[MrNFL_FanIQ]

2009 was a year of expansion for multiple leagues, among them West African Baseball. WAB hadn’t changed from its 20-team structure since the inaugural 1975 season. With the game and region growing significantly since, WAB officials decided 2009 was a prime time to expand. Both leagues would add two teams, making WAB a 24-team endeavor. WAB maintained a division-free structure for the two 12-team leagues.



Joining the Western League were the Banjul Bucks and the Bouake Blood Hawks. Bouake became the second Ivory Coast team, joining Abidjan, while Banjul was the first pro team from Gambia. In the Eastern League, the Libreville Lakers and Yaounde Yellow Birds were introduced. Libreville brought Gabon its first big-league squad, while Yaounde joined Douala as the second from Cameroon.



One other notable change was a new playoff structure, which grew the qualifiers from three to four from each league. WAB did also become the first league to introduce a stepladder format for the playoffs. It would begin with the #3 and #4 finishers meeting in a best-of-three hosted by the #3 team. The winner advanced to the second round where the #2 seed hosted a best-of-three. That winner then faced the top seed in a 2-2-1 best-of-five league championship series. The WAB Championship remained a best-of-seven.



Defending WAB champ and four-time defending Western League winner Monrovia took the top spot in the WL standings at 103-59. It was the fourth time in five years that the Diplomats finished first place. Abidjan, who took first the prior year, was second in 2009 at 101-61. The Athletes also grew their playoff streak to five seasons.

The third place spot went to Freetown at 94-68, while the fourth and final playoff spot was Bamako at 91-71. Accra (86-76) was the only other team in striking distance. The Foresters ended a seven-year stretch of losing seasons, while the Bullfrogs ended a four-year skid. Nouakchott, who had back-to-back berths, dropped to eighth at 79-83.

Western League MVP was Bamako’s Min-Seong Ryu. The 39-year old third baseman had joined WAB in 2009 after spending the prior four seasons in MLB and the 13 before that in his native South Korea. He become one of the oldest ever MVPs, leading the WL in OBP (.414) and wRC+ (180). Ryu added 7.7 WAR, 201 hits, and a .375 batting average. It was his lone season with the Bullfrogs, although he stayed another five years in WAB with Ibadan.

Abidjan’s Arthur Boateng repeated as Pitcher of the Year and posted WAB’s seventh-ever Triple Crown pitching season. The 25-year old Ghanaian had a 21-10 record, 2.41 ERA, and 305 strikeouts. Boateng also led in WAR (5.9), innings (264.2), and quality starts (25) while posting a 156 ERA+.

#4 seed Bamako upset #3 seed Freetown 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs. The Bullfrogs gave #2 seed Abidjan a challenge, but the Athletes survived round two 2-1 to set up a Western League Championship Series rematch with Monrovia. The Diplomats were shooting for a fifth consecutive pennant, but they were denied 3-2 by Abidjan. The Athletes earned a WL-record 12^th pennant, although it was their first since 2001.



Ouagadougou dominated the Eastern League with a franchise-record 111-51 mark. The Osprey earned their fourth playoff berth in five years, although it was only the second time (1983) that they had ever finished first. Ouagadougou won a ton of close games, setting a WAB record with 65 team saves.

2007 WAB champ Niamey bounced back from their 2008 playoff miss, taking second at 92-70. The Atomics had their third playoff berth in four years. It was a very tight battle for the remaining two spots with third place separated by only five games from eighth place. Benin City took third at 85-77, ending a 26-year playoff drought for the Blue Devils.

The fourth spot had a tie at 83-79 between Ibadan and Kano. The Iguanas won the tiebreaker game to earn their second berth in three years. The Condors missed for only the second time since 1995. Close behind was Cotonou (82-80), Lome (80-82), and expansion Yaounde (80-82). Meanwhile, reigning EL champ Lagos completely imploded, going from 97-65 to a last place 65-97.

Benin City’s Abdel Rahmane Padacke won Eastern League MVP. The 28-year old Chadian led in home runs (61), RBI (178), total bases (437), and slugging (.690). The RBI mark remains the second-most in WAB history behind Mo Reda’s 186 from 2003. Padacke also had 205 hits, 113 runs, a .324 average, and 7.5 WAR. In the late spring, the Blue Devils gave him a four-year, $16,360,000 extension.

Ouagadougou’s Zeb Onyedika won Pitcher of the Year. The 24-yaer old Nigerian led in WAR (6.5), FIP- (61), and K/BB (9.2). Onyedika had a 3.16 ERA over 199.1 innings, 15-6 record, 267 strikeouts, and 128 ERA+.

#4 seed Ibadan edged Benin City 2-1 in the first round, then upset #2 seed Niamey 2-1 in round two. The Iguanas earned a second Eastern League Championship Series in three years and were a major underdog as they tried to end a six-game ELCS losing streak. For Ouagadougou, their only other ELCS was a defeat in 1983. Ibadan’s Cinderella run continued, upsetting the Osprey 3-1. The Iguanas became four-time EL winners, having won thrice in the 1990s.



Ibadan’s magic would ultimately run out in the 35^th West African Championship, meeting their old foe Abidjan. They had split in their 1993 and 1994 finals encounters. The Athletes took the 2009 edition 4-2, becoming four-time WAB champs (1982, 1994, 2000, 2009). LF Kely Ballard was finals MVP and WLCS MVP, setting a still-standing WAB playoff record with 26 hits. In 14 playoff starts, the 34-year old Nigerian also had 12 runs, 6 doubles, 8 RBI, and 6 stolen bases.



Other notes: Freetown’s Didi Kpozo threw WAB’s 16^th perfect game and the first since the 2000 season. Kpozo struck out 10 on May 28 against Freetown. Ibadan closer Brendan Roper set a playoff record with seven saves, doing it despite posting a terrible 5.74 ERA in 15.2 playoff innings. Lawrence Nassif had a 33-game hitting streak, two short of WAB’s record at that point.

Darwin Morris became the first to reach 700 career home runs. His streak of Silver Sluggers would end in 2009 though at 15. C Okoro Otene won his seventh Gold Glove and 2B Sambegou Toure won his seventh.

WAB’s offensive environment remained about the same in the 2000s as it did in the 1990s. The league batting average was around .258 with an ERA around 3.97, which led to above average offense relative to the historic scale. Rule changes in the 2010s would lead to a massive spike, making WAB the highest-scoring league ever to that point.