Baseball: The World's Game - Page 135

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-22-2026, 06:22 AM

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.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-22-2026, 09:22 PM

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.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-23-2026, 09:20 AM

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.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-23-2026, 09:46 PM

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.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-24-2026, 12:53 PM

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.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-24-2026, 09:06 PM

Defending Indian League champ Mumbai had the best record at the all-star break at 68-31, although Madurai was close behind for the top seed at 66-33. The Rams had the best second half at 40-23 and went 11-3 to close the season, passing the Meteors for the #1 seed. At 106-56, the Rams won the South Division and set a franchise record. It was their third playoff trip in four years and their 547 runs allowed were tied for the fewest in all of South Asia Baseball.

Mumbai was a strong #2 at 104-58 for a third successive West Division title and their fifth berth in six years. The Meteors led the IL in runs (804) and differential (+236). They had a team .293 batting average and .342 on-base percentage, the second and third-best in IL history. Mumbai had to stay strong to fend off Pune in the West, who finished 40-23. The big cushion still left a five-game gap, but the 99-63 Purple Knights easily got the first wild card. Pune picked up its fourth playoff trip in five years.

Visakhapatnam was 61-38 at the all-star break, but had a mediocre 30-33 end to the season. Still, the Volts finished 91-71 to secure the second wild card by a six game margin. Their playoff streak grew to five years and their stretch of winning seasons extended to 18 years. Since 2022, Visakhapatnam has missed the playoffs only thrice. Their 91 wins in 2039 was actually their lowest win total of their playoff appearances in this run.

There weren’t any standouts in the Central Division with five of the six teams separated by six wins at the all-star break. Delhi and Kolkata were the only ones with a winning record in the back-end. The Drillers dominated their season series 13-5, which made the difference for to end a three-year playoff drought. Delhi was first at 86-76, followed by the 85-77 Cosmos, 83-79 Jaipur, and 80-82 Lucknow. The Drillers notably were 20-29 in one-run games. Delhi also had 94 triples, the second-most by an IL team in a season.

The Central Division had the top two placers in an open Indian League MVP race. Jaipur 3B Niamur Bhuiyan took it with 17 first place votes, while Delhi 2B Hamizan Ilham was a close second with 13. Vadodara’s Rama Raji (4) and Mumbai’s Pingyu Fei (2) also had first place votes. The runner-up Ilham notably led in WAR (8.9), OBP (.428), hits (242), runs (149), doubles (53), triples (30), and steals (115). The runs were tied for the fourth-best single-season in SAB history, the hits were fifth, and triples third.

However, Ilham was a leadoff man and his zero homers and 61 RBI was a deal breaker for some voters. The winner Bhuiyan didn’t have huge power stats either, but did lead in total bases with 386. The 25-year old Bangladeshi had 232 hits, 117 runs, 42 doubles, 17 triples, 26 homers, 109 RBI, 1.016 OPS, 170 wRC+, and 8.5 WAR. Bhuiyan also hit for the cycle in September against Vadodara. Jaipur gave him a six-year, $170,400,000 extension in April.

Madurai’s Paing Myint won Pitcher of the Year with all but one of the first place votes. The 30-year old Burmese lefty had been up with the Rams since 2031, but had only posted above average stats prior to his 2039 breakout. Myint led in wins (22-7) and strikeouts (353) while posting a 2.48 ERA in 214.1 innings, 161 ERA+, 74 FIP-, and 5.7 WAR. He was the definition of “effectively wild” when on with an 11/10 stuff rating, but 2/10 control and 3/10 movement.

Visakhapatnam earned 3-1 and 10-2 road wins against Pune to advance from the wild card round. Top seed Madurai opened the divisional series with 4-2 and 9-5 home wins over the Volts. However, Visakhapatnam was feisty and took the next two by 5-4 and 4-1 margins. The Volts pulled off the 3-2 upset in the finale, forcing a double play to end the game. Visakhapatnam earned repeat trips to the Indian League Championship Series, while the top seed Rams were one-and-done.

Mumbai rolled in their first game 8-1, but Delhi rebounded with a 6-4 road upset. The Drillers went ahead with a 2-1 road win despite getting only one hit in the victory. Delhi now had a 2-1 lead after three road games and had two possible home games to end the series. Mumbai survived but needed 12 innings to claim game four 5-2.

The teams combined for 22 hits but only seven runs in game five, as Delhi prevailed 4-3 to dethrone the reigning champs. It was the Drillers’ first ILCS trip since their 2034 SAB title. It was the first time since 2027 that the weakest two records advanced to the ILCS. Delhi had home field as a division champ despite Visakhapatnam having a better record. They had split their six regular season games.

Game one was a total pitcher’s duel with no scoring through 12 innings. The Volts finally broke the deadlock with a leadoff single in the top of the 13^th by Faure Date. He was bunted to second, then knocked in by Szabolcs Forgacs’ RBI single. The Drillers got a two-out double in the bottom half, but the next batter struck out to strand him.

Visakhapatnam then crushed Delhi 11-1 in game two for the 2-0 lead before playing at home. Game three was another pitcher’s duel which was even 1-1 after regulation. The Drillers unloaded with a five-run tenth inning to win 6-1. The next night, the Volts rallied with three runs on three hits in the bottom of the ninth inning. Wes Potter’s sacrifice fly to center scored a tagging Groyou Coulibaly for a 5-4 walkoff win, the first home win of the series.

The Volts would clinch the series in five at home with another 5-4 result, earning the seventh pennant since 2023. Visakhapatnam now has nine Indian League titles overall, each in the 21^st Century (2012, 13, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32, 33, 39). Veteran catcher Faure Date was series MVP, going 8-16 with one homer, five runs, and three RBI.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-25-2026, 08:08 AM

Reigning South Asia Baseball champ Da Nang followed up their 114-win 2038 campaign with an incredible 122-40 run in 2039. It is only the 21^st time in all of pro baseball history that a team won 122+ games in a season. Notably, eight of those have occurred in the notably top-heavy SAB. Three of those teams won the SAB Championship; 1995 Ahmedabad (124-38), 2028 Mandalay (124-38), and 2004 Ho Chi Minh City (122-40). Two others lost in the championship and two others had first round exits, most notably the 126-win HCMC squad in 1993.

The 2039 Nailers had a +355 run differential and led SAB in runs scored (902) and fewest allowed (547). Their bullpen had 62 saves, tied for the third-most in SAB history. Da Nang earned a fourth straight 100+ win season and South Division title. They were nearly unstoppable at home with an absurd 72-9 record at Nailers Ballpark. They were 27 games ahead of the next best team in the Southeast Asia League.

The #2 seed and the other two division titles had a tight battle. At the all-star break, Nay Pyi Taw was 61-38, four ahead of Vientiane in the Central Division. Mandalay led the West at 60-39 with Rajshahi only one back. Kathmandu would add themselves into the picture with a 42-21 record after the break, the best mark outside of Da Nang.

