French division I expands to 12 teams

The French Baseball Federation will expand the French first division to twelve teams. As a result, the league will be split into two groups. This year, only seven teams finished the competition of the French top league. 


The two groups contain the following teams:

Group A

Rouen Baseball 76
Montpellier Barracudas
Lions de Savigny-sur-Orge
Stade Toulousain
Arvernes de Clermont-Ferrand
Valenciennes Baseball Club

Group B

Montigny-le-Bretonneux Cougars
Templiers de Sénart
La Rochelle Boucaniers
PUC Paris
Nice Cavigal
Metz Cometz

The composition of the groups does not make sense as both groups contain teams from the North, East South and West of France. Take group A for example. It contains three teams from the North of France (Rouen Huskies, Lions de Savigny-sur-Orge and Valenciennes Baseball Club) as it also contains three teams from the Southern part of France (Montpellier Barracudas, Stade Toulousain and Avernes de Clermont-Ferrand).

A similar situation in Group B as it has Templiers de Sénart, PUC Paris, Montigny-le-Bretonneux Cougars and Metz Cometz from the Northern part of France and Nice Cavigal and La Rochelle Boucaniers from the Southern part of the country.

One can wonder if it would make more sense to put the teams from the North in one group and ditto for teams from the South. It would save them a lot of travel costs.

One can also wonder if the quality of the league will improve by adding four extra teams. There won’t be enough quality players but on the other hand, more games will improve the level of play.

Why the French baseball and softball federation made this move is unclear.

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