The Honkbal Hoofdklasse ( Dutch for ''Major League Baseball'') is the highest level of

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is an eight-team

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

that plays a 42-game schedule and is overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB). Games are played principally on weekends. The season runs from April to September and is followed by the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

among the four best teams, which culminates in the Holland Series. Both of the playoff rounds are best-of-five. The league follows a

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues ...

system with the

Eerste klasse The Eerste Klasse ( en, First Class) started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands and is now the 6th tier. The league is divided into eleven divisions, six for Saturday clubs and five for Sunday clubs. These divisions correspond to the ...

so that the composition of both levels changes from year to year. Many of the official team nicknames contain the name of the club's corporate sponsor. The two best teams participate in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

History

The Honkbal Hoofdklasse has been the highest level of competitive baseball in the Netherlands since 1958, when it was elevated over the former Eerste Klasse by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Honkbal Bond, the forerunner of the KNBSB. The Eerste Klasse served as the top baseball competition in the Netherlands from its establishment in 1922 until 1957, excluding 1945 when play was suspended due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The Hoofdklasse has been organized by the KNBSB since 1971. Until 1986 the winner of the season was also crowned the national champion, with the exception of 1972 and 1973, when a best-of-five Holland Series was held between the top two teams to determine the champion. Since 1987 the Holland Series has been held annually at the end of the season to determine the national champion. The series is currently held in a best-of-seven format. In 2021 the Eerste Klasse was reinstated as the second level of Dutch professional baseball and the league to which teams from the Hoofdklasse are relegated at the end of the season. This was also the case from 1958 to 1986 and 2001 to 2009. In the intervening periods, from 1987 to 2000 and 2010 to 2020, the Overgangsklasse operated as the secondary professional baseball league in the Netherlands. Following the 2021 Season the KNBSB decided to end relegation and promotion and operate the Hoofdklasse with fixed teams. The reform is part of broader efforts to improve the league's quality of play and national visibility. The tournament was also expanded to 9 teams for the 2022 season. The Silicon Storks, who were slated to be relegated, will remain in the Hoofdklasse alongside the RCH Pinguins, who had earned a promotion to the top league."RCH Pinguins H1 dwingt promotie af." ''RCH Pinguins''. 17 October 2021. Accessed 10 December 2021. https://www.rch-pinguins.nl/?p=11411.

Results

Current clubs

References

External links

de Nederlandse honkbalsite
(Dutch)
KNBSB (Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation)
(Dutch) *Connor, Joe
Welcome to the Netherlands
ESPN (MLB), January 17, 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-16. *Remington, Alex
Honkbal! Netherlands Bids to Host MLB in 2014
FanGraphs. September 1, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
2008 Netherlands Baseball All-Star Team and MVP
(fan vote a

. November 10, 2008. Mister Baseball: All about Baseball & Softball in Europe 1 Sports leagues established in 1922 1922 establishments in the Netherlands Professional sports leagues in the Netherlands {{Europe-baseball-stub

History

Results

Current clubs

See also

References

External links