2015 PBL Spring Meeting Set
Posted March 31, 2015
Second year Powerline Baseball League President Craig Neufeld has called for a Spring Meeting today, scheduled for Thursday April 2 in Tofield at 7pm. On the light agenda posted on the Powerline Baseball League website a huge item is the application of the Rosalind Athletics to enter the league in 2015. Among other items on the agenda include the league having to decide on whether or not to continue membership with Baseball Alberta and work out an agreement with umpires as well as settle on any rule changes that need to be in place for the upcoming season which will be just over a month away from starting. The league will also either have to find a new website manager or negotiate an agreement with longtime website manager Jason Buzzell to manage the site from his new/old residence in Nebraska.
The Rosalind Athletics were the 2012 Ryley Sports Days Tournament Champions
The biggest news item of course is the Rosalind Athletics and the possibility of the PBL expanding to eight teams in 2015. In 2014 the Rosalind Athletics found themselves one win away from the Battle River Baseball League Championship before ultimately losing game three to the Heisler Cardinals. It was the third straight season that saw the Cardinals take the BRBL Championship over the Athletics.
The small village of about 200 people is located about 40 minutes south east of Camrose and has been a hot spot for baseball in the area for as long as most people can remember. Should the A’s become what could be the eight franchise in the PBL, it will offer the league a deep and competitive group of teams, perhaps the deepest and most competitive group in league history. The only obstacle that teams could have with the application would be the travel distance from locations such as Edmonton, Beaumont, Sherwood Park, Leduc and perhaps even the Vegreville area where most teams seem to be drawing players from. The league may have to get creative with scheduling should the A’s get voted in, with one suggestion on the PBL website following the North Central Alberta Baseball League schedule and have teams do weekend doubleheaders to help eliminate travel.
The PBL team executives will also have to decide on what to about the schedule, Baseball Alberta and umpires. With the PBL season generally starting the second weekend in May in recent years, the league will have just over a month to ensure that four games a night, twice a week have umpiring crews. Over the last couple of seasons most teams have been able to produce a pair of Baseball Alberta umpires with the scheduling of umpires taken care of. In 2015, baseball fans are wondering if the meeting and the approval of a schedule will be too late as minor ball associations have finalized schedules as well as other senior men’s baseball leagues. In a worst case scenario for the season, teams might have to resort back to finding umpires on their own for each home game, which often lead Rebels Manager Kevin Reinholt ready to remove manager from his player/manager title.
Assuming the league approves the Rosalind application and no other teams leaves for 2015, the eight team league will more than likely be a 14 game schedule with each team playing each other twice. PBL fans will also more than likely get four games every Tuesday and Thursday during the regular season for their fill of baseball action. Unless the schedule sees weekend games due to travel concerns that may be an issue with some teams.
Tie breaking rules are surely to be on the agenda as at the end of the season with five teams finishing with 9-5 records the PBL website was lit up with discussion and arguments about who should be ranked where and how the current rules aren’t thorough enough. Odds of a league seeing five of the seven teams finish with identical records all tied for first place is somewhat unlikely to happen again, but the league may not want to chance it.
With the weather warming up and the seventh Rebels season just around the corner, players and fans alike are thrilled to finally hear some league news heading into the new season as the PBL website has been rather quite during the offseason.
**From Rosalind Athletics website - Heisler Cardinals win 2014 BRBL Championship 2-1 over the Rosalind Athletics.