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| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| First season | 1948 |
| President | Riccardo Fraccari |
| No. of teams | 33 |
| Country |  Italy San Marino |
| Most recent champion | San Marino (2025) |
| Most titles | Nettuno BC 1945 (17 titles) |
| Relegation to | Serie B |
| Official website | www.fibs.it |
TheItalian Baseball League (IBL, Italian:Campionato italiano di baseball), officially known as theSerie A (Italian pronunciation:[ˈsɛːrjeˈa]), is the top-levelbaseballleague in Italy. Founded in 1948, it is governed by the Italian Baseball & Softball Federation (FIBS), which has its headquarters inRome.
Many of the teams are based in the northernEmilia-Romagna region of Italy, which has historically been the hotbed of baseball in the country; a team from theRepublic of San Marino also plays in Serie A.
Like most sports leagues in Europe, and unlikeprofessional baseball leagues in North America and Asia, the IBL uses apromotion and relegation system; the bottom five clubs are relegated to theSerie B minor league. Winners of the league are awarded ascudetto, and earn the right to represent Italy in theEuropean Champions Cup.[a]
Until 2010, the IBL featured a promotion-and-relegation league format that demoted the last place finisher to the minor leagues (Series A2), while theSerie A2 (baseball) champion would be promoted into the IBL. This was changed in late 2009, when FIBS approved the decision to introduce a fixed-teamfranchise format (similar to that found inMajor League Baseball) starting with the 2010 season.
However, in 2018, the promotion-and-relegation system was reintroduced.[1]
In 2021, the Italian Baseball League was rebranded as Serie A, bringing together the previous eight-team Serie A1 and the second-tier Serie A2. The new league was structured into 33 participating teams in 8 divisions, orgironi (lit. "groups"). The 8gironi winners compete for the league championship (thescudetto), while the remaining 25 will fight to avoid being among the five relegated to Serie B.[2][3] In 2023, the league size was reduced to 30 teams, divided into fivegironi; the top two in each group of the first phase (prima fase) advance to thepoule scudetto (and then to the playoffs), while those not qualified fight to avoid relegation.
As is the practice in Asian baseball leagues like Japan'sNPB and South Korea'sKBO, many of the official team names in the Serie A include the team's corporate sponsor — though unlike Asian baseball, a sponsorship name does not necessarily indicate ownership.
Of the 33 teams participating in the 2023 Serie A season, ten qualified for thepoule scudetto (the championship pool). The top eight teams in thepoule scudetto qualify for the postseason.
| 2023 Team | Location | 2023prima face position (Group) | First season in Serie A | No. of seasons of current spell in Serie A | Scudetto titles | Most recent Scudetto | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Girone F | ||||||||
| Hotsand Macerata Angels | Macerata | 1st(A) | 2020 | 4 | — | — | ||
| Godo Baseball | Russi | 2nd(C) | 2006 | 5 | — | — | ||
| Nettuno BC 1945 | Nettuno | 1st(D) | 1950 | 3 | 17 | 2001 | ||
| Comcor Modena | Modena | 1st(E) | 1966 | 3 | — | — | ||
| New Black Panthers | Ronchi dei Legionari | 2nd(B) | 1969 | 3 | — | — | ||
| Girone G | ||||||||
| Fortitudo Bologna | Bologna | 1st(C) | 1963 | 26 | 14 | 2023 | ||
| Senago BC | Milan | 2nd(E) | 2021 | 3 | — | — | ||
| BSC Grosseto | Grosseto | 2nd(D) | 1999 | 9 | 5 | 2014 | ||
| Parma Clima | Parma | 1st(B) | 1950 | 59 | 10 | 2010 | ||
| San Marino Baseball | San Marino | 2nd(A) | 1985 | 38 | 6 | 2022 | ||
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