TOP 5 moments from Extraliga Opening Weekend
Czech Extraliga started last weekend and with the Week 1 done, let’s take a look at top 5 interesting moments.
Hluboká
South Bohemian team showed a lot of promise before the season opening with the names they brought into their roster. The team wanted to show they were here to stay and instead of the Promotion league, they announced their goal was to reach TOP 6 and there were even few voice talking about semifinals. Hluboká showed these talks are not just dreams in the first week, when Sokol swept Eagles Praha. Even if Eagles lost some of their high performers, there are still several experienced players on their roster.
Hluboká also brought a high quality commented stream from their home game that sent them to the top of the league in this regard. This is certainly what we would like to see from all Extraliga teams!
New member of Czech Homerun Club
With his 50th HR on Sunday, Daniel Vavruša, a long-term Kotlářka core player, made his mark in the historic books of Czech baseball, when he joined an exclusive Czech Homerun Club as the 18th player in the history.
Grandslam that wasn’t
You might remember a recent homerun by Cody Bellinger during the MLB Opening Day. The similar feat happened during Saturday game between Draci and Blesk Jablonec, when Arnošt Dubový blasted the ball behind the fence with the bases loaded. This would normally mean 4 runs, however, Martin Kalábek overtook Martin Červinka while running for the home base, which automatically meant out. Draci only got 3 runs in the end, but it didn’t seem to matter, as they took home 13-1 win.
Ryan Johnson
It is not always that a team manages to bring a quality foreign player who can make an impact right away. It would seem that Třebíč was able to do just that with Ryan Johnson. Arrows Ostrava could testify this when Johnson earned 7 hits from 8 AB, with 3 HR. He couldn’t start the game on Sunday, as the Czech league imposes a limit on number of foreigners who can play for the team at the same time, but the respect Arrows had was palpable when he got to the batting box in the sixth inning. Rather than attacking him, Ostrava decided to intentionally walk Johnson. We will certainly keep an eye on his future performances.
Hitfest in Ostrava
After the first Saturday game in Ostrava, where home team beat Třebíč 17-16, we got several queries on whether some record of the league wasn’t broken. As far as number of runs go, this wasn’t even close. Czech baseball Extraliga remembers several games, where teams combined for 40 and more runs. The record itself, based on our research, should be the game between Skokani Olomouc and Blansko in 1999, where team home team won 33-10. In the same way, 9 HR per game also isn’t a record. However, Ostrava has to go some way back to remember when an opponent grabbed 16 R in their home ground. Last time this happened in 2016.
