Baseball: The World's Game

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The 50^th Arab League Championship was guaranteed to have the 18^th different franchise to win its first title. Alexandria had been there in 2002, 2011, and 2013, but lost each time. The Egyptian teams were 1-10 all-time in the finals entering the event with the lone win by Cairo in 1996. Saudi Arabia had ten titles split between Medina and Jeddah. The Astronauts hosted the Marksmen for three games in mid-May with Mecca taking two of three.

Alexandria opened with a 2-1 home win with both runs on solo homers in the fourth inning. Mecca rolled 9-3 in game two to even it heading home. In game three tied 2-2, MVP Hamdi Bahri had a leadoff double for the Marksmen. After an intentional walk and two flyouts, 3B Alfio Palmiteri had the walkoff RBI to score Bahri in a 3-2 win. The Astronauts evened the series right back up though the next night on a 4-2 road win.

A five-run sixth inning propelled Mecca to an 8-3 win in game five, putting them up 3-2 needing one more win back in Egypt. They got it as the entire lineup contributed to 18 hits in game six, outracing Alexandria in an 11-7 win. SS Thorsten Witzmann was finals MVP, a 34-year old Austrian who was a free agent signing in 2039. He came to ALB with Medina in 2035 after starting in MLB with Albuquerque. Witzmann was 10-20 with two RBI, leading in hits from the #9 hole.



Other notes: In his 19^th and final season, 2B Hassan Shanshol became the world leader for stolen bases. He only played 88 games and started 36 in his one year with Tripoli, but his 34 swipes got him to 2025 steals. Shanshol is the only player to crack 2000 swipes, passing the old world record of 1995 set by EBF’s Carsten Dal. Shanshol also finished with 3246 hits, 1806 runs, 545 doubles, 262 triples, 151 homers, 1020 RBI, .122 wRC+, and 89.5 WAR. At retirement, he ranks 7^th in ALB for hits and runs as well as 2^nd in triples.

In other milestones, Khali Allawi and Abdullah Al-Hatifh became the 12^th and 13^th members of the 700 home run club. Allawi and Ahmed Yasser Basha both breached 2000 career RBI, a mark met by five in ALB and 80 players in world history through 2039. Both are still far from the ALB record of 2518 RBI by Nordine Soule.

It was the final season for Allawi, who finished with 3316 hits, 1763 runs, 697 doubles, 727 homers, 2012 RBI, 1.011 OPS, 158 wRC+, and 93.8 WAR. At retirement on the ALB leaderboards, he’s 9^th in runs, 4^th in hits, 11^th in doubles, 11^th in homers, 5^th in RBI, and 12^th in WAR for position players. He also ranks 39^th in OPS among world Hall of Famers and retired locks and his .631 slugging is tied for 45^th. Mohamed Neen was another notable retirement, ending at 2668 hits, 1556 runs, 627 doubles, 642 homers, 1758 RBI, .947 OPS, 138 wRC+, and 61.8 WAR.

Basha also became the 3^rd in ALB to score 2000 runs, one of only 41 in world history to do so. He sits at 2011 with Soule’s 2162 as the top mark. Basha was already ALB’s hit king and now has 3825, ranking 21^st in the world. He now has 746 doubles (12^th in the world), in striking distance of Abdul Rahman Abu Hamal’s ALB record of 773. Basha is now at 588 homers, 1499 steals, and 133.6 career WAR. He also won his 11^th Silver Slugger in RF.

In other milestones, Mokhtar Bouziane was the 12^th to reach 3000 hits and Abdullah Al-Hafith was the 47^th to 2500 hits. Walid Habib and Alaa Khalii grew the 500 homer club to 52 members. Abdul Jalil Dahir was the 29^th to 1500 runs scored and Musa Isse was the 38^th to 1500 RBI. Kamal Qasim is also now at 732 doubles, putting him 15^th on the world leaderboard. C Oussama El-Batal won his 8^th Silver Slugger. Al-Hafith won his 7^th at 1B and Mohammed Jamil his 7^th at 2B.

Nathan Nasreddine won his 17^th consecutive Gold Glove in right field at age 40 for Basra. This ties EAB’s Jae-Won Park (SS) and OBA/MLB’s Jimmy Caliw (2B/SS) as the only 17-time winners at any position in world history. Park’s 17 wins also came consecutively. Nasreddine is under contract for one more year and has 2850 hits, 1441 runs, 114 wRC+, and 46.6 WAR in his career.

