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Defending Oceania Champions Melbourne won the Australasia League title for the third consecutive year. It is only the third-ever AL three-peat, joining their own four-peat from 1967-70 and Gold Coast’s 1971-73. The Mets were 99-63, 11 games better than second place finishers Sydney and Auckland. The Avengers had an impressive bounce back from only 69 wins the prior year.

Auckland had the Australasia League’s top awards with MVP going to last year’s Rookie of the Year Jonathon Reilly. The Australian LF led in runs (124), hits (196), triples (27), RBI (117), total bases (387), stolen bases (85), slugging (.655), OPS (1.031), wRC+ (174), and WAR (9.2). Reilly had been the ninth overall pick in the 2002 OBA Draft.

Pitcher of the Year went to 27-year old righty Oliver Durham, who led in wins (21-8) and ERA (2.87). Durham also had 237 strikeouts over 269.1 innings with a 5.3 WAR. His time with Auckland would end shortly, as they traded him to Melbourne in the summer of 2006.



Tahiti also three-peated in the Pacific League, as their 107-55 record was 20 games ahead of second place Fiji and Samoa. The Tropics matched their 1971 franchise record for wins and put up historic offensive numbers. They had a team .297 batting average and .349 OBP with 1672 hits and 880 runs, which are all OBA single-season bests still as of 2037. Their .498 slugging was also a record, but would be beaten in 2010.

Captaining that offense was Arjita Gabeja, who won Pacific League MVP and posted the sixth Triple Crown season by an OBA batter. It was the third MVP for the 26-year old Fijian left fielder, who led in runs (118), hits (194), homers (56), RBI (143), total bases (395), triple slash (.342/.421/.697), OPS (1.117), wRC+ (213), and WAR (9.0). Gabeja’s season also incuded a four home run game in August against Fiji and a 22-game hit streak.

Guam’s Timothy Manglona also made history, joining Tarzan Rao as OBA’s only six-time Pitcher of the Year winners. The 31-year old Northern Marianan lefty led in ERA (2.38), strikeouts (430), WHIP (0.83), K/BB (15.4), FIP- (48), and WAR (13.3). Manglona added a 16-15 record over 306 innings and also had a 20 strikeout game against New Caledonia. This season, he became the sixth OBA pitcher to 4000 career strikeouts and the 14^th to 200 wins.



The 46^th Oceania Championship was historic as it was the first-ever third consecutive meeting between teams in the finals. Tahiti had taken the 2003 final in seven games, followed by Melbourne winning 2004 in six. Round three saw the Mets take it 4-3 over the Tropics. RF George Philip was finals MVP, posting 10 hits, 8 runs, 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 4 RBI, and 7 walks in the series.



The Mets were the first repeat champ since Guam in 1999-2000. Melbourne earned a fourth title overall, having also won in 1967 and 1969. This wasn’t the rubber match quite yet, as the Mets and Tropics would battle again in 2007, 2008, and 2011; becoming a storied playoff rivalry.

Other notes: Perth stunk it up, posting the Australasia League’s worst-ever record at 52-110. The Penguins offense had only 77 home runs all year, tying the AL’s all-time low. Their pitching staff also allowed 1640 hits and had only 983, both of which are the second-worst in AL history.

Tahiti’s Jimmy Moreno had a 33-game hit streak, falling one short of the OBA record set the prior year by Kiryl Savchuk. Two bad finals records were set in 2005. Melbourne’s Edward Mathison was caught stealing six times and Tahiti’s Fraser Graham-Lee struck out 15 times.

2005 was also the final season of the Oceania Baseball Association’s original 16 team lineup. Both the Australasia League and the Pacific League would add two expansion teams beginning play in 2006.