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FuzzyRussianHat · 09-04-2025, 07:16 PM

Warsaw picked up the Northern Conference’s top seed at 105-57 atop the East Division and allowed the NC’s fewest runs at 559. The Wildcats got their third playoff trip in four years, but it was their first division title since 2019. Cardiff was the top scoring team in the entire European Baseball Federation with 818 runs and won the West Division at 99-63. This was a franchise best for the Crew, who earned their first-ever EBF Elite playoff berth two years prior as a wild card.

Cardiff had the closest competition with Dublin at 96-66 and Edinburgh at 94-68, both of which earned repeat playoff berths with wild card slots. Berlin in the East also got a wild card at 94-68 for their third playoff trip in five years. The final wild card spot had a three-way tie at 92-70 between Cologne, Birmingham, and Oslo. The Copperheads won tiebreaker games over both to advance for the second time in three years. Although they came up short, the Octopi notably had their first winning season in the top tier since 2021. The Bees also impressively bounced back after only 67 wins the prior year.

Just missing the cut was Rotterdam (91-71) and defending conference champ Hanover (89-73). This ended a ten-year playoff streak for the Hitmen, who had won 104+ games in five of the last six seasons. It was only the second playoff miss since 2021 for the Ravens. Rotterdam’s streak of winning seasons goes back to 2017.

The worst team by a large margin was Kyiv at 52-110 in the East Division. The Kings were relegated to the European Second League for the fourth time, having made it back for a lackluster five-year run back in the EBF Elite. In the West, Paris was worst at 62-100 while Manchester (63-99) and Reykjavik (67-95) only narrowly escaped demotions. Like Kyiv, the Poodles had a five-year stint back in the top tier before this relegation, although it was a surprising collapse since they had gone 85-77 in 2033.

Cologne 1B Robert Frohlich repeated as Northern Conference MVP, again leading in home runs (62) and RBI (144), besting his 58 and 141 from the prior year. The 30-year old German righty had 199 hits, 116 runs, 27 doubles, a .324/.380/.678 slash, 186 wRC+, and 8.3 WAR. Frohlich was three years into an eight-year, $277,400,000 deal with the Copperheads.

Hanover’s Lukasz Heneski won his second Pitcher of the Year award in three seasons. The 33-year old Polish lefty led in wins (21-8), strikeouts (312), shutouts (7), FIP- (54), and WAR (10.3). Heneski was fourth in ERA (2.32) over 260 innings, missing the Triple Crown by 31 points. It was his seventh and final season for the Hitmen, as he’d leave for free agency and sign at $145 million over five years with Zagreb.

The first round of the playoffs had Berlin over Edinburgh and Cologne over Dublin, both 2-0. The Barons then upset Cardiff 3-1 in round two, sending the German capital to the Northern Conference Championship for the first time since winning it all in 2030. Top seed Warsaw took care of business on the other side with a 3-0 sweep over the Copperheads.

The Wildcats earned only their third-ever conference finals trip, joining 2019 and 2003. Their lone pennant in EBF was 2003, their fourth season after joining via the exodus from Eurasian Professional Baseball. Warsaw had won four pennants in EPB (1960, 93-95). The Wildcats rolled to a sweep of Berlin for the second-ever conference title in EBF for a Polish team.

The Southern Conference was limited for big standouts going back-to-back years without a 100+ win team. After having a five-year playoff streak snapped in 2033, Ljubljana took the top seed at 97-65 for their third East Division title in four years. The Juggernauts led the SC with 803 runs. The next best record was the East’s #2 team Thessaloniki at 95-67, their second wild card since returning to the EBF Elite in 2032.

For the remaining four playoff spots, there were 11 teams within six games of each other. The West Division went to the defending European Champion Lyon at 91-71, their first-ever division crown and third straight playoff trip. 2032 EBF champ Zurich was second at 90-72 for a wild card rebound after missing the 2033 playoff field. Budapest in the East at 91-71 also earned a repeat wild card.

The last spot went to last year’s conference finalist Krakow at 89-73, fending off Barcelona at 87-75, 86-76 efforts by Belgrade, Cluj-Napoca, and Marseille; plus 85-77 records for Zaragoza and Tbilisi. The Bengals allowed the fewest runs in Europe at 551, but their playoff streak ended at seven seasons. Also notable was Munich at 75-89, their first losing season in 18 years.

