TOP 5 of 2023 Czech baseball
With the end of the year, we bring you an article of the best moments of 2023. Unlike in the previous years, it was not difficult to pick them. Nevertheless, we will be glad to hear from you on what your TOP 5 would look like.
Year 2023 brought Czech baseball many interesting moments. The first woman to play Czech second best league, when Eva Ventrubová stepped in the batting box for Bučovice, narrowly missed on the selection. Deník Sport journalist Martin Haška also published a new baseball book. Draci Brno won their 24th title in Extraliga and are only 3 titles away from tying New York Yankees, who won MLB 27 times. And we can’t forget about an amazing All-Star Game in Choceň.
5. Draci and Arrows in Champions Cup
In 2023 Champions Cup was played for the format we knew. As it was played, we already heard it should be substituted with Champions League in 2024 and so teams fought to get their ticket to the new competition. And Czechs teams were right there. Draci and Arrows shocked Europe in their first day when they won against Amsterdam and Bonn. Arrows even won two games, however, they didn’t advance from the group stage due to unfavorable score. Neither of the Czech clubs, however, let anything to chance for the rest of the tournament, and after the wins, Czech Republic earned two spots for 2024.
4. Martin Červenka
Martin Červenka showed in 2022 why he is considered the best Czech baseball player of all times. However, he moved from Eagles Praha after the season, heading for nearby Tempo and the national team catcher only improved. At some point he was on pace to 100 hits and RBI. This didn’t happen in the end, however, Červenka finished Extraliga season with 86 hits, creating a new league record with 8 hits to spare. His 20 homeruns is also the best for a Czech-born player in Extraliga since wooden bats were introduced. Červenka helped Tempo to Extraliga finals, where they only needed one win to the title. Can they go the extra step in 2024?
3. Ninth place at U18 World Cup
Czechs were not meant to go to U18 World Cup. However, the team was awarded a wild card at the beginning of summer, due to which Extraliga needed to change the schedule. If there were some who didn’t believe Czechs before the start of the tournament, they had to be surprised by the youngsters performance and the final place by the end of it. Czechs were able to keep up with the favorites and were only beaten by a difference in the game against South Korea. Thanks to the wins against Australia, Span, and Venezuela they finished at a great ninth place, with the same record as 8th Mexico.
2. World Baseball Classic
We can summarize World Baseball Classic from two different views. When it comes to the performance, the national team achieved the goal they set for themselves. Thanks to the win against China they earned a spot in 2026 WBC. However, Czechs were also competitive in the remaining games and certainly earned the respect of the baseball world. World #1 Japan with superstar Ohtani had to wait to get ahead of Pavel Chadim’s team, which was leading for 3 innings. In the end Czechs lost, but they played the full game against Japan. And that wasn’t all. Czechs had a chance to advance to the main stage. The game against Australia was close for a long time, and Czech only lost it in the second half.
Nevertheless, the tournament helped Czech baseball in other ways. It increased the interest in Czech baseball at home and abroad. Japan especially started to open the doors even in political sphere. Thanks to live games at Czech Television, baseball caught interest of a wider audience, which discovered Czech baseball has high standards and it is far from fielding players such as Jaromír Jágr.
1. EuroBaseball
Success in World Baseball Classic increased interest in Czech baseball and it was necessary to continue the momentum at European Champions Czechs hosted. While players were unable to win a medal they dreamt about, thanks to a great organization we got to see the best European Championship to date, which beat the viewership records. The quarterfinals between Czech Republic and the Great Britain was seen by 2365 fans in Brno, which is a new record. A million of fans watched EC in television, with more than 1000 subscribers registered at baseballeurope.tv. Czechs set the bar high and other European associations will have a lot of catching up to do.
