The Honkbal Hoofdklasse (Dutch for Major League Baseball) is the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is a seven-team league overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball Federation (KNBSB).
Games are played principally on weekends with one game during the week. The season runs from April to September and is followed by the playoffs among the four best teams, which culminates in the Holland Series. The league followed a promotion and relegation system with the Honkbal Overgangsklasse until 2022. Many of the official team nicknames have contained the name of the club's sponsor.
The top two teams each year participated in the European Cup until that tournament restructured in 2024. Two teams will compete in the Baseball Champions League Europe.
History
The Honkbal Hoofdklasse has been the highest level of competitive baseball in the Netherlands since 1958, when it was elevated over the former Eerste Klasse by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Honkbal Bond, the forerunner of the KNBSB. The Eerste Klasse served as the top baseball competition in the Netherlands from its establishment in 1922 until 1957, excluding 1945 when play was suspended due to World War II. The Hoofdklasse has been organized by the KNBSB since 1971.
Until 1986, the winner of the season was also crowned the national champion, except for 1972 and 1973, when a best-of-five playoff Holland Series was held between the top two teams to determine the champion. The Holland Series returned in 1987 and has been held annually at the end of the season to determine the national champion. The championship series is currently held in a best-of-seven format. The top six teams qualify for the playoffs, with the top two teams earning a bye through the wild card round.
In 2021, the Eerste Klasse was reinstated as the second level of Dutch professional baseball and the league to which teams from the Hoofdklasse are relegated at the end of the season. It previously was the second league in the Dutch baseball pyramid from 1958 to 1986 and 2001 to 2009. In the intervening years, from 1987 to 2000 and 2010 to 2020, the Overgangsklasse operated as the secondary baseball league in the Netherlands.
Following the 2021 season, the KNBSB decided to end relegation and promotion and operate the Hoofdklasse with fixed teams. The reform was part of broader efforts to improve the league's quality of play and national visibility. The league expanded to nine teams for the 2022 season. The Silicon Storks, who were slated to be relegated, remained in the Hoofdklasse alongside , who had defeated the Storks in a playoff to earn promotion to the top league. The Storks were replaced in 2023 by UVV, which had been in the Hoofdklasse until 2017. The league saw more changes after the 2024 season, with Kinheim replacing DSS/Kinheim in the top league and Quick Amersfoort voluntarily moving down to the Eerste Klasse, and the 2025 season, when RCH's members also voted to move down from the top level.
Current clubs
Team City Stadium Capacity Neptunus Rotterdam Neptunus Familiestadion 2,760 Kinheim Haarlem 2,500 Amsterdam Pirates AmsterdamLoek Loevendie Ballpark 2,000 HCAW Bussum 1,000 Hoofddorp Pioniers Hoofddorp Sportpark Pioniers 1,000 UVV Utrecht Sportpark de Paperclip 1,000 Twins Oosterhout Oosterhout Sportpark Slotbosse Toren 500
2025 final standings The final 2025 Hoofdklasse standings:
At the conclusion of the league's playoffs, Neptunus defeated HCAW to win their 21st Holland Series title.
Results Hoofdklasse championshipsRankTeamTitlesFirstLast1st Neptunus Rotterdam2220262nd 123rd Blauw-Wit Amsterdam9 Sparta Rotterdam95th Amsterdam Pirates7 6th Amsterdam67th Kinheim5 SC Haarlem5 Schoten Haarlem510th Ajax Amsterdam411th Amstel Tijgers3 EHS Haarlem3 HCAW3 Quick Amsterdam315th AGHC Amsterdam216th ADO Den Haag1 EDO Haarlem1 HHC Haarlem1 Hoofddorp Pioniers1 Seagulls Amsterdam1 VVGA Amsterdam1
See also
Baseball in the Netherlands
References
External links