North African and European Baseball Leagues

[Cactusguy21]

Now for a few rules notes:


- The Designated Hitter rule is in place in all leagues in this save.

- League totals are based roughly on 2022.

- Each season is 100 games. In NABA, 3 teams make the playoffs out of the 10. Seeds 2 and 3 play a 7 game series to advance to the Africa Series, where they face the 1 seed in a 7 game series. In the EBL, 6 of the 16 teams make the playoffs. The 2 and 3 seed in each league will play a 5 game series. Winner will then play the 1 in a league championship 7 game series. Then, the Europe series is played between the winners of the Eastern and Western leagues.

[Cactusguy21]

Today's first matchup in the NABA, and our featured game of the week is the Umm Durman River Rats vs the Rabat Invaders.

For the Rats, Muslim Bin Wasim took the mound. The outspoken Moroccan was a 3rd round pick of the Rats, who throws a balanced pitch mix of offspeed offerings. His cutter touches 95, but is sparingly used.




For the hometown Invaders, Sekla Salam took the mound as an opening day starter. Salam is a junkballer who throws 6 pitches and maxes out at 92 mph.


At 9:35am Eastern Time (1:35 local) we get underway in the NABA! The first at-bat is a groundout by Badder Saber to the first baseman Abdu-Azim Kharyi, who lobs it to the pitcher Salam for the first out. The River Rats go 3 up 3 down in the first on 3 groundouts. In the bottom of the 1st, Muslim bin Wasim racks up the first strikeout in league history with a leadoff 3 pitch K. He gets a 2nd K before facing Umarah Abdul-Wahid, the #1 overall pick. Wahid instantly lives up to the hype, taking a 91 mph cutter 415 feet into the right fields stands. EV off the bat was an impressive 106.9.

Uquessan Dingane led of the 2nd with a double, the first hit for Umm Durman. But the pitcher worked out of the jam, retiring the next 3. In the top of the 3rd, Badda Saber got the Rats on the board with an RBI triple into the deep right field of Rabat. Abdul-Wahid then misjudged a flyball in center and allows a double, making it 2-1 UmmDurman. Samir Kadeer laced a single to widen the lead. The speedy runner then advanced to second on the throw home. One more run would end up scoring off a fielder's choice, and the score became 4-1.

Rabat got one back in the 3rd with a homer by the #9 hitter, the glove-first catcher Ultac Gulalami. Two more scored on a double by Abdul-Wahid, tying the game at 4-4. The teams traded runs in the 4th, to go to 5-5. In the bottom of the 5th, Umm Durman sent in the bullpen, and it went terribly, allowing 2 runs and 4 hits.


The Rats chased the starter 5.2 IP in with a Kadeer Sahir RBI double, 7-6. But the Invaders kept the runs coming in the bottom of the 6th, capped off with another Abdul-Wahid homer! Exit velo was only 94 mph on this one. 2B Nadir Ahmad made an incredible diving stop to get out of the inning, but the score had already reached 12-6 by that point.


In the next inning, the offense kept coming, as Abdullah Rabah hit an inside the park 2-run homer to bring the score to 12-8. Umm Durman would add one more in the 8th, but their comeback attempt fell short, as they lost 12-9 on Opening Day.


TOP PERFORMERS:

CF U. Abdul Wahid (RAB) - 3/5, 2 HR, 2B, 6 RBI
C U. Gulamali (RAB) - 2/3, HR, BB, 2 RBI
RP A. Afeef (RAB) - 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
RF S. Kadeer (UMD) - 4/5, 2B, 3 RBI


Take special note of Allam Afeef, the most successful pitcher of the game. The 10th rounder struck out 4 in 1.2 IP.

[Cactusguy21]

Over in Europe, we have our first no hitter of the season!

Xylon Vasdeki, a 5th round pick of Stockholm, just tossed a 2 walk, 9 K no hitter!.




Not to be outdone, the ace of the Belgrade Rebels Sendy Fonseca turned in an even more impressive performance, pitching a 4-hitter with 16 strikeouts!!!

[italyprof]

Wonderful project. Great work on establishing these two leagues. Will they play a championship series between Europe and North Africa?

