The 2025 Extraliga season starts on Friday and we can look forward to a number of interesting performances and results. Let’s take a look on a few questions, which could interest you before the start.
Will someone challenge Draci?
Extraliga has been played for 32 years and 25 of them were won by Draci Brno. After a short period where Arrows dominated the competition, Draci found the winning dynasty again and won the previous 3 titles. It is no surprise they are favorites to win the title this year as well. The question is whether there is someone to challenge them.
Runners-up from the previous seasons don’t look like they should be able to do just that. Tempo was even demoted to First League. However, three time champions from Ostrava might be able to do something about it, since their core contains several players who know what it feels like to be champions. The question is whether their younger players grew to the championship level. Either way they will have a lot of experience around them.
We might also see a new team in the finals. Nuclears and Sokol have a much stronger team than in the previous season and they certainly have higher ambitions. We also can’t forget about Eagles Praha, who won 4 medals in the previous 7 years and they haven’t missed TOP 4 since 2016. Perhaps the time has come for the first title for the team in white and green.
Will we see effect Červenka?
After returning from USA Martin Červenka played for three different teams and he was always able to advance to playoffs. He decided to return to the club he grew up with, Kotlářka Brno. Kotlářka finished second to last in the previous season, however Červenka’s arrival will certainly increase the strength of the entire team, and the younger players will get a veteran to learn from. Will this be enough for Kotlářka to get to TOP 4, however? Based on our prognosis, it might not, however, Prague team could be competitive till the very last game.
Will Jakub Malík win another Triple Crown?
Arrows finished third in the previous season and if we were to look for one of the main reasons, we don’t have to look far to see the performances of their captain Jakub Malík. Now forty year old national team player had one of his best seasons and as a third player in the history he managed to win Triple Crown. However, repeating the performance will be extremely difficult, nevertheless not impossible. If he were to limit his play time, as initially planned, his hits will need to come from other players.
What about SaBaT?
Extraliga returnee will have their work set out for them. Prague team managed to win 25 games in a row and then win 2 series in Promotion League. Beside winning 3-0 against Technika, they also beat demoted Tempo. However, they only won 2 out of 9 remaining game. SaBaT will bring two foreigners to Extraliga, neither of which has an impressive resume. SaBaT will thus compete not to finish last. Seventh and better place would be a pleasant surprise. Either way, Prague team has 35 games to gain enough experience to use in Promotion League.
Will Jantzen Witte show his quality?
It could be said that we haven’t had a better batter in Extraliga. Jantzen Witte will play for Sokol Hluboká and has 7 years of experience in Triple A and almost a thousand games in MiLB. Witte is also only 35 year old and so we certainly cannot say he is over the hill already.
