[FuzzyRussianHat]

Paris dominated the Western Conference at 107-55, posting the best record and run differential (+240) in the European Second League. It was the third playoff trip in four years since the Poodles were relegated back to E2L for 2035. Great pitching led the way with a team 2.37 ERA, 431 runs allowed, 392 earned runs, 343 walks, and a 0.978 WHIP; each mark was the second-best in conference history. Lisbon was a competitive second place at 101-61, giving the Clippers three successive playoff trips.

It was a sharp drop to third place Stuttgart at 92-70 and Brussels at 88-74; the other two playoff teams. The Beavers notably were five games below .500 at the all-star break, but ended the season on a 41-22 run. The Silver Sabres earned their first playoff trip since 2034. It was Brussels first berth since returning to E2L in 2034. The first teams out were Rome (85-77), Nantes (85-77), and Lyon (83-79).

With the rule change for 2038, now the bottom two teams in each conference are relegated to European Tier Three instead of just one. Suffering that fate from the Western Conference were Bordeaux (56-106), and The Hague (65-97). Geneva (66-96) and Nottingham (70-92) both narrowly survived. Yet again, the ET3 originals have had no luck sticking in E2L with the Hackers lasting only two seasons and the Blue Angels three. Bordeaux’s mark was the longest stint of this group as sad as that is.



The Eastern Conference had a tie for first place at 101-61 between Sofia and Brno with the Spikes officially taking the top spot via the tiebreaker. They had different paths with Sofia posting a +208 run differential, under-performing their expected win/loss by seven games. The Bandits meanwhile outperformed theirs by eight with a +97 differential. Brno’s bullpen had 69 saves, a new European Second League single-season record. For Sofia, they earned back-to-back playoff spots. The Bandits got their second in four years.

Yerevan was next at 96-66 and was E2L’s top offense with 693 runs. This was the Valiants’ first playoff berth since returning to E2L in 2031. Despite going 3-7 in their last ten games, Dnipro at 89-73 held on for the final playoff spot over Vilnius (86-76) and Bucharest (84-78). This ended an 11-year playoff drought for the Defenders, who have been hovering around .500 for most of the 2030s.

Suffering relegation were Riga and Cyprus both at 63-99. The Roosters ended the season on a six-game losing streak to tank any hopes of survival. Bratislava at 68-94 and Prague at 70-92 were the next closest. This was Riga’s first time relegated to European Tier Three; they had spent all but two years since 2008 in E2L. The Crush was last year’s ET3 champ and was a one-and-done.