2018 GBL season

Games
 Weeks
 Teams
 Champions

The **2018 Greatian Bladeball League season** was the 71st season of play for the GBL. The regular season began on May 7 and ended on September 1, after Week 17.

The postseason began on September 10, with the start of the Eight Series, and concluded on September 29, with the Zelzburg Reapers defeating the Cristoforo Bridgegappers in Game 5 of the Kreasi Cup Finals.

## Preseason

The 2018 GBL Preseason began on April 7 and concluded on April 28. Each team played four games during this period, once per week. As is always the case with preseason, these games did not count towards the 2018 regular season.

## Regular season

The regular season was played from May 7 to September 1, 2018, a total of 17 weeks of play. As the total number of teams reached 18 this season, the highest it ever was at the time, this season marked the first time that the GBL regular season extended into September. Each team played each other once, as it always had been since 1947; however, the 2018 season would be the last season to use this format, as Leagues and Divisions would be formed in the 2019 season.

Regular season records (**bold** denotes team advanced to playoffs). Place number for **playoff teams** represent their seed numbers in the playoffs:

### Full schedule

For the full schedule, including wins-losses and game scores, see here.

## Postseason

The 2018 GBL Playoffs began on September 10 with the start of the Eight Series, and ended on September 29, with the conclusion of Game 5 of the Kreasi Cup Finals. The 2018 season was the last season to use the 1v2, 3v4, 5v6, 7v8 seed matchup that began in 2013.

### Eight Series

The Eight Series began on September 10 and concluded on September 15. Best of 3. Matchups shown below:

* **Bridgegappers** (1) vs **Rockers** (2):
	+ Game 1 (Sep 10 @ CRI): NNR 2, **CRI 4**
	+ Game 2 (Sep 12 @ NNR): CRI 5, **NNR 6**
	+ Game 3 (Sep 15 @ CRI): NNR 3, **CRI 8**
* **Roadkill** (3) vs **Dippers** (4)
	+ Game 1 (Sep 11 @ ESP): MBL 2, **ESP 4**
	+ Game 2 (Sep 13 @ MBL): ESP 1, **MBL 6**
	+ Game 3 (Sep 15 @ ESP): **MBL 6**, ESP 0
* **Diamonds** (5) vs **Reapers** (6)
	+ Game 1 (Sep 10 @ DSB): **ZLZ 5**, DSB 3
	+ Game 2 (Sep 12 @ ZLZ): DSB 4, **ZLZ 7**
	+ *Game 3 not played (ZLZ wins 2-0)*
* **Capitals** (7) vs **Clutchers** (8)
	+ Game 1 (Sep 11 @ CHR): **NCC 2**, CHR 0
	+ Game 2 (Sep 13 @ NCC): **CHR 5**, NCC 4
	+ Game 3 (Sep 15 @ CHR): **NCC 8**, CHR 6

### Four Series

The Four Series began on September 17 and concluded on September 22. Best of 3. Matchups shown below:

* **Bridgegappers** (1) vs **Dippers** (4):
	+ Game 1 (Sep 17 @ CRI): MBL 8, **CRI 11**
	+ Game 2 (Sep 19 @ MBL): **CRI 8**, MBL 5
	+ *Game 3 not played (CRI wins 2-0)*
* **Reapers** (6) vs **Clutchers** (8):
	+ Game 1 (Sep 18 @ ZLZ): **NCC 6**, ZLZ 3
	+ Game 2 (Sep 20 @ NCC): **ZLZ 6**, NCC 3
	+ Game 3 (Sep 22 @ ZLZ): NCC 2, **ZLZ 11**

### Kreasi Cup

The Kreasi Cup Finals began on September 24 and concluded on September 29. It was a best of 5 series that featured the Bridgegappers (1) vs the Reapers (6). The Reapers, viewed by many as the underdogs, went on to defeat Cristoforo in five games, winning their first championship since 1979. Games shown below:

* Game 1 (Sep 24 @ CRI): ZLZ 9, **CRI 12**
* Game 2 (Sep 25 @ CRI): **ZLZ 8**, CRI 5
* Game 3 (Sep 27 @ ZLZ): CRI 7, **ZLZ 10**
* Game 4 (Sep 28 @ ZLZ): **CRI 11**, ZLZ 2
* Game 5 (Sep 29 @ CRI): **ZLZ 7**, CRI 6

## Trivia

* The 2018 season was the last season where every team played each other once. Starting in the 2019 season, with the formation of Leagues, all teams play the other teams in their League twice, without playing the teams in the other league during the regular season (thus, the Kreasi Cup Final would be a matchup between the two Leagues).
* The 2018 season was the last season to use the 1v2, 3v4, 5v6, 7v8 seed matchup during the playoffs (been in use since the 2013 season).
* The New Conlu Clutchers became the first expansion team since the Duesburg Diamonds in 1958 to reach the playoffs in their inaugural year. The Clutchers became the first expansion team to reach the second round of the playoffs in their inaugural year, since the Diamonds lost the first round in 1958.
* Zelzburg ended their 39-year championship drought by winning the Cup, which was the second-longest drought of the time, only surpassed by the Norako Dippers' 40-year drought at the time (they last won the Cup in 1978, and the drought continues to this day. However, the Dippers did not play from 1996–2018).