Thirty-one teams will play in the Serie B baseball championship in 2023, divided into three groups made up of eight teams, plus one of seven. Compared to last season, the formula differs only in the number of promotion playoff rounds: a single final series which will see the first two classified in each group as protagonists, who will compete in the best of five matches, as always with crossed positions and with the first in the standings benefiting from the field advantage. On the other hand, nothing different with regard to the safety playouts: the last two of each group will face each other in the best of three games.
Piacenza is as usual included in Group A, which basically follows that of 2022 with one obvious difference: Codogno, deservedly promoted to Serie A, gives way to the newly promoted Club Altopiano Seveso. The remaining teams are the same ones that the red and white faced in the season that ended last September: Milano 1946, Catalana Alghero, Avigliana Rebels, Ares Milano, Fossano and Junior Parma.
At the moment it is quite difficult to draft forecasts as the market is about to get going and each team will be trying to improve its roster. Based on the past championships, one can only hypothesize that Milan and Catalana will be the teams Piacenza will have to contend with if it wants to navigate in the top rankings: both the Milanese and the Sardinians each year set up a good mix of local, young and expert players, to whom to aggregate some foreign elements capable of making the difference. But keep an eye on the Piedmontese, as well as Ares Milano: a roster of young locals with a great desire to grow and animated by an uncommon fighting spirit that could lead them to surprising results as amply demonstrated in past years. The Junior for his part is back from an anomalous season, which ended with the last place in the Group but with the salvation obtained without problems in the playouts, demonstrating the fact that the classification was very false.
The new entry Seveso has always been a very young team, which focuses on the senior category to grow its prospects. In all likelihood, even the upcoming season will follow the club’s trend, with perhaps some addition of weight and experience to the line-up.
The new season for the red and white will kick off on April 16 with the double home match against Fossano. 11 am playball for game one, 3.00 pm for game two. The following weekend will then be the turn of the most demanding trip: the one in Sardinia to be tackled over two days: race one on Saturday afternoon, race two on Sunday morning. Piacenza will then receive Avigliana and so on until the end of the fixed regular season, subject to recoveries, on Sunday 23 July away on the Milan 1946 field; precisely the stadium where Piacenza concluded the 2022 season by triumphing in the Robert Fontana Tournament reserved for Under 23 athletes.
