The Roundup - 31st May to 6th June 2021

SiiPe pull off a miracle by winning both jakso at home against 2020’s silver medalists KPL

The big stories

The season has started - but some fixtures are swapped or delayed

Unlike last year, where teams all started the season with the same sets of rules and restrictions in place, 2021 has seen some very skewed outcomes for teams in areas with higher COVID numbers. In some instances, the number of spectators varied so wildly that it would be completely unsustainable for teams to play. Pesis works on very tight budgets, with local sponsors and ticket sales bringing in the bulk of a team’s income. Without fans in the stands, sponsors equally feel uncomfortable supporting a team when there is no prospect that the advertisement will bring business to the sponsor. The Pesäpalloliito has considered the most pragmatic ways to ensure the season starts and teams can try and secure the best financial outcome; their conclusion was to switch the home and away fixtures for some teams, as well offering delays to games where such a switch would not be viable. As restrictions ease, the arrangements should settle down.

Polttolinja podcast and website

At the end of the 2020 season, my podcast co-hosts and I continued to meet in our remote meetings and discuss ways to grow the sport and enhance the amount of material on the internet. It turns out we were not alone and soon Mikko was tasked with starting a new podcast to form part of a new pesis brand: Polttolinja.

The podcast has been a massive success and there have been calls to make it a weekly show! The website has also seen great interest and there are a number of articles already available. Readers of this blog will also know that I appear as an author for articles in English.

Around the league

For the “around the league” sections for posts I will be focusing on various teams overall performances rather than discussing each result in isolation.

Miracle at Manttu

SiiPe opened their season with a catastrophic away trip to Sotkamo on 3rd June, allowing 25 runs in the game and scoring only once. The start was not the way SiiPe should be playing if they want to avoid relegation at the end of this season; however their home opener was a different story altogether. SiiPe pulled off a 3 point victory against the 2020 silver medal winning KPL; but it wasn’t just a victory- it was a demolition against the 2020 pitcher the year that was almost as stunning as the way they silenced a batting lineup that produced 220 runs last season. 

SiiPe’s lead in the first jakso contrasted the two team’s defensive performances on the day - SiiPe blanked KPL and held them to a meagre 4 3rd base situations, whereas KPL gifted the home side 2 runs from wild throws (with 5 wild throws eventually marked against them in the game). The second jakso saw SiiPe’s offence come alive and KPL were 6-0 down before KPL could even score. It’s hard to tell if this performance will become routine for SiiPe (especially when you compare it to the Sotkamo game a few days ago) but if SiiPe can grab a big win now and then during the season, the battle to avoid relegation is far from over.

Big runs show intent from the top 3 teams

Vimpeli and Sotkamo demolished their opponents in the opening week to set a marker down to their closest rivals. JoMa also proved that their batting lineup was devastatingly brilliant in their opening 2 games, although their game against Kempele was mush tighter than it should have been. Manse have also flexed their bat against Tahko and PattU in the opening week; however they have not managed to see the same level of returns as the others. Perhaps this is because their first 2 games were against top 8 teams, but Vimpeli Joensuu and Sotkamo seem to have set early markers down for other clubs to try and beat. Vimpeli, Joensuu and Sotkamo have scored a combined 102 runs in their opening 2 games each, conceding just 31 runs between them.

Kitee’s flat start

Magic of the 30 year anniversary season last year has already worn off for Kitee, who have underwhelmed in their opening games. Kitee strengthened their squad during the offseason with some solid signings, that saw Sami Partanen and fellow IPV teammate Juuso Lattu join the lineup. So far however Kitee have struggled, narrowly beating PattU in a supervuoro despite conceding 8 runs in the first jakso. Kitee’s follow-up game at Vimpeli was disastrous and Kitee conceded an un-characteristic 21 runs over 8 innings. When you consider the fact that Kitee’s defence in 2020 gave up only 163 runs all season (6.79 runs per game), this was a complete blow out. Matias Rinta-aho’s 1 home run and 8 RBI was enough to make anyone sit up and pay attention, but the fact that Perttu Ruuska, Janne Mäkelä and Elmeri Anttila were all on top form, really put this game out of reach.

So, are Kitee serious contenders for the championship this year? Or did they miss their chance in 2020? Well if they get dismantled like they did against Vimpeli or they struggle to hit the ball cleanly like they did against PattU, they will most certainly be out of the running.

The table as it currently stands: