The Tel Aviv Lightning ( he, תל אביב לייטנינג) was an Israeli

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team from

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

in the

Israel Baseball League The Israel Baseball League (IBL; Hebrew: ליגת הבייסבול הישראלית, ''Ligat ha-Beisbol ha-Israelit'') was a six-team professional baseball league in Israel. The first game was played on June 24, 2007. League structure The six ...

. The Lightning finished the inaugural 2007 season in second place with a 26-14 (.650) record, and lost to the

Modi'in Miracle The Modi'in Miracle ( he, מודיעין מיראקל) was an Israeli baseball team from Modi'in in the Israel Baseball League. The Miracle finished the inaugural 2007 season 22-19 (.537) in third place, and after upsetting the # 2 Tel Aviv Lightn ...

in the semifinals of the 2007 IBL championship. 6' 5" lefthander Aaron Pribble was 7-2, with a league-leading 1.94 ERA. Daniel Kaufman, who pitched for

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

, held opposing batters to a .170 batting average. The Most Valuable Israeli Player was pitcher Dan Rothem

History

On February 26, 2007 it was announced that former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player Steve Hertz would be the manager of the Express. The first player selected by the Lightning in the inaugural draft was Dominican catcher Anderson Mejia.

Stadium

Located at the

Sportek Baseball Field The Sportek Baseball Field, was the home ground for Israeli baseball teams Netanya Tigers and Tel Aviv Lightning in the Israel Baseball League. Sportek was originally supposed to be open for the start of the IBL season in 2007, however due to cons ...

2007 roster

Footnotes

External links

;Official *
Official site of the Tel Aviv Lightning
;Unofficial *
Tel Aviv Lightning Fan Site
Baseball teams in Israel {{Asia-baseball-team-stub