Baseball: The World's Game (OOTP 22 Fictional World)

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-06-2025, 06:22 PM

Beirut set a franchise best at 106-56 and had the top record in all of Arab League Baseball. The Bluebirds earned a fourth consecutive playoff berth and their third Levant Division title of that streak. They had the fewest runs allowed in ALB at 632. It was an 11-game drop to the next best record in the Western Conference, which was last year’s WC runner-up Cairo at 95-67. The Pharaohs repeated as Nile Division champ with their third straight playoff berth.

Damascus at 94-68 was second in the Levant to Beirut, but got the first wild card. The Dusters have eight playoff berths in nine years. Defending WC champ Algiers and Oran tied at 92-70 atop the Mediterranean Division and both made the playoffs. The Rattlesnakes won the tiebreaker game to claim the division, leaving the Arsenal as the second wild card.

Oran finished 9-1 in their final ten games and had been the only of the 2016 expansion teams without a playoff berth to that point. Algiers has missed the playoffs only once since 2023. The Rattlesnakes led the conference with 843 runs scored. The next closest teams in the wild card race were Khartoum (86-76), Alexandria (85-77), Giza (85-77), and Tripoli (85-77).

Western Conference MVP went to Algiers RF Zakaria Badwan, who led in hits (224), triples (16), stolen bases (145), average (.384), OBP (.448), and WAR (7.5). The 25-year old Palestinian added 116 runs, 47 doubles, 11 homers, and 82 RBI. The 145 steals ranked as the 4^th-best single season in ALB and was the 9^th-best in world history. In April, the Arsenal gave Badwan a four-year, $119,800,000 extension.

Beirut’s Abdul Muhaimin Akbar repeated as Pitcher of the Year and posted only the 10^th pitching Triple Crown in ALB history. Akbar was also second in MVP voting and had the most first place votes at 15, although Badwan had 10 and more total points (300-256) with many reluctant to vote for any pitcher. Akbar had a 22-2 record, 2.24 ERA, and 317 strikeouts. The 26-year old Iraqi lefty also led in WHIP (0.86), K/BB (13.8), quality starts (25), FIP- (55), and WAR (8.9). Akbar had 224.2 innings and a 198 ERA+.

Damascus dethroned Algiers 2-1 in the wild card round, then pulled off the huge 2-1 upset in the second round over top seed Beirut. The Dusters earned their fourth trip to the Western Conference Final of the decade. Cairo held on 2-1 over Oran on the other side to earn repeat WCF trips. Despite both team’s recent successes, the Pharaohs and Dusters hadn’t met before in the conference final.

Cairo started the series with back-to-back walkoff wins, 7-6 in 11 innings for game one and 5-4 in game two. Damascus evened it up with 6-3 and 8-5 home wins, then took the decisive game five 9-6 on the road. The Dusters won their fifth Western Conference pennant (2014, 2016, 2029, 2032, 2036).

The Eastern Conference was incredibly competitive at the top as the five playoff teams were separated by six wins. Every other team sans 84-win Riyadh was .500 or worse, so it was obvious who the playoff teams would be by early fall. Notably, these were the same five teams that made up the 2035 and 2034 playoff fields; but the positioning did shift somewhat.

Muscat at 100-62 got the top seed and a third straight Gulf Division title. The Threshers grew their playoff streak to a decade and had a .306 team batting average, .357 on-base percentage, and 1736 hits; each the second-best in conference history. Muscat was the top scoring team at 939 and had to fend off 97-65 Doha in the division. The Dash earned the first wild card and grew their playoff streak to seven seasons.

Reigning ALB champ Basra won a fourth consecutive Mesopotamia Division at 97-65 and the best run differential at +204. Medina (95-67) edged out Mecca (94-68) for the Arabia Division title. The Mastodons got their fourth straight division title and ninth since 2026. The Marksmen allowed the EC’s fewest runs at 644.

Although Baghdad struggled to 76-86, they had the Eastern Conference’s MVP Abdullah Al-Hafith. It was his third MVP, having won in his 2034 Brown Bears debut and with Tunis in 2031. The 32-year old hometown favorite led in runs (134), homers (72), RBI (170), total bases (474), slugging (.786), wRC+ (199), and WAR (9.4).

Al-Hafith’s RBI ranked as the 4th-best single season in ALB history and was one of only 33 seasons in world history of 170+ RBI. His effort was also the 18^th time an ALB slugger smacked 70+ dingers. Al-Hafith also had 213 hits, 41 doubles, .353 average, and 1.175 OPS. He became the 46^th member of the 500 home run club in May and also reached 2000 hits.

In his second season with Basra, Hamid Hovakimian won Pitcher of the Year. He came to the Bulldogs in a November 2034 trade after six seasons for Giza. The 29-year old Lebanese lefty led in wins at 22-3. Hovakimian had a 3.05 ERA in 195 innings, 208 strikeouts, 147 ERA+, and 4.9 WAR. He was only the second in ALB to win POTY while finishing below 5 WAR.

Doha beat Mecca in the wild card round and gave Muscat a challenge in the second round, but the Threshers survived 2-1 with a pair of 3-2 wins. For Muscat, they advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the sixth time in a decade. Medina ousted defending champ Basra 2-1 on the other side in a rematch of the prior year’s ECF. The Mastodons were making their third straight conference final trip and also their sixth in a decade.

Muscat and Medina had turned into a fierce playoff rivalry. The Threshers won the conference final over the Mastodons in 2030 and 2031 to cap off their EC four-peat. The most recent meeting in 2034 was a Medina win. The 2036 battle ultimately lacked drama with a 3-0 Muscat sweep for their fifth pennant (2028-31, 36).

The 47^th Arab League Championship was a rematch of the 2029 finals, which saw a 92-win Damascus upset a 114-win Muscat. The Threshers took the first two games at home and got a road win in game four, while the Dusters won games three and five. In game six, Muscat won 6-3 to clinch the series in six for their third ALB crown (2030, 2031, 2036).

1B Abdul Jalil Dahir was series MVP, going 14-22 with 3 homers and 8 RBI. It was the second finals MVP for the 37-year old from Lebanon, having also done it in the 2031 triumph. Damascus saw playoff records for at-bats (65) set by Ric Cabrera and both innings (35) and hits allowed (40) by Mahmoud Sedik.

Muscat Manager Shigeichi Emoto also joined Bertel Pitkamaki and Dong-Yeon Kim as the only ALB skippers with three championship rings. The former relief pitcher from Japan took over the Threshers in 2029 and had eight straight playoff trips since arriving.

Other notes: Muscat’s Ahmed Yasser Basha had a .405 batting average, the 5^th-best qualifying season in ALB history. Basha joined world hit king Fares Belaid of WAB and BSA’s Marc Melgar as the only players in world history to post three or more seasons above a .400 average. Basha was now at 3232 hits, ranking 4^th in ALB history but within striking distance of Nordine Soule’s record 3339.

Elsewhere, Kamal Qasim became the 8^th ALB batter with 3000 career hits and won his 9^th Silver Slugger in CF, a position record. Basha also became a nine-time Slugger winner in RF. Khali Allawi was the 22^nd to 600 home runs and the 23^rd to 1500 runs scored. Walid Zaoui was the 24^th to 1500 runs and the 37^th to 2500 hits. Dahir was the 45^th to the 500 homer club and he and Wandy Martadinata became the 32^nd and 33^rd to 1500 RBI. Martadinata and Mokhtar Bouziane both also breached 2500 hits, now met by 39 ALB batters.

Hassan Shanshol became ALB’s new leader in stolen bases with 1806, passing Amar Rasmi’s old record of 1730. The 34-year old Iraqi actually had his worst full season total in 2036 for Aleppo, but still swiped 100 bags. Shanshol moved into the #2 spot in all of world history behind only EBF legend Carsten Dal’s 1995. Medina’s offense had 113 triples, a new ALB single-season team record. Mohammed Jamil led that effort with 27, one short of the ALB player record.

2036 was the final year for five-time Pitcher of the Year Muhammad Nour in a one-off with Basra with 1.9 WAR and 3.38 ERA in 117.1 innings. Almost all of his career came with Algiers, finishing with a 268-126 record, 3.09 ERA, 3515 innings, 4326 strikeouts, 142 ERA+, and 114.6 WAR. Nour retires 4^th in wins, 3^rd in strikeouts, and 4^th in pitching WAR.

It was also the final year for LF Walid Bennani, who finished with 945 home runs, 1938 RBI, 2460 hits, 1887 runs, 1119 steals, 2812 strikeouts, 1.004 OPS, 148 wRC+, and 90.3 WAR. He retires #2 in homers, #4 in RBI, #4 in runs, #7 in steals, and #4 in strikeouts in ALB history. On the world leaderboard for all leagues ever, Bennani is 14^th in dingers.

ALB’s 10^th perfect game came on July 5 as Kuwait’s Muse Abdi struck out 10 against Cairo. Alexandria’s Mohammed Ibn Sultan had a 34-game hitting streak, tied for the 5^th-longest in ALB history. It was only three games short of the league record set by Abdul Jalil Dahir with 37 in 2028.

RF Nathan Nasreddine won his 14^th consecutive Gold Glove and LF Karrar Mazloum became a ten-time Gold Glove winner. Nasreddine leads all ALB defenders and is only one of 19 in all of baseball history with 14+ Gold Gloves at any position and one of two in right field along with ABF’s Hana Zuhair (15). Mazloum was only the 4^th ALB player to win 10+ Gold Gloves.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-07-2025, 03:08 AM

Hyderabad extended its Asian Baseball Federation record playoff streak to 13 seasons, earning the East League’s top seed at 104-58. They repeated as Pakistan Division champs and led the EL in runs scored (738) and run differential (+243). Rawalpindi was second in the division at 98-64 for the first wild card and their sixth consecutive playoff berth. The Red Wings finished the season on a 15-game winning streak.

Tashkent repeated as North Division champs at 97-65 for their fifth playoff trip in six years. The Tomcats and Horned Frogs both allowed 495 runs, the fewest in the ABF. Defending EL champ Osh was six games back at 91-71 and ended up just short in the wild card race. Lahore (93-69) edged out Gujranwala (92-70) and the Oxen for the final spot. Although the Longhorns have had 12 straight winning seasons, this ended a five-year playoff drought.

Osh 1B Dzhurakhon Asadullayev won his third East League MVP in four years and earned his second Triple Crown. The 28-year old Kazakh lefty led in runs (137), hits (211), home runs (64), RBI (138), walks (108), total bases (454), triple slash (.364/.459/.784), OPS (1.243), wRC+ (243), and WAR (12.5). Asadullayev also had 45 doubles.

He now has the #1, #3, and #4 qualifying seasons by OPS in ABF history. Asadullayev’s 2036 also ranked as the 7^th-best OBP, 5^th-best slugging, 5^th-most runs, 4^th-most total bases, and 4^th-most walks in ABF history. There have only been 12 100+ walk seasons in ABF and Asadullayev has five of them. The #2 pick by the Oxen in the 2030 ABF Draft, Asadullayeev has led in OBP in all six of his seasons and has five times led in walks, OPS, and wRC+. He already has 62.4 career WAR, making his first six years among the best-ever starts to a career.

In two seasons with Tashkent, Shahrokh Morteza has back-to-back Pitcher of the Year wins. The 33-year old Iranian righty had signed a five-year, $87 million deal for 2035 after previously pitching with Peshawar and Bishkek. Morteza won POTY unanimously in 2036, leading in wins (23-7), ERA (1.93), innings (280), and quality starts (28). He added 360 strikeouts, 190 ERA, and 7.5 WAR. Morteza was 41 Ks from the Triple Crown with Osh’s Balazs Volgyi first with 401. That was only the 22^nd time an ABF ace fanned 400+ in a season.

Lahore upset top seed Hyderabad 2-0 in the first round and Tashkent edged Rawalpindi 2-1, taking game three with a 3-2 walkoff win. The Tomcats then swept the Longhorns 2-0 to earn a third straight trip to the East League Championship Series. In the loser’s bracket, the Horned Frogs ousted the Red Wings 2-0, then got 2-0 revenge over Lahore to bounce back in the double-elimination bracket. Hyderabad earned its eighth ELCS trip of their playoff streak, having gone 6-1 during the run.

Tashkent started the series with a 7-4 road win, followed by a Hyderabad 5-1 win. The Tomcats posted back-to-back shutouts at home, but the Horned Frogs won game five 3-1 to force a return to Pakistan. Tashkent took game six on the road 3-2 for the 4-2 series win to end a 33-year pennant drought. The Tomcats’ only ABF pennants came right after they arrived in the league in 2000 and 2002. Tashkent also had pennants in 1969, 1998, and 1999 when they were still in Eurasian Professional Baseball.

The West League was incredibly top-heavy as all four playoff teams won 100+ games. Baku was West Division champ for the eighth straight year and got the top seed at 115-47. The Blackbirds now have won at least 110+ games in seven successive seasons. They were the top scoring team with 856 runs and had the best run differential at+250.

Tabriz took a third straight Central Division crown at 109-53 and allowed the fewest runs in the WL at 539. The Tiger Sharks won a lot of close games with 63 saves, a WL team record and the second-best in ABF history. Both second place teams finished 101-61; Isfahan in the Central and Bursa in the West. The Imperials ended a five-year playoff drought and Blue Wings got back-to-back wild cards. Bursa set a new ABF team record with 393 doubles.

Defending ABF champ Gaziantep was the only other team above .500, but was still 13 games away in the wild card race at 88-74. Also notable was Mashhad at 79-83, their first losing season since 2020. Adana (77-85) also was below .500 for the first time since 2025.

For the ninth year in-a-row, the West League MVP went to a Baku player. 1B Ular Esenov got it for the second time, having also won in 2033. The 29-year old Uzbek righty led in hits (224), average (.356), wRC+ (205), and WAR (9.4). Esenov added 53 homers, 125 RBI, 108 runs, and 1.056 OPS. He had 21 of the first place votes while Bursa’s Khattak Baweja had 11.

Bursa lefty Refik Sagir was 2035 Rookie of the Year and followed it up as 2036 Pitcher of the Year. The 24-year old Turk led in wins (23-8), complete games (21), shutouts (3), and WAR (6.3) while also earning a Gold Glove. Sagir had a 2.73 ERA in 254 innings, 150 ERA+, 69 FIP-, and 286 strikeouts. The Blue Claws had taken him third in the 2034 ABF Draft. Sagir had 25 first place votes, while Reliever of the Year winner Reza Sabir had seven.

Sabir became the third in ABF history to win ROTY four times and made it three straight for Tabriz. He set the ABF saves record with 54, which is tied for the 8^th-best single-season in world history. Sabir had a 1.28 ERA in 80 games with 91.2 innings, 172 strikeouts, and 5.3 WAR. Shortly after his 30^th birthday, the Iranian righty left for free agency and signed a one-year deal with MLB’s Brooklyn Dodgers.

The first round had Bursa upset Baku 2-1 while Tabriz swept Isfahan 2-0. The Blue Claws kept rolling in round two 2-0 over the Tiger Sharks, earning their first West League Championship Series trip since 2024. In the loser’s bracket, the top-seed Blackbirds outlasted the Imperials and then Tabriz, both by 2-1 margins. Baku was back in the ELCS after missing the last two years despite 124 and 110 win seasons.

After trading wins in the first four games, Bursa bested Baku 3-2 in game five and 5-0 in game six to win the series 4-2. It was the fifth pennant for the Blue Claws (1999, 2001, 2004, 2020, 2036). Despite remaining dominant in the regular season, the Blackbirds have failed the capture the pennant in three straight years, unable to follow up on the 2029-33 five-peat.

