© Lauro Bassani (PhotoBass)
The 2022 Serie A baseball will start on Saturday 2 April, with the scudetto awarded by 18 September. This was announced by the FIBS after the decision of the Federal Council. At the start, which will take place in the first weekend of April, there will be 32 teams that in the first phase will be divided into 4 groups of 8: each of the groups will be composed of 2 seeded (chosen among the 8 that played the second phase 2021) , 1 newly promoted and 5 other teams from those who played the Salvation Pool, based on proximity.
In the first phase, only one first leg will be played, with 2 games of 9 innings, at the end of which the first 2 classified will qualify for the Scudetto Pool: the 8 teams will be divided into 2 groups of 4 who will play home, return and an intergirone , on 3 weekly matches of 7 shots for a total of 10 weeks and 30 games; the rotation of the pitchers will see race 1 for the launchers with a visa, race 2 for the AFI launchers and race 3 for the NON AFI community pitchers.
Once the second phase is closed, there will be the crossed semifinals between the first 2 classified of each group structured in a series of the best of 7 games (always on 7 rounds) to be played in 2 weeks, followed by the Italian Baseball Series, always at the best of 7 games out of 7 shoots in 2 weeks. Event 7 of the IBS will be played on Sunday 18 September 2022.
At the same time, the other 24 teams will be divided into 4 groups of 6, which will play roundtrips in 2 weekly matches of 9 rounds. At the end of this phase, the last 2 classifieds of each group will cross in the playout series with the best of 5 games and the losers will be relegated to Serie B. The 4 teams per group not involved in the playouts will be divided into 4 concentrations, with the formula of the Final Four, for the dispute of the Italian Cup. In the meantime, the losers of the Scudetto Semifinals will meet the 2 winners of the play-off between the third and fourth classified groups of the Scudetto Pool (best of 3 matches series). The 2 winning teams will join the 4 qualifiers of the Coppa Italia concentrations and will give life to another 2 concentrations, this time with 3 teams with a one-way Italian round, to be played in a single day. The 2 winners access the Final Four of the Italian Cup together with the teams that played in the Italian Baseball Series. The winner of the Final Four, scheduled for the weekend of 24-25 September, will win the Italian Cup and the second place available in the 2023 European Cup.
