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Moscow had the best overall record in Eurasian Professional Baseball with a franchise record 117-45 mark in 1961. This gave them their second playoff and the European League's North Division title for the first time. Minsk was second at 105-57 to expand their postseason streak, while 99-63 Kazan grabbed the second wild card for their first-ever playoff berth. Defending European League champ Warsaw was next at 92-70, missing the playoff field. Bucharest won the South Division at 99-63, finishing seven ahead of Kyiv. The Broncos and Miners have made the playoffs each of EPB's first seven seasons.

Despite missing the playoffs, Warsaw had the European League MVP in 1B Stephan Kirov. The 34-year old Russian led the league in homers for the third straight season, posting a career-best 51. He also led with a career best 114 RBI and was the leader in slugging (.614), OPS (.967), and wRC+ (181). Pitcher of the Year was Prague’s Michal Sagan. He led the league in wins (23-7), innings (292.2), strikeouts (318), and WAR (11.4) with a 2.12 ERA. It was an impressive year for Sagan at only age 23, but sadly later injuries would cause him to fall out of relevance by his 30s.



Yekaterinburg was the top dog in the Asian League, winning the North Division at 112-50 for their third playoff berth. Both wild cards came from the North as well with Chelyabinsk and Irkutsk both going 101-61. It is the first-ever playoff appearance for the Cadets and the third straight for the Ice Cats. Tashkent earned the South Division title at 102-60 for their first division title and back-to-back playoff appearances. Defending Soviet Series champion Dushanbe dropped hard to 72-90, beginning what would be a decade-long drought.

Asian League MVP was two-way player Mikhail Vlaschenko, who had been traded from Kazan to Irkutsk in the offseason. He was primarily a pitcher and led the league with 347 strikeouts, adding a 2.86 ERA over 301.2 innings, 20-11 record, and 9.0 WAR. The 28-year old also played in center field with respectable defense and had 98 hits and 3.9 WAR offensively, giving him the MVP edge. However, the Pitcher of the Year was Ufa’s Ilya Pominov. The 27-year old lefty had the most wins with a 24-9 record and added 10.8 WAR, 322 strikeouts, a 2.04 ERA and 0.82 WHIP.

The first round of the playoffs in the European League had Kazan stun Moscow with a sweep and a Minsk five-game victory over Bucharest. In the Asian League, Chelyabinsk upset Yekaterinburg 3-0 and Irkutsk knocked out Tashkent 3-1. In the ELCS, the Crusaders continued their hot streak, defeating the Miners in six. The ALCS went all seven with the Ice Cats outlasting the Cadets, giving Irkutsk its second Asian League title. They would move to 0-2 in the Soviet Series though, as Kazan's run concluded with the championship in six games over the Ice Cats.





Other notes: Tbilisi’s Zina Gigolashvili hit 56 home runs, a new EPB single-season record. His 125 RBI was two away from the mark set in 1956 by Serguei Eminov. Two perfect games were thrown in 1961. Baku’s David Consantin struck out 12 against Dushanbe on May 4. Then on July 9, Kazan’s Termirlan Balayev did it with nine Ks against Moscow.