The 52^nd ABF Championship needed all seven games. Tashkent opened ahead with 5-4 and 9-3 road wins, but Bursa matched with 9-3 and 7-2 road wins. The Tomcats took game five 8-2 at home to hold the advantage headed back to Turkey. The Blue Claws won game six 3-2 at home with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

In the decisive game seven, Bursa bested Tashkent at home 6-3 to earn only their second ABF title (2004, 2036). The Blue Claws were the first Turkish team to win the ABF crown since Ankara in 2018. RF Bekzat Lunin was finals MVP, going 10-29 with three home runs and six RBI in the series. The Uzbek RF had missed the first half of 2036 due to a torn PCL from the prior August.

Bursa also had a historic playoff run from LF Khattak Baweja, who was MVP in the WLCS and the first two rounds. He set ABF playoff records for homers (12) and total bases (66). The 24-year old Pakistani in 17 games had 26 hits, 16 runs, 4 doubles, 18 RBI, 1.646 OPS, 353 wRC+, and 2.2 WAR. Baweja was one run and three RBI short of those ABF playoff records. Refik Sagir also tied the ABF playoff record for wins with five, but also set the record for most hits allowed at 46. He was 5-1 in 46.2 innings with a 3.09 ERA, 47 Ks, and 1.1 WAR.

Other notes: Between them, Hasan Yousefi and Agshin Jumayev had won ten Pitcher of the Year awards from 2025-35. Both finished their careers in 2036. Yousefi went 14-12 with a 3.89 ERA, 172 Ks, and 2.6 WAR in his 16^th and final season with Ankara. Jumayev in his 14^th season for Baku had a 10-4 record and 3.73 ERA in 144.2 innings with 137 Ks and 0.0 WAR. Both men breached 250 career wins, a mark previously only hit by Sijad Khaleel.

Yousefi got to 258 wins, passing Khaleel for the all-time wins lead in ABF. Jumayev got to 256 to tie Khaleel for second. Yousefi also passed Hasan Afshin’s 5151 strikeouts to become ABF’s all-time leader with 5246 while also sitting 27^th in the world strikeout leaderboard.

Jumayev ended with 4706 Ks, ranking 5^th best in ABF and just outside of the world top 50. Yousefi at 105.1 WAR ranked 3^rd and Jumayev’s 93.6 was 6^th among ABF aces. Maksat Gurbanov also retired in 2036, finishing 4^th in wins (246), and 5^th in WAR (94.9), but 28^th in Ks (3671). Gurbanov allowed the most hits in ABF at 3697.

ABF’s 25^th perfect game occurred on July 9 as Bursa’s Korcan Akbaba struck out 11 facing Isfahan. He needed to be perfect as it was a 1-0 victory with the lone run in the first inning. In other pitching notables, Ibrahim Tolibov became the 30^th to 3500 career strikeouts and Mansoor Kayam was the 21^st to 200 wins.

Artyom Masharipov became the 24^th to 500 home runs while Mustafa Sarir, Mehrdad Azghadi, and Ammar Sanjrani grew the 400 home run club to 50 members. Sultan Han was the 20^th to 2500 hits. Youssouf Raza was the 11^th to 1500 RBI.

OF Khalaf bin Abdullah became the 6^th ABF player with 10+ Silver Sluggers. He had 12 for his career having also won twice during his 2028-31 MLB stint. Bin Abdullah had 10 Sluggers in center field and two in right. LF Cihat Cetinkaya won his 9^th consecutive Gold Glove and 2B Mahmut Gurbuzerol won his 8^th Gold Glove.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-07-2025, 09:28 PM

The Indian League’s five playoff teams were separated by only five wins with the top three squads battling in the South Division. Madurai was 7-3 in their last ten games to finish on top at 99-63 ahead of 97-65 efforts by both Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. This was the first-ever playoff berth or winning season for the Rams, who were one of the 2025 expansion teams. Madurai allowed the fewest runs in South Asia Baseball at 583.

The Hippos and Volts got the wild cards with Hyderabad earning the tiebreaker for home field having dominated the season series 12-6. That made it six straight playoff berths for the Hippos and the 12^th since 2023 for Visakhapatnam. The Volts led the IL in scoring with 788 runs scored and had the best run differential at +175.

Pune won the West Division at 96-66, nine games ahead of defending IL champ Mumbai (87-75). The Purple Knights got repeat playoff trips, but it was their first division title since 2025. Kolkata claimed the Central at 94-68 for their third berth in four years. Patna was the closest foe at 89-73 for their first-ever winning season. Delhi, last year’s division champ and 2034 SAB champ, dropped to 80-82. Ahmedabad was also 80-82, their first repeat losing season since the 2010s.

The Pointers notably set an IL team record with 1699 hits with LF R.C. Gutta leading the way as the unanimous Indian League MVP. The hometown hero also posted only the fifth-ever hitting Triple Crown in SAB and the first since Majed Darwish in 2009-10. Gutta did it in 139 games, tragically suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in late August. A recovery setback in December sadly may sideline until the late fall in 2037.

In his sixth season for Patna, Gutta led in runs (116), home runs (62), RBI (148), total bases (424), triple slash (.389/.459/.817), OPS (1.276), wRC+ (235), and WAR (10.8). He added 202 hits and 30 doubles. Gutta’s OPS was the 7^th-best qualifying season in SAB history with the triple slash ranking 10^th/9^th/5^th. He also had the 19^th-best slugging in world history and 17^th-best OPS. Gutta’s hometown Pointers picked him #1 overall back in the 2030 SAB Draft.

Abjit Shirvastava had a breakout season for Pitcher of the Year in 2036 with Visakhapatnam. He had been middling in his previous efforts with Vientiane and Jaipur, signing a two-year, $7,320,000 deal for 2036 with the Volts. The 27-year old lefty had a 19-5 record, 2.55 ERA, 229 innings, 292 strikeouts, 160 ERA+, and 4.8 WAR. In a relatively weak field, Shrivastava got 32/36 first place votes.

Although Hyderabad won the season series easily, Visakhapatnam beat them 2-0 in the wild card round, including a 4-3 game two win in 12 innings. The Volts were promptly swept by Madurai in the divisional series, becoming the first of the 2025 expansion teams with an Indian League Championship Series berth. Pune downed Kolkata 3-1 on the other side for their first ILCS trip since their 2027 title.

Madurai won game one 6-5, but Pune evened the series on a 12-6 road win. The Purple Knights won game three 2-0, but the Rams got their own 2-0 win the next night. Pune picked up game five 6-2 for the advantage heading back to Madurai. The Purple Knights then won game six 4-1 on the road to wrap the series on a eight-inning, two-hit, one run performance by Brian Truong. Pune became six-time Indian League champs (1981, 1983, 1984, 2019, 2027, 2036).

Da Nang surprised the Southeast Asia League with the top seed at 101-61, ending an 11-year playoff drought. The Nailers had the best run differential at +167 and won the South Division over Bangkok (92-70) and Ho Chi Minh City (90-72). Those squads snagged both wild cards, giving the Bobcats their fifth wild card in six years and giving the Hedgehogs an eighth consecutive playoff berth. Last year’s division champ Colombo fell to 78-84. Bangkok was SEAL’s top scoring team at 898 runs.

Reigning SAB champ Mandalay won the West Division at 96-66 and allowed the fewest runs at 641. The Mammoths have only missed the playoffs once since 2026. Last year’s SEAL runner-up Dhaka was second at 89-73 and fell one short in the wild card race behind HCMC. This was only the second playoff miss since 2021 for the Dobermans.

Hanoi won the Central Division at 89-73, ending a six-year division title reign by Yangon. The Hounds earned their second berth in three years, but hadn’t been a division champ since 2017. The Green Dragons were 86-76, missing the playoffs for only the third time in 42 years. Vientiane was third at 81-81, their first winning season since 2028.

The Vampires had a huge turnaround after winning 65 or fewer games in each of the last six seasons. Leading the way was Indian League MVP Fanmuong Try, the #1 draft pick from 2033. In his third season, the 24-year old Cambodian 1B led in homers (52) and total bases (418). Try had 202 hits, 119 runs, 34 doubles, 128 RBI, .325/.378/.672 slash, 177 wRC+, and 7.3 WAR. He had 25 of the first place votes while Da Nang’s Totam Akila had the remaining 11.

Mandalay’s Munfik Madushanka was the unanimous Pitcher of the Year and posted the tenth pitching Triple Crown in SAB history. It was his second POTY, having also won in 2032. The 31-year old Sri Lankan lefty led in wins (20-11), ERA (2.95), innings (265), strikeouts (327), quality starts (24), and WAR (5.7). Madushanka had a 152 ERA+ and 76 FIP-. The upcoming season would be a contract year for him.

Bangkok edged Ho Chi Minh City 2-1 in the wild card, winning game three 7-6 with a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth. Da Nang downed the Bobcats 3-1 in the divisional series, sending the Nailers to their fourth Southeast Asia League Championship (2004, 2021, 23, 36) in search of their first-ever pennant. Hanoi upset Mandalay 3-1 on the other side for their first LCS since making eight straight trips in the 2010s.

The series was even after four games, then Hanoi took the advantage with a 6-4 home win in game five. A back-and-forth game six saw Hanoi tie it at 5-5 with a run in the top of the ninth. The Hounds then got one in the tenth to for the 6-5 road win and 4-2 series win. Hanoi ended a 19-year pennant drought and became seven-time Southeast Asian champs (1985, 2007, 08, 10, 13, 16, 36).

The 57^th SAB Championship started with a 1-0 pitchers’ duel home win for Pune. Hanoi evened the series on a 6-5 road win in 10 innings, then got 1-0 and 4-3 wins back in Vietnam. The Purple Knights took game five 5-1 to force the series back to India. In game six at Pune, Hanoi scored two in the top of the eighth to go up 4-3, which held as the final score.

The 4-2 series win give the Hounds their fifth SAB title (2007, 08, 13, 16, 36). It was also the first time a Vietnamese team took the SAB crown since Hanoi’s 2016 win. Finals MVP was RF Dilipan Samataweera in his third year with the Nounds and 12^th season as a starter, going 9-25 with the two RBI in game six.

Other notes: SAB’s 16^th perfect game came on July 28 by Kathmandu’s Vu Nhat Mai with 7 strikeouts against Khulna. He would leave and sign a three-year, $12,960,000 deal with Kolkata for 2037.

Colombo’s James Pham had SAB’s 11^th four home run game on April 19 against Bangkok. Madurai’s Ivo Sykora hit for the cycle on May 4 then again on May 23. He is surprisingly not the first SAB batter to get the cycle twice in a month, as Loc Bui did it on 4/2/17 and then again on 4/10/17. The record for shortest gap between cycles was MLB’s Dylan Fabian, who did it on 7/15/2028 and then again two days later on 7/17/28.

Topu Ahsan and Jim Ngo were the 39^th and 40^th members of the 500 home run club. Tan Tai Nguyene and Randall Batin were the 22^nd and 23^rd to 1500 runs scored. Mongkol Sangpon and Anant Chamroon were the 22^nd and 23^rd to 300 career saves. 3B Vatish Bharat won his 9^th Gold Gove and SS Madfai Mirza got his 8^th. Two-way player Deep Rajagopol won his 8^th Silver Slugger as a pitcher.

Nagpur’s pitching staff allowed 1691 hits and Kanpur’s had a 1.506 team WHIP, both of which were new Indian League worsts. The Patriots 10.47 H/9 was 2^nd-worst, while the Poison’s 1185 strikeouts and 7.41 K/9 were both 2^nd-worst. Kanpur allowed 869 runs, the 3^rd-worst in IL history.

It was the final season for OF Gunavati Candrajita, who retired with 3485 hits, 1860 runs, 632 doubles, 288 triples, 154 homers, 1042 RBI, 1781 steals, .871 OPS, 141 wRC+, and 85.5 WAR. He retires as the SAB stolen bases king and 3^rd in all of world history. Candrajita is also 5^th in hits , 6^th in doubles, and 6^th in runs for SAB.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-08-2025, 08:04 AM

Dakar again was the Western League’s top seed and had the best overall record in West African Baseball at 105-57. The Dukes’ playoff streak grew to 13 seasons, one short of the WAB record by Kumasi from 1978-91. Dakar also guaranteed their ninth WLCS appearance of the streak and led the league with 951 runs and a +206 run differential. The Dukes’ pitching staff also set a new record with only 241 walks surrendered while their 1.50 BB/9 was second-best in WL history.

It was a steep 20+ game drop to the #2 spot in the North Division, but five teams were right in the mix. Bamako and Conakry ended up tied at 83-79 while both Touba and Cape Verde were 81-81 and Nouakchott was 80-82. The Bullfrogs bested the Coyotes in the tiebreaker game to earn their third playoff trip in four years.

None of the six 2030 expansion teams had posted a winning season in their first six campaigns. Daloa bucked that trend in 2036 with an impressive 97-65 finish atop the South Division. Accra was the only other team above .500 at 90-62 for back-to-back wild cards. The Alligators had the WL’s fewest runs allowed at 684. The defending WL champ Monrovia fell to 80-82, ending a four-year playoff streak.

In a competitive race for the Western League’s MVP, Touba 1B Kapi Keita emerged on top. He had 13 first place votes and 301 points, beating out Accra’s Emmanuel Marshall (10, 278) and Dakar’s Prince Kofi (4, 247). Accra’s Jossy Montgomery also got two first place votes and Dakar’s Junior Jose got one.

It was Keita’s third season and his first with a full slate of games since getting picked third by Touba in the 2033 WAB Draft. The 25-year old Guinean lefty led in total bases (430), triple slash (.378/.420/.683), OPS (1.103), wRC+ (180), and WAR (7.3). Keita had 238 hits, 113 runs, 56 doubles, 44 home runs, and 132 RBI.

Accra’s Mohammed Otu won Pitcher of the Year with 27/30 first place votes. The 25-year old Nigerian lefty led in ERA (2.67), WHIP (0.95), and FIP- (68). Otu had a 14-9 record, 188.2 innings, 267 strikeouts, 171 ERA+, and 5.8 WAR. He had been a scouting discovery in 2027 by the Alligators and a full-time starter since 2033. Also notable was Dakar’s Irad Lawali winning his third straight Reliever of the Year with a 1.32 ERA and 43 saves.

Bamako upset Accra 2-1 in the first round, including a 1-0 victory in game three. Daloa outlasted the Bullfrogs in a high scoring second round with 10-9, 10-9, and 14-13 final scores. In game three, the Danes scored seven runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to pull off the stunning comeback. Daloa was the first of the 2030 expansion teams to earn a trip to the Western League Championship Series.

The Danes got a 9-4 road upset to start the series with Dakar, followed by a 12-3 Dukes win in game two. Daloa won 4-1 at home in game three, but Dakar earned a 5-4 win in game four to four a return to Senegal. The decisive fifth game was 1-1 after the third inning and didn’t see another run scored until the 15^th inning. The Dukes scored in the bottom half to win 2-1 and escape with their tenth pennant (1988, 2012, 13, 16, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 36).

It was an intense race for both the Eastern League’s top seed and the Coastal Division crown. Douala (104-58) narrowly outraced defending WAB champ Libreville (103-59) for first place. The Dingos got their fourth playoff trip in five years and the Lakers made it three straight. Douala had the best run differential (+217) while Libreville allowed the fewest runs at 658. The Dingos also guaranteed their third Eastern League Championship Series trip in five years.

Benin City was the top scoring team at 966 runs, winning the Interior Division by 16 games with a 99-63 finish. The Blue Devils extended their playoff streak to five seasons and got their seventh berth in eight years. It was a big drop to second place Ibadan at 83-79 for their second trip in three years. The Iguanas were two ahead of last year’s division winner Ouagadougou (81-81).

Benin City 3B Joao Sebastiao da Silva was the unanimous Eastern League MVP, earning the award for the fourth time having also three-peated in 2030-32. He became the fifth in WAB history to win 4+ MVPs and also grabbed his seventh Silver Slugger. The 33-year old Angolan was in his 12^th season for the Blue Devils.

