The Czech Extraliga final is set. Regular-season winners Kotlářka Praha will face Hroši Brno, who eliminated defending champions Draci Brno in the semifinals. It marks the first time in history that Hroši have beaten their city rivals in a playoff series.
The 2026 Czech Series will be played without Draci Brno. The country's most successful club, holder of 26 titles, will miss the final for only the second time in its history after losing the semifinal series to its city neighbour 3:1.
Hroši actually opened with a loss. Aliangel Lopez shut them down in game one at the YD Arena, allowing three runs over seven innings with 9 strikeouts, while Martin Pernička turned the game around with a two-run homer. Draci held on for a 5:3 win.
Back on their own field, Hroši leaned on two winter signings from Třebíč. In game two, Ryan Johnson threw 4.1 scoreless innings and added a three-run homer in the third to steer his side to a 12:5 victory. Game three turned into a pitchers' duel won by Mathew Malconian, who lasted into the eighth and gave up a single run. Vítězslav Nový drove in two in the 3:1 win.
The decisive fourth game, played Friday at Draci's ballpark, stayed tight for a while. Tomáš Ondra held a shutout through four innings before the first three Hroši batters reached in the fifth. Reliever Vojtěch Ventruba immediately allowed a hit to Roberto Alvarez that put the visitors ahead, and a defensive error brought in two more.
The 4:1 score held until the ninth, when Hroši added three more, helped by two errors, for a final of 7:1 . Jan Vašourek took the mound for Draci in what may have been his last Extraliga appearance. The hosts loaded the bases in the bottom half, but Johnson closed the door.
Kotlářka finished earlier
The Prague semifinal was far more one-sided. Kotlářka swept Eagles Praha 3:0, with two of those games ending after seven innings.
Saturday at Markéta brought a 12:2 win behind Jan Novák, who allowed two runs and struck out 10. Sunday's 13:0 belonged to 18-year-old Tomáš Burkert, who hit three home runs and drove in seven. The last three-homer playoff game in the Extraliga came in 2023 from Tomáš Říčný, and no Kotlářka player had ever done it in a title series before.
"An outstanding team performance. That's what has described us for the past few weeks and months. We play for the guy in front of us and the guy behind us. Everyone on this team knows their role," said Kotlářka starter Lukáš Ercoli after Sunday's game. "I really feel we're pulling in the same direction, and then this kind of baseball comes out."
Kotlářka wrapped it up on Monday at Eagles Park with a 4:0 win. Marek Chlup hit a two-run homer in the first, David Křeček kept the shutout through six innings with 9 strikeouts, and Jan Lorenc finished it off.
What's at stake
For Kotlářka this is a return to the final after ten years and a shot at a second club title. The first came in 2015, when they became the only Prague club ever to win the Extraliga.
Hroši will play for the championship for the third straight year, still chasing a first trophy in club history. They have lost three of the last four Czech Series, each time to Draci. This year that obstacle is gone.
The series begins next week.
