The Deutsche Baseball Liga playoff field has been cut from eight teams to four, with the Untouchables Paderborn producing the shock of the quarterfinals by erasing a 0-2 series deficit against defending champion Heidenheim. Bonn, Regensburg and Hamburg all advanced by sweeps, setting up two best-of-five semifinal series beginning August 29.
The 2026 Deutsche Baseball Liga playoffs have their final four.
The Bonn Capitals, Guggenberger Legionäre Regensburg, Hamburg Stealers and Untouchables Paderborn are still alive in the race for the German baseball championship after a quarterfinal round that produced three convincing sweeps and one remarkable five-game comeback.
The biggest story came in Paderborn. After losing the opening two games against defending champion Heidenheim Heideköpfe, the Untouchables won three consecutive elimination games, completing the comeback with a wild 12-10 victory in Game 5 on Sunday, August 23. Paderborn will now face top-seeded Bonn, while Regensburg meets Hamburg in the other semifinal.
2026 DBL quarterfinal results
The quarterfinal series finished as follows:
| Quarterfinal | Series result | Game scores |
|---|---|---|
| Bonn Capitals vs. Stuttgart Reds | Bonn wins 3-0 | 10-2, 7-2, 4-1 |
| Guggenberger Legionäre vs. Cologne Cardinals | Regensburg wins 3-0 | 6-5, 9-6, 14-0 |
| Hamburg Stealers vs. Mainz Athletics | Hamburg wins 3-0 | 8-3, 5-3, 3-2 |
| Heidenheim Heideköpfe vs. Untouchables Paderborn | Paderborn wins 3-2 | 6-1 HDH, 8-2 HDH, 4-3 PAD, 2-0 PAD, 12-10 PAD |
The bracket followed the official 1-vs.-8, 2-vs.-7, 3-vs.-6 and 4-vs.-5 seeding format. That made Bonn the No. 1 seed, Regensburg No. 2, Hamburg No. 3, Heidenheim No. 4, Paderborn No. 5, Mainz No. 6, Cologne No. 7 and Stuttgart No. 8. All DBL playoff rounds are played as best-of-five series, with games scheduled for nine innings.
Paderborn completes stunning comeback against defending champion Heidenheim
No quarterfinal changed direction more dramatically than Heidenheim-Paderborn.
The defending champion Heideköpfe appeared to be in complete control after winning the first two games at home 6-1 and 8-2. At that point Heidenheim had outscored Paderborn 14-3 and needed only one more victory to return to the semifinals.
Instead, Paderborn's season changed when the series moved to the Ahorn-Ballpark.
Game 3: Paderborn 4, Heidenheim 3
Paderborn avoided elimination with a tense 4-3 win.
After falling behind 1-0, the Untouchables answered with two runs in the bottom of the first. Heidenheim regained the advantage in the third inning. William Germaine doubled, Phildrick Llewellyn delivered an RBI single and Germaine later scored on a wild pitch to put the Heideköpfe ahead 3-2.
The decisive rally did not arrive until the eighth.
With the bases loaded, a hit-by-pitch forced home the tying run. Another bases-loaded free pass then brought in what proved to be the winning run, keeping Paderborn's season alive.
Game 4: Paderborn 2, Heidenheim 0
The series became 2-2 on Sunday behind one of Paderborn's strongest pitching performances of the postseason.
Shotaro Usui scored the opening run in the fourth inning after Luca Rammelmann's bunt and an inaccurate throw toward first base. Rammelmann then doubled to begin the sixth before Lunus Nioxdorf drove him home with an RBI single for the second run.
The bigger story was on the mound.
Luca Kloppenburg worked 4.2 scoreless innings in relief, allowing only one hit while issuing no walks. Heidenheim, which had scored 17 runs across the first three games, was shut out with its season on the line.
That forced Game 5 only around half an hour later.
Game 5: Paderborn 12, Heidenheim 10
The deciding game became one of the most dramatic contests of the 2026 DBL season.
Rammelmann immediately gave Paderborn a 2-0 advantage with a two-run home run, but Heidenheim responded aggressively. A four-run inning turned the game around before William Germaine launched a grand slam in the second, stretching the Heideköpfe lead to 8-2.
A six-run deficit with the defending champion already holding considerable momentum could have ended Paderborn's run.
Instead, the Untouchables began reducing the margin one inning at a time.
Paderborn scored in the third, fourth and fifth innings, including a solo home run by Finn Bergmann. Three more runs followed in the seventh. Heidenheim continued to score as well, adding runs in the fifth and eighth, and carried a 10-9 lead into the ninth inning.
Paderborn then produced the rally that ended Heidenheim's title defense.
Jules Moser's RBI double ignited a three-run ninth inning that sent the Untouchables in front 12-10. Heidenheim still threatened in the bottom half when Ladislaus Landwehr and Maurice Montgomery reached on singles, but Paderborn escaped through a game-ending double play.
Final score: Paderborn 12, Heidenheim 10. Series: Paderborn 3, Heidenheim 2.
Remarkably, Paderborn won the series despite being outscored 27-21 across the five games. Heidenheim's large victories in Games 1 and 2 ultimately counted for no more than Paderborn's one-run win in Game 3. The Untouchables won the games they absolutely had to win.
For the defending German champion, the season is over.
Bonn Capitals sweep Stuttgart and look every bit like the No. 1 seed
While Paderborn needed the full five games, Bonn made its quarterfinal considerably more straightforward.
The Capitals swept the Stuttgart Reds 3-0, winning 10-2, 7-2 and 4-1 and outscoring Stuttgart 21-5 over the series.
The clincher in Stuttgart again showed Bonn's ability to manufacture offense without needing a huge inning.