Da Silva was the leader in runs (146), homers (67), slugging (.718), OPS (1.114), and wRC+ (179). He added 205 hits, 136 RBI, a .336 average, and 9.0 WAR. The run tally was tied for the 9^th-best in WAB history. Da Silva is on pace to reach 600 home runs, 1500 runs, and 1500 RBI all next year.

Ibadan’s Yakubu Babawo was Pitcher of the Year for the third straight year and fourth time in his seven year career. He had 22 first place votes, while Libreville’s Ibeh Ferguson had eight, becoming the seventh WAB ace with 4+ POTY wins. Babawo led in strikeouts (316), walks (74), quality starts (20), FIP- (66), and WAR (6.7). The 28-year old Nigerian lefty had a 2.70 ERA in 210 innings, 171 ERA+, and 13-8 record.

Ibadan upset Libreville 2-1 to start the first round, but the Lakers survived with 6-2 and 6-0 wins. Benin City then swept Libreville in round two, ending the Lakers’ three-peat bid. The Blue Devils were in the Eastern League Championship Series for the fifth time in seven years.

It was their third battle of that run against Douala with Benin City winning in 2032 and the Dingos taking the 2033 rematch. Both times, the top seed prevailed. 2036 had the same story as Douala swept Benin City with 7-2, 7-0, and 5-1 wins. The Dingos starting pitchers allowed only two runs across 20.1 innings, helping them to their second pennant.

The 62^nd West African Championship was a seven game classic. Dakar was shooting for their fifth title (2016, 2025, 2029, 2032) while Douala was trying for their first. They traded wins across the first six games with the Dukes taking the odd-numbered encounters and the Dingos winning the even games. Game seven was highly anticipated, but ended up being a dominant 10-0 Dakar win for their fifth ring.

3B Junior Jose was finals MVP going 9-19 with 4 homers and 7 RBI. In 14 seasons, Jose had now delivered four WAB rings and six pennants for the Dukes. The 36-year old Mozambican won his 11^th Silver Slugger, joining the legendary SS Darwin Morris as the only 11+ winners in WAB history. Jose took over the career WAB playoff records for homers (33), RBI (78), and doubles (24). He also became the 8^th to 750 career home runs and the 45^th to 2500 hits.

Other notes: In his 20^th season with Abidjan, DH Abdel Aziz Ashraf continued to make both good and bad history. The 41-year old Egyptian was limited to 103 games because of shoulder inflammation, but still had 33 home runs, 83 RBI, 122 wRC+, and 2.2 WAR. WAB’s home run king now had 1056 dingers, moving to 4^th all-time on the world leaderboard behind only Majed Darwish (1271), Harvey Coyle (1092), and Nordine Soule (1073).

Ashraf was now #9 on the world RBI list at 2469 and in striking distance of being the 7^th to reach 2500. He was also at 2089 runs and 3169 hits, the former ranking 24^th in world history and 6^th in WAB. On the bad side, Ashraf was also the all-time world leader in whiffs. He struck out 162 times in 2036 to get to 4166 strikeouts, passing Konrad Mazur’s former record of 4051. Despite the gaudy power totals, his Ks and being a career DH meant he had only 70.8 WAR to this point.

Youssoupha Diop continued to chase Ashraf for the RBI title, now sitting at 2416 after a 26 home run, 71 RBI, 1.0 WAR season for Dakar. He had spent his age 39 season with the Dukes after a 19-year run with Freetown. Diop became the 5^th WAB batter in the 3500 hit club, moving to #4 on the leaderboard at 3606. He was also #4 in runs (2195), #2 in homers (884), and tied for #4 in doubles (704).

Following 2036, Diop’s rankings on the world leaderboards had him 30^th in homers, 11^th in RBI, 16^th in doubles, 13^th in runs, and 37^th in hits. He also had 2953 strikeouts, the 36^th-most whiffs in world history. Both Diop and Ashraf planned to return for 2037. In other hitting milestones, Haji Mussa and Batch Kargbo were the 28^th and 29^th to 1500 RBI. Edward Mumini was the 44^th to 2500 hits. SS Prince Kofi won his 9^th consecutive Silver Slugger.

Guillaume Mbimbiangoye had 32 saves in a one-off in 2036 for Monrovia, although he had a lackluster 4.16 ERA. Still, this got him to 393 career saves, passing Christopher James’ 377 for the WAB career saves record. Youssuf Salou became the 28^th WAB pitcher to 3000 strikeouts.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-08-2025, 07:21 PM

The Northern League had an odd distribution of wins as three of the four division champs had only 84 or 85 wins. Southeast Division champ Hangzhou was the exception at 96-66, their second division title in four years. Qingdao at 91-71 had the NL’s second-best record, but missed the playoffs with only division champs advancing. Last year’s division champ Shanghai was 85-77. The Hens were the NL’s top scoring team with 667 runs. The other divisions were decided by one win margins.

Shijiazhuang won their sixth consecutive East Central Division at 85-77 ahead of 84-78 Beijing and 80-82 Jinan. The Serpents’ 551 runs allowed was the NL best. Xi’an at 84-78 edged 83-79 Lanzhou for their second West Division title in three years. Defending NL champ Urumqi dropped to 72-90. In the Northeast, Dalian and Shenyang were even at 83-79 after 162 games. The Gold Dragons won the tiebreaker game to advance for their second division title in three years. Last year’s winner Changchun dropped to 72-90.

Dalian RF Bo Zhou won Northern League MVP unanimously in his fourth season as a starter. The 26-year old lefty led in runs (107), home runs (55), slugging (.640), OPS (1.022), and wRC+ (201). Zhou added 202 hits, 25 doubles, 120 RBI, .328 average, and 9.5 WAR. The Gold Dragons had drafted him 13^th in the 2029 CLB Draft.

Shijiazhuang’s Sihua Fan took Pitcher of the Year with 25 first place votes, while Xi’an’s Bangxao Huang had seven. Fan was in his seventh season and led in ERA (2.12) and WAR (7.3). The 27-year old lefty had 253 strikeouts in 250.1 innings, an 11-10 record, and 154 ERA+. The 11 wins were the fewest in CLB history by a starter that won POTY.

The Triple Round Robin was hypercompetitive with Hangzhou and Dalian advancing at 5-4 while Shijiazhuang and Xi’an were 4-5. The Gold Dragons earned their first semifinal trip since 2023, while the Hens had a shot at their second NL pennant in four years.

Dalian started the series with a 3-1 road win in 12 innings, but Hangzhou bounced back with three straight wins. The Hens had a three-run rally in game three to win 4-3 and won a 1-0 pitcher’s duel in game four. The Gold Dragons won their own pitcher’s duel 2-0 in game five, but Hangzhou took game six 4-2 to clinch the series 4-2. The Hens earned their fifth trip to the China Series (1979, 1989, 2013, 2033, 2036).

Guangzhou repeated as Southwest Division champ at 100-62 and had the top record in the Southern League and all of Chinese League Baseball. It didn’t come easy though with 96-66 Kunming giving chase. The Gamecocks have won six of the last seven division titles and allowed the fewest runs at 477. Macau at 96-66 rolled to a third Southeast Division crown in-a-row.

Defending CLB champ Nanchang repeated in the East Division at 89-73 and led in scoring with 702 runs. The Crickets were eight games ahead of Wenzhou in the East. Lastly in the Central, Wuhan and Chongqing tied at 83-79 while Chengdu was 82-80. The Wolverines beat the Cavaliers in the tiebreaker game to end an eight-year playoff drought. Changsha, who had won four straight division crowns, fell to 75-87.

Chongqing 1B Subahan Rozali won a competitive Southern League MVP race, getting 17 first place votes compared to nine for Hong Kong 2B Faxien Rao and six for Macau CF Haoxuan Li. Rozali was in his eighth year for the Cavaliers and led with 59 home runs, 140 RBI, 410 total bases, .660 slugging, and wRC+ (199). The 28-year old Malaysian lefty added 191 hits, 103 runs, 36 doubles, .308 average, and 9.3 WAR.

Pitcher of the Year was an intense battle with Macau’s Vihaan Gita getting with 16 first place votes and 168 points compared to Changsha’s Zhenying Chen at 13 first place votes and 147 points. Gita was in his third year starting and led with 389 strikeouts, which was the seventh-best single-season in CLB history. The 23-year old Indian had a 2.05 ERA, 18-8 record, 255 innings, 160 ERA+, and 8.2 WAR.

Chen meanwhile was the leader in ERA (1.86), WHIP (0.75), K/BB (13.7), FIP- (30), and WAR (11.0). He had a 14-4 record and 370 strikeouts over 213.1 innings. Chen had a 15.61 K/9, breaking the CLB record by a qualifying pitcher (162+ innings) previously held by Min-Yen Fu with 15.32 in 2015.

The top two records advanced out of the Triple Round Robin with Guangzhou at 6-3 and Macau at 5-4, while Nanchang was 4-5 and Wuhan 3-6. The Gamecocks made it to the Southern League Championship Series for the fifth time in seven years, while the Magicians earned back-to-back trips.

Guangzhou started the series with three straight wins in one-run games. Game two was a 3-2 win in 11 innings with game three seeing 12 innings and a 4-3 final. Macau avoided the sweep winning game four 8-2, but the Gamecocks took game five 4-0 for the 4-1 series win. Guangzhou earned a ninth finals trip (1971, 74, 87, 99, 2000, 12, 23, 32, 36); which is tied for the most along with Beijing and Hong Kong.

In the 67^th China Series, Guangzhou rolled in game one 11-1, followed by a 1-0 walkoff win in game two. Hangzhou got a 3-2 win in game three, but the Gamecocks matched in game 3-2 after 11 innings. Guangzhou then won game five 6-4 on the road to clinch the series in five, becoming three-time Chinese champs (1971, 2000, 2036).

Finals MVP was seventh-year RF Yan Bashi, who went 8-20 with 3 RBI. For the postseason, Bashi had 22 hits, 10 runs, 7 extra base hits, and 10 RBI in 19 games. Gamecocks pitcher Bucky Hein tied the playoff record for wins with five, going 5-1 in 37.2 innings with a 1.43 ERA. Hangzhou’s Chuan Lin set a bad playoff record with five losses, going 0-5 in six starts with a 3.56 ERA in 30.1 innings.

Other notes: CLB’s 57^th perfect game came on August 24 by Shangahi’s Shibo Huang with 5 strikeouts against Hangzhou. Two players broke the previous CLB single-season record for doubles of 47 by Weihao Lu in 2012. Macau’s Yongxin Li set the new high mark of 52 while Hangzhou’s Di Zhou had 48. Hong Kong’s Faxien Rao had 230 hits, the 3^rd-best in CLB history begind Aniwa Xirzat’s 235 in 2035 and Li’s 231 from 2035.

Syamsul Azzahari and Simon Chang became the 5^th and 6^th members of the 500 home run club. Azzahari got to 542, 3^rd behind Tao Cai (595) and Cheng Kang (552). Zhongting Zhang was the 23^rd to 2000 hits, the 24^th to 1000 runs, and the 20^th to 400 homers.

SS Weiman Hiang won his 10^th Gold Glove and 1B Boren Zhong won his 8^th consecutive. Hiang was only the 5^th CLB player with 10+ Gold Gloves at any position. In team stats, Xiamen’s 215 homers and Nanchang’s 112 triples both were the 3^rd-best in Southern League history. Shenzhen’s 4.02 team ERA and 722 runs were the 2^nd-worst in SL history while their 651 earned runs were 3^rd-worst.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-09-2025, 07:47 AM

Zamboanga and Cebu had an intense battle for the Philippine League title, the top seed in the Taiwan-Philippine Association, and the best record in all of Austronesia Professional Baseball. The Zebras won their final two games while the Crows lost theirs, allowing Zamboanga to finish first at 107-55 with Cebu at 106-56. Zamboanga repeated as PL champ and allowed the TPA’s fewest runs at 453. The Zebras also set a new APB single-season attendance record with 2,388,142 tickets solid.

For the Crows, they earned their tenth playoff berth in 12 years. They scored 723 runs, the second-highest in APB history behind Hsinchu’s 725 from 2033. Cebu also had a team .446 slugging percentage, a new APB best. Batangas had back-to-back 91-71 seasons, but had the misfortune of being in the stacked PL. Quezon fell to 81-81, ending their four-year playoff streak.

Three-time defending TPA champ Tainan earned a sixth straight playoff berth and their fifth Taiwan League title of that run with a 90-72 finish. Taipei narrowly repeated as the second place team at 83-79, fending off Kaohsiung (82-80) and Taichung (81-81). The Toucans ended on a six-game winning streak, but couldn’t make up enough ground.

Cebu’s Jackson Costa won Taiwan-Philippine Association MVP with 23 first place votes, while Tainan SS Douglas Diwa had five. Costa had spent five years with Depok before getting traded to the Crows for 2035. The 29-year old Indonesian 1B led in runs (108), RBI (124), total bases (352), slugging (.601), OPS (.961), and wRC+ (195). Costa had 177 hits, 29 doubles, 48 homers, .302 average, and 8.3 WAR.

Tainan’s Yu-Lin Hsu won his third consecutive Pitcher of the Year, although it was an incredibly close race. He had 11 first place votes and 138 points, edging out Manila’s Dan Aponte (10, 130) and his Titans teammate Kuan-Yang Kang (4, 80). The Manatees’ Stanley Hwang and Zamboanga’s Apichart Arjvirai also got first place votes.

Hsu led in shutouts (6) and had an 18-12 record, 2.32 ERA, 252 innings, 313 strikeouts, 143 ERA+, and 5.8 WAR. The 32-year old Taiwanese lefty notably tossed his first no-hitter on September 2 with 14 Ks and 1 walk facing Taichung. Unfortunately for Hsu, his season ended two weeks later with a ruptured finger tendon in his pitching hand.

The divisional round saw a stunning 3-2 upset by Taipei over Zamboanga, rallying from the one-game handicap and losing game one. Cebu had to go on the road to outlast Tainan 3-2, taking the finale 2-1. The Crows earned their seventh trip to the Taiwan-Philippine Association Championship since 2025, while the Tigercats got their third trip in seven years.

Cebu took the first two games 3-2 and 7-0. Taipei got home wins 6-5 in game three and 4-0 in game five, but the Crows got game four 4-2. Cebu grabbed game six 5-1 to clinch the series for their sixth pennant in 12 years. The Crows now have 11 pennants (1980, 90, 91, 92, 2012, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31, 36). This leads TPA teams and is second among all APB teams behind Jakarta’s 12.

For the fourth straight year, Semarang and Bandung battled for the Java Sea League crown. The Sliders finally ended the Blackhawks’ four-year hold on first place at 95-67, one game ahead of 94-68 Bandung. Semarang finished the season on a seven-game winning streak and earned the top seed in the Sundaland Association. Palembang was a respectable third at 86-76. The Blackhawks led the SA with 573 runs scored.

Six of the seven Malacca League teams had a shot at first place, finishing separated by only seven wins. Reigning APB champ and two-time defending SA champ Kuala Lumpur got first at 87-75 for their fifth playoff trip in six years. The Leopards allowed TPA’s fewest runs at 416 and set single-season records for fewest walks allowed (188) and best BB/9 (1.13).

Johor Bahru (85-77) ended up taking the #2 spot ahead of Batam (83-79), Singapore (83-79), Medan (81-81), and Pekanbaru (80-82). The Blue Wings ended a seven-year playoff drought, while the Marlins missed for only the second time in that same stretch. The Blue Raiders as a team had 102 triples, the second-best in SA history.

In his third season for Johor Bahru, 2B Yusuf Tarif earned Sundaland Association MVP. Six players earned a first place vote, but Tarif had more than half with 16. The 24-year old Indonesian righty led in hits (201), doubles (36), and WAR (7.5). Tarif had 89 runs, 16 triples, 9 homers, 55 RBI, 33 steals, .327/.348/.481 slash, and 157 wRC+. The Blue Wings had drafted Tarif 8 overall in 2033.

