BCL Europe: German Baseball League enters with Heidenheim and Regensburg
With the Baseball Champions League Europe celebrating its inauguration in 2026, Germany will enter the tournament with two participants, the Heidenheim Heidekoepfe and the Guggenberger Legionaere Regensburg. They both herald from the German Baseball League (DBL).
While there were first attempts for a baseball league in Germany in the 1960s, the German Baseball League or the German Baseball-Bundesliga, as it was called until 2024, is being played regularly since 1984.
The German Baseball League, except for five years in the 1980s, is split into a northern and a southern division during the regular season. After the regular season the top three teams from each division play an interleague round to determine the first six seeds for the quarterfinals, while the bottom three teams from each division play a wild card race for the remaining two spots in the playoffs. While during the regular season, interleague and wild card race two games are played each weekend, the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals are being played as best-of-five series.
Currently there are 12 teams participating in the league overall with plans to expand to 16 teams in the future. In the north there are the Bonn Capitals, Cologne Cardinals, Dortmund Wanderers, Hamburg Stealers, Huenstetten Storm and the Untouchables Paderborn, in the south the Gauting Indians, Guggenberger Legionaere Regensburg, Heidenheim Heidekoepfe, Mainz Athletics, Munich-Haar Disciples and Stuttgart Reds.
The record title holder are the Mannheim Tornados with 10 titles however they were relegated in 2023. The reigning German Baseball Champion are the Heidenheim Heidekoepfe. They defeated the Guggenberger Legionaere Regensburg 3-1 in the best-of-five final series last year.
Heidenheim, now with eight German Baseball Championships, are the dominate team of the last decade in German Baseball. Between 2015 and 2025 they won seven of their eight titles with the first coming in 2009. Founded in 1992 the Heidekoepfe has been playing in the German Baseball League since 2001. The team’s name means heathland’s head, which references the city’s coat of arms.
The Guggenberger Legionaere are hosting one of the BCL first round groups at the Armin Wolf Baseball Arena in Regensburg, one of the most prestigious ballparks in all of European Baseball. The Guggenberger Legionaere have won five German Baseball Championships, all in a span between 2008 and 2013. Since then, they try to return to the top of the hill. They were founded in 1987. Their team’s name is coming from the Roman legionnaire.
The German Baseball League made a re-design for the 2025 season with a new logo, a new website and a new concept, where the participating teams work together to develop the league further in the coming years. Favourites for the 2026 season will be for sure the Heidenheim Heidekoepfe and the Guggenberger Legionaere from the south, but also the Bonn Capitals and Untouchables Paderborn from the north. Teams like the Hamburg Stealers and Stuttgart Reds try to make a living in the playoffs as well.