The Capitals’ early cushion allowed them to hold on in the Central at 95-67. This was the first-ever playoff berth for Nay Pyi Taw, who was a 2030 expansion team. The Chaparrals had an 11-2 finish to the season, including a three-game home sweep of the Red Pandas to end the season. Mandalay took two of three from the Nailers in mid-September, but went 2-4 in their final series against Hanoi and Khulna. The Mammoths lost their final two games to the Claws both on walkoffs, the finale 6-5 and the penultimate affair 4-3 in 11 innings.

With that, Kathmandu won the West Division at 94-68 and the 93-69 Mammoths got the first wild card. This ended a 23-year playoff drought in the Nepali capital and was their second-ever division title (1986). Mandalay, last year’s SEAL runner-up, earned their fourth playoff trip in five years and has only missed twice since 2026.

Rajshahi collapsed late with a ten-game losing streak to end the season, finishing their 162^nd game at 90-72. However, the Red Pandas’ earlier successes kept them in the fight. They finished tied with Central runner-up Vientiane for the final wild card. The next closest was Ho Chi Minh City at 86-76 and Yangon at 85-77; the latter notably closing with a 15-game win streak.

The Red Pandas salvaged the season and avoided the complete collapse by beating the Vampires 3-2 in the tiebreaker game. Rajshahi picked up their second playoff trip in three years with the win. Although they missed the cut, Vientiane notably had its first winning season since 2028. Hanoi, the 2036 and 2037 SAB champ, finished at 84-78 and saw its playoff streak end at three seasons.

Leading Kathmandu’s charge was Southeast Asia League MVP Ridwan Hassan. The 25-year old Bangladeshi designated hitter had 30 first place votes, while Colombo’s Bhagavan Banerjee had the remaining six. Banerjee had a stellar season despite the Catfish’s mediocrity, leading in batting average (.386), OPS (1.222), and WAR (11.0). He was also second in homers (54) and RBI (145) and would’ve won MVP most other years and/or if Colombo hadn’t stunk. Hassan was certainly plenty worthy though as he helped end Kathmandu’s big playoff drought.

He led in homers (62), RBI (161), runs (141), and total bases (478). Hassan added 245 hits, 31 doubles, a .371/.412/.724 slash, 1.136 OPS, 208 wRC+, and 10.2 WAR. The runs scored were tied for the fourth-best single season in SAB history, behind only home run king Majed Darwish’s insane 2008-10 run. The total bases were also fourth-best behind only Darwish and the RBI ranked seventh.

Hassan’s hits were also the third-best single season in SAB history, 11 behind Kap Mitanu’s record 256 from 2031. He was the #3 overall pick by the Chaparrals in the 2033 SAB Draft and signed an eight-year, $80,860,000 extension after the 2038 season, which looks like a major bargain if Hassan can replicate his 2039 efforts.

Da Nang ace Raihan Sharif was the undisputed Pitcher of the Year, while his teammate Khuzairil Hussein was second in voting. Hussein was the ERA leader at 2.12 in 195 innings, while Sharif was second at 2.22. Sharif led in wins (21-4), WHIP (0.93), FIP- (44), and WAR (8.5). The 25-year old Bangladeshi righty struck out 298 in 198.2 innings with a 208 ERA+. It was only his second season as a full-time starter, having debuted with limited appearances from 2036-37. The Nailers also had the undisputed Reliever of the Year Kuldip Kumar, who had a 1.44 ERA and 47 saves.

Despite their late regular season struggles, Rajshahi upset Mandalay with 3-1 and 6-3 wins in the wild card round to advance. Da Nang downed the Red Pandas 9-2 and 6-2 to start the divisional series, but Rajshahi stunned the Nailers by taking the next two games 7-4 and 2-1. POTY Sharif struck out 12 and allowed two hits and one run over seven innings in game five, allowing Da Nang to escape the upset with a 3-1 win. The Nailers earned a fourth consecutive trip to the Southeast Asia League Championship.

On the other side of the bracket, Nay Pyi Taw swept Kathmandu with 8-3, 6-5, and 5-4 scores. Game two was a 14-inning marathon with the breakthrough coming on repeat walks and two singles. The Capitals became the first of the 2030 expansion teams to earn a trip to the SEAL Championship. They were certainly a huge underdog against Da Nang and had gone 1-5 against them in the regular season.

Between that and the Nailers’ 72-9 home record, the start to the series was shocking. Nay Pyi Taw opened with repeat road wins, 8-7 and 8-6. In game two, the Capitals went ahead with two runs in the top of the ninth inning, starting the inning with a triple and double. They had the 2-0 series lead without playing a game at home in Myanmar.

Da Nang regrouped with a 5-2 road win in game three, scoring all of their runs in the eighth inning. The Nailers took game four 4-3 and game five 4-1 to reclaim the advantage heading back to Vietnam. Game six was the lone home win of the series as Da Nang clinched in a ten inning battle. Gotam Akila had a leadoff infield single and stole second and third. With two outs, Sathvik Ravindra smacked the walkoff RBI single for a 9-8 victory.

The Nailers were certainly challenged more than they expected, but they now two-time SEAL champs with their repeat. Nay Pyi Taw certainly had plenty to be proud of in their first-ever playoff appearance. Capitals 1B Akbor Haque was series MVP in defeat, going 10-24 with five homers and eight RBI.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-25-2026, 08:19 PM

The 60^th South Asia Baseball Championship saw Da Nang shooting for a repeat. They beat Mumbai the prior year having finished 114-48, but a 2039 win at 122-40 could cement an all-time team and a dynasty run. Visakhapatnam was a big underdog at 91-71 despite the franchise’s recent successes. They had gone 5-3 in their finals trips since 2012, but this Volts squad was the only wild card of that group and had the lowest win total.

Da Nang didn’t want to start behind like they did against Nay Pyi Taw in the prior series. The Nailers opened with firm 5-1 and 7-3 home wins. Visakhapatnam countered with their own home wins 3-2 and 4-2 to tie the series. Da Nang took a 5-0 road win in game five though, needing just one more win back in Vietnam to complete the repeat. But the Volts were feisty, securing game six by a 4-2 margin.

Game seven was a rainy 71 degree Friday night and ended up as an all-time classic. Visakhapatnam turned a one-out triple by Ikaika Na into a run in the first inning. The score stayed there until the Volts added solo runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Da Nang finally broke through against Hasan Ahmed in the eighth with Jubair Islam’s leadoff triple, later scoring on a balk. In the ninth down two, Janistha Pran and Zico Freitas smacked back-to-back solo homers to tie the game at 3-3 and force extras

Both starting pitchers allowed three runs, Ahmed’s over 9.1 innings and Khuzairil Hussein’s over eight. Reliever of the Year winner Kuldip Kumar was in his third inning of work in the top of the 11^th and got the first two men out on grounders. Mehedi Islam then fouled off five pitches before getting a two out double to left. Suhrawadi Sumon singled Islam home, putting Visakhapatnam ahead 4-3. Da Nang got a one out single in the bottom half, but Topu Rahman stranded him, giving the Volts the shocking upset win.