Semarang’s Yuchi Jiang won Pitcher of the Year with 17 first place votes, beating out KL’s Thipanraj Shahdan (6) and Medan’s Pao-Huang Lin (4). In his tenth season starting for the Sliders, Jiang had a 17-9 record, 1.67 ERA, 175 ERA+, 252.2 innings, 286 strikeouts, 5 shutouts, and 6.1 WAR. Back in January 2034, Semarang gave the 31-year old Chinese lefty a mammoth seven-year, $322 million deal. Jiang is currently APB’s highest-paid player with the fourth-largest annual salary in the world.

Kuala Lumpur rolled to a 3-0 sweep of Bandung in the divisional round, while Johor Bahru upset top-seed Semarang 3-1. The Blue Wings took game one 4-3 and game two 3-2 after 14 innings. JB earned their first trip to the Sundaland Association Championship since their 2028 pennant, while KL was shooting for a three-peat. It was the first time that the finale featured two Malaysian teams.

The Leopards started with 4-2 and 4-0 home wins, then the Blue Wings got the next two by 2-1 and 3-2 margins. Kuala Lumpur won game five 7-2 on the road to reclaim the advantage, but Johor Bahru forced game seven with a dramatic 14-inning, 3-2 win in game six.

Game seven also had plenty of drama and was tied 4-4 after regulation. Erick Tabuni’s leadoff double led to a Blue Wings run in the top of the tenth en route to a 5-4 upset victory, denying the Leopards’ three-peat hopes. Johor Bahru won their fifth Sundaland Association title (2017, 18, 26, 28, 36).

The 72^nd Austronesia Championship renewed a recent finals rivalry, as Cebu had beaten Johor Bahru in both 2026 and 2028. The Blue Wings started with a 6-5 road win, followed by a 6-3 Crows win in game two. JB won 5-1 and 3-1 on their home field, but Cebu claimed game five 8-2 to force the series back to the Philippines. That didn’t save them as Johor Bahru won game six 8-4 to secure the big upset and avenge the losses from the prior decade. This was the Blue Wings’ second title, joining the 2017 triumph.

Association MVP Yusuf Tarif was also series MVP, going 11-25 with 4 runs and 4 RBI. He set APB playoff records for at-bats (70), hits (27), and singles (23). Cebu veteran Roland Arias also had a historic run, setting APB playoff records for homers (8) and total bases (43). A few bad playoff records were also set. Cebu’s Philip Guevara had the new worst for strikeouts with 34. His teammate Chia-Jen Han had the new high mark for hits allowed (40). Johor Bahru’s Faiz Arif had a new worst with nine home runs allowed.

Other notes: For the first time since his first full season in 2019, “The King” Binh Tang wasn’t an MVP finalist. The 36-year old Vietnamese infielder had a down year by his standards, although he still had an excellent 8.3 WAR with 29 homers, .836 OPS, and 153 wRC+.

Tang won his 16^th Silver Slugger and 5^th consecutive at second base. He also has three as a DH and eight at 1B. Tang is only the 5^th player in all of world history with 16+ Silver Sluggers, joining OBA/MLB legend Jimmy Caliw (the lone with 17), CABA/MLB legend Prometheo Garcia, CABA’s Emmanuel Zavala, and BSA’s Cicero Lugo.

He became the outright APB leader for career doubles with 550, adding to his records for runs (1820), total bases (6193), RBI (1836), and WAR (182.7). Tang climbed to #9 in WAR among all players ever in baseball history, becoming the 11^th to have 180+ in his career. Tang is now at 735 home runs, within striking distance of Wil Tabaldo’s 766 dingers for the APB record. Tang is also second in hits at 3324, but would likely need two good years still to pass Junior Sanchez’s 3564.

In 2036, his Sweathogs had 278 team doubles, setting a single-season APB record. Hsinchu struggled to 74-88 though with an all-time awful pitching staff. The Sweathogs allowed 722 runs and 665 earned runs, both all-time worsts for the extremely low scoring APB. Their 4.05 team ERA was second-worst behind their own 4.06 the prior year.

APB’s 2036 made world history with four perfect games in one season, bringing the total to 65 in league history. Kuala Lumpur’s John Gonzalez was first on April 11 with 14 Ks facing Singapore. On August 28, Pekanbaru’s Markandan Sofian did it with 13 Ks against eventual champ Johor Bahru. Three days later, it was Medan’s Pao-Huang Lin, also striking out 13 facing the Sharks. It was Lin’s second-career no-hitter.

The fourth perfect game came on October 1 by Kuala Lumpur’s Thipanraj Shahdan in the 1-0 divisional series clincher over Bandung. The only previous playoff perfect games in any world league were in MLB by Ned Giles in 1938 and Jesse Riley in 2015, plus ALB’s Ahmed bin Nu’aim in 2033. Each example was in an earlier round; there still hasn’t been a perfect game in an LCS or championship. It was Shahdan’s second no-hitter, having also done it in 2033.

In other pitching notables, Shih-Hao Chuang was the 24^th to reach 4000 career strikeouts and Kuan-Yang Kang was the 31^st to 200 wins. SP Zulfadhmi Suhaimi won his 10^th Gold Glove, becoming only the 4^th pitcher in world history with 10+ GGs. Only Kang and MLB’s Theron Summers and Wayne Mitz had done it previously. Suhaimi was also only the 7^th APB player at any position to win 10+ GGs. RF Jeremiah Lang won his 9^th consecutive Gold Glove.

In batting milestones, James Yuwono became the 5^th member of the 600 home run club and Wei-Yin Wang became the 4^th to 3000 hits. Chia-Jung Su and Chin-Tsai Lan were the 14^th and 15^th to 500 homers. Lan and Kai Yu were the 37^th and 38^th to score 100 runs. Shen Chang was the 48^th to 1000 RBI. LF Roland Arias won his 9^th Silver Slugger and C Isaac De Leon won his 7^th.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-09-2025, 08:20 PM

Defending Oceania Baseball Association champ Hobart made it three straight Australasia League titles, setting a new franchise best at 100-62. The Tasmaniacs had a five game lead at the start of July and never surrendered the top spot, but Gold Coast (97-65) and Melbourne (96-66) both chased them closely. Christchurch was fourth at 91-71, their fourth straight 90+ win season without a pennant. Hobart led the AL with 741 runs while the Kangaroos allowed the fewest at 545.

The Tasmaniacs swept the top awards, led by 2B Chaz Callihan as the unanimous Australasia League MVP. He had won the honor in 2033, but had missed big chunks of the next two years between shoulder inflammation in 2034 and a torn PCL in 2035. Still, Hobart signed Callihan in January 2036 to an eight-year, $168,600,000 extension.

The 27-year old Australian lefty was healthy for 2036 and led in runs (107), home runs (50), RBI (134), total bases (384), slugging (.663), OPS (1.030), wRC+ (195), and WAR (9.0). Callihan added 186 hits, 24 doubles, 12 triples, and a .321 average. He also hit for the cycle on July 11 against Gold Coast. Hobart had taken Callihan third overall in the 2027 OBA Draft.

Nigel Pitt won Pitcher of the Year with 17/20 first place votes. The 26-year old Cook Islander was in his fourth season with Hobart and second as a full-time starter. Pitt led in wins (21-13) and had a 2.98 ERA, 313.2 innings, 262 strikeouts, 119 ERA+, and 6.4 WAR.

The Pacific League came down to the wire with five teams within three games of first place entering September. Entering the final week, Guadalcanal, Fiji, and Vanuatu were each tied for first at 91-65. The Green Jackets narrowly had the best finish at 95-67, outlasting the Wizards (94-68), Freedom (94-69), and Tahiti (93-69). Defending PL champ Samoa was tied for first, but a weak finish dropped them to fifth at 89-73.

Guadalcanal earned their third pennant in six years and their 11^th overall (1961, 64, 66, 68, 77, 2010, 12, 13, 31, 32, 36). They had the best run differential in the PL at +115 and scored the most at 726 runs. The Tropics allowed the fewest runs with 523.

Tahiti swept the Pacific League’s top awards, including a fourth MVP and third straight for LF Jun Lopez-Torres. He became the tenth in OBA history to win 4+ MVPs and had the first hitting Triple Crown since Roe Kaupa in 2014. It was only the tenth hitting Triple Crown in OBA, but Lopez-Torres still wasn’t an MVP lock. He got 13 first place votes and 245 points while Guadalcanal’s Servando Perez had 7 and 215.

In his second year with the Tropics, Lopez-Torres led in homers (50), RBI (122), total bases (397), average (.338), slugging (.684), OPS (1.070), wRC+ (195), and WAR (9.5). The 31-year old Australian also had 196 hits, 95 runs, 23 doubles, 14 triples, and 55 stolen bases. Lopez-Torres and Kaupa are the only players to win MVP with three different teams. He now has two with Tahiti, plus 2034 for Guam and 2030 with Melbourne.

Dirk Murray was the unanimous Pitcher of the Year, giving him three in four years. The 33-year old Canadian was in his first season for Tahiti, signing in 2032 after spending his first seven seasons with MLB’s Sacramento. Murray led in wins (23-8), ERA (2.03), innings (340.2), quality starts (33), complete games (18), shutouts (6), FIP- (77), and WAR (8.6). His 368 strikeouts ranked third, his first time not leading since joining the Tropics.

Hobart opened the 77^th Oceania Championship with a 6-3 home win over Guadalcanal. It was all Green Jackets after that with 5-3, 12-4, 6-3, and 8-1 finals; taking the series in five. Guadalcanal became six-time OBA champs (1961, 1966, 1968, 2012, 2032, 2036). 3B Peter Gosden was series MVP in his second year with the squad, going 10-20 with 7 runs, 2 doubles, 2 homers, and 8 RBI. The 37-year old Australian had spent his first 12 seasons with Adelaide.

Other notes: Hobart’s Jody Riley had OBA’s 9^th four-home run game on July 3 against Perth. The Penguins’ Gael Bradley had a 34-game hitting streak that carried over from the prior season. This fell one short of the OBA record set by Jordy Vincent in 2029.

In milestones, Darren Soo and Alec Teika were the 36^th and 37^th pitchers to 200 wins. Soo also was the 52^nd to 3000 strikeouts. Henry Lui was the 56^th to 400 homers. 1B David Odom won his 13^th Gold Glove, becoming the 4^th with 13+ GGs in OBA. He is one of 30 players across baseball history with 13+ Gold Gloves and one of seven first basemen. SS Mathew Bellamy won his 9^th Silver Slugger.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-10-2025, 06:29 AM

The European League’s division champs both finished 102-60 with Krasnodar in the South and St. Petersburg in the North. The Steamers got the #1 seed by tiebreaker as they ended their four-year playoff drought. The Polar Bears got back-to-back berths, but this was their first division title since 2027. St. Petersburg led all of Eurasian Professional Baseball with 749 runs, while Krasnodar allowed the fewest in the EL at 559.

The South wasn’t a guarantee for the Steamers, as they had to fend off 97-65 Voronezh. The Zephyrs grew their playoff streak to five seasons. It was a huge gap down to the second wild card, which went to reigning EPB champ and two-time defending EL champ Moscow. Their 84-78 was a far cry from the 110 wins in 2035, but they snuck in ahead of Volgograd (83-79), Minsk (81-81) and Kazan (80-82). The Mules grew their playoff streak to eight seasons.

Krasnodar swept the top awards with Anar Arzhanov taking European League MVP unanimously. It was the second MVP for Arzhanov, who also won back in 2029. The 32-year old Uzbek scored 127 runs, setting a new EPB single-season record. This was one better than Jov Sakharov’s 126 which had held as the record since 2006.

Arzhanov also led in RBI (124), total bases (393), slugging (.672), OPS (1.059), wRC+ (195), and WAR (9.4). He added 185 hits, 57 homers, 23 doubles, 52 stolen bases, and .316 average. Arzhanov was the #1 overall pick in the 2026 EPB Draft for Krasnodar and since then has four Silver Sluggers, 359 homers, and 53.4 WAR.

Maksim Astratenko had joined the Steamers for 2036 in an offseason trade from Nur-Sultan. He made an impressive Krasnodar debut as Pitcher of the Year with the 16^th pitching Triple Crown in EPB history. It was the first Triple Crown since Ivan Nikolin in 2024. The 27-year old Belarusian righty had a 22-6 record, 2.04 ERA, and 335 strikeouts and also led in quality starts (27), and WAR (9.1). Astratenko tossed 260.1 innings with a 174 ERA+.

Despite the wins difference, defending champ Moscow put up a fierce fight in the first round. They won games three and four to force a decisive game five, but Krasnodar survived 4-3 to dethrone the Mules. The Steamers got their fourth trip in franchise history to the European League Championship Series, having lost in 2031 and won in 2017-18.

The other side of the bracket had Voronezh upset St. Petersburg 3-1, giving the Zephyrs their fourth ELCS berth in five years. The Steamers had home field and were the favorite, but Voronezh had beaten them 12-6 in the regular season series. Krasnodar opened with a 3-2 home win, but Voronezh snagged a 7-5 road win, then won 4-2 as the series shifted.

The Steamers evened it 6-1 in game four, but the Zephyrs reclaimed the edge 3-2 in game five. Krasnodar rallied with 8-2 and 5-2 home wins to take the series in seven games for their third pennant (2017, 18, 36). In game seven, the Steamers had two home runs in a four-run bottom of the eighth inning to go ahead.

Defending Asian League champ Novosibirsk went 7-3 in their last ten games, allowing them to pass Irkutsk (3-7 in their last 10) and Yekaterinburg (2-8) for the top seed. The Nitros won the East Division at 99-63 to grow their playoff streak to eight seasons. The Ice Cats were second in the East at 97-65 for their fourth straight playoff trip. The Yaks easily won back-to-back West Division crowns at 96-66.

For the second wild card, Ulaanbaatar (89-73) earned a fourth playoff berth in-a-row by holding off Nur-Sultan (87-75) and Chelyabinsk (85-77). For the Cadets, it was notably their first winning season since 2026. Novosibirsk led the AL with 713 runs, while Irkutsk allowed the fewest in EPB at 500. The Ice Cats also had the best run differential in EPB at +169.

Repeating as Asian League MVP was Yekaterinburg 1B Andrey Golovin. The 27-year old Kazakh lefty won unanimously and led in runs (109), hits (210), total bases (369), average (.361), OBP (.429), OPS (1.064), wRC+ (206), and WAR (10.4). Golovin added 30 doubles, 41 home runs, and 101 RBI. He was the #1 draft pick in 2031 and had already won four Silver Sluggers in five seasons.

A competitive Pitcher of the Year race went to Irkutsk’s Vardan Aslan with 15 first place votes and 141 points, beating the Yaks’ Javaid Kamran with 8 and 113. Aslan repeated in his third year with the Ice Cats and became a four-time winner, having won in 2028 and 2030 with Nur-Sultan. He’s the eighth in EPB history to win 4+ POTYs.

Aslan led in wins (21-10), innings (272.1), and complete games (22). The 32-yeaer old Uzbek righty had a 2.48 ERA, 245 strikeouts, 144 ERA+, and 5.2 WAR. Meanwhile Kamran in his third season for Yekaterinburg was the ERA champ at 2.33 and had a 20-7 record, 277 Ks, and 7.0 WAR. He was only one win and six strikeouts from a Triple Crown, but Aslan’s notoriety and reputation won the day.

Both first round series needed all five games. Ulaanbaatar won game one 7-6 in 10 innings at top seed Novosibirsk. The Nitros responded with 3-2 and 4-1 wins, but the Boars took game four 3-1 and completed the upset in a 1-0 game five pitching duel. Ulaanbaatar earned a third consecutive trip to the Asian League Championship Series as they looked to end an 18-year pennant drought.

Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk traded games with both earning wins in 11-inning affairs; 1-0 for the Ice Cats in game two and 8-7 for the Yaks in game three. The decisive fifth game saw a 2-1 Yekaterinburg win, earning their first ALCS appearance since 2027. The Yaks’ last pennant had been the prior year in 2026.

