbacks

Knights

Location of the 2023 BBF Triple A Teams

Teams	Location
Bournemouth Bears	Ferndown, Dorset
Bristol Badgers	Keynsham, Somerset
Croydon Pirates	Sutton, London
Herts Cardinals	Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
Kent Buccaneers	Hadlow, Kent
London Metros	Haringey, London
Essex Redbacks	Chelmsford, Essex
Richmond Knights	Richmond upon Thames, London

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Win%	GB	Qualification
1	Bournemouth Bears	25	19	6	0.760	–	Qualification to Playoffs
2	Richmond Knights	26	19	7	0.731	0.5
3	London Metros	25	17	8	0.680	2
4	Herts Cardinals	25	13	12	0.520	6
5	Bristol Badgers	28	12	16	0.429	8.5
6	Croydon Pirates	27	11	16	0.407	9
7	Essex Redbacks	27	10	17	0.370	10
8	Kent Buccaneers	25	3	22	0.120	16

Source: BBF

Correct as of 20/08/23

Playoffs

	Semi Finals 10th September					AAA Championship 17th September
	1	Bournemouth Bears	9
	4	Herts Cardinals	5
						1	Bournemouth Bears	9
						2	London Metros	7
	2	London Metros	9
	3	Richmond Knights	6

BBL - Higher

Teams

Teams	Location
Liverpool Trojans Army	Sefton, Merseyside
Liverpool Trojans Navy	Sefton, Merseyside
Manchester As	Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester
Manchester Bees	Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester
Sheffield Kodiaks	Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	Win%	GB	Qualification
1	Liverpool Trojans Navy	22	19	3	0.864	–	Advance to Final
2	Liverpool Trojans Army	22	17	5	0.773	2	Advance to Wild Card
3	Manchester A's	22	12	10	0.545	7
4	Sheffield Kodiaks	20	5	15	0.250	14
5	Manchester Bees	22	1	21	0.045	18

Source: BBF

Correct as of 20/08/23

Playoffs

	Wild Card 2nd September					BBL Higher Championship 2nd-3rd September
						1	Liverpool Trojans Navy	10	9	6
	2	Liverpool Trojans Army	8			2	Liverpool Trojans Army	13	6	5
	3	Manchester A's	3

Summer Cup

On the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd July, the BBF hosted the inaugural Summer Cup, a 2-day Tournament run from Farnham Park. 24 teams from 22 clubs took part, with a variety of teams makeups, including representative teams from Baseball Scotland, Baseball Ireland, the South West and Wales Baseball League, and the East of England Baseball league, plus teams from non-BBF Clubs, such as the Long Eaton Storm, Stockton Grizzlies, and BC Vetra.

Initially, the 3 tiers (Gold, for AAA and NBL-level teams, Silver, for AA and high independent-level teams, and Bronze, for A and low independent-level teams) were split into groups of 4, each of which would play a round-robin, with positional playoffs. However, due to inclement weather over the weekend, this format was instead changed to a single-elimination knockout, with losing teams moving into a lower bracket to decide positions.

References