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 professional 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.

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.

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. 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 face) advance to the poule scudetto (and then to the playoffs), while those not qualified fight to avoid relegation.

**Italiens Baseball League**

Den italienske baseball-ligaen (IBL) er den øverste divisjonen for baseball i Italia. Ligaen ble stiftet i 1948 og består av åtte lag som spiller en vanlig sesong etterfulgt av sluttspill.

**Lagene:**

* Bologna Baseball Softball Club
* Fortitudo Bologna
* Nettuno Baseball Club
* Parma Baseball Club
* Rimini Baseball Club
* San Marino Baseball Club
* T&A San Marino
* UnipolSai Bologna

**Sesongformat:**

* Den vanlige sesongen består av 56 kamper for hvert lag.
* De fire beste lagene går videre til sluttspillet, som spilles i et best-of-five-format.
* Vinneren av sluttspillet krones til italiensk mester.

**Historie:**

IBL har en lang og stolt historie, med mange klassiske lag og spillere. Noen av de mest suksessrike lagene gjennom tidene inkluderer:

* Nettuno Baseball Club (18 mesterskap)
* Rimini Baseball Club (12 mesterskap)
* Parma Baseball Club (9 mesterskap)

**Internasjonal konkurranse:**

Den italienske baseball-ligaen er anerkjent for sitt høye nivå og har produsert mange spillere som har representert Italia i internasjonale konkurranser. De italienske landslagene har vunnet tre europamesterskap og har deltatt i OL og World Baseball Classic.