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Glasgow had the Northern Conference’s best record at 108-54, dominating the British Isles Division. This was the third straight division title for the Highlanders and their fourth playoff berth in a row. Paris cruised to the Northwest Division at 104-58, securing their third straight division title. Defending conference champ Berlin took the North Central Division at 97-65. It was the Barons’ third division title in their four-year playoff stretch. The wild card race had Hamburg on top at 91-71, besting Copenhagen by four games and Birmingham by five. The Hammers ended a four-year playoff drought.

Northern Conference MVP was Paris CF Remy Morel. The 28-year old Frenchman was the hits leader with 241, adding 127 runs, 78 extra base hits, a .371/.404/.581 slash, and 9.3 WAR. Morel also notably had a six-hit game against Rome. This effort got Morel paid handsomely, as the Poodles signed him to a seven-year, $29,000,000 extension the next spring. Copenhagen’s Gianni Fenech earned Pitcher of the Year. The Maltese 30-year old joined the Corsairs in the offseason on a six-year, $21,040,000 contract. The former Malta and Glasgow ace was the WARlord at 9.2 in his debut in Denmark and led with 17 complete games. Fenech also had a 2.36 ERA over 274 innings, 312 strikeouts, and a 21-10 record.

Wild card Hamburg stunned top seed Glasgow 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs, while Paris beat Berlin 3-1. This was the first Northern Conference Championship berth in a decade for the Hammers and the second in three years for the Poodles. Hamburg again pulled off the upset, defeating Paris 4-2. This was Hamburg’s fourth conference pennant (1964, 79, 90, 99).



The Southern Conference’s fight for the top seed was also the fight for the Southwest Division title. In a fierce battle, Madrid (104-58) topped Lisbon (103-59). The Conquistadors got their first playoff berth since their 1990 EBF title season. The Clippers as the wild card extended the longest active postseason streak in EBF to nine seasons. Athens barely bested Munich for the Southeast Division. The Anchors won their fourth division title in five years with an 89-73 mark, while the Mavericks were one behind. In the South Central Division, reigning European Champion Naples repeated as division champ. The Nobles finished 89-73, six games better than Zurich. Notably, last year’s wild card Barcelona had a stunning collapse. The EBF champ just three years earlier, the Bengals plummeted to 62-100 in 1999.

EBF saw a new home run king with Lisbon 1B Peter Brinkmann, the Southern Conference MVP. In his first season in Portugal in 1998, he smacked 72 dingers. In 1999, the 30-year old German lefty crushed 76 bombs, beating Mattias Stole’s record of 75 from 1994. This also tied the world record to this point, reached twice in the 1970s by Valor Melo of Beisbol Sudamerica. Brinkmann was also the conference leader in RBI (140), total bases (.733), and wRC+ (201). He added a 1.083 OPS, .329 average, and 8.7 WAR.

Lisbon also had the Pitcher of the Year in rising star Geza Sebestyen. A 24-year old Hungarian righty, the fourth-year pitcher was the leader in strikeouts (364) but also walks (81). Sebestyen had a 17-8 record over 262.1 innings, a 2.30 ERA, and 8.7 WAR. He also won a Gold Glove defensively.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Southwest Division powerhouses both won, although both series needed all five games. Madrid ousted defending champ Naples and Lisbon outlasted Athens. Since 1989, this was the Clippers’ seventh time appearing in the Southern Conference Championship. Madrid hadn’t been there since winning it all in 1990. The winner either way would be earning their sixth SC pennant. In a seven-game classic between neighbors, Madrid edged Lisbon.



The 50th European Championship was a rematch of the 41st. The most recent finals appearance for both Madrid and Hamburg was their 1990 encounter, claimed in seven games by the Conquistadors. The 1999 edition only needed five games, but the end result was the same. Madrid topped Hamburg to become four-time EBF champs (1955, 87, 90, 99). That ties Spanish rival Barcelona for the most titles by a Southern Conference team. 2B Pierre-Nicolas Leroy was the MVP of the EBF Championship and the conference final. The 24-year old Frenchman in 17 playoff starts had 30 hits, 10 runs, 12 doubles, and 7 RBI. The 12 doubles set a playoff record which still stands in 2037. That was also the record in any league until passed in 2004 in ABF.



Other notes: Zagreb’s Mehmet Azemi tossed EBF’s 20th perfect game, striking out 12 against Belgrade on April 8. Hamburg’s Ulf Alstrom had a 31-game hitting streak. Lindsey Brampton became the third pitcher to 4500 career strikeouts and also crossed 200 wins. Daniel Ramires became the fifth to reach 250 wins. It would be his final season and he ended at 267, which is still seventh best as of 2037. Daniel Galonopoulas became the sixth to reach 1500 runs scored. Dario Wiesner was the seventh to reach 300 saves. RF Udo Gottschall won his eighth Gold Glove.

The European Baseball Federation did have its highest-scoring decade yet, although the bump up from the 1980s was small. The EBF had around a 3.80 ERA and .262 batting average for the decade, up from a .256 average and 3.72 ERA in the 1980s. This graded out as above average in the greater historical context while being near the top among the other world leagues in the 1990s. EBF would hover around this same range in the 2000 and 2010s even as the Federation expanded.