[Cactusguy21]

Originally Posted by italyprof

Wonderful project. Great work on establishing these two leagues. Will they play a championship series between Europe and North Africa?

Thank you for the kind words!

Indeed, I plan to have them do so, I'm just working out the best way to run that in-game. I'll probably make a tournament with just 2 teams.

I have an update coming from 2 weeks into the season, some fun things have happened already!


Also to you and anyone else, if there's a favorite team you want more content of let me know!

[Cactusguy21]

Just two days after the opening day no-hitter, two more pitchers tossed one!


In the NABA, the first no-hitter was thrown by an unlikely candidate, Nour Bin Riyadh of the Khartoum Isotopes.




And in the EBL, a second no-hitter was thrown, this time by Derich Myers of Budapest. His ratings speak for themselves, this is a dominant ace, and a good find for the 2nd round!

[Cactusguy21]

Having simmed through 2 weeks or so of the season, it is now April 28th. Here are the batting and pitching WAR leaders first.

[Cactusguy21]

Now for the standings.

NABA is off to a relatively close start. The Rabat Invaders have kept their winning ways, despite ranking near the bottom in most categories. They are missing Umarah Abdul-Wahid, who has only played 4 games this season so far. The Algiers Jets are in first thanks to their elite pitching staff, who has ERAs of 0.42, 1.89, 2.08, 3.79, and 2.62. Meanwhile, Alexandria is already starting to get nervous, having lost three straight to fall into last place. The projected last place team actually has a great offense, but the Quakes pitching staff is subpar.

[Cactusguy21]

Now for the EBL. The Warsaw Cavalry are the talk of the league so far, thanks to the best pitching staff in the Eastern League. The Brussels Volts lead the West with a well balanced attack. Madrid's offense has been putrid, and is last in average, obp, and slugging. Only 3 hitters clear the Mendoza line for them.

[Cactusguy21]

Another notable player (and April's NABA player of the month)


Harun Al Rachid Wadi wins player of the month in NABA. An elite defender in CF, he's been a homer machine, on pace for 47 on the season.

[Cactusguy21]

A few notes from the EBL.

The pitcher of the month in the Western League was Pedrag Stevic (below), a 4th rounder for Marseile. Star pitcher Sendy Fonseca won in the EL.

[Cactusguy21]

In NABA, Rakin Hakeem, the relief ace from Tripoli, is the pitcher of the month.





The EBL hitters of the month are Maximiliano Cafasso of London and Ilya Fazlov of Stockholm.

[Cactusguy21]

Sorry for the lack of updates, the annoyingness with loading in images go to me for a bit.

We have our first trade of the season though, let's break it down!




The Bordeaux Falcons have shipped off Theodore Borbokis to the Algiers Jets of the NABA in exchange for two young players. Borbokis is off to a good start this season as one of the more effective arms in the Falcons pen. He is already 30 years old, limiting his future value. This is a surprisingly early sell-off move for a Bordeaux team currently 5th in the Western League with a 20-22 record. They may just see this as a way to get value at its peak though.


As a return, they got the below two players. Abdul-Razzaq Sahir is a young reliever who has been just as good as Borbokis on the surface level. However, his raw talent seems to not be as well-regarded, and his quality of contact numbers don't look amazing, leading to a SIERA almost a full point higher than his ERA. Nour Bin Makin is a young catching prospect who is more of a lottery ticket at this point. The combination of strong catcher ability and the potential for average power is enough to make him intriguing, but he needs a lot more development to be a useful player.





Trade Evaluation:

Algiers (B+): The Jets are now tied for first in the NABA with a 24-18 record, so making an addition to keep competitive makes sense. As does addressing their bullpen, which is the 3rd worst in the league with a 4.84 ERA. The big downside is that they had to give up one of their more effective relievers. Even if Sahir isn't as good as his previous numbers state, this bullpen needs all the help it can get.

Bordeaux (B): It's hard to argue with being able to add two young players for an older middle reliever. But the timing just doesn't feel great. They are only 4 games out of first thanks to a slide by Marseile in the past couple of weeks. Of course, they did get a viable reliever in return, so this could be viewed as a "re-tooling" to get younger.

