2026 Honkbal Hoofdklasse Recap

The 2026 Honkbal Hoofdklasse season belonged to Curaçao Neptunus from April through September. The Rotterdam club dominated the regular season, survived an early postseason scare and swept Amsterdam Pirates in the Holland Series to capture its 22nd Dutch championship.

Behind the champions, Amsterdam produced a 30-win season, Oosterhout Twins and Kinheim formed the next tier, and several exceptional individual performances stood out across the seven-team league.

Here are the defining storylines and statistical leaders from the 2026 Dutch baseball season.

Neptunus Turns Dominance Into a Third Straight Title

Curaçao Neptunus finished the regular season with a remarkable 33-3 record. The club scored 262 runs while allowing only 73, producing a league-best run differential of plus-189.

Those numbers reflected the scale of Neptunus’ advantage. The champions combined the deepest lineup in the competition with an outstanding pitching staff and lost only once every 12 games.

That dominance briefly appeared vulnerable when Kinheim defeated Neptunus 7-2 in the opening game of their playoff semifinal. Neptunus responded emphatically, winning the next three games and allowing only two runs over the final 27 innings of the series.

The Holland Series was even more decisive.

Neptunus defeated Amsterdam Pirates 6-5, 10-6, 8-1 and 8-4 to complete a four-game sweep. Christian Diaz delivered the decisive hit in Game 4, breaking a 3-3 tie with a bases-clearing double.

Diaz was named Holland Series MVP after also receiving the regular-season MVP award. The championship was Neptunus’ 22nd national title and its third in succession.

Amsterdam’s Brilliant Season Ends Without a Championship

Amsterdam Pirates finished 30-6 and was the only team capable of consistently matching Neptunus during the regular season.

The two clubs split their six head-to-head meetings. Amsterdam also ended a 16-game Neptunus unbeaten run and stopped the Rotterdam club’s 17-game home winning streak.

Those results suggested that the Holland Series could become a close contest between two historically strong rivals. Instead, Neptunus swept all four games.

Before reaching the final, Amsterdam officially swept Oosterhout Twins in a controversial semifinal.

Twins initially appeared to win Game 2 by a 1-0 score in extra innings. Amsterdam filed a protest, however, and the protest was upheld. The game was resumed from the disputed moment and eventually ended 6-1 in favor of the Pirates.

Amsterdam advanced with an official 3-0 series victory, but the strange sequence became one of the most discussed stories of the postseason.

A Two-Team Race — and a Wide Gap Behind It

The final standings showed how sharply the league separated in 2026.

Neptunus and Amsterdam combined for 63 victories and only nine defeats. Third-place Oosterhout finished 14 games behind Neptunus, illustrating the difference between the top two and the rest of the competition.

Twins nevertheless supplied one of the league’s leading power hitters, while Kinheim demonstrated in the playoffs that Neptunus could be beaten. Neither club, however, could sustain the pace established by the finalists.

The Top Hitters of 2026

Neptunus occupied the first three positions on the final 2026 batting-average leaderboard.

Stijn van der Meer led the league with a .459 average. He also recorded a league-best .534 on-base percentage, 68 hits and 48 runs, making him one of the most complete offensive performers of the season.

Darryl Collins batted .428 with a 1.116 OPS. Christian Diaz followed at .416, collected 67 hits and led the league with 50 RBIs.

Diaz’s value extended beyond the numbers. He produced important hits throughout the season and then delivered the decisive bases-clearing double in the final game of the Holland Series. His regular-season and championship-series MVP awards completed an exceptional individual campaign.

Amsterdam’s Tommy van de Sanden produced the league’s highest OPS at 1.133. He batted .404 and led all qualified hitters with a .654 slugging percentage.

Pirates teammate Jeandro Tromp added a .374 average and 1.098 OPS, while Delano Selassa led the league with 21 stolen bases.

Power was distributed beyond the two finalists. Oosterhout’s Nando Mostaert led the competition with eight home runs. UVV’s Dayrell Pieternella finished second with six despite his club’s difficult season.

Neptunus veteran Dwayne Kemp combined five home runs with 20 stolen bases, finishing one steal behind Selassa.

2026 Offensive Leaders

• Batting average: Stijn van der Meer, Neptunus — .459
• On-base percentage: Stijn van der Meer, Neptunus — .534
• OPS: Tommy van de Sanden, Amsterdam — 1.133
• Runs: Stijn van der Meer, Neptunus — 48
• Hits: Stijn van der Meer, Neptunus — 68
• RBIs: Christian Diaz, Neptunus — 50
• Home runs: Nando Mostaert, Oosterhout — 8
• Stolen bases: Delano Selassa, Amsterdam — 21

The Pitchers Who Shaped the Season

Neptunus’ pitching depth was the foundation of its 33-win regular season.

Koen Postelmans completed an unbeaten 8-0 campaign with an ERA around 1.06 and 75 strikeouts. Juancarlos Sulbarán also recorded an ERA close to 1.06, giving Neptunus another dominant option in its rotation.

Shairon Martis supplied veteran reliability with an 11-0 record and a 2.01 ERA. Together, the three starters gave Neptunus multiple frontline arms and very few vulnerable series.

Lars Huijer was Amsterdam’s leading individual pitcher. He finished 8-2 with a 1.66 ERA and threw a no-hitter against Hoofddorp Pioniers on July 18, producing one of the defining individual performances of the season.

The league’s monthly awards further illustrated the quality at the top of the pitching leaderboard. Martis was named Pitcher of the Month for April, Huijer won in May, Postelmans received the award in June and Martijn Schoonderwoerd was honored in July.

What the 2026 Season Will Be Remembered For

The enduring image of the 2026 Honkbal Hoofdklasse season is Neptunus celebrating another championship.

The Rotterdam club was not merely the best team in September. Neptunus controlled the competition statistically, recovered immediately when challenged and completed its campaign by sweeping its closest rival.

Diaz’s two MVP awards, Van der Meer’s .459 batting average, Amsterdam’s 30-win pursuit, Huijer’s no-hitter and the disputed Pirates-Twins semifinal all added drama and individual brilliance.

Ultimately, however, the season produced one unmistakable conclusion: Dutch club baseball still runs through Rotterdam.

Statistics reflect the final 2026 leaderboards published by the Honkbal Hoofdklasse and KNBSB.