[chucksabr]

The Start of a New Season.

After having brought the season forward in recent years, the baseball authorities recognized the possibility of having to play the summer game in winter weather, and while our favourite top and middle tier teams have conducted their spring practices in Portugal, the cold snaps which we may be said to suffer or enjoy, according to our personal feelings, will not deter the members of the 88 clubs of the Baseball League from doing their best to “get off on the good foot” and earn victories in their maiden matches this afternoon.

The fact that competitive baseball starts on the first Monday in May means an unfortunate clashing with Association football and rugby union, but that also has been endured for several years now, and the heavy work of the season necessitates both the early beginning and the extension of the playing days into October.

As with every year, several changes have taken place in the composition of the different tournaments as the result of what happened last season. To wit, West Ham United have gone up with Brighton & Hove Albion to the First Division to replace Aston Villa and Blackpool, each ending long stretches of mediocrity in the top tier given that the former never exceeded a 51 per cent. win rate in any season during the prior decade, and the latter peaked at the 17th place during their most recent stint in the loop.

Liverpool and Burnley, both mainstays of League baseball, have fallen from the Second Division. Liverpool previously tasted the bitter pill, in 1924. They went right back up the following season and showed brief promise for the future before stumbling hard three seasons ago and flirting with relegation ever since, finally “succeeding” this season past. This will be Burnley’s first ever foray in the nether regions of the League, especially difficult after making a splendid run for promotion the season prior, falling just three lengths short. They will make room for Carlisle United and Gillingham, respectively providing Cumbria and Kent their first ever clubs to play above the Third Division. There is a new name in the Northern Section as well—South Shields have moved ten miles inland and will now be called Gateshead.

As for expectations for the various competitions in the top tier of the League, Crewe Alexandra looked particularly strong in Spring games and will provide a great challenge to last season’s championship round participants Chesterfield and Preston North End, the latter of whom made spectacular signings of top professionals from America and Japan. Sunderland, Everton, and Fulham all appear to be strong sides as well. In the middle division, Birmingham, Durham City, Stockport County, and Coventry City were the best squads in Portugal in April. In the Third Division, the inside men give their nods to Charlton Athletic, Merthyr Town, Northampton Town and Tottenham Hotspur in the Southern Section, while in the Northern Section, Middlesbrough are the clear favourite to rise to the Second Division for next season.