The qualification for the 2019 European Baseball Championship started on July 25, 2016, in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Miejska Górka, Poland. The tournament was originally planned for 2018, but was moved back a year to 2019 to serve as a qualification for the 2020 Olympiad.
Top team from each group qualified for the playoff, winner of which (Austria) qualified for the 2019 European Baseball Championship, bottom team from each group was relegated to C-Pool.
Winner of the best-of-three playoff series qualified for the 2019 European Baseball Championship. Playoffs were hosted by Wiener Neustadt.
Austria qualified for the 2019 European Baseball Championship.
Two groups of 5 nations competed, with the winner of each group advancing to the B-Pool.[1] The better of the two second-place teams (based on record, with first tie-breaker based on runs per inning differential) also advanced to the B Pool as a wild card.[2]
The final was a rematch of Ireland vs. Greece; Ireland won the group round game 10–0 in eight innings and the final 12–2. Ireland advanced to Pool B as the winner. Greece, as the runner-up, also advanced as the wild card after Ukraine beat Romania in the Kropyvnytskyi group. Greece's 3–1 record in group play was better than Romania's 2–2 record.
The three-way tie between Romania, Georgia, and Estonia at 2–2 was won by Romania with a Team Quality Balance within games played between those three teams of 0.5125 against Georgia's -.0625 and Estonia's −0.4183.
The final was a rematch between Ukraine and Romania; Ukraine won the group round game 13–0 in seven innings and the final 3–2 (again in seven innings, due to weather). Ukraine, as the winner, advanced to Pool B. The better runner-up between the two groups also advanced, but Romania's 2–2 record in group play was worse than that of 3–1 Greece (the Ashbourne group runner-up).
Pool B featured 14 teams competing in two groups of 6 and 8 teams. The two group winners faced off in the playoff for the last qualifying spot for the 2019 European Championship, which was won by Team Israel.[3]
Nine teams remain from the 2017 Pool B competition:
Five additional teams advanced from 2018 Pool C.
Semifinals order will be switched, because home team advanced to this round.
The winner of the best-of-three playoff series qualified for the 2019 European Baseball Championship. Playoff host was Utena, Lithuania.[3]
Israel qualified for the 2019 European Baseball Championship.
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