After the thrilling first round battles, the Asian League Championship Series was mostly unremarkable with Yekaterinburg sweeping Ulaanbaatar with 3-1, 4-3, 6-0, and 3-1 wins. The Boars nearly took game two, but the Yaks escaped in a 13-inning war. Yekaterinburg leads all AL teams with 14 pennants (1955, 68, 70, 89, 2000, 03, 04, 06, 07, 08, 12, 24, 26, 36).

The 82^nd EPB Championship had an exciting extra-innings start. Yekaterinburg scored in the top of the tenth to go up 2-1, but a two-out two RBI walkoff double by Vadim Volkov won it for Krasnodar. In game two, the Steamers scored in the ninth to force extras at 6-6, then won it in the tenth on a solo walkoff homer by Yacub Hristov; his third homer of the game.

Krasnodar narrowly prevented a walkoff in game three with a 3-2 road win. They couldn’t avoid it in game four as the Yaks’ Anh Trong had a two-run walkoff bomb, giving Yekaterinburg a 4-2 win. The Yaks forced the series back to Krasnodar with a 2-1 win in game five. The Steamers locked it up 5-2 in game six to claim their second EPB title (2017, 2036). The 29-year old Hristov was finals MVP with a five homer series, going 8-23 with 7 RBI.

League MVP Anar Arzhanov was ELCS MVP and had an all-time playoff run, setting EPB postseason records for homers (14), RBI (26), total bases (67), and runs (18). He had 23 hits, 1.234 OPS, and 1.6 WAR, but also 27 strikeouts. The 14 homers tied the world record in any league’s postseason; only CLB’s Binhui Wen had done it previously in 2031.

Other notes: In addition to his big finals effort, Yacub Hristov had a four home run game on May 31 against Voronezh. It was the 13^th such game in EPB and Hristov became the first to do it twice, having also done it back in 2031. Hristov is one of six in all of baseball history with multiple four homer games.

Krasnodar’s Aleksey Andreev set a single season record with 173 singles. His 232 hits ranked as the 4^th-best in EPB history. For the first time since 2000-01, no players hit for the cycle all season. 3B Olzhas Vorsul won his 7^th consecutive Gold Glove.

Dmitri Khodakovsky became the 12^th member of the 600 home run club, the 13^th to 1500 RBI, and the 37^th to 2500 hits. Khodakovsky also won his 9^th Silver Slugger and 2^nd as a DH. Three others reached 2500 hits later in the year; Vladislav Illarianov, Termirlan Jalilov, and Seriozhenka Gusarov. Timofei Kolarov was the 29^th to 500 homers and Yuri Demyan the 84^th to 400 homers. Kolarov won his 7^th Silver Slugger with five at 2B and his first two at SS.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-10-2025, 07:05 PM

The race for the Northern Conference’s top seed was generally also the race for the West Division title. Three teams finished within three wins of first place and two others were within eight games. East Division champ Warsaw also was right in the mix, but fell one short of the #1 seed at 100-62. The Wildcats still won the division by 12 games for their third straight division crown and fourth consecutive division title.

Defending conference champ Dublin narrowly repeated as West champ at 101-61, earning their fourth straight playoff berth and third division title. Antwerp was two back at 99-63 and Hamburg was three back at 98-64, ending the season with a nine-game winning streak. Both the Airedales and Hammers earned repeat wild cards.

Cardiff (95-67) and Edinburgh (93-69) were next to take the remaining wild cards. The Enforcers got their third berth in four years and the Crew grabbed their third straight and fourth in five years. Cardiff actually had the NC’s best run differential of +158. The next closest in the wild card hunt was the East Division runner-up Helsinki at 88-74, who led the conference with 758 runs. Warsaw had the fewest allowed in the entire European Baseball Federation at 526.

The worst record was Brno at 59-103 at the bottom of the East, finishing seven behind Wroclaw. The Bandits had gotten relegated to the European Second League for 2035, but was promoted right back up to the EBF Elite Tier for 2036. Unfortunately, the roller-coaster continued with another drop. Meanwhile, London was last in the West at 65-97 with their closest foe 70-92 Reykjavik. The Monarchs had been back in the top tier since 2022, but never made the playoffs in their return.

After the season, Krakow would be switched from the Southern Conference to the Northern Conference for geographic balance. For whatever reason, officials decided to include the Canines for the NC’s awards voting despite them playing 2036 in the SC. That allowed Krakow CF Leonid Spasskyi to earn MVP honors with 22 first place votes and 548 points. Antwerp 1B Bohuslav Vlasko had 17 first place votes and 467 points while Amsterdam’s Mihaly Geza had 5 and 426.

Spasskyi was in his seventh season with Krakow and posted 214 hits, 116 runs, 39 home runs, 104 RBI, 19 doubles, 13 triples, .368/.412/.647 slash, 200 wRC+, and 9.8 WAR. The 29-year old Ukrainian lefty was picked fifth in the 2028 EBF Draft by the Canines. After the 2033 season, Spasskyi signed an eight-year, $190,300,000 extension with Krakow.

Pitcher of the Year was Berlin’s Luis Garza with 30 first place votes. Hamburg’s Bastian Auerswald had nine, Wroclaw’s Marc Boulay had seven, and Warsaw’s Marco Roman had six. Garza started his career in MLB with little luck, then came to Europe in 2030 with Cologne. He was traded that winter to Berlin and has emerged as an ace for the Barons since.

The 34-year old Cuban lefty really broke through in 2036 with the ERA title at 2.13, as well as the conference best for WHIP (0.87), FIP- (62), and WAR (7.9). Garza had a 14-5 record, 232.1 innings, 226 strikeouts, and 176 ERA+. Berlin signed him to a five-year, $111 million extension after the 2034 season.

In the first round of the playoffs, Hamburg edged Cardiff 2-1 and Antwerp swept Edinburgh 2-0. The Hammers got back-to-back shutouts to defeat the Crew, then opened round two with a 3-0 shutout of Dublin. The Dinos took the next three to take the series 3-1, winning game four 4-3 in 11 innings.

Dublin earned its third trip in four years to the Northern Conference Championship. Warsaw made it three straight berths as they swept Antwerp 3-0 on the other side. It was the first conference finals rematch since Dublin’s early 2020s dynasty which had repeats facing both Hamburg and Rotterdam. Just like the prior year, the series needed all seven games.

Dublin opened with a 4-3 walkoff win in game one on a Serhiy Mamsurov RBI double. Warsaw earned a 7-3 road win to even it up, but the Dinos matched with a 2-0 game three win in Poland. Game four was a 14 inning showdown concluding with a 6-5 walkoff win for Warsaw. They had scored two in the bottom of the ninth to keep that game alive. The Wildcats then claimed game five 7-4 for the 3-2 advantage as it shifted back to Ireland.

Tied 2-2 in the ninth, Dublin’s Sal Kirwan smacked a two-run walkoff homer to force a decisive game seven. The Dinos got 11 hits in the finale, but were unable to score all game. Warsaw managed an RBI single from OF Yuriy Sapay in the fourth, which was enough for a 1-0 road victory. The Wildcats avenged the prior year’s defeat and earned their second pennant in three years. It was their third in EBF and seventh pennant overall counting their Eurasian Professional Baseball days (1960, 93, 94, 95 in EPB: 2003, 34, 36 in EBF).

Madrid had an impressive turnaround from only 76 wins the prior year. The Conquistadors ended a 16-year playoff drought at 105-57, taking the West Division and the top seed in the Southern Conference. Madrid allowed the conference’s fewest runs at 565, while Budapest scored the most in all of EBF at 823. The 101-61 Bombers earned a fourth straight playoff berth by winning the East Division, their first division title since 2014. Budapest smacked 279 homers as a team, the second-highest in conference history.

All four wild cards came from the West with Zurich the strongest at 97-65. It was a third straight wild card for the Mountaineers, whose pitching staff set conference bests for walks allowed (228) and BB/9 (1.37). The next six best teams were separated by only four wins. Malta (92-70), Zaragoza (91-71) and Seville (90-72) advanced while defending EBF champ Krakow (89-73), Tirana (89-73), and Belgrade (88-74) missed.

It was a huge triumph for the Marvels, who had just gotten promoted as E2L champ in 2035. Malta had been the only charter EBF franchise from 1950 that had never once made it into the playoffs until now; an 87-year wait for the small island nation. The Gold Hawks got back-to-back wild cards, while the Stingrays ended a decade-long drought.

Lyon was relegated from the West at 66-96, eight games from their nearest foe. It was an abrupt collapse for the Lords, who had been European Champion as recently as 2033. They were a playoff team in 2034 and just missed at 87 wins in 2035. Bucharest at 67-95 was demoted in a crowded East, only two behind Tbilisi, three behind Odesa, and four behind Zagreb and Athens. The Broncos were relegated back to E2L after only a three year stint. Things had seemingly been looking up for Bucharest after a 90-72 mark in 2035, but alas.

Leading Malta to their first-ever playoff berth was Southern Conference MVP Balazs Balog, who had 44 first place votes. The Marvels had gotten him in a prospect swap in November 2030 from Cluj-Napoca. In his second-year as a full-time starter, the 23-year old Hungarian 2B led in WAR at 9.9. Balog had 203 hits, 113 runs, 35 doubles, 15 triples, 44 home runs, 118 RBI, 1.026 OPS, and 189 wRC+.

Budapest’s Daan Rossum got seven first place votes, but was fifth in MVP voting despite becoming EBF’s new single-season home run king. The 31-year old Dutch LF smacked 78 dingers, passing Peter Brinkmann’s record 76 that had held since 1999. Rossum’s season ranked as the 12^th-best in all of world history.

He also led the conference in runs (123), RBI (153), and total bases (418); which was one of only 20 seasons of 150+ RBI. Hurting Rossum was a conference-worst 235 strikeouts with a 37.5% strikeout rate and .273 average. This was the 8^th-most Ks in a season by an EBF batter. Exactly 50% of his plate appearances ended in a homer or strikeout and he had only 32 walks.

Vienna was mid-grade at 82-80, but they had the Pitcher of the Year Achim Vetter with 33 first place votes. Five others got a first place vote with Madrid’s Alexander Schafer at 7 and Zurich’s Danila Filinov at 6. Vetter was in his seventh year for the Vultures and led in WAR (8.4) and FIP- (56). The 29-year old German righty had a 2.43 ERA, 17-6 record, 237 innings, 287 Ks, and 155 ERA+. Vetter also had his first EBF no-hitter on May 24 with 13 strikeouts against Chisinau, only missing a perfect game because of two errors.

Zaragoza edged Malta 2-1 in the first round, posting a three-run ninth inning rally to take game three 5-4. Seville swept Zurich on the other side, then shocked top seed Madrid in round two. The Conquistadors won the first two games, but the Stingrays had an improbable rally. Seville survived game three 5-4 in 12 innings and game four 5-3 in ten innings, followed by a 3-1 win in the finale. The Stingrays had only twice made it to the Southern Conference Championship, most recently with their lone pennant way back in 1977.

Budapest bested Zaragoza 3-1 on the other side for their second conference finals in three years. The Bombers had never won a pennant in EBF or in their prior EPB stint. Budapest opened the series with a 6-5 walkoff win, rallying from down 5-4. They had a 4-run eighth inning to claim game two 6-3. Seville won game three back in Spain 5-4, but the Bombers earned a 7-3 road win for game four.

The Stingrays weren’t prepared to surrender, taking a 1-0 pitcher’s duel in game five and a road win in Hungary 7-4 in game six. The Bombers lived up to their name, as three solo homers helped them secure their first pennant with a 4-1 victory in game seven. Budapest became the 43^rd different franchise to appear in the European Championship over its 87-year history.

The 2036 final was the second time that two former EPB teams played for the EBF title, joining the 2008 Kyiv-Bucharest battle. Budapest opened with a 3-2 home win, followed by a 7-6 Warsaw victory in game two. The Wildcats then won three straight in Poland by 7-2, 6-3, and 9-7 to earn their second EBF title in three years. Warsaw had three overall titles, having also claimed the EPB title in 1994.

The game five clincher saw a five-run bottom of the eighth for Warsaw, forcing extras at 7-7. In the tenth inning, Marvin Schalkhauser ended the series on a two-run walkoff homer. Schalkhauser was series MVP, going 7-21 with two homers and 7 RBI. The 31-year old German had 19 hits, 14 runs, 6 doubles, 5 homers, and 12 RBI in the playoffs.

It was the third straight year that the European Champion was Polish with Warsaw’s two wins and Krakow’s in 2035. The only other times the same country had the champ three successive years were Rotterdam’s 2025-27 three-peat and the German wins between Hamburg and Munich from 2019-21.

Other notes: Amsterdam’s Arkadiy Medvedyev had a four home run game on April 22 against London; the 23^rd such game in EBF. For back-to-back years, Gleb Artsimovich hit for the cycle. Zurich’s Walter Meier also had his second cycle, having also done it in 2034. Kharkiv’s Michael Beier had a 36-game hitting streak that carried over from the prior fall, tied for the 8^th-longest streak in EBF history.

Attila Sebek and Kamil Bufka were the 51^st and 52^nd members of the 500 home run club. Eduard Yurkov was the 28^th to 1500 runs scored. Lukasz Heneski was the 65^th pitcher to 3000 strikeouts and Kai James was the 45^th to 200 wins. Dominic Voicu had 39 saves in 2036 for Dublin and became EBF’s new career saves leader. The 35-year old Romanian was the first to 400+, as his 407 passed Wilfried Bergmann’s old EBF record of 387. 1B Waldemar Riemers won his 9^th consecutive Gold Glove.

Promotion/Relegation: See below for the teams moving up-and-down in the European baseball pyramid after 2036’s results.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-11-2025, 06:37 AM

The Bolivar League’s top two squads battled it out in the Venezuela Division. Ciudad Guayana surprised many by taking the top seed at 108-54 ahead of 103-59 Valencia. The Giants hadn’t posted a winning season since 2027, hadn’t been in the playoffs since 2023, and hadn’t won a division title since 1993. Ciudad Guayana set new Beisbol Sudamerica team records for batting average (.312) and hits (1788) and their .353 OBP was the second-best in BSA history. The Giants were also BSA’s top-scoring team with 901 runs.

The Velocity allowed the BL’s fewest runs at 600 for their third playoff trip and 100+ win season in four years. Defending Venezuelan champ Caracas collapsed to 64-98, their worst seasons since 1991. In the Colombia-Ecuador Division, Bucaramanga dominated at 98-64 for the first playoff berth by one of the six 2029 expansion teams. Quito, who had been the division champ the prior three years, fell off a cliff at 66-96. They hadn’t had a season that bad since 1986.

Four teams fought over the Peru-Bolivia Division and the second wild card slot. Trujillo went 8-0 in their last ten games to take first at 90-72, ending a 14-year postseason drought. Lima and defending Copa Sudamerica winner Arequipa tied for second at 89-73, while La Paz was at 85-77. In a rematch of last year’s BLCS, the Lobos defeated the Arrows in a tiebreaker game. Lima’s playoff streak grew to a decade and Arequipa’s ended at seven seasons.

Barquisimeto was a lousy 75-87, but they had the Bolivar League MVP in 3B Yoendry Quispe with 24 first place votes. Lima 2B Joseph Ramirez had 11 and Guayaquil’s Hugo Rosado had six. In his fifth season on roster and second as a full-time starter, Quispe led in home runs (63) and WAR (8.8). The 28-year old Venezuelan had 171 hits, 115 runs, 32 doubles, 134 RBI, 1.070 OPS, and 177 wRC+. Quispe had been a surprise breakout for the Black Cats, having been a third round draft pick in 2027.