This was the third time in SAB Championship history that there was an extra innings game seven, joining the 1992 and 2014 events. By spoiling 122-win Da Nang’s repeat bid, Visakhapatnam became six-time South Asia Baseball champs (2023, 24, 25, 32, 33, 39). Of the 21 teams in world history to win 122+ games in a regular season, they have a 6-7 record in the final series. The remaining eight didn’t even get to their league’s finale, showing how nothing is guaranteed in the great game.

Fourth-year RF Shahab Ghazali was series MVP, going 6-26 with three homers and five RBI. He was also MVP of the first and second round series, getting 23 hits, 12 runs, 8 homers, 12 RBI, 1.089 OPS, 190 wRC+, and 1.2 WAR over 19 playoff starts. Volts manager Jorrin Castillo is now the seventh SAB manager with 3+ SAB rings. The 59-year old controlling Dominican has a 1314-792 record and .624 winning percentage since taking the Visakhapatnam gig in 2027.

Other notes: Yangon’s Drhuv Dhawan hit 61 doubles, one short of Naung Zar’s SAB-record 62 from 2034. His teammate Kaipo Daravong set a new SAB record for singles with 185, beating the old mark of 181 by Arnav Sumedh in 1995. Daravong’s 246 hits were the 2^nd-most in SAB history behind only Kap Mitanu’s 256 from 2031. Sefnat Sadewa set a new record for at-bats with 689.

In other hitting milestones, Hamidul Islam was the 29^th to 1500 career RBI and Zulfiker Barua was the 26^th to 1500 runs scored. Barua was also the 21^st member of the 600 home run club. Barua, Tokiya Oshima, Mung Tay Myint, and Dilipan Samataweera each got to 2500 hits, a mark met by 48 SAB batters. 3B Vatish Bharat won his 12^th Gold Glove. He joins fellow third baseman Manju Abbas (15) as the only SAB players with 12+ Gold Glove wins. SS Madfai Mirza joined them as the only guys with 11 Gold Glove wins.

2039 was the first season since 2031 in SAB without a no-hitter from any pitcher. In mound milestones, Arumugampillai Raman and Sohag Othman were the 16^th and 17^th to 200 career wins. Raman was also the 23^rd to reach 3500 strikeouts. Othman and Alok Imam were the 54^th and 55^th with 3000 Ks. Chanawit Poolsap was the 24^th closer with 300 saves.

Rule changes made the 2030s the highest-scoring decade in South Asia Baseball history. In the Indian League (sans DH), the league ERA jumped from 3.71 in the 2020s to 4.01 in the 2030s, while the batting average went from .251 to .265. This puts the IL in the above average scoring range relative to all leagues and world history.

The Southeast Asia League is now in high-to-very high scoring territory. SEAL’s ERA bumped from 4.13 to 4.40 while the batting average jumped from .262 to .271. SAB is still behind the likes of ALB, WAB, and AAB for scoring, but follows the same trend of increased offense worldwide in the 2030s.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-26-2026, 12:15 PM

The Western League saw a very competitive field with seven teams within striking distance of the four playoff spots in the final weeks. At the all-star break, it was Nouakchott with the best record at 60-37. Banjul was two games behind them in the North Division with Bissau a very distant third at 50-44. In the South Division, reigning West African Baseball champ Daloa was first at 57-40 with Monrovia second at 55-41 and all other squads below 50 wins. The battle for the top seed eventually centered in the North as both the Danes and Diplomats had forgettable second halves.

The Bullets threw themselves into the race going 44-24 after the break, marking a three-team battle for the North’s two spots. The Night Riders faded with a 33-32 finish, while the Bucks ended 37-28. Entering the final series. Banjul was 94-65 and set to host 92-67 Bissau. Nouakchott meanwhile was also 92-67 and set to play at Cape Verde. The Night Riders lost two of three, while the Bullets claimed two of three over the Bucks.

Banjul still held onto first at 95-67, but Bissau (94-68) passed Nouakchott (93-69) to eliminate the Night Riders. It was back-to-back division titles for the Bucks and a third straight playoff trip by the Bullets. Bissau’s 670 runs allowed were the fewest in the Western League. Dakar was a distant fourth at 85-77, which did extend their streak of winning seasons to 16 years. However, it is the first time since the early 2020s that the Dukes had repeat playoff misses.

Although Daloa finished 33-32, their earlier cushion kept them in first place in the South Division at 90-72. The Danes expanded their playoff streak to four years with their second division title of that run. Daloa’s 954 runs scored were the most in all of WAB and they had the WL’s best run differential at +159. For the #2 spot, three teams ended up in the mix; Monrovia, Kumasi, and Accra.

The Diplomats lost their last with a 31-35 finish, while the Monkeys (38-20) and Alligators (37-29) both gained ground down the stretch. Kumasi had a six-game win streak in late September to gain cushion, including two wins over Daloa. The Monkeys ended up advancing at 87-75, while both Monrovia and Accra finished 86-76.

Kumasi prevailed despite a -20 run differential, outperforming their expected win/loss by eight games. This ended a nine-year playoff drought for them and ended a four-year streak for the Alligators, who were the top seed at 110-52 the prior season.

Banjul CF Pierre Hassan unanimously won Western League MVP in his third season as a full-time starter and fifth year overall. The 24-year old Cameroonian led in total bases (435) and WAR (9.7). Hassan had 219 hits, 128 runs, 55 doubles, 16 triples, 43 homers, 134 RBI, 1.104 OPS, and 176 wRC+. He also hit for the cycle in August against Conakry.

Daloa’s Ibrahim Salia narrowly won Pitcher of the Year against Bamako’s Sergio Cantu with 17 first place votes for the former and 13 for the latter. The runner-up Cantu had by far the best ERA at 2.32; Salia was a distant second at 3.25. However, Cantu comparatively had only 5.5 WAR, 193.2 innings, and 222 Ks; and was on a losing team. It was an impressive rebound for the 32-year old Argentinian righty, who had missed almost all of 2038 to a blown out elbow. He had been a decent pitcher in Beisbol Sudamerica before coming to Africa in 2038.

Salia meanwhile was the leader in strikeouts (327), WHIP (1.02), quality starts (21), FIP- (65), and WAR (7.5). The 25-year old Cameroonian righty had a 142 ERA+ and 17-8 record in 230 innings. Salia had been the POTY runner-up the prior season and had emerged as an ace only five seasons into his career with the Danes.

The stepladder postseason began with Bissau besting Kumasi in a pair of 6-5 results. Daloa downed the Bullets in round two with 10-8 and 3-2 victories. The latter was a 14-inning marathon with WL home run leader Tommy Ristau ending it on a solo walkoff bomb. The Danes had a shot to repeat, while top seed Banjul was making their first Western League Championship Series trip since 2026.

