Since the Italian Baseball League moved to the 8 team format a few years ago, there has been a clear division between the top six teams (Parma, Bologna, Rimini, San Marino, Grosseto, Nettuno), and the bottom two teams have generally struggled.

More specifically, none of the bottom two teams have won more than 10 games (including the 6 times the bottom two play head to head) or finished closer than seven games behind sixth place.  Godo has been joined in the bottom by Redipuglia, Reggio Emilia, and Catania in the last three seasons, but now that there is no longer relegation or promotion between the IBL and the Serie A, the bottom teams would be fixed in theory.

But this off season, rumors circulated that both Godo and Catania would leave the IBL, and a number of Serie A teams were asked if they would be interested in taking their places.  In the end, Godo was able to stick around for at least another year through their partnership with Verona, while Catania has returned to the serie A leaving an opening which will be filled by Novara.

Without the risk of relegation, Novara so far seems focused on their core team from the second division last year, and would appear destined to win very few games and remain at the bottom.  But the goal of the franchise seems to be to patiently bring top level baseball back to the Milan area, something that Catania failed to do in Sicily for a variety of reasons, but most notably problems with the ballpark.