[FuzzyRussianHat]

In a tight race for the Taiwan League title, Kaohsiung (98-64) outlasted Taipei (96-66) to give the Steelheads their second TL crown in three years. Kaohsiung was the top scoring team in the Taiwan-Philippine Association with 592 runs. Although they missed the playoffs, the Tigercats did end a four-year stretch of losing seasons. They had struggled in the rebuild following their 2010s dominance. Last year’s top Taiwanese Hsinchu was fourth at 82-80 with Taoyuan third at 87-75.

The Philippine League field was weak with reigning TPA champ Cebu taking first with a mere 85-77. Zamboanga was four back at 81-81 with Davao and Manila both next at 78-84. The Crows did allow the fewest runs at 437 and set new TPA records for fewest walks allowed (202) and best BB/9 (1.26).

Binh Tang was denied a seventh consecutive Taiwan-Philippine Association MVP by Taoyuan’s Wei-Yin Wang. The 26-year old first baseman led in hits (204), RBI (100), batting average (.332), and WAR (9.3). Wang added 87 runs, 36 doubles, 27 homers, .890 OPS, and 178 wRC+. Hsinchu’s Tang was still a beast though, taking third in voting with TPA bests in runs (91), OBP (.376), OPS (.917), and wRC+ (180). He had 9.3 WAR, 33 homers, and 85 RBI.

Cebu’s Sheng-Wai Tien took Pitcher of the Year in his third season, leading in WAR (8.9), quality starts (28), complete games (19), and shutouts (5). The 23-year old Taiwanese righty had a 1.98 ERA over 263 innings, 320 strikeouts, 15-12 record, and 146 ERA+.



Reigning Austronesia Professional Baseball champ Jakarta narrowly took the top seed again in the Sundaland Association at 94-68. The Jaguars won the Java Sea League for the third time in four years with Surabaya (87-75) as their nearest foe. The atmosphere was electric in Indonesia’s largest city as Jakarta set an association season attendance record at 2,248,768.

The Malaysian squads tied atop the Malacca League with Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur both 91-71. The Blue Wings won the tiebreaker game to repeat as ML champs. Further down the standings saw 74-88 Medan, who led in runs scored (517) but also allowed the most (577). Palembang at 82-80 allowed the fewest runs (386) but scored the second-fewest (423).

Both of the Sundaland Association’s top awards went to Jakarta players. 1B Shen Chang won MVP in his fifth season, leading in home runs (48) and runs scored (77). The 26-year old Taiwanese lefty added 87 RBI, .817 OPS, 193 wRC+, and 6.8 WAR.
He managed to be an effective hitter still even with an abysmal 35.4% strikeout rate.

Chow Mai won Pitcher of the Year in his fourth full season, leading with 30 quality starts. The 25-year old Singaporean lefty had a 1.62 ERA over 249.2 innings, 277 strikeouts, 18-10 record, 153 ERA+, and 7.5 WAR. The Jaguars also saw Tran Chinh Han won his third Reliever of the Year in four years, posting 50 saves over 86 games and 99.1 innings with a 1.27 ERA, 186 strikeouts, and 6.3 WAR. This was only the fourth 50+ save effort in APB history and Han was one appearance short of that record.

Despite Kaohsiung having a 13-win advantage in the regular season, Cebu rolled to a Taiwan-Philippine Association sweep. With the repeat, the Crows won their seventh pennant (1980, 1990-92, 2012, 2025-26). The Sundaland Association Championship rematch had the result reversed with Johor Bahru winning this time over Jakarta 4-2. The Blue Wings earned their third pennant, having also done it in 2017 and 2018.



The 62^nd Austronesia Championship saw Cebu victorious 4-1 over Johor Bahru, becoming three-time APB champs (1980, 1991, 2026). The parity continued for the top spot with seven different champions in as many years. There had also been 10 different champs in the last 11 seasons with only Palembang repeating. CF Chas Galindo was finals MVP in his sixth year for the Crows, starting all 9 playoff games with 10 hits, 6 runs, 3 doubles, 3 homers, and 4 RBI.



Other notes: 2026 was the final year for 10-time Pitcher of the Year winner Ching-Chen Yao, who only managed 45 innings in his 19^th season with Zamboanga because of injuries. He retired at age 39 as APB’s all-time leader in WAR (163.53), WHIP (0.66), opponent’s OBP (.186), and opponent’s OPS (.429). As of 2037, he’s 8^th in strikeouts for APB (4960) and 17^th in wins (223-91).

Yao’s 1.46 ERA is the best of all of the world’s Hall of Fame starting pitchers as of 2037. He also ranks 2^nd in ERA+ (188), 1^st in FIP- (31), and 1^st in opponent’s OPS among this group. Yao ranks 4^th among all pitchers ever in career WAR as of 2037 and ranks 21^st among all players. This is the best among Taiwanese born players and would be the top mark for APB players until eventually passed by Binh Tang. Yao won an incredible eight ERA titles and led ten times in both strikeouts and WAR, putting him in the conversation for the most dominant pitchers ever.

Zamboanga’s Faqih Saleh had APB’s 51^st Perfect Game on June 17 with 12 strikeouts against Manila. Saleh’s was notable as only the third perfect game in world history with extra innings, earning his over ten frames. The only other 10 IP perfectos were Ed Arua on 9/4/1982 in APB and Tokinari Ito on 4/18/1939 in East Asia Baseball. Palembang’s Ronaldo Sahri threw his third no-hitter in four years, becoming the 19^th APB ace with 3+ no-hitters.

Gosner Rahmawati was the 11^th pitcher to 4500 career strikeouts. Widodo Megawati became the 10^th batter to 2500 career hits and the 27^th to 1000 runs scored. Reggie Rozalez was the 37^th to 1000 RBI and the 27^th to 400 home runs. C Yi-Hsiang Chang won his 9^th consecutive Silver Slugger, extending his APB position record among catchers.