Daloa opened with a 2-1 road win, then shocked the Bucks with a 12-0 blowout in game two. The Danes clinched the sweep and repeat at home with a 5-2 result for game three. Daloa now had two pennants throughout only a decade of existence, having joined as a 2030 expansion squad. Veteran CF Bertin Atouba was WLCS MVP, going 5-13 with two homers and five RBI. The 34-year old signed with the Danes back in 2035 after starting with Lome.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-26-2026, 09:37 PM

Libreville continued its regular season dominance in the Eastern League and bested the franchise-best 113-49 mark from the prior year. The Lakers finished 115-47, posting a sixth consecutive 100+ win season, third straight 110+ win campaign, and fifth Coastal Division title of that run. It is only third time in West African Baseball history that a team had 6+ successive 100+ win seasons, joining Kano’s 1997-03 dynasty and Lagos from 1976-81.

The Lakers had WAB’s best run differential (+285) and fewest runs allowed (582). Their pitching staff set a new EL team record of 1876 strikeouts and had the second-best K/9 at 11.58. The Lakers guaranteed their fifth trip to the Eastern League Championship Series in six years. Libreville had an incredible 71-24 record at the all-star break.

The second-best mark at the break was in their division as well with Lagos at 62-35. That kept the Lizards in the #2 spot despite an impressive 42-24 second half from Lome. Lagos at 96-66 ended a seven-year playoff drought, while the Lasers missed at 91-71. Douala, the three-time defending EL champ, took fourth at 86-76 as they couldn’t recover from a weak 45-50 start. The Dingos still led the EL in scoring with 941 runs, missing the playoffs for only the second time in eight years.0

Ibadan at 102-60 dominated the Interior Division to grow their playoff streak to four seasons with their second division title of that run. Jos was the only other Interior team above .500 at the break, but faded down the stretch. Benin City’s 43-23 mark after the break allowed them to move to the #2 spot at 89-73, ahead of the 85-77 Jaspers and 83-79 Abuja. The Blue Devils bounced back after repeat losing seasons. Last year’s division champ Yaounde struggled to 72-90.

Despite missing the playoffs, Douala 2B Ram Lengani became a four-time Eastern League MVP. He had 19 first place votes, while Libreville SS Oumar Sidibe had seven. Lagos’ DH Armand Seka was fourth in voting despite getting four first place votes, as he was the clear leader for home runs (66) and RBI (154). For Lengani, his previous MVP wins were 2033, 34, and 37 with the Dingos.

In his tenth season, the 31-year old Burkinabe was the leader in WAR (8.4), slugging (.696), and OPS (1.095). Lengani added 212 hits, 128 runs, 42 doubles, 50 homers, 126 RBI, .355 average, and 167 wRC+. The former #1 overall pick remains signed through 2044 on his record-setting $374,500,000 deal. Lengani won his eighth Silver Slugger in 2039.

Benin City’s Jiong Wen was Pitcher of the Year with 25 first place votes, while Port Harcourt’s Fuwad Mohammad had four and Jos’ Musah Sale had one. This was the WAB debut for the 31-year old Wen, who had spent his first decade in his native China with Foshan. He had been solid with the Flyers, but never an awards finalist until now.

The Blue Devils had signed Wen in the offseason to a four-year, $69,600,000 deal. It was a rare case where the POTY winner wasn’t a league leader in any stat, although he was top three in ERA and WAR. In 209.2 innings, Wen had a 2.79 ERA, 15-10 record, 269 strikeouts, 165 ERA+, 68 FIP-, and 6.4 WAR.

The first round of the playoffs opened with a 6-4, 12-inning win for Lagos against Benin City, getting a walkoff homer by Cheick Oumarou. The Blue Devils countered with an 8-6 road win, taking the lead in the top of the ninth on Bolaji Adeleye’s two-run bomb. The Lizards would rout Benin City though 8-0 in the finale on a combined three-hitter.

In the battle of green amphibians in round two, Ibadan earned two close wins (3-2, 4-2) to sweep Lagos. The Iguanas got their first Eastern League Championship Series trip since 2034 and looked to end a drought back to 2025. They lost to Libreville in the most recent appearance. The Lakers got pennants in 2034-35, but had failed to capture the crown in the three years since despite winning 103, 110, and 113 games.

Libreville had won the season series 5-1 over Ibadan and would sweep them in the ELCS, although the games were competitive with 3-2, 4-2, and 3-1 scores. Game one notably had a two-run eighth inning rally. SS Oumar Sibide was series MVP having gone 4-11 with three RBI. It is the fourth pennant for the Lakers since joining as a 2009 expansion team (2016, 2034, 2035, 2039).

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-27-2026, 08:51 AM

The 65^th West African Championship had Daloa looking to defend their crown, although the 90-win Danes were still a big underdog against 115-win Libreville. The Lakers hoped to establish this squad as an all-time and win their second overall ring. Libreville had won in 2035 over Monrovia, but lost to Bamako in 2034 and Dakar in 2016. . They had met in Gabon in August with the Laker taking two of three.

Libreville opened with a 5-0 win, getting a combined seven-hitter with 16 strikeouts between pitchers Ibrahima Ndaw and Tope Adamu. They held on 4-3 in game two, then saw a combined six-hit shutout on the road in a 6-0 game three. At that point, the Lakers seemed on their way to a sweep. But Daloa would swing back, starting with an 8-6 victory in game four.

Game five was tied 3-3 after regulation. Libreville scored in the top of the 12^th inning, but Daloa’s Bertin Atouba smacked a three-run walkoff homer for a 5-3 victory. This forced the series back to Gabon where the Danes secured a stunning 7-3 win in game six. With that, the series was even with Daloa hoping to become the first-ever WAB finals team to rally from a 3-0 hole.

The finale was a rainy Tuesday which had a 45-minute delay in the third inning. Libreville opened with two runs and three hits in the first inning. In the sixth, three hits, an error, a hit batsmen, and wild pitch allowed them to plate three more. Daloa got two back in the seventh, but no more as the Lakers won 5-2 to avoid the full collapse and dethrone the defending champ.

SS Oumar Sidibe was finals MVP, going 11-28 with 5 homers and 7 RBI. The 28-year old Malian had also earned LCS MVP, finishing his postseason with 15 hits, 9 runs, 2 doubles, 5 homers, 10 RBI, 1.262 OPS, 223 wRC+, and 0.9 WAR in 10 starts. At 115-47, the 2039 Lakers posted the second-best record by a West African Baseball champ. Only Kano’s 123-39 mark in 1999 during their epic dynasty was better, putting Libreville into rarefied air.

Other notes: 2039 was the final season for Youssoupha Diop, who spent one final year at age 42 with Yaounde with 28 homers, .804 OPS, 101 wRC+, and 0.9 WAR. He became one of only eight players in all of professional baseball to reach 4000 career hits. Diop retires at 4095, 5^th on the all-time world leaderboard and 2^nd in WAB behind the world hit king Fares Belaid.