Damascus was a lousy 50-112 and had a team 5.62 ERA, 952 runs allowed, and 894 earned runs. Each run mark was the 2^nd-worst in Western Conference history. Beirut’s Abdul Muhaimin Akbar had the year’s only no-hitter and became ALB’s 8^th pitcher with multiple no-nos, having also done it in 2031.

Arab League Baseball’s scoring was similar in the 2030s as it was in the 2020s. The conferences had an ERA around 4.47, which ranks as very high on the historical scale and behind only AAB and WAB in the 2030s. ALB’s batting average was .271, also quite high historically.

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With the 2039 season complete, Arab League Baseball had finished 50 seasons. This left the African Association of Baseball as the only top flight league yet to reach the milestone, sitting at 45. Below is ALB’s results through 50 years of play.



Basra has been the most successful team with the most playoff berths (28), overall titles (7), conference finals trips (23), division titles (28), average wins per season (91.6) and team score (178). Medina and Casablanca are the next-most competitive teams overall. The Eastern Conference has had more success than the Western Conference with a 30-20 margin in the championship.

Tunis and Baghdad have been the weakest teams, as both only have a single playoff appearance over 50 years. Sanaa still hasn’t made the playoffs, but they’re an expansion team in only its 16^th season. Most of the expansion teams haven’t had any tangible success yet with the exception of Muscat. By team score, they’re 10^th among the 30 teams despite only having 24 seasons.

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The two-time defending East League champ Faisalabad finished 106-56 in 2039, tying their franchise record from their 2021 Asian Baseball Federation title. The Fire had the best record at the all-star break (63-37) and the top post-break mark (43-19) in the EL, earning a third straight playoff trip and repeat Pakistan Division crowns. Faisalabad had the EL’s best run differential (+174) and most runs (671).

Tashkent and Almaty stayed dead even for most of the year in the battle for the North Division. They ended up meeting in the final four game series of the season in Kazakhstan with the Tomcats holding a one-game edge. The Assassins won the first game 4-2, then Tashkent prevailed 6-5 in 13 innings. The Tomcats took the next contest 4-3 in 12 innings to clinch, although they lost the finale 2-0. Tashkent was first at 98-64 and Almaty a wild card at 97-65. The Tomcats won their season series 8-6.

For Tashkent, their playoff streak grew to seven seasons with their sixth division title of the run. The Assassins earned repeat wild card trips and allowed the fewest runs in ABF at 466. This also meant they’d battle again in the first round of the double-elimination postseason. No one else in the North division had a winning record. Bishkek and Shymkent both had winning records at the break, but fell apart in the second half.

Five teams in the Pakistan Division were in the hunt for the second wild card throughout the fall. Rawalpindi was 58-43 at the break, four games ahead of their next closest foe. However, the Red Wings collapsed with a 27-34 finish. Lahore had the strongest finish of the group at 39-24, but their 45-54 hole early on was too great to climb out of. It ultimately came down to Peshawar and Karachi, who would meet in the final four game series of the season hosted by the Carp.

The Predators though built up a sizeable cushion, going 11-3 in September prior to the series. Karachi’s .500 record in August put them behind the eight ball, requiring a sweep of Peshawar in the finale to tie. The Carp took three of four, but a 6-4 win in the second game was enough to push the Predators to the final playoff spot at 90-72. Karachi was 89-73, Rawalpindi 85-77, and both Hyderabad and Lahore were 84-78. Peshawar ended an eight-year playoff drought. The Horned Frogs’ streak of winning seasons grew to 16 years, although they’ve had repeat playoff misses.


Faisalabad RF Rasiwala Batool was the unanimous East League MVP in his eighth year with the Fire. The 30-year old Pakistani righty led in hits (215), total bases (424), batting average (.357), slugging (.703), OPS (1.087), wRC+ (209), and WAR (10.3). Batool added 108 runs, 46 doubles, 11 triples, 47 home runs, and 141 RBI. Faisalabad picked him 19^th in the 2031 ABF Draft and gave him an eight-year, $115,600,000 extension in late 2034, keeping Batool signed through 2042.

Almaty’s Hasan Polat won Pitcher of the Year with 21 first place votes and 184 points. His teammate Munawar Suhaib was second with 93 points and two first place nodes. Karachi’s Rinat Qasimov had five first place votes and 79 points and Faisalabad’s Zahman Momand had two first place nods. It was a rare year where no one pitcher really stood out statistically.