For only the third time in BSA’s 100+ year history, Pitcher of the Year was also Reliever of the Year. Valencia’s Wilkin Casillas took the honor with 31 first place votes, while teammate Geraldo Ahumada was the top starter with 10 first place votes. Casillas had also been the Reliever of the Year two years prior, although his 2036 was something special. The 27-year old Venezuelan lefty had a 0.74 ERA over 70 games and 85 innings with 37 saves, a 16-3 record, 53 shutdowns, 169 strikeouts, 579 ERA+, and 6.6 WAR.

Lima took the first round matchup in a 2-1 road upset over divisional rival Trujillo, but promptly got swept by top seed Ciudad Guayana 3-0 in the divisional series. The Giants earned their first trip to the Bolivar League Championship Series since 2021.

Valencia and Bucaramanga traded wins on the other side of the bracket. In game five, the Velocity rallied from down 3-1 in the ninth to win 4-3, capped off by a two RBI walkoff double by Norbertino Caban. Valencia had a shot at their second pennant in four years. The last time two Venezuelan teams had battled in the BLCS, it was the Velocity defeating the Giants.

Game one was a 17-inning marathon, eventually won 4-3 on the road by Valencia with a go-ahead solo homer by Michael Delgado. Ciudad Guayana evened it up 4-2 in game two. The Velocity won their first home game 7-4, but the Giants secured a 4-3 win in ten innings to even the series at 2-2.

Game five also went extras as Ciudad Guayana took it 5-2 in 11, roaring ahead on a three-run Dario Casarez bomb. Game six was the fourth to need extra innings, ending in a 4-3 result to seal the series at home for the Giants. DH Rolando Salinas capped it off with a walkoff RBI single, giving Ciudad Guayana its fifth pennant (1984, 1989, 1992, 2017, 2036).

Salta set a franchise best as the Southern Cone’s top team at 108-54. It was their third straight playoff trip, but the first-ever South Central Division title for the Silver Hawks. It ended a seven-year division title streak for Santiago, but the 97-65 Saints still got a wild card and grew their BSA-record playoff streak to 17 seasons. Santiago has had 28 straight winning seasons and have only missed the playoffs once since 2015.

Rio de Janeiro ended a 12-year playoff drought, claiming the Southeast Division at 95-67. Sao Paulo, the LCS runner-up the last two years, finished 91-71 for the second wild card. The Padres also have a streak of winning seasons back to 2021 and have only missed the playoffs twice since 2024. Sao Paulo was the league’s top-scorer in 2036 with 775 runs. Last year’s division champ Porto Alegre dropped to 78-84. Defending Southern Cone champ Brasilia repeated in the North Division at 93-69, finishing six games ahead of Belem. The expansion Blue Crabs had their best season to date and allowed the fewest runs at 561.

Leading the charge for Salta was Southern Cone League MVP Sol Rubio. The 27-year old Argentine third baseman had 33 first place votes, while Sao Paulo RF Manual Dias had eight. Rubio led in runs (123), RBI (126) and WAR (9.3). He added 45 homers, 215 hits, 31 doubles, 13 triples, 48 steals, .345/.373/.652 slash, and a 177 wRC+. He was in his fourth season with the Silver Hawks, having been drafted 28^th in 2029.

Belem’s Onofre Cruz won Pitcher of the Year with 28 first place votes, while Salta’s Denilson Lugo had 14. In his fourth season, Cruz led in ERA (2.28), strikeouts (330), quality starts (26), and WAR (9.6). Run support cost him a Triple Crown with a 14-9 record over 257 innings. The 26-year old Brazilian righty had been the Blue Crabs’ selection with the #3 pick in the 2032 draft and already had 26.5 WAR and 1148 strikeouts over four seasons.

Defending champ Brasilia swept Sao Paulo in the first round and gave Salta a war in the divisional series. After trading wins, the Silver Hawks took game five 3-0 to earn their second trip to the Southern Cone Championship in three years. The other side also needed all five games with Santiago taking the finale 5-0 over Rio de Janeiro. The Saints have been in the LCS more than any other team with 32 trips, eight of which have happened during their current playoff streak.

Salta opened the series with 7-3 and 15-4 home wins. The series shifted to Chile and Santiago won all three of their home games with 7-1, 4-3, and 7-4 margins. Back in Argentina, the Silver Hawks took game six by a 7-6 score. Game seven was lopsided for hits (15-2), but not for final score. Despite their big hits advantage, the Saints only earned the road upset 4-3. Santiago became 11-time Southern Cone kings (1933, 34, 36, 61, 64, 66, 68, 71, 2020, 33, 36).

The 106^th Copa Sudamerica was the first finals sweep since 2007 as Ciudad Guayana clobbered Santiago, earning their third cup (1984, 2017, 2036). The series did have lots of drama anyway, starting with a 12-inning, 9-7 game one ending in a two-run walkoff homer by Brian Romero. The next day, Romero again was the hero with a RBI walkoff single in a 3-2 win. Game three went 11 innings for a 4-3 Giants road win. There have now been ten different Cup winners in as many years.

In game four, CG scored four in the top of the ninth inning to go ahead for a 10-7 win. CF Jonathan Gonzalez was 4-4 with 4 runs in the finale and was series MVP, going 9-16 with 1 homer, 3 RBI, and 7 runs. The 28-year old Venezuelan would suffer a torn UCL in the Baseball Grand Championship. Giants closer Marco Vera, the BLCS MVP, notably had a 6-0 record and three saves over his 10 appearances with a 1.00 ERA, 34 strikeouts, and 1.5 WAR in 27 innings. He set the BSA playoff record for wins.

Other notes: 2036 was the final season for five-time Pitcher of the Year Bartolo Flores, who had a 14-13 record, 4.07 ERA, 199 Ks, and 2.2 WAR with Belo Horizonte. He became the 6^th BSA ace to reach 300 career wins and the 4^th to 5500 strikeouts, finishing with a 312-161 record, 3.07 ERA, 4283.1 innings, 5601 Ks, and 110.1 WAR. On the all-time world leaderboard across all leagues, Flores ranks 31^st in wins and 15^th in strikeouts.

Santiago’s Otavio Furtado joined Flores in the 300 win club one month later, going 17-8 in his age 40 season with a 3.45 ERA, 209 Ks, and 5.0 WAR. Furtado is at 314-171 with 4837 Ks and 114.5 WAR and intends on returning. BSA’s wins mark is 347 by world strikeout king Mohamed Ramos and could be reachable if Furtado maintains a good pace. Through 2036, there are 46 aces in world history in the 300+ win club.

In hitting milestones, the 500 home run club grew to 72 members with the addition of Bryce Guerra, Juan Suarez, James Tavares, and Marc Melgar. Melgar, Saurez, and Matty de Sousa grew the 2500 hit club to 91. Melgar and de Sousa also both reached 1500 RBI, now met by 42 batters. 3B Dunier Dorame won his 7^th Gold Glove. C C.J. Rivera won his 7^th Silver Slugger.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-11-2025, 05:26 PM

The two-time defending East Asian Baseball champ Hamamatsu had possibly the best regular season any team has ever had in baseball history. The Chickenhawks finished at 126-36, tying the world record for wins in any world league. SAB’s Ho Chi Minh City did it in 1993 and OBA’s Christchurch in 2016, although neither of those teams ended up winning it all in their leagues. The world record for wins by a champion was 124 by SAB’s Ahmedabad (1995) and Mandalay (2028).

The old EAB wins record was 122 by Hamhung in 1926, who was upset in the Korea League final. 1950 Sapporo had the Japan League record of 121 wins; they lost in the EAB Championship. Hamamatsu in 2036 had a +426 run differential, second in world history behind only 2009 Hanoi in SAB at +452. That Hounds team went 122-40 and had a stunning first round exit.

The Chickenhawks won their fourth straight Central Division and set JL single-season team records for triple slash (.297/.343/.485), runs (874), and hits (1661). They also had EAB’s fewest runs allowed with 448. Hamamatsu unsurprisingly overshadowed a very impressive 107-55 season by Capital Division champ Kawasaki. It was their fourth straight division title and 100+ win season, as well as their sixth consecutive playoff trip. The Killer Whales’ 3,033,298 season attendance was the second-best in JL history and third in EAB history.

The remaining playoff spots had a very complicated soup as five teams finished game #162 with a 94-68 record. Three of them were in the North Division with Sapporo, Niigata, and Sendai; along with the Central’s Kyoto and Capital’s Saitama.
To sort out the North, the Green Dragons first defeated the Samurai, but lost to the Swordfish. Sapporo earned back-to-back berths, but it was their first division title since 2027.

Next was a pair of one-game playoffs with the winners getting wild cards and the losers eliminated. Niigata and Kyoto got the wins while Sendai and Saitama took the Ls. The Green Dragons earned their eighth playoff trip in a decade while the Kamikaze ended a six-year drought. The Samurai saw a three-year division title streak snapped. Lastly, the West Division had a clear winner with 89-73 Fukuoka as the only team above .500, ending a nine-year playoff drought. Last year’s JLCS runner-up Kitakyushu fell to 76-86.

Leading Hamamatsu’s historic charge was unanimous Japan League MVP Mitsuru Ishida. In his fifth season and third as a full-time starter, Ishida led in runs (140), hits (224), home runs (58), RBI (148), total bases (444), OBP (.447), slugging (.746), OPS (1.193), wRC+ (227), and WAR (12.4). He had 40 doubles and a .376 average, one point short of a Triple Crown.

The 24-year old Ishida was only the fifth in EAB history with a 140+ run effort. His OPS was also EAB’s seventh-best qualifying season, his OBP was ninth, and his WAR was 11^th among position players. The Chickenhawks had taken him out of high school with the #3 pick in the 2030 draft. The 6’8’’ righty had been the finals MVP in their 2034 championship run.

Pitcher of the Year was intense as Kawasaki’s Mitsumasa Suzuki got 19 first place votes and 210 points, edging out Hamamatsu’s Naka Sakurai at 17 and 119. The Chickenhawks’ Masamichi Kasai also had four first place votes and 133 points. It was the third POTY for Suzuki, who won in 2033 for the Killer Whales and in 2031 with Suwon in the Korea League. He had signed with Kawasaki for 2032 on a six-year, $201,300,000 deal.

The 30-year old righty led in strikeouts (345), WHIP (0.86), and shutouts (7). Suzuki had a 17-8 record, 1.95 ERA, 244.2 innings, 185 ERA+, and 9.0 WAR. On August 13, he tossed his first no-hitter with 15 Ks and 1 walk against Tokyo. His top POTY competitor Sakurai had a 27-3 record, only the fifth EAB pitcher to win 27+ in a season. Kasai meanwhile had 25 wins and led in WAR at 10.0.

Sapporo swept Niigata 3-0 and Fukuoka rallied for a 3-2 win over Kyoto in the wild card round. The Frogs shocked top-seed Hamamatsu with a 3-2 game one win, but the Chickenhawks grabbed the next three to secure a fourth straight trip to the Japan League Championship Series.

On the other side, Sapporo started the series with back-to-back road shutouts over Kawasaki 3-0 and 2-0. The Killer Whales rallied with their own 4-2 and 4-1 road wins, then dominated 10-2 at home in game five to complete the rally. Kawasaki earned their third JLCS trip in four years. The Killer Whales had upset Hamamatsu as the #2 seed in 2033, but the Chickenhawks returned the favor the next year.

Kawasaki opened the JLCS with a lopsided 8-2 road win, followed by a Hamamatsu 10-2 battering in game two. The Killer Whales then earned 3-2 and 1-0 home wins; the lone run of game four coming on a walkoff solo homer by Toshinori Mizuho. Hamamatsu avoided the upset with a 7-4 road win in game five, sending the series back home.

The Chickenhawks claimed game six 3-1, setting up a dramatic game seven. Hamamatsu tied it at 3-3 after eight innings, then RF Takuboku Fukuoka had the walkoff RBI single in the ninth for a 4-3 victory. The Chickenhawks are the sixth team to three-peat as Japan League champs, joining Sapporo (1949-51), Chiba (1961-63), Hiroshima (1968-70), Kitakyushu (1992-94), and Kawasaki (1999-01).

Ulsan ended up as the Korea League’s top seed at 106-56 atop the Southeast Division. Although it was the Swallows’ fourth playoff berth in five years, it was their first division title since 2015 and first #1 seed since 2014. Defending KL champ Busan dropped off from their 111-win 2035 effort, but still got the first wild card at 96-66. The Blue Jays’ EAB record playoff streak extended to 17 seasons, although their division title streak was stopped at 12.

Both North Division champ Goyang and Southwest Division champ Gwangju finished 98-64. The Green Sox now had a decade-long playoff streak, while the Grays got their fourth in-a-row. Goyang was the KL’s top scoring squad at 797 runs. Incheon allowed the fewest at 585, helping them win a competitive Central Division at 94-68. The Inferno got their third playoff trip in four years.

Two back on the Central was 92-70 Seongnam, who got repeat wild card berths. Falling just short in the wild card race was 91-71 Jeonju, 88-74 Changwon, 88-74 Pyongyang, and 88-74 Suwon. The Snappers had been in the KLCS in five of the prior seven seasons.

Although the Crabs just missed the playoffs, they swept the Korea League’s top awards. In only his third season, CF Won-Bin Lee was unanimous MVP, leading in triples (30), total bases (414), slugging (.703), OPS (1.098), wRC+ (209), and WAR (10.3). Lee added 201 hits, 112 runs, 21 doubles, 44 home runs, 122 RBI, and a .341 average. He was already living up to being the #1 pick in the 2033 EAB Draft.

Wan Ahn was the #1 pick two years prior by Changwon and was also proving himself worthy, taking Pitcher of the Year at age 23. He posted the 21^st pitching Triple Crown in EAB and the first since 2027 with a 2.06 ERA, 23-6 record, and 359 strikeouts. Ahn also led in WHIP (0.82), complete games (17), shutouts (6), FIP- (40), and WAR (11.3) with a 193 ERA+ in 257.2 innings. On July 18, Ahn tossed his first no-hitter with 12 strikeouts against Busan.

Together, Changwon’s great drafting had gotten them from 100+ loss seasons from 2031-33 to a near playoff miss in 2036. However, the Crabs still had an eight-year playoff drought. Also worth a mention, Pyongyang’s Sin-Cheol Park won his third Reliever of the Year in four years. He was now up to 11^th on the EAB saves leaderboard at 377.

Incheon dethroned the defending KL champ Busan 3-1 in the first round while Seongnam survived 3-2 against Gwangju. The Spiders then upset Goyang 3-1 in the divisional round, earning their first Korea League Championship Series trip since their repeat titles in 2018-19.

The Inferno upset top seed Ulsan 4-3 in ten innings for game one, then snagged a 5-0 game two road win. The Swallows avoided the calamity, rallying with 6-4, 4-3, and 5-2 wins to salvage the series. The game four win notably was a ten inning affair. Ulsan’s last KLCS trip was 2027 and their last pennant was 2015, incidentally over Seongnam.

Ulsan opened with a 6-2 win, but Seongnam stole game two on the road 4-3. The Spiders got game three at home 6-5, but Ulsan evened it 6-3 in game four. Seongnam snagged game five 4-2, then clinched in game six with a 4-3 road upset. The Spiders became eight-time Korean champs (1982, 83, 90, 2003, 14, 18, 19, 36).

Hamamatsu was taken to the brink in the JLCS by Kawasaki, but had no such worries in the 116^th East Asian Championship. The Chickenhawks swept Seongnam with 2-0, 2-0, 4-2, and 7-4 wins. Game three was the closest battle, needing 11 innings. RF Yoshiaki Hara was finals MVP going 4-7 with 1 homer and 3 RBI.

The Chickenhawks’ dynasty also was only the third EAB championship three-peat ever, joining Kitakyushu’s 1992-94 run and Pyongyang’s 1965-68 four-peat. With that, Hamamatsu staked their claim for not only EAB’s best-ever team, but the best in world history as a league champ with their 126-36 record. If they posted a strong showing in the Baseball Grand Championship, they could cement that case. Manager Duk-Ku Su became the fifth EAB skipper with three championships.