Diop also ended with 3486 games, 2474 runs, 794 doubles, 986 home runs, 2703 RBI, 1437 walks, .998 OPS, 147 wRC+, and 108.4 WAR. On the world leaderboard, he is 9^th in games, 8^th in at-bats (12,978), 3^rd in runs, 4^th in doubles, 8^th in homers, and 2^nd in RBI. Diop is WAB’s leader in games and RBI and ranks 2^nd in runs, 2^nd in total bases (7957), and 2^nd in doubles behind only Belaid. He’s also 2^nd in homers, 3^rd in walks, and 6^th in WAR among position players.

Another long-tenured player retired in 2039 with Mark Johnston, who struggled to -1.7 WAR in his final year for Freetown at age 42. He had three WAB seasons and was known for his 19-year MLB tenure, but he also registers on the world leaderboards. Johnston’s combined pro career had 3296 games, 12,612 at-bats, 2025 runs, 3866 hits, 503 doubles, 864 homers, 2294 RBI, .914 OPS, 156 wRC+, and 106.3 WAR.

He breached 2000 runs in his final year, one of only 41 to do so in baseball history through 2039. Johnson ranks 34^th in runs, 18^th in hits, 12^th in at-bats, 27^th in games, 41^st in homers, and 19^th in RBI. 2039 also was the end for RF Randall Batin, who had two WAB seasons and the rest of his career in South Asia Baseball. He notably retired with 703 doubles, one of only 24 in world history with 700+.

In other hitting milestones, Junior Jose was the 13^th to 3000 hits. In 17 years with Dakar, the five-time MVP now has 3013 hits, 1898 runs, 558 doubles, 874 homers, 2195 RBI, 1.027 OPS, 154 wRC+, and 11.7 WAR. Emmanuel Marshall was the 19^th to 600 homers. Julius Emmanuel and Adekunle Ojo were the 32^nd and 33^rd to 1500 RBI. Kene Gbade was the 26^th to 1500 runs. 51 batters now have 2500 hits with Rodrigue Adoum and Julien Diakhate reaching the mark. Marshall won his 8^th Silver Slugger in RF.

Yussof Salou was the 12^th WAB pitcher to 200 wins, joining Mahamoud Sy and others. It was Sy’s last year, ending with a 211-115 record, 3.62 ERA, 3138.1 innings, 3316 Ks, and 80.2 WAR. On the WAB leaderboard, Sy is 5^th in wins, 19^th in strikeouts, and 4^th in pitching WAR. C Chuck Koffie won his 8^th Gold Glove. Conakry had 535 stolen bases as a team, setting a new WAB single season record. The Coyotes held the record previously with 525 in 1989.

West African Baseball had a small bump in scoring for the 2030s relative to the 2020s, ranking as the highest-scoring environment in the nearly 140 years of pro baseball history. WAB’s league ERA was around 4.70 with a batting average around .279. WAB has been the world’s highest-scoring league firmly since the 2010s, although the Arab League and African Association of Baseball have both closed the gap.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-27-2026, 08:43 PM

Xi’an had the Northern League’s best record by a healthy margin at the all-star break at 67-36 with only Hangzhou (62-41) particularly close. However, the Attack struggled to a 27-32 mark in the second half, a major problem in the West Division which included reigning NL champ Urumqi.

The Unicorns went 38-21 down the stretch, passing Xi’an to take the West Division at top seed at 97-65. The Attack finished 94-68, missing the playoffs along with 90-72 Zhengzhou as only division champs advance. Xi’an (553) and the Zips (555) had the fewest runs allowed in the NL, but came up short. Hangzhou’s 721 runs led all of Chinese League Baseball. They just missed the #1 seed at 96-66 but cruised to their third Southeast Division title in four years. The Hens had China’s best run differential at +135.

Shijiazhuang was the only East Central Division team above .500 at 88-74, giving the Serpents the CLB-record for longest playoff streak at nine seasons. The Northeast Division meanwhile was terrible with no winning teams, but competitive as they were separated by only three wins. Harbin (76-86) ended up the best of the bench ahead of Changchun (75-87), Shenyang (75-87), and Dalian (73-89). This ended a five-year playoff drought for the Hellcats. Since the switch to the divisional format in 2030, Harbin is the first team to advance with a losing record.

Despite being in that dung pile of a division, Swans LF Yi Zhao dominated Northern League MVP voting. He had 30 first place votes with the remaining two going to Urumqi’s Pengqing Gao. The 28-year old lefty led in home runs (53), RBI (119), total bases (391), slugging (.671), OPS (1.019), wRC+ (205), and WAR (10.6). Zhao won his sixth Gold Glove and added 180 hits, 98 runs, 30 doubles, and a .309 average. Shenyang drafted him #3 back in the 2032 CLB Draft.

Tianjin at 80-82 was also unremarkable, but they had the unanimous Pitcher of the Year Shaolei Liu. The 25-year old righty led in ERA (1.72), ERA+ (189), WHIP (0.84), FIP- (49), and WAR (8.4). Liu struck out 303 over 219.1 innings with a 17-7 record and 13 saves. The fifth-year Jackrabbit also tossed a no-hitter on June 19 against Lanzhou with 13 strikeouts and two walks.

Although Xi’an faded, their closer Chengye Xiong won his third consecutive Reliever of the Year. He also won in 2034, becoming the sixth in CLB history to win the award 4+ times. Xiong had a career-best 4.5 WAR and posted 36 saves in 71 games, a 2.02 ERA, 89 innings, and 134 strikeouts.

In the Triple Round Robin, Hangzhou took top billing at 6-3 to earn their third semifinal trip in seven years. Both Urumqi and Shijiazhuang went 5-4 while Harbin was 2-7. The Unicorns won their first game 4-1 over the Serpents and took the second 6-4. Although Shijiazhuang won the last one 2-1, Urumqi had the tiebreaker to keep their repeat hope intact.

The Hens went 2-1 against the Unicorns wit 3-0 and 7-3 wins and a 7-0 loss. Hangzhou had won 5-4 in their regular season meetings and got home field for the semifinal with their round robin performance. Urumqi led the opener 4-0, but three runs in the eighth and one in the ninth forced extras. The Unicorns picked up three singles to score a run in the 15^th en route to a 5-4 win. Urumqi then took game two 6-3, claiming the 2-0 advantage. Hangzhou bounced back 2-1 in game three, trailing 2-1 as the series shifted out west.

Urumqi won 6-1 at home, but the Hens battled back with 3-0 and 5-0 road wins to tie the series. Game five had a four-hit shutout by Imran Mahmud with a combined four-hitter in game six. Fans were excited for a decisive game seven back in Hangzhou, but the result was a shocking 11-1 blowout road win for the Unicorns.

