Meet Some Guys and Teams of the European Baseball League (2023-)

[letsgobuccos]

We start in 2023 with the Continental League and the International League. DH in both. Two divisions of 8 teams. Top 3 in each division plus two wildcards make the playoffs.

The leagues:

CL North
Berlin Flying Squirrels, Frankfurt Eagles, Hamburg Pirates, Lodz Rail Cats, Oslo Renegades, Poznan Skyliners, Tallinn Keys, Wuppertal Sharks

CL South
Bucharest Pilots, Donezk Huskies, Iasi Silver Knights, Madrid Royals, Murcia Redbirds, Sarajevo Aztecs, Zaragoza Golden Eagles, Zurich Hounds

IL North
Birmingham Lords, Brussels Sunchasers, Chernihiv T-Bones, Essen Miners, Leipzig Running Rebels, Paris River Sharks, Stockholm Underdogs, Warsaw Bruins

IL South
Athens Stags, Barcelona Mutiny, Bari Dukes, Brasov Slammers, Chisinau Torreros, Dnipro Pipeliners, Kryvyi Rih Airhogs, Naples Grasshoppers

Our first overall pick is starting pitcher Bert "Legacy" Lynch out of St. Sampson, Guernsey, drafted by Iasi. He's a fastball/sinker power pitcher who fit into a starting role right away with lots of control. On the flip side he never quite developed a true power pitcher profile and wound up a rare practically crafty type with an overpowering fastball and no horizontal breaking stuff.

In his last year of team control in 2029, having posted 66 oldwins and 25 newwins, Iasi traded him to Leipzig at the deadline for pitcher Natsuki Itagaki and first baseman Juan Teran. Itagaki only got a cup of coffee and Teran played six seasons for Iasi, mostly as a starter, posting 69 home runs and 10 wins.

Leipzig posted 113 wins in what seemed to be the peak of a dynasty as two-time defending European Super Series champions. This time however they were bounced in 7 games of the first round by the 81-81 Essen Miners.

Lynch signed for four years with the Rome Thunder Dogs (we'll get back to that... right now...), a 2026 expansion franchise along with the London Lightning.

He continued where he left off, posting ERAs in the mid to high 3s and over 200 innings pretty much every year.

Along came a four-year extension and a playoff highlight by reaching the International League Championship Series against Stockholm in 2034.

2036 saw a torn labrum, his first significant injury. Rome declined their team option. Lynch went to Madrid and their bullpen, and then a legacy lap with Rome to finish his career.

He posted 183 oldwins and 60 newwins. His first year of Hall of Fame eligibility has just gone by. As a notorious large haller I still couldn't fit him among my 10 players.

The last signed player was Dukinfield, England's Ron Shaw out of the University of Cambridge. He stuck around long enough for his original Team, Murcia, to post two full time starting pitcher replacement level seasons.

[letsgobuccos]

A quick run through Stathead makes Bert "Legacy" Lynch a close comparable to David "Boomer" Wells from our universe.

[PocketsAintFull]

Let's go Birmingham Lords

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You'll be glad to know the Lords won 94 games and the IL pennant in 2023, although they lost the European Super Series in six games to Bucharest.

Their best player was 38 year old right fielder Eugenio Respigli. He hit 43 home runs while playing good defense and would go on to play two further seasons. His age 40 season, including 21 home runs and 3 wins, came by way of accepting the qualifying offer.

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The best player on the 2023 champion Bucharest Pilots was 24 year old Sanya Elomenko out of Desna, Ukraine. One of the best, if not the best of his time. He had it all - getting on base, power, speed, and being a really good defensive center fielder.

After two seasons with 32 triples, leading the CL both years, and 57 home runs, Bucharest shipped him north to Lodz for recent first round pick pitcher Aca "Black Magic" Prpos, who turned out to be a below replacement reliever, starting pitcher Dane Rainey, who suffered a quasi career ending UCL tear after posting 14 newwins in his age 25-27 seasons, and glove-first, okay-bat, and injury-prone shortstop Ignatius Miller.

Elomenko won the CL MVP award in his first season with Lodz thanks to over 200 hits, over 100 walks, and 25 home runs. In his late 20s his contact ability regressed somewhat, but he was still in the extended MVP conversation every year until knee and hamstring problems sidelined him for half of 2029, a year after leading the league in stolen bases.

Just before his eighth all-star nod in 2032 at age 33 he came down with shoulder inflammation and never recovered.

66 wins over 10 years were nevertheless enough to make the Hall of Fame on his third ballot in 2040.

[letsgobuccos]

On to 2024! The two pennant winners of the previous year, Bucharest and Birmingham, regressed slightly and both narrowly missed the playoffs with 82 and 83 wins.

In the Continental League the Tallinn Keys kept their 100+ win pace which got them a first round loss in 2023, winning the Northern Division and making it to the CLCS against the Southern Division champions Zurich Hounds. Zurich beat Tallinn in six games before losing the European Super Series in seven games to the International League champions Naples Grasshoppers.

Naples had a true superstar in Zygmunt "Flaming Globes" Mikolajczyk. A batting marvel and a second baseman, he posted 39 wins and 176 home runs in his first four seasons, also collecting the 2024 and 2026 IL MVP awards and two batting titles with astronomical averages of .380 and .378 in 2025 and 2026.

Like Bert "Legacy" Lynch he was traded for his final year of team control. The Poznan Skyliners sent over swingmen Barry Beaver out of Prescott, Arizona and Edouard Agnolutto out of Italy, innings eater and almost ace Melancton Panayiotopoulos of of Greece, whose career was highlighted by 204 oldwins, and center fielder Jonathan Lopez out of Mexico, who would be a long time starter with a good enough bat and five Great Glove awards. A phenomenal return for Naples with over 40 wins including those coming through contract extensions.

That foundation allowed the Grasshoppers to go to the playoffs 8 times in the first decade of the league and to collect another Super Series title in 2029 against the Lodz Rail Cats, Mikolajczyk's home town team that he never played for.

Mikolajczyk would sign with the Kryvyi Rih Airhogs as a free agent and later win another Super Series in 2033 against, yes, the Rail Cats.

His 2034 season saw many things: His 2000th hit, but also no less than five injuries, a brawl, and faltering defense. That and his high demands, and the league's tight and static habits, left him unsigned until 2037 when Rome signed him as a first baseman. They flipped him to Birmingham for pitching prospect Elie Minali out of Venezuela in July.

Now a 10+ home run first baseman, Mikolajczyk spent one and a half years in the Midlands before signing with the expansion Lisbon Vultures for 2039 and the relocated Budapest Roughnecks for 2040.

When it was all said and done he had 98 career wins to his name, two Super Series titles, 455 home runs, and a near-anonymous first year Hall of Fame induction.