After a season where baseball was only played locally without any real competition, baseball in France appears to take off again in 2021. When? That remains the question. But the FFBS (French Baseball and Softball Federation) has put a schedule online.
According to fellow blogger Le Baseblog, the proposed starting date of Division 1 was June 1. But according to the schedule that has been posted by the FFBS, the starting date has been pushed back to June 12. So even though there are expectations the league can start, no starting date has been set.
The FFBS posted the schedule without much fanfare, so the disappointment will not be too big if the starting date will be pushed back again.
The highest French baseball league has to deal with an odd number of teams. Group A will contain five teams (Montigny Cougars, Paris University Club, Rouen Huskies, Savigny-sur-Orge Lions, and Stade Toulousain), group B will contain six teams (Clermont Ferrand, La Rochelle Boucaniers, Montpellier Barracudas, Metz Cometz, Nice Cavigal, and Templiers de Sénart).
According to reliable sources, the team that Rouen will field, may not be as good as previous years, so this may be the year in which Huskies’ dominance will be broken up by Sénart or Savigny-sur-Orge, which would be a good thing since such domination like the Huskies’ in the past two decades is not good for any sport.
Anyhow, the players and the fans are waiting for the green light by the French government. When that will be, no one knows. But the expectations are high.
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