Polat got the nod despite missing all of June with a bone spur in his elbow. The 24-year old Turkish righty led in WHIP (0.72), K/BB (14.4) and FIP- (51) over 190.2 innings. Polat had a 1.98 ERA, 13-4 record, 288 strikeouts, 181 ERA+, and 7.5 WAR.



The double-elimination postseason opened with Faisalabad sweeping Peshawar on 4-0 and 7-3 wins; while Almaty earned repeat shutouts over Tashkent 3-0 and 2-0. Polat had a two-hitter in the second contest. The Fire started with a 9-2 win over the Assassins in round two, but Almaty countered on a 6-5 walkoff win on an Orkhan Kazimov RBI single. Faisalabad got a 7-2 result though in game three to keep their three-peat bid intact.

All three games between Tashkent and Peshawar in the knockout stage were decided by one run. A walkoff sacrifice fly gave the Tomcats a 2-1 opening win. The Predators countered in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel win, then survived 3-2 the next night to eliminate Tashkent.

Almaty shutout Peshawar 1-0 to continue the knockout stage on a five-hitter by rookie Ahsan Bugti. Game two was even 2-2 after regulation and needed 15 innings. The Assassins led off the bottom half on Adil Mamedow’s double, then got a Nasir Huseynov RBI double to win 3-2 and eliminate the Predators. Almaty earned its first East League Championship Series trip since 2033 and got a second shot at Faisalabad.

Game one needed 11 innings but went to the defending champ 2-1. Faisalabad’s Mengal Turab got a one-out single and stole second, allowing him to get knocked in by Aswad Ansari’s RBI single. Game two had five total hits in a regulation pitcher’s duel, but again it was a 2-1 Fire victory. Faisalabad then took a 3-1 road win in game three and got a 9-1 rout in game four to complete the sweep over Almaty.



League MVP Rasiwala Batool won series MVP. Between the ELCS and their second round meeting with Almaty, Batool had a beastly 13-28 effort with six homers, six runs, 10 runs, and 11 RBI. The three-peat gives the Fire six East League pennants (2011, 14, 21, 37, 38, 39). The Assassins are now a lackluster 1-9 all-time in the ELCS. Almaty has made the playoffs 24 times since joining ABF in 2000 with little to show for it.

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Five teams effectively fought for the four playoff spots out of West League. Only six were above .500 at the all-star break, led by defending Asian Baseball Federation champion Isfahan at 65-35. Baku was a half-game behind at 65-36, followed by Bursa at 60-40. The other teams above .500 were Tabriz (55-47), Adana (54-47), and Ahvaz (52-49). The Axemen were an abysmal 25-36 after the break, leaving the other five in the fight.

The Imperials and Blackbirds remained largely neck-and-neck for the top seed with both pulling away in their respective divisions. Baku had the edge in mid-September, but Isfahan ended the season with a seven-game winning streak and an 11-1 run to close the month. Both finished 101-61 with the Imperials repeating as Central Division champs and the Blackbirds back atop the West. Baku won the season series 6-2, giving them the tiebreaker over Isfahan for the top seed.

It was the 11^th consecutive season with 100+ wins for the Blackbirds, each with a division title sans 2038. They had ABF’s best run differential at +179 and led the federation with 805 runs. Isfahan notably finished 34-18 in one-run games. The Imperials also notably had a season attendance of 2,188,796; the third-best in ABF history.

The other three teams battled for two wild card spots. Bursa had the big cushion from the first half and narrowly held onto the first spot at 95-67, giving the Blue Claws a fifth consecutive playoff berth. Bursa’s 551 runs allowed were the fewest in the WL.

Ahvaz had the best second half in the WL at 42-19, allowing them to just pass Tabriz for the final spot despite a 9-1 finish for the Tiger Sharks. They met seven times in August with Ahvaz going 5-2. The Athletics were 94-68 and the Tiger Sharks at 93-69. Ahvaz earned its third playoff trip in six years, while Tabriz had a five-year streak snapped. The Tiger Sharks under-performed their expected win/loss by five games while the Athletics outperformed by four wins.



The West League MVP returned to Baku in 2039, an award they’ve claimed each year except 2038 since 2029. LF Mubarak Ashyrow was a first-time winner and earned it unanimously, while teammate Artyom Masharipov was second in voting. Ashyrow led with 61 home runs, a .680 slugging, 204 wRC+, and 9.4 WAR. The 30-year old Turkmen righty had 193 hits, 112 runs, 28 doubles, 130 RBI, and a 1.045 OPS. Ashyrow is signed through 2042 for the Blackbirds, having joined the team in 2031 and a full-time starter since 2035.