[Cactusguy21]

Late May standings update!


In the NABA, it's still a total dogfight, with the top half of the league within 2 games of each other. The Addis Adaba Destroyers have shot up of late, despite having a more anonymous roster than teams like the River Rats or the Counts. The Cairo Yaks continue to disappoint despite having a strong 1-4 in their rotation. Their SP5 spot has been a revolving door of terrible performances, and the offense is putrid.




In the EBL, Marseile has lost their early, massive lead on the league thanks to a 4-9 skid. The Western League is now very bunched together at the top.

[Cactusguy21]

Now for the May Players of the Month, starting with NABA.

Burhan Isa is the winner for May. After a slow start, he ripped off 11 (!!!) homers in the month of May. Unfortunately, his RailCats are struggling mightily, and have fallen into the bottom parts of the league.





You can never pinpoint just one player for a surge of winning, but Ahmed Hamdan has done the best anyone could. The pitcher of the month for May has been dominant all month long with a 5-0 record and 2.29 ERA.

[Cactusguy21]

The Western League hitter of the month is Jedrik Kasprzyk!

Jedrik was on fire in May, hitting a whopping 14 homers while maintaining a .278 average for the month.


The Eastern League had an unlikely hitter of the month, Anatolii Bahlaev of Bratislava. The 10th round pick hit .349 this month (190 wRC+) after a glacial April (70 wRC+).

[Cactusguy21]

Western League pitcher of the month is Gustave Tadiotto, a groundballing 2nd round pick for Madrid. He struck out 60 batters in 6 starts this month. Unfortunately, his Crusdaders remain buried in the standings.





Sendy Fonseca wins in the Eastern League with more stellar performances. His strikeout rate is an absurd 40.4% on the season.

[Cactusguy21]

And now a few notable young players!

I don't usually cover rookie of the month because of the inagural draft but Alexander Wolff is the Western League's winner, and is one of the best relievers in baseball. He strikes out nearly half of all batters! And he provides great length out of the pen as well, going 3 innings in his last outing, striking out 7 on 46 pitches.



Because of Inagural draft weirdness, there aren't a ton of great prospects. But Gablits is a fascinating prospect for Bratislava in their AAA team. His walk percentage is 19.6%, and his K-rate is only 5.5%. That's video game numbers right there. Combine that with great outfield defense and 7 homers on the season, and they might have a guy that's better than his ratings look.

[Cactusguy21]

Draft Day Today! I'm not going to put every first round pick in here, but I will throw in the highlights.

Starting in NABA, the first pick of the draft by the Rabat Invaders was Aswad Sajid, the consensus best player available in either draft class. Sajid could probably play in the majors tomorrow if Rabat wanted him to, but he'll likely start in AAA to hohne his elite contact skills, and line drive profile.




Bin Kadir is the second pick in the draft. He is a fundamentally gifted defensive player who can play anywhere in the field. His bat is somewhat less exciting, although he has some power potential. Khartoum got a decent player, but definitely feels a little unlucky to have gotten the 2nd pick.




Tripoli makes an exciting pick with Tahir Kamil, a slap hitting speedster from Egypt. Kamil is a high character guy who puts in good effort. His big downside is a lack of power, resulting from his poor pitching selection, so he needs his speed and hit tool to carry him.



Abdul-Sabur is a Sudanese pitcher who went to Algiers as the first pitcher taken.

[Cactusguy21]

In the EBL, the first pick of the draft was a shocker, as Kiev reached for Orazio Dini. You don't see first basemen get drafted this high, particularly a guy who just isn't terribly good.



Dublin seized the opportunity and took Rudolph Plath second. Plath is a fearsome hitter with a cannon arm who is nearly big league ready.


Prague went third and picked the best hitting prospect in the draft, Molovan Dobrica. Dobrica is much younger than the rest of the top picks, and has serious questions surrounding his defense. He will probably end up at first. But his hit tool, discipline, and gap power are all insanely good tools, and he pairs it with enough homers as well. Highest ceiling, but his floor is below MLB level.



Bratislava made a curious pick at 4 with Henri Berman, another defensively limited, slow, slugger. But he just doesn't have the same ceiling as other guys, although he is only 17.