Both relegation spots were in question until the last week. Brno at 67-95 was the loser out of the West, while Madrid (68-94) and Vienna (71-91) narrowly survived. In the East, Sofia (68-94) got das boot while Tirana (70-92) and Odesa (71-91) escaped calamity. The Bandits had lasted in the top tier since 2014, but had only two wild cards and an average of 76 wins per season. The Spikes had gotten promoted back up in 2026, but never got above .500 in their return.

Zaragoza missed the playoffs, but they had the top award winners for the Southern Conference. Fourth-year LF Sebastian Granados won MVP with only the sixth Triple Crown hitting season in EBF history and the first since Ben Springer’s 2003. The 27-year old Spaniard led in homers (56), RBI (123), total bases (427), triple slash (.377/.443/.762), OPS (1.206), wRC+ (239), and WAR (11.0).

Granados’ effort was only the tenth time in EBF history that a qualifying batter had an OPS above 1.200. It was a remarkable debut in the big time, as the Gold Hawks had only just gotten promoted back to the EBF Elite for the first time in his career. He also had 211 hits, 110 runs, 30 doubles, and 55 stolen bases. In September 2035, Granados would commit to a seven-year, $170,900,000 extension with Zaragoza.

Pitcher of the Year for the Gold Hawks was Florian Holzner in his fourth season on the roster and eighth professionally. The 29-year old Austrian lefty had a 2.14 ERA over 214 innings, 17-6 record, 209 strikeouts, 175 ERA+, and 6.2 WAR. Before the 2034 campaign, Holzner signed a four-year, $31,440,000 extension with Zaragoza. He had been drafted in 2025 by Hamburg, then got traded to the Gold Hawks in 2031.

Budapest topped Zurich 2-0 and Krakow edged Thessaloniki 2-1 in the first round. Top seed Ljubljana survived 3-2 in round two over the Canines, while the Bombers dethroned the defending champ Lyon 3-2. Budapest had never gotten to the Southern Conference Championship since joining EBF in 2000. The Juggernauts had been there once before in 2028. Ljubljana also had the top seed in 2031 and 2032, but suffered disappointing one-and-dones both times. The Juggernauts overcame their previous playoff woes, defeating the Bombers 4-2 for their first pennant.

The 85^th European Championship was guaranteed to produce the 32^nd different unique franchise to win the EBF title and the 21^st unique country with a champ. In a seven-game classic, Warsaw outlasted Ljubljana to bring the cup to Poland. The Wildcats became the third team from the 2000 EPB exodus to win the EBF title, joining Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Finals MVP was 3B Anatoliy Gayduchenko in his third year as a full-time starter. The 25-year old Ukrainian in 14 playoff starts had 21 hits, 12 runs, 3 doubles, 4 triples, 13 RBI, and 12 steals. Warsaw became the eighth different team to win the European Championship in as many years.

Other notes: 1B Aleksandr Parts played his 20^th EBF season, although it was his first away from Zagreb. He only had 86 games with Munich because of knee troubles, but he got 7 triples to reach 461 for his career, passing Carsten Dal’s 457 for the EBF record. This also brought Parts to second on the world leaderboard behind world hit king Fares Belaid’s 472 in West African Baseball. Parts would leave EBF for WAB in 2035 with Cotonou and 2036 with Kano.

Oslo’s Paul Roth had a four home run game against Liverpool on July 9, the 20^th four-homer game in EBF history. Heinz Thalmann became the 48^th member of the 500 home run club, while the 400 club added three members to grow to 130. Eduard Yurkov became the 49^th batter with 2500 hits. In pitching milestones, Giulio Carmignani became the 44^th with 200 wins and Dominic Voicu was the 17^th to 300 saves. CF Kamil Bufka won his 9^th Gold Glove and 1B Waldemar Riemers won his 7^th.

Promotion/Relegation: Below are the teams moving up and down throughout the European Baseball Federation’s pyramid after the 2034 season.

