The Austrian Baseball Bundesliga, or simply Baseball Bundesliga, is the highest level of baseball in Austria. The league was established in 1985 as the Austrian Baseball League with only four teams competing. In 2017, the league was renamed Baseball League Austria, and in 2020, it adopted its current name, Baseball Bundesliga. The league is currently contested by seven teams and the games are played from April to August with the playoffs beginning in September.
History Baseball was introduced into Austria in the 1940s by United States military personnel stationed in the country after the Second World War. The sport was played at the Hohe Warte Stadium in Vienna and at the Figl Air Base near Tulln an der Donau. However, after the occupation ended in 1955, interest in and development of baseball declined.
Interest in baseball saw a revival in the 1980s. Three baseball clubs were established in Vienna in 1982: Homerunners, Roadrunners and City Boys; only the Homerunners, now the Vienna Metrostars, are still active. The league was established in 1985 as the Austrian Baseball League, with its inaugural season featuring four teams: Linz Bandits, Vienna City Boys, Vienna Homerunners and Vienna Roadrunners. The top two teams from the regular season faced off in a final series to determine the Austrian baseball champion. The City Boys folded after the 1985 season, leaving only three teams to contest the 1986 season.
The number of teams fluctuated between five and eight per season until 1997, when the top flight was set at eight teams, along with the establishment of a four-team playoff system to determine the winner. In 2017, the league changed its name to Baseball League Austria and expanded the playoffs to six teams. In 2020, it adopted its current name, Baseball Bundesliga.
Current teams Team City Field Established Dornbirn Indians Dornbirn Sportanlage Rohrbach 1990 Hard Bulls Hard Ballpark am See 1991 Schwechat Blue Bats Schwechat Batsfield 1989 Traiskirchen Grasshoppers Traiskirchen Hoppersfield 1991 Wiener Neustadt Diving Ducks Wiener Neustadt Ducksfield 1987 Vienna Metrostars Vienna Ballpark Freudenau 1982 Vienna Wanderers Vienna Ballpark Spenadlwiese 1986
Winners The following is a list of Austrian Baseball Bundesliga winners from 1985 to 2024. Team Champions Runners-up Winning seasons Runners-up seasons Vienna Metrostars 15 9 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2018, 2020 1990, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2013, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024 Vienna Wanderers 6 4 1990, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2022 1992, 2001, 2005, 2017 Attnang-Puchheim Athletics 4 1 2008, 2010, 2016, 2017 2011 Vienna Bulldogs 4 3 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000 1994, 1995, 1998 Dornbirn Indians 3 3 1999, 2003, 2019 2014, 2018, 2022 Wiener Neustadt Diving Ducks 3 5 2021, 2023, 2024 2003, 2004, 2012, 2015, 2016 Schwaz Tigres 2 4 1995, 1998 1989, 1996, 2008, 2009 Kufstein Vikings 2 4 2002, 2004 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008 Hard Bulls 1 1 2001 2002 Vienna Roadrunners 0 2 1985, 1986 Vienna Bucks 0 2 1987, 1988 Linz Bandits 0 1 1999 Traiskirchen Grasshoppers 0 1 2020
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