With that, Urumqi earned its fourth trip to the China Series of the decade and sixth overall (2022, 24, 31, 35, 38, 39). They’re the first repeat Northern League winner since Changchun in 2016-17. Catcher Dongzhu Li was series MVP, going 12-39 with three homers and seven RBI.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-28-2026, 10:30 AM

Kunming was the main standout in the Southern League and had the best record at the all-star break at 64-39. Foshan was the next best at 59-44 and in the Southwest Division as well, but the Muscle pulled away and took first at 96-66. Nanning was second at 89-73 and the Flyers were third at 87-75. Kunming ended a four-year playoff drought, as Guangzhou had controlled the division in that gap. The Gamecocks took fourth at 82-80, although their streak of winning seasons is up to 11 years. The Muscle led all of Chinese League Baseball with 438 runs allowed.

No other teams breached 90 wins in the SL. Wuhan was the next best at 89-73 in the Central, finishing seven ahead of Chengdu. Reigning CLB champ Changsha fell hard down to 73-89. The Wolverines earned their second division title in four years. In the Southeast Division, Xiamen (87-75) held off Macau (84-78) and Hong Kong (83-79). The Mutts played their way to first in September with two sweeps of the Champions and a split in six games with the Magicians. Xiamen ended a nine-year playoff drought.

Nanchang led Shantou in the East division entering September, but the Scorpions erased the hole using a home sweep in the middle of the month. The Crickets hosted as they met again in the final series. Shantou won the first two by 2-0 and 7-4 margins, but Nanchang took the finale 7-2 to force a tiebreaker game. The Crickets prevailed 5-1 to avoid the collapse, repeating as division champs with their fifth title in seven years. Nanchang was the SL’s highest-scoring team with 654 runs.

It was the third Southern League MVP win for Nanchang’s Jinhao Lin, who also won in 2034 and 2035. The 32-year old LF won unanimously and led in runs (109), hits (202), RBI (118), walks (79), total bases (395), triple slash (.351/.430/.686), OPS (1.115), wRC+ (224), and WAR (11.1). Lin also had 48 home runs, 27 doubles, and 11 triples.

In a decade with the Crickets, Lin has 1718 hits, 967 runs, 192 doubles, 82 triples, 410 home runs, 960 RBI, 696 walks, .322/.403/.602 slash, 205 wRC+, and 90.7 WAR. He certainly could chase many of CLB’s statistical milestones, but many expect him to depart China altogether. Lin will be one of the world’s most in-demand free agents in the winter and few CLB teams may be willing or able to match the price-tag for a five-star player on the market.

Macau’s Vihaan Gita won his second Pitcher of the Year award in four years against a competitive field. He had 12 first place votes and 127 points, while Kunming’s Yoksing Hu was a very close second with nine first place votes and 119 points. Four other aces ended up with two or three first place votes. Power won the day for Gita with 381 strikeouts, the seventh-best single-season in CLB history. The 26-year old Indian righty also was the leader in WAR (9.9) and FIP- (45). Gita had a 17-7 record, 2.09 ERA, 236.2 innings, and 125 ERA+.

Kunming dominated the Triple Round Robin at 7-2, earning their first semifinal trip since 2027. Both Nanchang and Wuhan finished 4-5 while Xiamen was 3-6. The Wolverines opened the postseason with a 5-3 win over the Crickets, but Nanchang matched by the same margin. The decisive third meeting saw an 8-5 lead for Wuhan entering the bottom of the ninth inning. Nanchang saved their season with a four-run rally with two hits, one error, and three walks. Renliang Ni had the walkoff two RBI single with bases loaded to win it 9-8.

The Muscle was the favorite, having also just swept Nanchang in their three round robin meetings. The most recent one had been 9-6 in 11 innings. In the regular season though, the Crickets had narrowly taken the season series 5-4. They opened the Southern League final with a 7-3 road win. Kunming countered in a 13-inning second contest with a 2-1 final. Xiuquan Du had the walkoff RBI single. But Nanchang rebounded 6-2 in game three, reclaiming the series edge before getting to play three at home.

In game four, Ling Yang’s walkoff RBI single pushed Nanchang to a 3-2 victory. Kunming refused to concede with 6-2 and 8-3 road wins, forcing a decisive game seven back at Muscle Ballpark. It was a beautiful clear 82 degree Friday afternoon and a pitcher’s duel initially. The Crickets got solo runs in the sixth and eighth innings, taking a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning.

There, Kunming unloaded with six runs on four hits, one walk, and one error. A one-two-three ninth gave the Muscle the 6-2 win and the series in seven games. Kunming earned its ninth trip to the China Series (1977-79, 2000, 02-03, 16, 26, 38), tied for the second-most among CLB squads. RF Xuelin Huang was series MVP, going 14-37 with 6 homers and 12 RBI. His lone hit in game seven was the two-run homer that punctuated the six-run inning.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-28-2026, 06:52 PM

The 70^th China Series was the first finals battle between Kunming and Urumqi. The Unicorns were the runner-up the prior year to Changsha and were looking for their third Chinese League Baseball crown (2024, 2031). The Muscle were hoping for their fourth, but it had been a while since the last rings in 2002, 1978, and 1977. It was Kunming’s first finals trip since 2026.

The Unicorns had home field advantage and opened with a 5-0 win as they scattered eight hits. Urumqi then won 5-3 the next night. A solo run in the ninth pushed the Unicorns to a 3-2 road win in game three, putting them on the cusp of a sweep. Kunming battled back with 9-5 and 6-2 wins, forcing the series back out west for at least one more.

Urumqi took a 6-1 lead into the final inning of game six and survived the comeback bid for a 6-4 win, taking the series in six games. 3B Tan Aye Aung was series MVP, as the 25-year old from Myanmar went 9-17 with two homers and five RBI. Muscle RF Xuelin Huang notably set a CLB playoff record with 19 runs scored. Huang also had 12 homers and 20 RBI, ranking as second and fourth respectively in CLB postseason history. Hangzhou’s Ying Xiang also tied the CLB playoff record with 12 walks drawn.

Other notes: CLB home run king and runs leader Syamsul Azzahari added total bases and RBI to his career crowns. He now has 4996 total bags, passing Tao Cai’s 4759; and 1504 RBI; passing Cai’s 1426. At age 37, the Malaysian 1B was still strong with 6.3 WAR in his 16^th year for Jinan. Azzahari has 2749 hits, 1419 runs, 653 homers, .979 OPS, 189 wRC+, and 131.7 WAR. He’s #2 in hits behind Junjie Hsiung’s 2824 and now #4 in WAR for position players.

At only age 29, Shijiazhuang 3B Xiaotian Xu became CLB’s leader for playoff homers with 34. Kenny Sang entered the year with the record 31, which Urumqi’s Pengqing Gao also passed in 2039 with 32. Xu by far is the RBI leader with 87. Active players also hold the lead for runs (Yan Bashi, 78) and hits (Chao Song, 140; Bashi has 139).

