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Hamburg was the top team in the European Baseball Federation’s Elite Tier early on with a 70-33 record at the all-star break. In the Northern Conference, Amsterdam (67-36) and Stockholm (65-38) were the only other teams really keeping pace with the Hammers. The Swordsmen had the strongest finish in the NC at 40-19, allowing them to pass both and take the top seed at 105-57. The Swedish capital was the East Division champ for the third time in their six-year playoff streak and won 100+ games in the fifth consecutive season. Both Amsterdam and Hamburg finished at 103-59.

Although it was the Anacondas’ fourth playoff trip in five years, this was their first time as West Division champ since the realignment. Their last division title of any kind was back in 2007 when each conference had four divisions. Hamburg earned its third straight playoff berth and 100+ win season, although they had to settle for a wild card. Stockholm had the NC’s best differential at +187. Amsterdam led the NC with 874 runs scored and the Hammers led all of EBF with 625 runs allowed. The Anacondas notably had 309 doubles as a team, the third-best single-season in EBF history.

There was a double-digit drop in wins to the remaining three wild card teams. Antwerp was the best of this group at 93-69, earning their seventh playoff berth in eight years. Behind them both at 91-71 was Frankfurt and Berlin. It was an impressive rebound for the Falcons, who were nearly relegated the prior season at 64-98. Frankfurt ended a nine-year playoff drought and the Barons snapped a seven-year skid.

The two-time defending European Champion Dublin was the first team out at 88-74 to end their three-peat dreams. This snapped a nine-year playoff streak and a seven-year run of 100+ win seasons in the Irish capital. Four teams finished at 86-76; Nantes, Brussels, Reykjavik, and Tallinn.

Suffering relegation at 59-103 was Manchester, while Paris narrowly escaped the West Division demotion at 61-101. The Crushers had made it back up from the European Second League in 2038 and had winning campaigns from 2039-41, but the wheels fell off in 2042. It will be Manchester’s third stint in E2L. In the East, Brno was the bottom at 62-100 while Oslo and Vienna both survived at 67-95. The Bandits had only made it back up to the Elite Tier in 2040 after spending four of five years in E2L from 2035-39.



Although Leipzig was middling at 79-83, their 1B Natan Lipinski won Northern Conference MVP with 42/52 first place votes. Amsterdam’s Branko Hrovat notably had nine first place votes and was the leader in hits (231) and RBI (150). This finally dethroned Stockholm’s Harvey Smith, who had won the honor six of the last seven years. Smith was still excellent and was fifth in the final voting.

The MVP winner Lipinski was in his tenth year with the Lumberjacks and helped them earn a promotion for 2038. The 31-year old German righty led in home runs (62), total bases (435), slugging (.735), OPS (1.140), wRC+ (193), and WAR (9.1). Nicknamed “Wolfman,” the 6’5’’ slugger added 208 hits, 112 runs, 123 RBI, and a .351 average. Lipinski has three years remaining under contract for Leipzig.

A competitive Pitcher of the Year race went to Reykjavik’s Arthur Christensen with 24 first place votes. Behind him were Stockholm’s Daniel Lundin (15), Antwerp’s Jens Rijkaard (8), and Copenhagen’s Yanis Boucher (4). Lundin notably was the strikeout leader (298) and was second in ERA (2.86). The winner Christensen earned the ERA title at 2.65 in his eighth season with the Raccoons. The 31-year old Danish righty had an 18-8 record, 241.1 innings, 204 Ks, 158 ERA+, 79 FIP-, and 27.3 WAR. In February, Christensen signed a five-year, $178,500,000 extension to remain in Iceland.



In the first round of the playoffs, Antwerp swept Frankfurt on 5-4 and 9-0 wins. Game one saw the Falcons tie it with a three-run top of the ninth, but the Airedales got a walkoff double in the bottom half. Berlin shocked 103-win Hamburg as they swept the Hammers on the road with 10-5 and 6-5 scores. The Barons had no luck against top seeded Stockholm, getting swept in round two by 7-2, 5-1, and 5-2 results. For the Swordsmen, this was their third Northern Conference Championship berth in five years.

Amsterdam clobbered Antwerp 13-1 in their series opener, but the Airedales countered with a 7-0 road win. The Anacondas held on 7-5 in game three, but Antwerp rallied in the ninth to snag game four by an 8-5 margin. In game five, Amsterdam prevailed 4-1 to earn their first Northern Conference Championship trip since 2020.

Despite both being historically competitive franchises, both finalists had lengthy pennant drought. Stockholm hadn’t won the pennant in 59 years back to 1982, having lost both recent trips. Amsterdam’s drought was 25 seasons back to 2016. In the regular season they had split their six regular season meetings. The Swordsmen opened with a 5-3 home win, but the Anacondas countered on a 5-0 shutout.



It was all Amsterdam once the series shifted to the Netherlands, winning 4-0, 5-2, and 5-4 to take the series in five games. In game five, the Anacondas climbed out of an early 4-2 hole, going ahead in the eighth. Amsterdam became ten-time Northern Conference kings (1951, 54, 83, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89, 2016, 42) while Stockholm still can’t get over the hump. MVP runner-up 3B Branko Hrovat was the series MVP going 8-19 with two homers and eight RBI.