Other notes: Seongnam’s In-Jun Sun set playoff records for opponent’s OPS (.251) and slugging (.100), minimum 15 innings required. Sun had 16 scoreless innings with 12 Ks, making him the 11^th EAB pitcher with 15+ playoff innings with a zero ERA.

EAB’s 48^th perfect game came on September 10 as Yokohama’s Kimio Suzuki struck out six facing Okayama. Koshi Miyata and Si-Won Joon were the 75^th and 76^th pitchers to 200 wins. Joon was also the 21^st ace to 4000 strikeouts. Jin-Yu Jun and Byung-Cheol Ban were the 51^st and 52^nd to 3500 Ks.

Gwangju’s Dendi Hidayat stole 129 bases, the 3^rd-best single-season in EAB history. Maebashi’s terrible pitching set Japan League single-season worsts for team ERA (4.96), hits (1676), earned runs (792), and H/9 (10.49). The Bunnies’ 867 runs and 1.449 WHIP were both 2^nd-worst.

The 600 home run club grew to 40 members with the additions of Masanori Fukuoka and Toichi Kimura. Fukuoka won his 10^th Silver Slugger in LF and Kimura his 7^th at 1B. The 500 homer club was 85 players strong with the additions of Seung-Heon Ryou, Kazutaka Hirano, and Geon-Ho Whang. Jae-Hyeon Shin and Yosai Ishizuka made it 107 batters with 2500 hits. SS Anh Vu Nguyen won his 10^th Silver Slugger.

SS Jae-Won Park made history with his 17^th consecutive Gold Glove. The only other player in baseball history with 17 was former all-time WARlord Jimmy Caliw, who split his between 2B/SS and between MLB/OBA. For his career, Park had a 1.130 EEF and 435.8 zone rating.

It was possibly his last season though, as he hit a putrid .476 OPS and 39 wRC+ in 2036 with Cheongju. He still managed to be worth 1.7 WAR in 126 even with such horrific batting metrics, but was a free agent for 2037. Park had a career 64.7 WAR despite a .606 OPS and 73 wRC+. His terrible bat may keep him from a Hall of Fame nod, but world WARlord Harvey Coyle might be the only guy you’d put above Park for pure defensive value in baseball history.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-12-2025, 06:00 AM

It ended up being a three-team race down the stretch for the Mexican League’s top seed. Hermosillo took it at 103-59, edging out reigning Central American Baseball Association champ Torreon (100-62) in the North Division. While the Hyenas earned their third straight playoff berth, this was their first division title since 2010 and their first #1 seed since 2008. The Tomahawks’ playoff streak extended to six seasons as they led the ML with 779 runs.

Central Division champ Leon was right in the hunt for the top seed at 101-61, growing their postseason streak to 12 years. Guadalajara was in the mix until going 2-8 in their last ten games. Still, the Hellhounds got the second wild card at 95-67 for their first playoff berth or winning season since 2028. For the Lions, they outperformed their expected win/loss by 10.

Toluca at 88-74 earned their first-ever South Division crown, beating Tuxtla by four games and Ecatepec by six. It was the Tortugas’ third playoff trip since joining in the 2025 expansion. Puebla, who had won the division four years running, fell to 78-84 for their first losing campaign since 2027.

For the final wild card, Tijuana at 89-73 held off last year’s MLCS runner-up Culiacan (84-78) and Tuxtla (84-78). The Toros took their fourth consecutive wild card. 74-88 Queretaro allowed the fewest runs at 572, but they struggled to score only 532 all season.

Tijuana 1B Alton Reinoso repeated as Mexican League MVP, earning the honor unanimously in his sixth season starting. The 28-year old Nicaraguan lefty led in runs (128), home runs (64), RBI (159), total bases (456), slugging (.723), OPS (1.111), wRC+ (194), and WAR (9.4). Reinoso added 213 hits, 39 doubles, and a .338 average. It was his fourth time leading the league in homers. Reinoso is signed through 2040 on a $201,800,000 deal, but has an opt-out after 2038.

Hermosillo’s Kian Baromeo repeated as Pitcher of the Year and won for a third time, having also done it in 2032. The 28-year old Curacaoan lefty was unanimous and led in ERA (2.28), WHIP (0.76), K/BB (15.6), FIP- (48), and WAR (8.7). Baromeo had an 18-5 record and 328 strikeouts in 213 innings.

Torreon swept Guadalajara and Toluca edged Tijuana 2-1 in the first round. The Tortuga upset Leon 3-1 in the second round on the road, including 3-2 and 4-2 wins to end the series. On the other side, Hermosillo opened with a 4-3 walkoff win, but dropped game two to Torreon 6-1. The Hyenas got the advantage back 6-2 in game three, but the Tomahawks took game four 9-5. Torreon then claimed the series with a 6-3 win in game five, ousting the top-seeded Hermosillo.

The Tomahawks had a shot to repeat, while Toluca was making their first appearance in the Mexican League Championship Series. The Tortugas quickly shocked Torreon with 5-1, 5-3, and 2-1 road wins to open the series. The Tomahawks got game four 6-3, but Toluca won a 13-inning game five marathon 5-4 to end the series. In the 13^th, the Tortugas went ahead on a Leilton Moscarella solo homer. Toluca became the first of the six expansion teams from 2025 to win a pennant and the 29^th different franchise to compete in the CABA Championship.

East Division champ Suriname and Central winner Costa Rica both finished 99-63 with the Caribbean League’s #1 seed going to the Silverbacks on the tiebreaker. They certainly had an easier path with the next closest team 16 games back. Suriname allowed the fewest runs by a healthy margin at 542 to win their third division title in four years. For the Rays, they ended a 15-year playoff drought and got their first division crown since their 1986-87 CABA Championship repeat. Costa Rica stole 472 bases, a new CL record and the second-most in CABA history.

The Rays had to hold off all three wild card teams in the Central with Salvador (94-68), Guatemala (93-79), and Panama (90-72) close behind. The Stallions earned their fourth straight playoff trip, while the Ghosts ended a five-year drought and the Parrots stopped a 20-year skid. This also ended Honduras’ 13-year playoff streak, as they were the first team out at 88-74 despite leading with 912 runs scored. The Horsemen had gotten to the CLCS in seven of the last eight years with five pennants.

Havana won the West Division at 92-70 end their own sizeable playoff drought after a decade. Santiago at 88-74 was four back in the division and two behind Panama for the second wild card. The Sailfish own the longest active postseason drought in CABA at 41 years back to 1995. Last year’s CL champ Jamaica finished .500 to end a four-year streak. Also notable was Haiti’s drop to 77-85 and Santo Domingo’s collapse to 66-96. This was only the second losing season since 1994 for the Herons and ended a 16-year run of winning campaigns by the Dolphins.

Leading Costa Rica’s turnaround as unanimous MVP was CF Jeronimo Polanco. Nicknamed “Socks,” the 26-year old Guatemalan lefty led in runs (129), total bases (454), slugging (.769), OPS (1.184), wRC+ (210), and WAR (11.1). Polanco had 213 hits, 26 doubles, 22 triples, 57 home runs, 143 RBI, and .361 average. He also hit for the cycle on April 20 against Guadeloupe. Polanco was the 11^th pick in the 2032 CABA Draft and signed an eight-year, $199,300,000 extension with the Rays in October 2035.

In his second season as a full-time starter, Suriname’s Josiah Romero was the unanimous Pitcher of the Year. The 25-year old Salvadoran lefty led in wins (19-9), ERA (2.10), WHIP (0.93), quality starts (22), complete games (16), and shutouts (5). Romero had 257 innings, 228 strikeouts, 204 ERA+, 71 FIP-, and 6.0 WAR. He was a December 2027 scouting discovery who debuted in 2034 with two relief appearances.

In the first round, Salvador swept Guatemala and Havana swept Panama. The Stallions then got a 3-0 road sweep in the second round over Suriname with 4-0, 5-1, and 3-1 wins. Costa Rica swept Havana on the other side with 10-4, 7-1, and 9-8 wins. For Salvador, they last made the Caribbean League Championship Series in 2029 and last won in 2017. The Rays last got there in 202 and last won it in 1987.

Salvador started it hot with a 6-4 road win, but Costa Rica matched in game two. The Rays rolled the rest of the way with 20-4, 5-3, and 3-2 victories to take the series in five. Costa Rica became eight-time champs as they ended their 48-year drought (1932, 35, 36, 48, 77, 86, 87, 2036).

The 126^th CABA Championship was the first finals sweep since 2019 as Costa Rica rolled over Toluca as the sixth different champ in as many years. The Rays won 4-1, 14-12 (10 IN), 3-2, and 6-1; becoming five-time CABA kings (1935, 1948, 1986, 1987, 2036). Second-year SS Eduard Garcia was finals MVP, going 9-16 with 5 RBI and 5 runs. Costa Rica was 11-1 in the postseason, one of the more dominant runs in recent memory.

Other notes: Ten-time Pitcher of the Year Israel Montague made history in 2036 at age 39 as he finished 18-5 over 228 innings with 262 strikeouts, 3.55 ERA, and 4.1 WAR. It was his worst season since his rookie year, but he got to 318 career wins to become CABA’s all-time leader. Ulices Montero’s 314 had held as the top mark since 1929. Montero still has the world record of 398 when adding his MLB totals.

Montague also made history with CABA’s 43^rd perfect game on April 20 with 11 strikeouts facing Mexicali. It was his second no-hitter in CABA and his second perfect game as a pro, having done it in the 2032 World Baseball Championship for his native Panama. Montague was now at 5484 strikeouts, two good years from passing Montero’s record of 5849. Montague was also at 147.88 pitching WAR, behind only Montero (165.65) and Richard Wright (150.73). He intended on coming back for his 18^th season in 2037.

CABA’s 54^th perfect game was June 20 as Toluca’s Lobo Baez struck out 18 against Puebla. That broke the CABA record for Ks in a perfect game, beating Augustin Desir’s 17 Ks in 1976.

Puerto Rico’s Oliver Alonso had a 37-game hitting streak, tied for the 3^rd-longest in CABA history. The CABA record is the world record, 54 games in 2018 by Sandile Nyambi. Panama’s Humberto Mercado set a record for at-bats in a season at 695. Trinidad’s Bruno Padilla set a bad record with 65 home runs allowed. Mexico City’s pitching staff had a team 1.440 WHIP, the worst in Mexican League history.

Franklin Madrid became the 9^th member of the 700 home run club while Ortiz Rosales was the 28^th to 600 dingers. Benedetto Rodriguez became the 18^th member of the 3000 hit club. Rosales, Fernando Silva, and Rodriguez each reached 1500 RBI, now met by 45 batters. Madrid was the 29^th to 1500 runs scored. Silva and Castillo made 71 batters with 2500 hits. The 500 homer club grew to 74 with Jeremiah Bourdin, R.J. Zaragoza, and Leonardo Martinez reaching the mark.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-12-2025, 05:34 PM

Defending National Association Louisville again was the top seed and bested their 105-win mark from 2035, setting a franchise record at 108-54 atop the Lower Midwest Division. The Lynx led with 863 runs and had a .482 team slugging percentage, the third-best in NA history. They also had the NA’s best run differential by a healthy margin at +261.

The #2 seed was Milwaukee at 98-64 repeating as Upper Midwest Division champs. The Mustangs had to fend off challenges from Chicago and Grand Rapids, who both secured wild cards at 92-70. The Cubs ended a five-year postseason drought and the Growlers got their third straight wild card. Lower Midwest runner-up Tulsa at 90-72 ended up as the third wild card, impressively bouncing back from a 68-win 2035. The Tornado ended a three-year postseason skid.

The remaining contenders were locked in battles for the East and Northeast Divisions. Ottawa and Halifax ended even in the Northeast at 89-73, both one back on Tulsa for the final wild card. The Elks prevailed in the tiebreaker game over the Hound Dogs, which ended a four-year playoff drought in the Canadian capital. Toronto, who was the NACS runner-up with 102 wins last year, fell to 80-82.

Six teams had a real shot in the East with Baltimore and Philadelphia ending even at 89-73; also both one short of the Tornado for the final wild card. Behind them were Pittsburgh (87-75), Washington (86-76), and Brooklyn (84-78). The Orioles defeated the Phillies in the tiebreaker game for their third playoff trip in four years. It was Baltimore’s first division crown since all the way back in 1986. The Admirals still have had nothing but winning seasons back to 2021, but missed the postseason for only the fourth time of that streak.

Virginia Beach was tied for the National Association’s worst record at 67-95 despite having the MVP in 3B Sax McIntyre. He had 51 of the first place votes with Milwaukee’s Clemente Garcia with eight, despite Garcia leading in both homers (60) and RBI (142). Raleigh’s Glenn D’Eramo also had five first place votes.

McIntyre led in hits (206), total bases (407), and WAR 9.5). The 25-year old from Gainesville, Florida had 112 runs, 32 doubles, 55 home runs, 130 RBI, and a .344/.402/.681 slash. He was the #3 pick in the 2031 MLB Draft by the Vikings and would commit long-term despite the team’s struggles on an eight-year, $191,900,000 extension in the winter.

A competitive Pitcher of the Year award race was won by Ottawa’s Jay Lilley with 27 first place votes and 322 points. Philly’s Trent Najarro was close behind with 24 first place nods and 284 points, while Milwaukee’s Kakenge Niyonkuru had 11 first place votes and 254 points. The ERA champ Shazrin Andik from Wichita had two first place votes.

Lilley had signed with the Elks in the offseason on a five-year, $160 million deal. The 32-year old righty from Valparaiso, Indiana had bounced around between Seattle, Halifax, and Toronto before that. Lilley put it altogether in 2036 with a 2.44 ERA over 258.1 innings, 18-12 record, 205 strikeouts, 169 ERA+, 69 FIP-, and 7.9 WAR.

In the first round of the playoffs, two division champs advanced with Ottawa 3-0 over Chicago and Milwaukee 3-1 over Tulsa. The lone upset for a wild card was Grand Rapids defeating Baltimore 3-1. The Growlers then stunned top-seed and defending champ Louisville with a second round sweep with 4-3, 7-3, and 5-4 finals. GR earned its first National Association Championship Series trip since joining Major League Baseball with the 2021 expansion.

On the other side, Milwaukee took game one 7-2, but Ottawa promptly rolled to 6-3, 5-4, and 2-1 wins for the 3-1 series upset. The turning point was game three, which had a walkoff RBI single by LF Albert Bergeron. The Elks earned their fourth NACS trip in a decade, having won pennants in 2028-29. It was Ottawa’s 20^th NACS appearance all-time, second behind Philadelphia’s 22.

Grand Rapids opened the series with a 5-4 road win, but Ottawa evened it 5-2 in game two. The Elks then earned 2-0 and 11-2 wins in Michigan, but the Growlers survived 6-3 in game five. Back in Canada, GR took game six by an 8-2 margin, forcing the first NACS game seven since 2022. It would be an all-time classic and the fourth game seven in NACS history to need extra innings. 2036 would be the longest of those encounters, needing 13 innings.

GR started up 3-0 with solo spots in the first three innings. Ottawa had two in the sixth and one in the seventh, evening the game at 3-3 until the 11^th inning. Both squads scored once in the 11^th and 4-4 held into the 13^th. There, the Growlers’ Melvin Wegner and Sergio Romero both smacked solo home runs, pushing Grand Rapids to the 6-4 road win and their first-ever pennant. The Growlers were the second expansion team from 2021 with a pennant, joining Birmingham (2034).

Las Vegas had the American Association’s top seed at 109-53, led by an all-time great power effort by MVP DH Jose Angel Esqueda among others. The Vipers set all-time MLB team records for homers (342) and team slugging percentage (.514). They were one homer better than San Diego’s 341 from 2018 and bested 2030 Sacramento’s .505 slugging. Vegas scored 1010 runs, third-best in MLB behind Houston’s 1024 from 1913 and 1022 from 2033.