09-04-2025, 07:16 PM	#2426
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,228	2034 in EBF Warsaw picked up the Northern Conference’s top seed at 105-57 atop the East Division and allowed the NC’s fewest runs at 559. The Wildcats got their third playoff trip in four years, but it was their first division title since 2019. Cardiff was the top scoring team in the entire European Baseball Federation with 818 runs and won the West Division at 99-63. This was a franchise best for the Crew, who earned their first-ever EBF Elite playoff berth two years prior as a wild card. Cardiff had the closest competition with Dublin at 96-66 and Edinburgh at 94-68, both of which earned repeat playoff berths with wild card slots. Berlin in the East also got a wild card at 94-68 for their third playoff trip in five years. The final wild card spot had a three-way tie at 92-70 between Cologne, Birmingham, and Oslo. The Copperheads won tiebreaker games over both to advance for the second time in three years. Although they came up short, the Octopi notably had their first winning season in the top tier since 2021. The Bees also impressively bounced back after only 67 wins the prior year. Just missing the cut was Rotterdam (91-71) and defending conference champ Hanover (89-73). This ended a ten-year playoff streak for the Hitmen, who had won 104+ games in five of the last six seasons. It was only the second playoff miss since 2021 for the Ravens. Rotterdam’s streak of winning seasons goes back to 2017. The worst team by a large margin was Kyiv at 52-110 in the East Division. The Kings were relegated to the European Second League for the fourth time, having made it back for a lackluster five-year run back in the EBF Elite. In the West, Paris was worst at 62-100 while Manchester (63-99) and Reykjavik (67-95) only narrowly escaped demotions. Like Kyiv, the Poodles had a five-year stint back in the top tier before this relegation, although it was a surprising collapse since they had gone 85-77 in 2033. Cologne 1B Robert Frohlich repeated as Northern Conference MVP, again leading in home runs (62) and RBI (144), besting his 58 and 141 from the prior year. The 30-year old German righty had 199 hits, 116 runs, 27 doubles, a .324/.380/.678 slash, 186 wRC+, and 8.3 WAR. Frohlich was three years into an eight-year, $277,400,000 deal with the Copperheads. Hanover’s Lukasz Heneski won his second Pitcher of the Year award in three seasons. The 33-year old Polish lefty led in wins (21-8), strikeouts (312), shutouts (7), FIP- (54), and WAR (10.3). Heneski was fourth in ERA (2.32) over 260 innings, missing the Triple Crown by 31 points. It was his seventh and final season for the Hitmen, as he’d leave for free agency and sign at $145 million over five years with Zagreb. The first round of the playoffs had Berlin over Edinburgh and Cologne over Dublin, both 2-0. The Barons then upset Cardiff 3-1 in round two, sending the German capital to the Northern Conference Championship for the first time since winning it all in 2030. Top seed Warsaw took care of business on the other side with a 3-0 sweep over the Copperheads. The Wildcats earned only their third-ever conference finals trip, joining 2019 and 2003. Their lone pennant in EBF was 2003, their fourth season after joining via the exodus from Eurasian Professional Baseball. Warsaw had won four pennants in EPB (1960, 93-95). The Wildcats rolled to a sweep of Berlin for the second-ever conference title in EBF for a Polish team. The Southern Conference was limited for big standouts going back-to-back years without a 100+ win team. After having a five-year playoff streak snapped in 2033, Ljubljana took the top seed at 97-65 for their third East Division title in four years. The Juggernauts led the SC with 803 runs. The next best record was the East’s #2 team Thessaloniki at 95-67, their second wild card since returning to the EBF Elite in 2032. For the remaining four playoff spots, there were 11 teams within six games of each other. The West Division went to the defending European Champion Lyon at 91-71, their first-ever division crown and third straight playoff trip. 2032 EBF champ Zurich was second at 90-72 for a wild card rebound after missing the 2033 playoff field. Budapest in the East at 91-71 also earned a repeat wild card. The last spot went to last year’s conference finalist Krakow at 89-73, fending off Barcelona