Commentary: Who will win Extraliga this year?
Czech baseball Extraliga starts with two games on Friday. Can Draci defend the title and get their 24th Extraliga trophy? What are their chances?
The answer is simple, they are big. Draci are, the same as always, one of the frontrunners for the title and this didn’t change for this season either. National player Jakub Hajtmar reflected this sentiment. “We want to win the title and be successful at international level. We are not lowering our expectations,” said Draci infielder for Czech Television. Draci team will bring plenty of new names, especially from abroad, as only Juan Jaime remains from the quarter playing for them in the previous season. And even he should be unavailable at the beginning of the season. On the paper, Mendoza, Morao, and Sanchez all look well as they attempt to step in for duo Helder-Manzanero. While Draci lost Filip Čapka, Ondřej Furko returns to the lineup, along with David Mergans who played in Italy in the previous season. Furthermore, Draci should have a deep roster and there’s a lot of competition for every spot. Brno team, as per tradition, loans their young players for other teams and, if necessary, takes them back for TOP 6, improving their quality. It would seem that we will see Draci in the semifinals at least.
However, Draci found a solid opponent in Hroši in the previous season. Both teams reached finals, and the younger Brno team continues practically without changes. Furthermore, Czech national player Willie Escala should also start the season for them. Luis Rengel, who played for Technika and Olympia, should be able to give the team plenty of quality innings. Hroši seem destined to go far this season and who knows, maybe to get their first title. They certainly have enough quality for it.
There is plenty of heads turning towards Tempo Praha. With signing of Martin Červenka Tempo moved to one of the main title challengers. While they will miss strikeout machine Ethan Skuija, Marek Minařík should be able to give more innings than it was a year before. Unfortunately, Tempo doesn’t have a depth in their roster, which could cost them along the way. However, it their core players remain healthy, and the foreign players they brought prove themselves, it’s not unlikely we will see Tempo in the finals.
There are plenty of vultures hiding behind the above mention trio, even if we count their chances for the title lower. Arrows Ostrava focused on Czech and Slovak players this year. However, Boris Bokaj shows he is one of the best coaches in the country and it will be interesting to watch what he can do with the talent at his disposal. Eagles Praha have a young, but talented team that was able to win in younger categories in the previous seasons. They remind us of Ostrava’s road, which managed to get three titles between 2018-2021. If Martin Červenka remained at Krč, they could be one of the favorites for the title. But they can still surprise everyone. But let’s not forget about the teams from Vysočina. Nuclears were able to get good signings this year. Furthermore, they tend to have a good scouting and pick quality players. TOP 6 should be theirs and were they to get a good mid-season form, they could reach their historically first medal. And maybe even the finals.
Personally, we hold high hopes for Hluboká or Technika, who will try to get to TOP6, but title seems unlikely. But the history showed us many times, that the ball is round and anything could happen.