CLB’s 59^th perfect game came on August 15 from Guangzhou’s Gengji Zhou with 10 strikeouts against Chongqing. Then on September 1, Zhengzhou’s Samuel Louis had CLB’s 60^th perfecto in an 11 strikeout effort against Qingdao. Kunming closer Yoyo Hu made CLB history, becoming the first to win both Reliever of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season.

In other milestones, Tarzin Dohadailo and Jinhao Lin were the 23^rd and 24^th to 400 career homers. Kerui Wang was the 25^th to 1000 runs scored and the 24^th to 2000 hits. Hao Tian and Sang Choy were the 21^st and 22^nd to 1000 RBI. Hongjun Wang was the 18^th pitcher to 3000 strikeouts. CF Ming Bai won his 8^th Gold Glove.

Rule changes made the 2030s the highest-scoring decade for Chinese League Baseball by a noticeable margin. The league ERA went from around 2.55 in the 2010s, to around 2.87 in the 2020s, up to about 3.25 in the 2030s. The batting average also grew from around .215, to .230, up to about .243.

It is a large departure from CLB being the lowest-scoring league or close to it for most of its prior history. On the world historical scale, the 2030s CLB still is a below average scoring league and among the lower-end compared to other 2030s leagues.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-29-2026, 08:14 AM

Austronesia Professional Baseball was the latest to become more restrictive for player movement, increasing the minimum service years required for free agency to nine years. APB had alternated between seven and eight years in its history prior. Only Eurasian Professional Baseball was more restrictive at ten seasons. Many world leagues were trying to retain homegrown talent. Major League Baseball also bumped up to nine years in 2039, joining APB, Beisbol Sudamerica, and Chinese League Baseball.

Four teams were in a fierce fight for the Taiwan League title at the all-star break. Kaohsiung narrowly led this group at 58-36 with defending TL champ Chiayi at 56-38, Tainan at 56-39, and Taichung at 56-40. It was the Toucans who ultimately pulled away with a high-powered offense, going 45-21 after the break. Taichung finished 101-61 for the top seed in the Taiwan-Philippine Association, ending an eight-year playoff drought.

Taichung’s offense set a new Austronesia Professional Baseball record for team batting average at .269. Their .314 on-base percentage and .438 slugging were both second-best, while their 720 runs and 1473 hits ranked as third-best. The Toucans also had APB’s top run differential in 2039 at +189 and were second in runs allowed for the TPA at 531.

For the #2 spot, Tainan was 8-2 in their last ten games while both Kaohsiung and Chiayi were 5-5. That made the difference for the Titans to take second at 95-67, ahead of the 92-70 Steelheads and 91-71 City Hawks. Tainan’s playoff streak grew to nine seasons, tied for the longest in APB history along with Taipei’s 2012-20 run. The Titans have been above .500 each year since 2027.

In the Philippine League, defending APB champ Manila was 60-34 at the all-star break with a healthy lead over 55-38 Batangas and 52-41 Zamboanga. The Manatees used the cushion to hold onto the #1 spot for back-to-back seasons at 98-64. Manila was great at escaping jams in 2039 with a 38-21 record in one-run games and 17-4 mark in extra innings.

The Zebras’ 42-27 second half allowed them to catch and pass the Beach Bums, including a 12-game winning streak in mid-September. Zamboanga finished 94-68 to grow their playoff streak to five seasons, while Batangas was one back at 93-69. It was a new franchise best for the Beach Bums, a 2029 expansion team still shooting for its first playoff appearance. Cebu was a distant fourth at 87-75. The Zebras allowed 529 runs, the best in the TPA.

Leading Taichung’s powerful offense was Taiwan-Philippine Association MVP Chih-Sheng Hsiao. The 27-year old first baseman got 25 first place votes, while Chiayi’s Maysaroh Putro got the remaining three. Hsiao led in triple slash (.345/.415/.655), OPS (1.070), wRC+ (219), WAR (11.2), total bases (380), and RBI (127). The 6’8’’ slugger added 200 hits, 110 runs, 32 doubles, and 48 homers; four dingers short of a Triple Crown.

Hsiao’s OBP was the second-best single-season in APB history behind only Binh Tang’s .416 from 2032. His OPS also ranked as fourth-best behind only three Tang seasons. Hsaio was in his fourth season with the Toucans, having been picked 10^th overall in the 2035 APB Draft. He also earned All-Star Game MVP honors in 2039.

Pitcher of the Year was a close battle with Zamboanga’s Syamsir Wahyudi taking it narrowly over Taichung’s Chih-Kang Kuo. The former had 17 first place votes and 163 points, while the latter had 11 and 145. Kuo notably was the leader in WAR at 7.4 and FIP at 1.98.

As for Wahyudi, he had a breakout season with an ERA title at 2.01. The 27-year old Indonesian righty had a 17-8 record, 255 innings, 268 strikeouts, 164 ERA+, 68 FIP-, and 6.5 WAR. Wahyudi debuted in 2034 at age 22, but was only used for 41 total innings in his first five seasons.

The divisional round saw reigning champ Manila grab 6-5 and 3-2 wins over Tainan, getting the sweep along with their one-game advantage as PL champ. The Manatees erased a 5-0 hole in the first game, then got a walkoff sacrifice fly in the second game after a leadoff triple.

On the other side, Taichung came with the built-in game advantage, but Zamboanga rattled off three straight road wins. Their 2-1 opener had the go-ahead run in the ninth, followed by a 4-3 win in ten innings. The finale was 12-10 as the Zebras earned their first Taiwan-Philippine Association Championship trip since 2035.

Since the 2029 expansion, the TPA had never seen two teams from the same league meeting in the final. Incidentally, it had happened thrice over in the Sundaland Association. Although Manila was four games ahead of Zamboanga in the Philippine League, the Zebras had won the season series 12-8. They kept that energy by taking the series opener 3-2 on the road, getting a complete game win from POTY winner Samsir Wahyudi. Manila countered 7-1 in game two.

In game three, an RBI walkoff single in the ninth gave Zamboanga the 2-1 home win. The Zebras then took 7-3 and 7-2 home wins to claim the series in five, dethroning the reigning champ. Zamboanga ended a 15-year pennant drought and became ten-time Taiwan-Philippine Association champs (2001, 03, 04, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 23, 39) second-most behind Cebu (11).

2B Charles Balatibat was the series MVP in his 13^th season with the team. He was a beloved fan favorite known for his scrappiness with a career 111 wRC+ and 23.2 WAR in 1815 games. The 35-year old Filipino went 8-19 in the series with two homers and five RBI. Balatibat was also the MVP of their earlier sweep of Taichung, going 8-13 in that series with a homer and two RBI.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-29-2026, 06:52 PM

Batam rolled the Malacca League field at 98-64 and took the top seed in the Sundaland Association. While the Blue Raiders earned repeat playoff trips, it was their first time in the top spot since 2032. They had the SA’s best run differential at +117 and was 47-21 after the all-star break, the best in all of Austronesia Professional Baseball. At the break, they were actually 1.5 back on Pekanbaru for first place.

