The Smell of Baseball is in the Air

It’s that time of year again, the days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, restaurants are dusting off their terraces, and baseball is returning to Prague. You heard right, this Saturday and Sunday (March 31- April 1) will be the home opener for two of three Prague teams that play in the Czech Baseball League. Kotlářka will host their crosstown rivals, Prague Eagles, while the Tempo Titans will play last years newly promoted, Třebíč Nuclears. Famed Czech model/actress Martina Hekerová is even scheduled to be singing the national anthem for the Kotlářka/Eagles game at Stadium Markéta. It is sure to be a fun time had for all.

If you are unfamiliar with baseball in the Czech Republic, here is a bit of info you may want to brush up on before heading to the games. The Czech Baseball League began in the 1980s and in recent years has been gaining increased popularity, home growing very talented young ballplayers and attracting international amateur players from Australia and USA to play and also coach. Many of the players in the league also play for the Czech national baseball team, which is regarded by many as among one of the top 3 teams in European baseball, behind the Netherlands and Italy. There are ten teams that play in the league: three from Prague, three from Brno, and one team each for Ostrava, Olomouc, Blansko, and Třebíč. For most of the leagues' history, one team has dominated, winning 20 league championships and have fully supplanted themselves as the perennial team to beat. That would be the Beast from the East, Brno Draci.

However, as good as Brno Draci are, they have been challenged recently by our very own Kotlářka Praha. In 2015, Kotlářka beat Draci in the Extraliga Championship and in 2016 they fell short of repeating the title by just one game, losing the championship series 3 games to two. In 2017, the Prague club stumbled during the regular season playing at around a .500 winning percentage. However, they came alive during the postseason taking the first round by storm, going 8-0, but again fell short, this time losing in the quarterfinals. This year the boys from Kotlářka are returning healthy, hungry, and with a great mix of veteran and young, up and coming players.

The season begins on March 31st at 14:00 at Stadium Marketa (Na Markétě 160 00 Praha 6 - Vypich ). Beers are served cold, hot dogs come in a rohlik, and you could not ask for a better atmosphere for baseball. The Field of Dreams is real, and we found it in Vypich, of all places. See you there!

Kotlářka Prague kotlarka.baseball.cz
Kotlářka Prague - Live stream
Czech Baseball League www.baseball.cz