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Cardiff claimed first place in the European Second League’s Western Conference standings at 99-63, edging out 97-65 Seville by two games. It was the first playoff berth for the Crew since getting winning the 2014 E2L title. Cardiff was relegated back in 2018. Although they’ve been an E2L playoff team six times, this was the first time the Crew took first in the standings. The Stingrays earned repeat playoff berths, having taking first the prior year.

London finished third at 90-72, getting their first playoff berth since 2015. The fourth and final playoff spot saw a tie at 87-75 between Lyon and Belfast. The Lords beat the Brewers in the one-game playoff tiebreaker to survive, earning only their second-ever playoff spot. Lyon got promoted in 2009, but hadn’t been in the postseason since getting relegated back for 2012. Falling just short were Liverpool and Nantes at 84-78 and Stockholm at 82-80.

In the Round Robin, London (5-1) and Cardiff (4-2) moved onto the Western Conference Championship while Seville (2-4) and Lyon (1-5) were eliminated. In a seven-game classic, the Monarchs outlasted the Crew despite having to be on the road. England’s capital finally earned promotion back to the European Baseball Federation’s Elite tier after an eight-year stint in the Second League.



A top heavy Eastern Conference had Chisinau and Lodz both at 104-58 with the Counts officially first via a tiebreaker. Chisinau was just sent back to E2L for the first time since 2011 and looked to make it one-and-done. The Counts had impressive pitching with a 2.43 ERA, 1013 hits allowed, 433 runs allowed, and a 6.07 H/9. Each of those was the second-best in EC history. The Legion ended a two-year playoff drought, getting their fourth berth in six years.

11 games away in third place sat 93-89 Athens for their first playoff berth in their third E2L season. Dnipro (89-73) took the final playoff spot, holding off 86-76 efforts by Riga and Vienna. The Defenders’ only other playoff berth prior was 2014. Although they missed the cut, the Roosters had their first winning record in a decade.

The Round Robin had no clear winner as all three teams finished 3-3, forcing tiebreaker formulas to decide the Eastern Conference Championship participants. The math favored Chisinau and Dnipro and eliminated Lodz and Athens. In a seven-game war, the Defenders upset the top-seeded Counts to secure their first-ever promotion.



In the Second League Championship, Dnipro defeated London 4-2. These two would be the only promoted teams in 2021 as there weren’t any additional 100+ loss teams in the EBF Elite. With the Defenders getting bumped up for the first time, that left seven teams that started in E2L and haven’t been promoted at least once over its 17-year run. (Liverpool, Tallinn, Turin, Nottingham, Nantes, Stuttgart, Lodz).



Other notes: Nottingham had 187 stolen bases, setting a Western Conference team record and getting the second most in E2L history. Leading that effort was Leonid Bostan, who set the single-season steals record at 73. Cardiff’s Zachary Brown set the E2L single-season record with 147 RBI. Brown earned the second-ever Triple Crown in E2L with 57 home runs and a .320 average. Seville’s Eldar Dordevic had a 29-game hit streak to set the E2L record.