The Vipers earned their fourth playoff trip in six years and their third Southwest Division title of that run. Las Vegas also had one of MLB’s best-ever run differentials at +341. The Southwest also had the second-best record in the AA with San Francisco at 100-62, earning back-to-back wild cards. San Diego notably dropped to 81-81, their first time missing a winning record since 2022.

Atlanta and Birmingham were even at 98-64 atop the Southeast Division, but the Aces won the tiebreaker game for their first division crown since 2023. Atlanta got back-to-back playoff spots while the Boomers earned their second in three years. The division also had 92-70 Tampa, who got the third and final wild card. The Thunderbirds have earned five consecutive postseason trips, although they have yet to win a playoff series in that stretch.

Anchorage won a competitive Northwest Division at 93-69 and allowed the AA’s fewest runs at 632. Although the Avalanche got their sixth playoff trip in eight years, this was their first-ever division title. Behind them and just short in the wild card race were Seattle (89-73), Salt Lake City (87-75), and Calgary (85-77). The Grizzlies’ streak of winning seasons now is 17 years. Last year’s AACS runner-up Edmonton was a non-factor at 75-87.

Defending World Series winner and Baseball Grand Champion Houston grew their playoff streak to ten, although they barely held onto the South Central Division. The Hornets at 88-74 survived challenges from El Paso (87-75), New Orleans (86-76), Dallas (82-80), and Austin (81-81). It was Houston’s eighth division title in a row and they’ve taken first place 12 times in the last 15 seasons.

Unanimous American Association MVP Jose Angel Esqueda had what many would consider the best-ever hitting effort in MLB history. It was the fourth total MVP for the 29-year old Dominican, who won the Caribbean League’s top prize from 2031-33 with Barbados. Esqueda joined Las Vegas on an eight-year, $249,800,000 deal in 2035. Everyone knew the lefty nicknamed “Dump Truck” had exceptional power, but his 2036 effort hit marks considered impossible with the talent and play style of MLB.

Esqueda obliterated the MLB single-season records for home runs (84), RBI (184), runs scored (166), and total bases (500). The previous homer best was Simon Trejo’s 74 from 2031, which was MLB’s only 70+ season. Aitor Cerda’s 175 RBI had held as the top mark since 1913, Lukas Warrell had the old runs mark of 150 from 1994, and Sebastian Lunde’s 476 was the top total bases tally back in 1949. Esqueda’s .786 slugging was also an MLB record, topping Hunter Morrissey’s .786 from 2026.

The 84 homers were the sixth-most in any world league ever and the only other 80+ seasons had been the higher-scoring leagues of SAB, AAB, and ALB. Esqueda’s 184 RBI was tied for the seventh-best in world history, the total bases ranked tenth, and the runs ranked fourth. It was one of only five seasons in world history of 160+ runs; only world home run king Majed Darwish had done better. On May 18, Esqueda also had MLB’s 49^th four home run game against San Diego.

Esqueda also led in plate appearances (733), OPS (1.216), wRC+ (226), and WAR (12.2). He had 224 hits, 24 doubles, 88 walks, a .352 average, and .430 OBP. The WAR was the fifth-best by an MLB position player, especially impressive since Esqueda was a DH who played only nine games in the field all season. The OPS ranked second behind Morrissey’s 1.243 from 2026. Against right-handed pitching specifically, Esqueda had an absurd .374/.455/.868 slash, 1.323 OPS, and 252 wRC+.

Pitcher of the Year was Atlanta’s Evens Antoine with 45 first place votes, beating out Anchorage’s Jose Gonzalez who had 19. Antoine was in his third season with the Aces, having started in CABA with Jamaica. The 28-year old Haitian lefty came to Atlanta in 2034 on a six-year, $137,600,000 deal. Antoine had some growing pains in 2034, but had finished second in 2035’s POTY voting with an ERA title. In 2036, Antoine led in wins (21-5), quality starts (24), and WAR (8.0). He added a 2.87 ERA over 278.2 innings, 200 strikeouts, 161 ERA+, and 66 FIP-.

Division champs all prevailed in the first round. The one most likely to be an upset was the most lopsided with Houston over San Francisco 3-1. Anchorage survived 3-2 over Birmingham and Atlanta outlasted Tampa 3-2. The Avalanche took game one 6-3 against the Aces, but Atlanta earned 7-4, 5-3, and 3-2 wins after that in the second round. The Aces’ game four clincher went 11 innings as they secured their first American Association Championship Series trip since 1994.

Despite Las Vegas’s hype and power, they were upset by the defending champs Houston in round two Las Vegas took game one 10-4, but Houston went ahead with 4-1 and 12-6 wins. The Vipers got game four 6-2, but the Hornets claimed the finale 5-4 in 11 innings. Houston earned a third straight AACS trip and its fourth in six seasons. The Hornets have been to the association finals 28 times, the most of any MLB squad.

Houston’s hot streak continued with 10-4 and 9-3 road wins to start the series. Atlanta got their own 5-4 road win in game three, but was on the brink after a 4-2 Hornets win in game four. The Aces survived with another 5-4 road win to escape back to Georgia. Atlanta then dominated with back-to-back 8-2 victories to dethrone the reigning Grand Champion in seven games. The Aces ended a 54-year pennant drought with their fourth American Association title (1927, 1969, 1981, 2036).

In the 136^th World Series, the teams traded victories in the first six games with Atlanta taking the odd-numbered encounters and Grand Rapids’ the evens. The first three games were decided by one run, including a walkoff in game three. The trend finally was broken in game seven in Michigan as the Growlers won 3-1, getting eight innings of two-hit pitching from Braden Williams. GR went ahead on a two-run Melvin Wegner homer in the sixth inning.

The Growlers became the 41^st different franchise with a World Series ring and the first of the 2021 expansion teams to do it. Wegner was finals MVP in his seventh year with Grand Rapids, going 10-27 in the series with 3 homers and 8 RBI. In the playoffs, he had 25 hits, 11 runs, 7 homers, 3 doubles, 19 RBI, and .942 OPS.

Pitcher Bin Li was big in the playoffs, winning games two and six with a 1.15 ERA over 15.2 innings. For the postseason, Li went 7-0 with a 2.36 ERA over 45.2 innings and 42 Ks. The 34-year old Chinese righty became the first pitcher in any world league to record 7 wins in a postseason run.

Other notes: Ottawa’s Devon Figueroa set multiple playoff rate stats by a pitcher (15 innings required) with a 1.80 H/9, .067 opponent’s average, .067 slugging, and .192 OPS. The Elks closer tossed 15 scoreless innings with 20 Ks, 3 walks, 3 hits, and one unearned run. Figueroa was one of 12 in MLB playoff history to pitch at least 15 innings and post an ERA of zero. MLB’s 39^th perfect game came on August 18 by Raleigh’s Kellen Wilson with 11 strikeouts against Virginia Beach. SP Noah Skeen won his 7^th consecutive Gold Glove.

Neil Hollinger became the 17^th member of MLB’s 700 home run club. The 600 club grew to 54 sluggers with Ethan Clark, Will Desbiens, and Austin Grace joining in 2036. Doogie Wright and Shakil Nelson were the 133^rd and 134^th to 500 dingers. Nelson and Grace were the 143^rd and 144^th with 1500 RBI and Pat Eichelberger was the 135^th to 1500 runs scored.

Mike Rojas and Milton Ramirez were the 14^th and 15^th to reach 3500 career hits. Ramirez is 36-years old for 2037 and might have the best shot of anyone in a long time at catching Stan Provost’s record 4133. The #2 spot is 3714 by Jess Lewis, which Ramirez (now at 3543) could realistically reach with a good 2037 campaign. Mark Jonhston is also on the cusp of 3500 hits (now at 3468), although it is uncertain if the 40-year old RF will get signed in 2037.

Rojas meanwhile became only the 3^rd to score 2000 runs and Johnston the 10^th to 2000 RBI. Rojas is only the 34^th across all of baseball history with 2000 runs scored, but his pursuit of further MLB records appears done. He only played 67 games in 2036 due to numerous injuries, although he was still effective when he played.

For 2037, Rojas left MLB, signing a three-year, $41,800,000 deal with AAB’s Bangui. Rojas ranks 2^nd in MLB homers (872), 2^nd in RBI (2275), 3^rd in runs (2002), 15^th in hits (3542), 3^rd in total bases (6904), and 5^th in WAR for position players (135.69). Even if he’s done in the Majors, he makes a case for the league’s Mount Rushmore of batters.

2036 was the final season for 2B Jeff Bonner, who almost quietly put up 798 homers, 1963 RBI, 3297 hits, 1950 runs, 404 doubles, 6323 total bases, 155 wRC+, .887 OPS, 6 Silver Sluggers, and 114.5 WAR. At retirement, Bonner is 3^rd in homers, 13^th in RBI, 8^th in runs, 29^th in hits, 6^th in total bases, and 19^th in WAR among position players.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-13-2025, 05:35 AM

The 2036 Baseball Grand Championship was the 27^th edition of the event and was hosted in Busan, South Korea. Earning the auto-bids were MLB’s Grand Rapids and Atlanta, CABA’s Costa Rica and Toluca, EAB’s Hamamatsu and Seongnam, BSA’s Ciudad Guayana and Santiago, EBF’s Warsaw and Budapest, EPB’s Krasnodar, OBA’s Guadalcanal, APB’s Johor Bahru, CLB’s Hangzhou, WAB’s Dakar, SAB’s Hanoi, ABF’s Bursa, ALB’s Muscat, and AAB’s Mombasa. The at-large teams were AAB’s Dar es Salaam, WAB’s Douala, and APB’s Cebu.

All eyes were on Hamamatsu, who had just won the East Asian Championship with a 126-36 record. That was the best record ever by a team to win its overall league title and with a Grand Championship win, the Chickenhawks could credibly call themselves the best team in baseball history.

The 2036 BGC ended up as the most competitive in event history, showing the remarkable parity between the world leagues. Ten teams were within one win of first place and 13 teams were within two. In the end, four finished even for the best record at 13-8; Hamamatsu, Muscat, Atlanta, and Grand Rapids. Six teams were one behind at 12-9.

The head-to-head between the top four wasn’t clean either with no one sweeping the other three. Two teams were 2-1; the Chickenhawks and Growlers. Both had beaten Atlanta; 7-3 by Hamamatsu and 3-2 by GR. Grand Rapids also beat Muscat 6-4. The Threshers beat the Chickenhawks 2-0, but lost to the Aces 5-4; putting both Muscat and Atlanta at 1-2.

The game that served as the eventual tiebreaker was Hamamatsu’s 7-3 victory over Grand Rapids. With that, the Chickenhawks were the first-ever Japanese Grand Champion and the second from EAB, joining 2012 Goyang. Hamamatsu’s rise was incredible considering they had only begun play as a 2025 expansion team. Their combined record between the regular season, playoffs, and BGC was 150-48. With that tally, the 2036 Chickenhawks made an incredibly compelling case for being the best team in professional baseball history.

Hamamatsu wasn’t overwhelming in the BGC, finishing with only a +7 run differential. Grand Rapids had the best differential at +22 and was the top-scoring team with 104 runs. The Chickenhawks had the top two qualifying pitchers by ERA (21 innings required) in Masamichi Kasai (1.05), and Onpei Yokoyama (1.57). Kasai tossed the 15^th no-hitter in event history with 8 Ks and 1 BB facing Bursa. GR was officially second with Atlanta third and Muscat fourth. The Threshers were the first Arab League team in the top four since Basra was third in 2020.

After a convoluted mess of tiebreakers was sorted, the finishing order of the six teams at 12-9 was Hanoi fifth, Dar es Salaam sixth, Warsaw seventh, Budapest eighth, Krasnodar ninth, and Guadalcanal tenth. Each of those teams looked back with regret at one or two bounces going against them that separated them ultimately from the top prize. Three teams were 11-10; Dakar, Douala, and Santiago. The Bombers had the fewest runs allowed at 57, while the Dukes set a record for pitching strikeouts at 270.

Seongnam was alone in 14^th at 10-11, followed by 9-12 finishes by Cebu, Costa Rica, and Johor Bahru. Bursa, Mombasa, and Toluca were next at 8-13. Guangzhou went 7-14 and Ciudad Guayana was last at 6-15. The Giants’ 117 runs allowed ranked as the second-worst in event history.

The close field also led to no players with enormous standout performances. Tournament MVP went to Krasnodar 1B Aleksey Andreev, a 25-year old Belarusian in his first full season. He had 28 hits, 12 runs, 4 doubles, 8 homers, 16 RBI, 1.137 OPS, 230 wRC+, and 1.3 WAR.

Best Pitcher went to Dakar’s Irad Lawali, who has won three straight Reliever of the Year awards for the Dukes. The 26-year old Nigerian righty tossed 19.1 scoreless innings over 11 appearances with 6 saves, 1 win, 41 strikeouts, 6 hits, 4 walks, and 1.7 WAR. He fell just short of the 21 IP needed for rate stats with only two pitchers in event history getting 21+ innings with a zero ERA. Lawali was the first to win Best Pitcher with only relief appearances.

**MrNFL_FanIQ** · 10-13-2025, 07:16 PM

Decided this is as good a spot as any to drop in a little programming note. Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed some slight changes and additional details from the 2036 write-ups. That’s because amazingly, I have finally caught up to the present time in this sim, which is something I never actually expected to happen when I started doing these write-ups.

A small history lesson, I created this world and started the sim back in 2021 when OOTP 22 came out, eventually playing through 136 years across all of the assorted leagues. I eventually stopped because I had my fix and because moving the file forward also was a slow process considering the size of the save. Eventually in March 2022, I decided to go back through the history of the game with these write-ups cross-posted between the OOTP forums and Operation Sports. I only did a few posts in March, then eventually started some consistent posting in July.

I assumed I’d get bored of it or bogged down pretty quickly, but eventually got absorbed in all of the nuances of this unique fictional baseball world. I remembered why I found the concept for fascinating, although all these years later I definitely would’ve structured and changes some things in the game now that I better understand the intricacies of OOTP. But I can stand incredibly proud of what I initially created in 2021, a time that feels like a different lifetime (and really is in many respects with changes in my personal life and worldview since then).

Over the last three-and-a-half years, doing these write-ups has been one of the few constant joys in my life. Those joys are certainly needed to survive as the real world becomes increasingly grim and brutal. The things that have given me the most peace are hiking desolate mountains and imaging this better fictional world where baseball has brought humanity somewhat together. These write-ups have also been a way to exercise my brain and creative juices, especially since I know I’m not as mentally sharp as I was before the pandemic started.

Part of me wants to go back through the posts and do re-writes, but I know I’d just drive myself crazy picking out mistakes or nitpicks. I definitely evolved how I write these stories and added more and different details as time went on. Much like with real baseball, the unique quirks and stats became more fun to dig for as the history of these leagues deepened. Hopefully, you have appreciated seeing these stories as well.

I want to thank anyone who has followed or checked in these posts, because not all of the view counter can be bots, right? I would’ve never guessed that I’d get to this point in these stories, but after more than three years, I’m amazed and proud to have gotten to this point.

With that said, THIS IS NOT THE END! I do intend on continuing the save for an indeterminate amount of time, either until I fully get bored of it, fall off a cliff, or the file completely crashes. It did actually crash and collapse once during this process, but thankfully I had the behemoth backed up on an external hard drive.

I do plan on changing things up somewhat, as there are more details you can find when actively in a season. OOTP stores a remarkable amount of data, but there are still some things when looking at past seasons that aren’t available (like individual game results, standings at different points in the season, etc). The overall flow will be similar, but I’ll be able to sprinkle in more details and more screenshots/images of the world in action. I’m thinking I might add in some offseason notes in there as a new annual post and maybe some other things, but I haven’t decided firmly on anything.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) these stories about this fictional and magical world of baseball glory.

Baseball: The World's Game (OOTP 22 Fictional World)

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