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The best record in the Taiwan-Philippine Association went to Davao, who became a first-time Philippine League champ at 98-64. The Devil Rays had a team on-base percentage of .307, which would be the association record until 2033. Cebu was a distant second at 84-78, followed by last year’s winner Zamboanga at 83-79. Tainan took the Taiwan League at 86-76, edging Taichung by one game and defending champ Taoyuan by three. It is the second title for the Titans, who were Taiwan’s best team in 1969.

TPA MVP and Pitcher of the Year both went to Tainan’s Kun-Sheng Lin, his third MVP and fourth straight Pitcher of the Year. This was his best year yet and arguably the best pitching season ever, getting his third Triple Crown. Lin had 17.3 WAR, 511 strikeouts in 308.1 innings, 1.61 ERA, and 25-8 record with a 17.6 K/BB, 30 quality starts, 26 complete games, and 25 FIP-. He set strikeout and WAR records which still stand as the APB top mark as of 2037. To this point, the only pitcher in any professional league to have 17+ WAR and/or 500+ strikeouts in a season was Beisbol Sudamerica legend Mohamed Ramos, who did it twice. Ramos held the world record with 549 strikeouts and 17.94 WAR in the 1936 season.



The Sundaland Association had the same two league champs in 1972. Defending Austronesia champion Surabaya claimed back-to-back in the Java League at 100-62, eleven games ahead of Depok. Batam rolled to the Malacca League crown at 102-60, the third straight for the Blue Raiders. They had a 21-game gap to second place Medan.

MVP was Surabaya 3B Kin Shin Pan, who was the playoff hero last year. The 26-year old Singaporean was the WARlord (10.4) and leader in RBI (102), adding 43 home runs and a 205 wRC+. His Sunbirds teammate Ametung Tirta won Pitcher of the Year in his fifth season. Tirta was the ERA leader at 1.55 and WHIP leader at 0.79, adding 262 strikeouts over 249 innings with 7.1 WAR.

The TPA Championship went seven games for the second time in history with Tainan edging Davao. The Titans become a two-time champ, having also won it in 1969. In a Sundaland Association final rematch, Batam got revenge on Surabaya, winning it in six games for their first title.



In the eighth Austronesia Championship, Batam bested Tainan 4-2, giving the Blue Raiders their first title. Finals MVP was pitcher Ahmad Nasir Suryadi with the 28-year old righty posting a 0.79 ERA over four playoff starts with 46 strikeouts in 34.1 innings and 1.9 WAR. The championship has been won by a Sundaland Association team in four straight seasons.



Other notes: In his historic season, Kun-Sheng Lin set the single game strikeout record with 21 Ks. He did it on May 16 against Taoyuan, then did it again on June 15 versus Quezon. Lin had 17 games with 15+ strikeouts in the 1972 season. Davao’s Francis Pung had 211 hits, setting the single-season APB record. This remained the record until 2007. Pung also had a 25-game hit streak, tying the APB record set the prior year by Alex Yustinus. Tainan’s Wei-Chung Hsu pitched 313 innings, still the single-season APB record as of 2037. Chang-Yung Cheng became the first APB hitter to 300 career home runs. CF Ruben Yu and 3B Stanley Susilowati won their eighth Gold Gloves.