Schedule announced for 2023 slate of matches

Bay Area Vintage Base Ball is proud to announce the release of its 2023 schedule, which opens March 19 with all 10 of the Association’s squads in action at four diamonds around the Bay Area.

“I think we’ve made a major improvement to the schedule by playing fewer weeks with all teams in action during the summer months,” said league President Matt “Ranger” Petty of the San Francisco Pacifics. “This will allow for more off weeks for summer vacations and backup players from teams that aren’t playing.”

The Pacs — 2022 league champions and reigning kings of the West Division — will open their title defense when they visit the San Jose Dukes for a 10 a.m. match. The Golden Gate Cup-winning Berkeley Clarions, the Association’s defending East Division champs, will visit Alameda Island to square off with the Oakland Colonels at noon.

Along with the Pacifics and Dukes, the Dublin Aces and Haywards Journals will simultaneously launch the season’s first game day with an East Division tilt at 10 a.m. Meanwhile, cranks in attendance at the Big Rec ball fields in San Francisco will witness four of The City’s teams in action for the first of several double headers scheduled for 2023: Eagles vs. Barbary Coast at noon, followed by Sea Lions vs. Pelicans at 3 p.m..

Later in the season, the Clarions will seek revenge against the Pacifics when the two squads square off in a rematch of the 2022 Championship Match on June 4 in San Francisco. The Clarions will also see their 2022 Golden Gate Cup Final Match opponents on July 30 when they visit Barbary Coast.

“In 2022, the East Division sported three teams with winning records and went a combined 15-10 versus the Western Division,” said East Division Commissioner Corey “Pup” Gazay, captain of the San Jose Dukes. “The Berkeley Clarions rode their regular season dominance to a Golden Gate Cup Championship in 2022, but the other Eastern teams have their eyes on the Cup this season.”

Once again, every team will play a 13 game schedule, with two matches against each team in its own division and one against each team in the other division.

“As the level of play improves and the gaps in standing decrease, in 2023 we look for some newfound rivalries,” said West Division Commissioner Nate “Stoker” Bennett of the Eagles. “Furthermore, the West Division has a bone to pick with the East due to the discrepancy in their collective records, and ballists throughout the Association will be eager to demonstrate that theirs is, in fact, the superior division.”

As always, the regular season will end with the Championship Match, in which the East Division and West Division winners will square off to determine the 2023 league champion. Planning is already under way for the eighth annual Golden Gate Cup — the Association’s annual post season single elimination tournament, featuring all 10 teams — to follow immediately thereafter.