at 87-75, 86-76 efforts by Belgrade, Cluj-Napoca, and Marseille; plus 85-77 records for Zaragoza and Tbilisi. The Bengals allowed the fewest runs in Europe at 551, but their playoff streak ended at seven seasons. Also notable was Munich at 75-89, their first losing season in 18 years. Both relegation spots were in question until the last week. Brno at 67-95 was the loser out of the West, while Madrid (68-94) and Vienna (71-91) narrowly survived. In the East, Sofia (68-94) got das boot while Tirana (70-92) and Odesa (71-91) escaped calamity. The Bandits had lasted in the top tier since 2014, but had only two wild cards and an average of 76 wins per season. The Spikes had gotten promoted back up in 2026, but never got above .500 in their return. Zaragoza missed the playoffs, but they had the top award winners for the Southern Conference. Fourth-year LF Sebastian Granados won MVP with only the sixth Triple Crown hitting season in EBF history and the first since Ben Springer’s 2003. The 27-year old Spaniard led in homers (56), RBI (123), total bases (427), triple slash (.377/.443/.762), OPS (1.206), wRC+ (239), and WAR (11.0). Granados’ effort was only the tenth time in EBF history that a qualifying batter had an OPS above 1.200. It was a remarkable debut in the big time, as the Gold Hawks had only just gotten promoted back to the EBF Elite for the first time in his career. He also had 211 hits, 110 runs, 30 doubles, and 55 stolen bases. In September 2035, Granados would commit to a seven-year, $170,900,000 extension with Zaragoza. Pitcher of the Year for the Gold Hawks was Florian Holzner in his fourth season on the roster and eighth professionally. The 29-year old Austrian lefty had a 2.14 ERA over 214 innings, 17-6 record, 209 strikeouts, 175 ERA+, and 6.2 WAR. Before the 2034 campaign, Holzner signed a four-year, $31,440,000 extension with Zaragoza. He had been drafted in 2025 by Hamburg, then got traded to the Gold Hawks in 2031. Budapest topped Zurich 2-0 and Krakow edged Thessaloniki 2-1 in the first round. Top seed Ljubljana survived 3-2 in round two over the Canines, while the Bombers dethroned the defending champ Lyon 3-2. Budapest had never gotten to the Southern Conference Championship since joining EBF in 2000. The Juggernauts had been there once before in 2028. Ljubljana also had the top seed in 2031 and 2032, but suffered disappointing one-and-dones both times. The Juggernauts overcame their previous playoff woes, defeating the Bombers 4-2 for their first pennant. The 85^th European Championship was guaranteed to produce the 32^nd different unique franchise to win the EBF title and the 21^st unique country with a champ. In a seven-game classic, Warsaw outlasted Ljubljana to bring the cup to Poland. The Wildcats became the third team from the 2000 EPB exodus to win the EBF title, joining Kyiv and Kharkiv. Finals MVP was 3B Anatoliy Gayduchenko in his third year as a full-time starter. The 25-year old Ukrainian in 14 playoff starts had 21 hits, 12 runs, 3 doubles, 4 triples, 13 RBI, and 12 steals. Warsaw became the eighth different team to win the European Championship in as many years. Other notes: 1B Aleksandr Parts played his 20^th EBF season, although it was his first away from Zagreb. He only had 86 games with Munich because of knee troubles, but he got 7 triples to reach 461 for his career, passing Carsten Dal’s 457 for the EBF record. This also brought Parts to second on the world leaderboard behind world hit king Fares Belaid’s 472 in West African Baseball. Parts would leave EBF for WAB in 2035 with Cotonou and 2036 with Kano. Oslo’s Paul Roth had a four home run game against Liverpool on July 9, the 20^th four-homer game in EBF history. Heinz Thalmann became the 48^th member of the 500 home run club, while the 400 club added three members to grow to 130. Eduard Yurkov became the 49^th batter with 2500 hits. In pitching milestones, Giulio Carmignani became the 44^th with 200 wins and Dominic Voicu was the 17^th to 300 saves. CF Kamil Bufka won his 9^th Gold Glove and 1B Waldemar Riemers won his 7^th. Promotion/Relegation: Below are the teams moving up and down throughout the European Baseball Federation’s pyramid after the 2034 season. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports The Level Playing Field: Alternate MLB History From 1884-Onward Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)