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Italian Baseball League

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

The Italian Baseball League (IBL, Italian: Campionato italiano di baseball), officially known as the Serie A (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsɛːrje ˈa]), is the top-level baseball league in Italy. Founded in 1948, it is governed by the Italian Baseball & Softball Federation (FIBS), which has its headquarters in Rome.

Many of the teams are based in the northern Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, which has historically been the hotbed of baseball in the country; a team from the Republic of San Marino also plays in Serie A.

Like most sports leagues in Europe, and unlike professional baseball leagues in North America and Asia, the IBL uses a promotion and relegation system; the bottom five clubs are relegated to the Serie B minor league. Winners of the league are awarded a scudetto, and earn the right to represent Italy in the European Champions Cup.^[a]

History

Until 2010, the IBL featured a promotion-and-relegation league format that demoted the last place finisher to the minor leagues (Series A2), while the Serie A2 (baseball) champion would be promoted into the IBL. This was changed in late 2009, when FIBS approved the decision to introduce a fixed-team franchise format (similar to that found in Major 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, or gironi (lit. "groups"). The 8 gironi winners compete for the league championship (the scudetto), 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 five gironi; the top two in each group of the first phase (prima fase) advance to the poule scudetto (and then to the playoffs), while those not qualified fight to avoid relegation.

Teams

As is the practice in Asian baseball leagues like Japan's NPB and South Korea's KBO, 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.

2023 poule scudetto teams

Of the 33 teams participating in the 2023 Serie A season, ten qualified for the poule scudetto (the championship pool). The top eight teams in the poule scudetto qualify for the postseason.

2023 Team	Location	2023 prima 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

Ronchi dei Legionari

San Marino

Macerata

Nettuno BC

Senago

Fortitudo BO

Godo

Parma

Grosseto

Italian Baseball League poule scudetto team locations

Champions

Playoff era (1986–present)

Year	Winning team	Runner up	Result	MVP
1986	Grohe Grosseto	Trevi Rimini	4–3	-
1987	Trevi Rimini (5)	Mamoli Grosseto	4–1	-
1988	Ronson Lenoir Rimini (6)	SCAC Nettuno	4–0	-
1989	Mamoli Grosseto (2)	Ronson Lenoir Rimini	4–2	-
1990	SCAC Nettuno (13)	Ronson Lenoir Rimini	4–3	-
1991	Parma Angels (6)	Flower Gloves Verona	3-0	—
1992	Telemarket Rimini (7)	Eurobuilding Bologna	3-0	David Sheldon
1993	C.F.C. Nettuno (14)	Telemarket Rimini	3–2	Jessie Reid
1994	Cariparma Angels (7)	Danesi Nettuno	4–1	Brad Komminsk
1995	Cariparma Angels (8)	Danesi Nettuno	4–1	Roberto Bianchi
1996	Caffè Danesi Nettuno (15)	Cariparma Angels	4–2	Francesco Casolari
1997	Cariparma Parma (9)	Danesi Nettuno	4–3	Francesco Casolari
1998	Danesi Nettuno (16)	Semenzato Rimini	4–1	Federico Bassi
1999	Semenzato Rimini (8)	Danesi Nettuno	4–3	Ed Campaniello (Rimini)
2000	Semenzato Rimini (9)	Danesi Nettuno	4–0	Claudio Liverziani (Rimini)
2001	Caffè Danesi Nettuno (17)	Semenzato Rimini	4–2	Juan Carlos Vigna
2002	Semenzato Rimini (10)	Danesi Nettuno	4–1	Orlando Muñoz (Modena)
2003	Italeri Bologna (6)	GB Ricambi Modena	4–1	Claudio Liverziani (Bologna)
2004	Prink Grosseto (3)	Italeri Bologna	4–2	Jaime Navarro (Grosseto)
2005	Italeri Bologna (7)	T & A San Marino	4–3	Jesús Matos (Bologna)
2006	Telemarket Rimini (11)	Colonie Maremma Grosseto	4–1	Mario Chiarini (Rimini)
2007	Montepaschi Grosseto (4)	Danesi Nettuno	4–3	Giuseppe Mazzanti (Nettuno)
2008	T & A San Marino	Danesi Nettuno	4–3	Giuseppe Mazzanti (Nettuno)
2009	UGF Banca Bologna (8)	T & A San Marino	4–1	Eddie Garabito (Bologna)
2010	Cariparma Parma (10)	Fortitudo Bologna	4–2	Orlando Muñoz (Parma)
2011	T & A San Marino (2)	Danesi Nettuno	4–3	Willie Vasquez (San Marino)
2012	T & A San Marino (3)	Rimini Baseball	4–2	Danilo Sanchez (Godo)
2013	T & A San Marino (4)	Rimini Baseball	3–2	Alessandro Vaglio
2014	UGF Banca Bologna (9)	Rimini Baseball	4–3	Claudio Liverziani
2015	Rimini Baseball (12)	Fortitudo Baseball Bologna	4–0	Giuseppe Mazzanti
2016	UGF Banca Bologna (10)	Rimini Baseball	4–2	Sebastiano Poma
2017	ASD Rimini (13)	T & A San Marino	3–0
2018	UnipolSai Bologna (11)	Parmaclima	3–1
2019	UnipolSai Bologna (12)	T & A San Marino	3–0
2020	UnipolSai Bologna (13)	T & A San Marino	4–3
2021	T & A San Marino (5)	UnipolSai Bologna	3–2
2022	T & A San Marino (6)	Parmaclima	4–3
2023	UnipolSai Bologna (14)	T & A San Marino	4–0	Ricardo Paolini
2024	ParmaClima (11)	San Marino Baseball Club	4–1	Alex Liddi
2025	San Marino Baseball Club (7)	ParmaClima	4–0	Ortwin Pieternella

Notable former players

• Samuel Aldegheri: Italian pitcher who played for Parma Clima before making his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Los Angeles Angels
• Jason Simontacchi: Pitcher for Novara Baseball and retired MLB pitcher
• Chuck Carr: Centerfielder for Rimini and retired MLB outfielder
• Junior Guerra: Pitcher for T & A San Marino before joining the Milwaukee Brewers
• Robel García: Infielder for Fortitudo Bologna before joining the Chicago Cubs
• Alex Liddi: Italian infielder who played for the Seattle Mariners before joining ParmaClima.
• Abraham Núñez: Outfielder for The Nettuno Baseball Club and retired MLB outfielder
• Jason Conti: Outfielder for Fortitudo Bologna after playing five MLB seasons.

Standings

Notes

References

External links

• FIBS Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball website
• Italian Baseball League Encyclopedia and History Baseball Reference website

See also

• Baseball in Italy
• Italian Baseball League 2D
• Italy national baseball team
• Baseball awards in Italy
• Baseball awards in Europe