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West African Baseball increased its minimum service time requirement for free agency from six years to seven starting with the 2029 season. This puts WAB among the middle of the world leagues in terms of restrictiveness. WAB had used a six-year standard since its inaugural season in 1975.



Dakar took top honors in the Western League at 105-57, growing their playoff streak to six seasons. It was the third time in that run that the Dukes finished first. Dakar also allowed the WL’s fewest runs at 683. Reigning WAB champ Freetown was second at 97-65 for their third straight playoff berth and their seventh trip in eight years. Kumasi’s wild card streak moved to four seasons with a third place 94-68 finish. The Monkeys led all of WAB with 918 runs scored.

Abidjan earned the fourth and final playoff spot at 90-72, bouncing back after their seven-year streak was snapped after a rough 72-90 mark the prior year. There was a steep drop to fifth place Cape Verde at 81-81. Accra, a wild card last year, notably dropped to 75-87.

Western League MVP went to DH Cedric St-Pierre in his third season with Kumasi. The 29-year old Canadian came to WAB after six seasons as a backup in MLB for Virginia Beach despite being a first round draft pick in 2020. He was cut by the Vikings in June 2027, then opened his search aboard and found a spot with the Monkeys.

St-Pierre led in hits (256), runs (140), total bases (447), average (.394), slugging (.689) wRC+ (173), and WAR (7.7). He added 47 doubles, 21 triples, 34 home runs, 121 RBI, 61 stolen bases, and 1.103 OPS. St-Pierre had a six-hit game against Dakar in June and hit for the cycle in August against Banjul. This would earn the Quebecois slugger a big payday as it was a contract year. St-Pierre stayed in West Africa and inked a six-year, $206 million offseason deal with Dakar.

Dukes ace Chidozie Iyakson made history as the first in WAB to win five Pitcher of the Year awards. He amazingly pulled this off in only six seasons, winning the award from 2024-27 previously. The 28-year old Nigerian lefty won his fifth ERA title (2.31) and led in wins (19-3), WHIP (0.94), FIP- (49), and WAR (8.6). Iyakson tossed 202.1 innings with 199 ERA+ and 288 strikeouts, missing the Triple Crown by only six Ks.

Kumasi edged Abidjan 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs, then was ousted 2-1 by Freetown in round two. The defending champ Foresters earned their fifth Western League Championship Series trip in six years, facing Dakar for the fourth time in that stretch. The Dukes had won the 2025 and 2027 encounters, but fell in 2028. Dakar avenged that defeat in 2029 with a sweep for their seventh pennant. Six of their WL crowns have come since 2012.



Three-time defending Eastern League champ Cotonou took first place in the standings for the second time in their run. The 97-65 Copperheads also set a new WAB season attendance record with 21,112,923 tickets sold. Cotonou allowed the fewest runs in WAB at 626. There was a ten game drop to second place and a glut of teams fighting for the remaining three playoff spots.

Advancing were Port Harcourt (87-75), Benin City (85-77), and Niamey (83-79). Falling just short were Lome (82-80), Ouagadougou (82-80), Kano (80-82), and Yaounde (79-83). The Hillcats ended a three-year playoff drought, while the Atomics streak grew to six. The Blue Devils snapped a 19-year drought, which had been the longest active skid in WAB. Benin City was the EL’s top scoring team at 909 runs. The Osprey notably had taken first at 101-61 the prior year, but fell one shy in 2029.

2028 Eastern League Rookie of the Year Khadim Zahoui earned MVP in 2029 for Yaounde. The 24-year old Liberian 1B led in total bases (394), average (.369), slugging (.685), OPS (1.100), wRC+ (184), and WAR (7.0). Zahoui added 212 hits, 113 runs, 53 doubles, 37 home runs, and 123 RBI. The Yellow Birds had picked Zahoui seventh overall in the 2027 WAB Draft.

Cotonou’s Jose Balde won his second Pitcher of the Year, having also won in 2026. The 27-year old Bissau-Guinean had a 17-10 record, 3.46 ERA, 236.2 innings, 213 strikeouts, 133 ERA+, and 5.0 WAR. The #1 pick in the 2024 WAB Draft, Balde signed a five-year, $65 million extension prior to the 2029 campaign with the Copperheads.

Benin City swept Niamey in the first round and gave Port Harcourt a fight in round two, although the Hillcats survived 2-1. This was Port Harcourt’s first Eastern League Championship Series appearance since 2024. Cotonou had no interest in ceding the throne though, earning a fourth straight pennant with a 3-0 sweep. The Copperheads secured their seventh EL title and joined Kano as the only EL franchises to ever four-peat.



The 55^th West African Championship continued what had turned into a fun finals rivalry between Dakar and Cotonou. The Copperheads won the first encounter back in 2013 and took the 2027 rematch. The Dukes took round three by a 4-2 margin, leaving Cotonou as the runner-up for back-to-back seasons. Dakar became three-time WAB champs (2016, 2025, 2028).

Veteran 3B Umar Lalleshwari won finals MVP after switching sides. The 36-year old from Pakistani had played with Cotonou from 2022-28, but joined Dakar for 2029. His career had started in his home country with ABF’s Karachi. In nine playoff starts, Lalleshwari had 16 hits, 8 runs, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homers, 1.250 OPS, and 0.7 WAR.



Other notes: WAB hit king Fares Belaid became only the third player in all of pro baseball history with 4500+ career hits. He finished the season at 4636, still behind Prometheo Garcia’s 4917. Belaid also became the 3^rd in WAB to 2000 career RBI. The 40-year old Tunisian started 2029 with Lagos and was traded in June to Abidjan. Belaid notably had his second six-hit game in September against Accra, making him the only WAB player to achieve the feat twice.

Accra’s Kwame Koranteng set a bad league record as he was caught stealing 69 times. Ouagadougou’s Adam Seaton had 33 triples, tying for the second-most in WAB history. Ahmed Kone had a 38-game hitting streak, the fourth-longest in WAB history. Kone posted a 41-game streak in 2022 and a 37-game streak in 2021, becoming the only player in all of pro baseball history to achieve three 35+ game hitting streaks in a career.

Clarence Cole became the 3^rd in WAB to reach 3500 career hits. Desmond Jaiyeola became WAB’s 4^th member of the 700 home run club and Sahfiu Hassan became the 5^th. Abdel Aziz Ashraf, Mohamed Khammas, and Okoro Yusuf each reached 1500 RBI, a mark achieved by 21 WAB sluggers. Yusuf, Rio Ogbonna, Donatien Nda, and El Hadj Sghair made the 500 homer club become 24 players strong.

Nda, Kone, and Hassan Amara all reached 1500 runs scored, now met by 14 players. Khammas, Yusuf, and Romuald Assane each reached 2500 career hits, achieved by 33 WAB batters. In pitching milestones, Nazifi Zakaria became the 9^th to 3500 strikeouts and the 9^th to 200 wins. SS Saturday Solomon won his 7^th straight Gold Glove.

For the 2020s, West African Baseball saw a marginal jump in offensive numbers compared to the 2010s. WAB remained the world’s highest scoring league with the highest offensive numbers in baseball history to that point of any league. The league ERA grew from 4.47 in the 2010s to 4.65 in the 2020s. The batting average went up from .272 to .276.