A bases-loaded walk opened the scoring before Danny Lankhorst added an RBI single for a 2-0 advantage. Stuttgart's Jonas van Bergen cut the deficit with an RBI double, but Bonn immediately answered through an RBI double from McCoy Pearce.
Lankhorst later added a sacrifice fly in the seventh for the final run of the 4-1 victory.
Bonn enters the semifinals having allowed just 1.67 runs per game in the quarterfinals.
Its reward is a matchup with a Paderborn team carrying considerably more momentum — but also one that had to play three games in roughly 24 hours to survive the previous round.
Regensburg finishes Cologne with a 14-0 statement
The Guggenberger Legionäre also advanced without a loss, but their series against Cologne evolved considerably over the three games.
Game 1 was decided by a 6-5 walk-off, while Regensburg had to overcome resistance again before taking Game 2 by a 9-6 score. The Legionäre then removed all doubt in Cologne.
Regensburg scored five runs in the first inning and four more in the second in Game 3. Norwin Staps delivered one of the biggest early blows with a three-run triple.
Another run made it 10-0 before the Legionäre added four more in the seventh, including a two-run double from Kohei Sasagawa, to complete a 14-0 mercy-rule victory and the sweep.
Regensburg scored 29 runs in three quarterfinal games, the largest offensive total among the three teams that completed sweeps.
Staps was already a player to watch entering the second weekend. Across the opening two playoff games against Cologne, he recorded four hits and was particularly disruptive on the bases, including four stolen bases in Game 2. He was subsequently voted the DBL's Batter of the Week for the opening playoff weekend.
Hamburg survives Mainz thriller to complete third sweep
Hamburg's 3-0 series result looks comfortable on paper. The deciding game was anything but.
After victories of 8-3 and 5-3 in Hamburg, the Stealers traveled to Mainz needing one more win. In Game 2, Quinn Allen's three-run double had highlighted a five-run second inning that helped Hamburg take control.
Game 3 became a different type of contest.
Mainz went ahead 2-0 in the second inning, but Hamburg tied the game in the fourth. Neither side scored again during regulation, sending the game into extra innings.
The deciding Hamburg run came home on a passed ball.
Mainz still had an opportunity in its final turn at bat and managed to load the bases. But with Kevin Schnorbach working to protect the lead, Hamburg escaped when the Stealers turned a double play to close the 3-2 victory and complete the sweep.
Hamburg allowed only eight runs in the three games and now faces a Regensburg lineup that scored almost four times as many runs as Cologne in the decisive Game 3 alone.
DBL semifinals 2026: Bonn-Paderborn and Regensburg-Hamburg
The semifinal bracket is now officially set:
Semifinal 1: Bonn Capitals vs. Untouchables Paderborn
Semifinal 2: Guggenberger Legionäre Regensburg vs. Hamburg Stealers
Both are best-of-five series.
Bonn Capitals vs. Untouchables Paderborn schedule
- Game 1: Saturday, August 29 — 14:00 in Bonn
- Game 2: Sunday, August 30 — 14:00 in Bonn
- Game 3: Saturday, September 5 — 14:00 in Paderborn
- Game 4, if necessary: Sunday, September 6 — 12:00 in Paderborn
- Game 5, if necessary: Sunday, September 6 — 16:00 in Paderborn
Guggenberger Legionäre vs. Hamburg Stealers schedule
- Game 1: Saturday, August 29 — 14:00 in Regensburg
- Game 2: Sunday, August 30 — 14:00 in Regensburg
- Game 3: Saturday, September 5 — 14:00 in Hamburg
- Game 4, if necessary: Sunday, September 6 — 12:00 in Hamburg
- Game 5, if necessary: Sunday, September 6 — 16:00 in Hamburg
Under the DBL playoff format, the higher-seeded club has home-team status for Games 1, 2 and 5, while the lower seed has it for Games 3 and 4. Because a possible fifth game in the semifinals is played immediately after Game 4, it remains at the lower seed's ballpark even though the higher seed receives home-team designation.
What to watch in the DBL semifinals
The two series offer very different contrasts.
Bonn-Paderborn matches the most convincing defensive team of the quarterfinals against the postseason's biggest survivor. Bonn never trailed in the series standings and needed only three games. Paderborn spent three consecutive games facing elimination and won all three.
The question for Paderborn is whether the emotion of eliminating the defending champion can be carried into Bonn. The Capitals, meanwhile, have had a full week to prepare and enter with home-field advantage.
Regensburg-Hamburg could be more difficult to separate. Regensburg displayed the most explosive quarterfinal offense, scoring 29 runs, while Hamburg allowed only eight. The Legionäre have shown they can win both a one-run game and a blowout; the Stealers have already proven comfortable in late-inning and extra-inning situations.
One of those four clubs will replace Heidenheim as German champion.
Road to the 2026 German baseball championship
The DBL introduced a revised competition structure this season. Twelve teams were divided between six-team North and South groups. The top three from each group advanced to an Interleague phase, while the other clubs competed in a Wildcard Race for the final two playoff positions. Those results created the eight-team postseason seeding.
The semifinal round begins August 29, with the championship series scheduled to start September 12.
The final is also best-of-five. Games are currently scheduled for September 12, September 13, September 19 and, if necessary, September 20, with a decisive fifth game scheduled for September 26 if the series reaches that point.
After the quarterfinals, one fact is already certain: Germany will have a different baseball champion in 2026.
Heidenheim's defense is finished. Bonn has looked clinical. Regensburg has produced the biggest offensive outburst. Hamburg has survived pressure situations. And Paderborn has already done something no other quarterfinalist managed — come back from the edge of elimination.
Four teams remain. The Deutsche Baseball Liga semifinals begin Saturday, August 29.