Antalya was largely irrelevant at 74-88, but their ace Jarir Rashid won Pitcher of the Year with 29 first place votes. The remaining three went to Bursa’s Refik Sagir. Rashid missed July to elbow tendinitis, but still led in WAR at 7.3. The 24-year old Iranian righty also led in ERA (1.92), WHIP (0.88), ERA+ (212), and FIP- (55). Rashid had a 16-4 record in 210.2 innings and 308 strikeouts. He was a scouting discovery by the Armada and a part of the roster since 2035.



The top seeds opened with first round playoff sweeps. Baku bested Ahvaz 7-0 and 5-3, while Isfahan rolled Bursa 5-2 and 10-0. The Blackbirds grabbed an 8-3 win to start round two with the Imperials, but Isfahan countered with an 11-1 blowout. Baku prevailed 3-1 in game three to earn a third West League Championship Series trip in four years and the eighth of their playoff streak.

Ahvaz bested Bursa 7-3 to start the knockout round, but the Blue Claws reclaimed the momentum in a wild 13-inning second affair. Bursa scored in the bottom of the ninth to force extras at 2-2. Both got a run in the 11^th, then the Athletics went ahead with a run in the top of the 13^th. However, the Blue Claws got the last laugh with Tae-Won Kim’s two-run walkoff homer for a 5-4 final score. Bursa then held on in game three 7-5 to advance.

Isfahan won 5-1 to start with Bursa, but the Blue Claws exploded 10-2 the next night. Bursa then stunned the Imperials 6-1 in game three to eliminate the reigning champs. The Blue Claws earned their third WLCS trip in four years, each as a wild card. They upset 115-win Baku in 2036 and topped Tabriz in 2037. Despite Baku’s continued regular season dominance since the 2029-33 five-peat, the Blackbirds hadn’t claimed the pennant since. They had home field advantage over Bursa, but the regular season series had been a 7-7 split.

Baku took the opener 3-2, but Bursa snagged a 6-1 road win the next night on Refik Sagir’s complete game. The Blackbirds countered with their own 4-2 road win, but a 6-2 result in game four evened the series right back up. Bursa grabbed game five 3-1 to go ahead in the series, but they’d need to get another win back in Azerbaijan. The Blue Claws did just that on another complete game for Sagir, clinching the series in six with a 5-2 victory.



LF Murat Zohrably was series MVP, going 12-25 with one homer and four RBI. The 30-year old Tajik had come to the Blue Claws in a 2037 trade with Kabul. Sagir notably had a 1.50 ERA and 20 Ks over his two complete game wins. Bursa now has seven West League pennants (1999, 2001, 04, 20, 36, 37, 39). The Blackbirds now have six straight seasons without a pennant despite averaging 108.5 wins in that stretch.

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The 55^th Asian Baseball Federation Championship was a rematch of two years prior, which saw Bursa knock off Faisalabad to earn a repeat. The Blue Claws had a shot at a third title in four years. The Fire was in their third straight championship as they looked to end a 17-year title drought, having also lost in 2038 to Isfahan. Faisalabad had home field advantage and began the series with a 3-2 win. However, the Blue Claws outraced the Fire 12-8 in game two to even things as the action shifted west to Turkey.

A five-run sixth inning in game three pushed Faisalabad to an 8-5 road win. The Fire then saw a combined three-hit shutout in game four in a 3-0 result. Aydar Annaev had the start with 13 strikeouts over 7.1 innings. Game five was even 2-2 entering the final frame. In the top of the ninth, Faisalabad’s Erasyl Zybin had a two RBI triple, then was knocked in on a RBI double by Rasiwala Batool. The 5-2 Fire victory gave them three straight road Ws, clinching the series in five for their fourth ABF title (2011, 14, 21, 39).



Batool capped off an all-time epic playoff run by also winning ABF Championship MVP, going 11-21 with one homer and three RBI. He set an ABF playoff record with 18 runs scored. The 30-year old league MVP in 14 starts had 27 hits, 9 doubles, 8 homers, 16 RBI, 1.588 OPS, 366 wRC+, and 2.4 WAR. The OPS was the fifth-best in any ABF playoff run with 20+plate appearances and his 1.088 slugging was fourth.

Bursa’s Refik Sagir also set a playoff record with four complete games, but also with 57 hits allowed. A poor showing in the finals gave him a 4.37 ERA over 47.1 playoff innings and 47 strikeouts. The Blue Claws are now 3-4 all-time in the finals. Faisalabad is the first Pakistani team to take the title since Hyderabad in 2032.

Other notes: ABF home run king Sultan Han also became the federation’s leader in runs scored. He finished the season with 1885, passing Mehmet Fatih Canaydin’s 1880. Han in his seventh-year with Hyderabad had a down year by his standards, but was still good for 31 homers, 128 wRC+, and 3.5 WAR. He became the 1^st in ABF history to join the 900 home run club and the 5^th to reach 3000 hits.

The 40-year old Tajik 1B has one year left on his Horned Frogs deal and sits at 3038 hits, 658 doubles, 923 homers, 2092 RBI, .994 OPS, 174 wRC+, and 132.7 WAR. He is only 40 RBI away from passing Hakan Mocuk for the ABF record. On the world leaderboard, Han is now 23^rd in homers and 53^rd in RBI. He’s up to 3^rd on ABF’s WAR leaderboard behind Nizami Aghazade (183.1) and Youssouf Raza (136.4).

Raza in 2039 sits just outside of the world top 100 for career WAR and is one of 113 players in world history with 135+. In his 18^th season with Almaty, the 38-year old Pakistani LF had 37 homers, .934 OPS, 173 wRC+, and 5.1 WAR. He joined Han as ABF’s only batters with 800+ dingers. Raza has 832 homers, 1916 RBI, 2848 hits, 1723 runs, 496 doubles, 1.013 OPS, and 200 wRC+. He remains under contract through 2041 with the Assassins.

Mansoor Kayam’s longevity pushed him to ABF’s all-time record for pitching wins. The 38-year old Pakistani righty with Hyderabad now is 263-216, passing Hasan Yousefi’s 258 wins. Kayam is the only ABF ace with 200+ losses and is the career leader in starts (536), complete games (212), innings (4445), and hits allowed (4241). He’s set to become a free agent after a solid 2.44 ERA, 5.3 WAR effort in 2039. Kayam was with Ankara from 2022-34 and was traded in July 2034 to the Horned Frogs. Kayam and Ibragim Tolibov became the 10^th and 11^th ABF aces to 4500 career strikeouts. Shahrokh Morteza became the 5^th to 250 wins and Jan Khaleel was the 7^th to 300 saves.

In other pitching notables, ABF’s 27^th and 28^th perfect games both happened in September. On the 5^th, Hyderabad’s Behrang Khayami did it with 12 Ks facing Bishkek. Then on the 18^th, it was Mashhad’s Mojgan Naderan with 14 strikeouts against Ahvaz. It was only the 14^th appearance and 9^th start of Naderan’s career and his only appearance in 2039. Isfahan’s Ebrahim Firoozabadi also notably had a no-hitter in April, the second of his career (2036).



Even if Baku hasn’t gotten over the playoff hump recently, Artyom Masharipov continues to dominate the playoff leaderboards. Through 2039, he is the playoff leader in games (149), at-bats (565), runs (98), hits (157), total bases (344), doubles (36), homers (49), and RBI (103). He has 7.0 WAR with a .937 OPS and 154 wRC+ in his playoff career. After 15 years with the Blackbirds, the six-time MVP is set for free agency at age 36. Masharipov became ABF’s 4^th player to 700 homers in 2039.

In other batting milestones, Koji Pareevash was the 12^th to 600 home runs and Mehrdad Azghadi was the 25^th to 500 homers. It was Pareevash’s last season, finishing with 603 dingers, 2796 hits, and 1657 RBI. Namangan’s Eshqi Rahmani stole 127 bases, breaking Majed Mahadeen’s ABF record 123 from two years prior. Asgabat’s Babar Khalid also notably stole 122 bags in 2039. Izmir’s Yunis Suleymanov had ABF’s 11^th game with four homers on April 29 against Mashhad. Baku’s Ular Esenov had a 31-game hitting streak carrying over from the prior fall, which is tied for the 6^th-longest streak in ABF history.

The Asian Baseball Federation’s scoring environment for the 2030s was similar to that of the 2020s. In the East League (sans DH), the league ERA was 3.56 and batting average at .243. Both were slightly up from the prior year and grade around average/below average scoring on the historical scale. The West League (with DH) actually went down slightly from the 2020s with a 3.92 ERA and .255 average. That puts them around average/above average on the historical scale relative to all leagues.