The Palms needed all of that cushion they built up to hold onto the #2 spot with a 33-34 finish to the season. At 86-76, Pekanbaru just narrowly stayed ahead of Johor Bahru (85-77), defending SA champ Kuala Lumpur (84-78) and Singapore (82-80). The Palms ended an eight-year playoff drought, while the Leopards had their six-year streak ended. Medan, who had been .500 or better each year since 2029, notably fell completely off a cliff to 56-106. The Marlins had a 1.240 team WHIP, which was a new Sundaland Association worst.

At the midway point, Depok, Semarang, Surabaya, Palembang, and Jakarta were all separated by only three wins in the Java Sea League. The Jaguars imploded with a 21-47 finish, while the Panthers and Sunbirds both played around .500 ball the rest of the way. The Demons went 9-1 in their last ten and ended up tying with the Sliders at 90-72.

Tiebreaker games aren’t used for league titles, giving the crown to Depok as they were 11-9 in the season series with Semarang. This ended a six-year playoff drought for the Demons and was their first title since 2000. The Sliders playoff streak grew to seven seasons with their fifth wild card of that run. Depok led the Sundaland Association with 617 runs scored, while Semarang had the fewest runs allowed in APB at 423.

Depok 2B Chun-Hsiu Lai won a near deadlocked MVP race with 13 first place votes and 307 points, while Johor Bahru LF Made Daniel had 12 first place vote and 301. Demons RF Mohd Ashraf Matlan also had two first place votes. The runner-up Daniel led in RBI (112), runs (102), and had 56 home runs.

The winner Lai was the WARlord in his third season at 9.5 and led with 22 triples. The 26-year old Taiwanese righty added 174 hits, 91 runs, 26 doubles, 32 homers, 94 RBI, .934 OPS, and 189 wRC+. He was signed as a prospect by Tainan, but was traded to Cebu and then Depok before debuting in 2037.

Semarang LF Wijaya Yama wasn’t an MVP finalist despite his 60 home runs, two short of the APB single-season record of 62 from 1969 by Po-Yu Shao. The only other 60+ dinger season in APB was Wil Tabaldo’s 61 in 2012. The 33-year old Yama has led in homers five consecutive seasons and posted a 164 wRC+ and 5.6 WAR in 2039.

Pitcher of the Year was Makassar’s Muhammad Fakhrul Balagumaran with 13 first place votes and 141 points. Kuala Lumpur’s John Gonzalez was second with 109 points and 7 first place nods, while Semarang’s Yuchi Jiang has 103 points and eight first place nods.

In his second season, Balagumaran won the ERA title at 1.46. The 24-year old Malaysian lefty had a 15-8 record, 221.1 innings, 233 strikeouts, 206 ERA+, 63 FIP-, and 7.1 WAR. The tragic news for him and the Maroon Giants was his torn labrum suffered on September 15. Balagumaran is expected to miss the entire 2040 season with an estimated 13-14 month recovery.

In the divisional round, Batam had the one-game bonus and opened with a 4-2 win over Semarang. The Sliders took game two 4-3, but were routed 10-1 in game three to give the Blue Raiders their first Sundaland Association Championship trip since their 2029 pennant.

On the other side of the bracket, Depok had the bonus and took the opener 4-3, although they needed 11 innings. On the first pitch in the bottom of the inning, Adam Jeminez ended the game on a 341 home run just over the left field fence. Pekanbaru wasn’t going to be an easy out, winning the next two by 6-3 and 8-5 margins. In the game four clincher, Depok opened with a three-run homer by Mohd Ashraf Matlan in the first inning. That held in a 3-1 win, earning their second finals trip since 2032.

Depok was the only original APB team to have never won a pennant to this point, going 0-6 in their prior trips to the Sundaland Association Championship. The Demons won the season series 4-2 over Batam, but the Blue Raiders had home field advantage. The opener needed ten innings with Depok taking it 2-1, getting four singles for the go-ahead run in the top half. Batam got the leadoff man on in the bottom half, but then had a flyout and double play.

The Blue Raiders got the better of a 1-0 pitcher’s duel in game two, the lone run coming on Isak Apridianto’s homer in the fifth. Batam then took the series lead on a 5-3 road win, but the Demons countered 3-2 the next night. In game five, the Blue Raiders had a 6-3 lead after the top of the sixth, but Depok chipped away with solo runs in the remaining innings. In the ninth, MVP Chun-Hsiu Lai got a one-out triple and was knocked in on an RBI single by Irsal Putriana for a 7-6 walkoff win.

Depok then clinched the series in game six on the road 5-0 on a gem by Cy Pongo, a two-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and four walks. SS John Aguirre was series MVP, leading all players with ten hits. Closer Mike Kyaw had three wins with five scoreless innings of relief in close games.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-30-2026, 07:33 AM

The 75^th Austronesia Championship was the first for Depok despite being a charter franchise. Zamboanga was making their tenth appearance and first since 2023. The Zebras had gone 2-7 in their previous tries with the lone wins in 2013 and 2018; book-ending their five trips in six years. They had different paths as Zamboanga was their association’s best in pitching, while the Demons were theirs for scoring.

Austronesia Professional Baseball alternates home field between associations, so Depok had it for 2039. The Demons opened the series with 3-1 and 7-4 home wins, then took game three on the road 3-1. It appeared Depok might finally get that first title, but the Zebras rallied. Zamboanga won 8-4 and 7-0 to close the action in the Philippines, then went to Indonesia to claim game six 5-3. The Austronesia Championship had never seen a team rally from down 3-0 to win the championship.

Game seven made more history as it ultimately went 14 innings. The APB finals had gone to extra twice before in a game seven; a 12-inning affair in 1996 with Taoyuan over Singapore and a 13-inning battle in 2016 with Semarang beating Taipei. The 14 innings were the second-most ever by a game seven in any league’s overall championship. The only one longer was the 2019 Arab League Championship battle between Tripoli and Jeddah which needed 17 innings.

In regulation, Depok’s runs were solo spots in the second, fourth, and seventh innings. Zamboanga scored one in the fourth and two in the eighth, the latter with a two-run bomb to center by Malaka Ismail. The score stayed 3-3 with only one player getting in scoring position from innings 9-13. In the tenth, Depok’s Mohd Ashraf Matlan got a two-out walk, stole second, and got to third on a throwing error. But MVP Chun-Hsiu Lai struck out on three pitches and the game continued.

In the top of the 14^th for Zamboanga, Ismail got an infield single and then stole second base. The next batter Arthur Cubano had an RBI single to score Ismail. Cubano advanced to second and they intentionally walked the next man to setup a double play. Cubano got to third on a flyout, then scored on a passed ball. Another intentional walk put two on, with Hu Hu getting an RBI double to score C.J. Diaz. They got the next two outs, but the damage was done. Depok went 1-2-3 in the bottom half, giving the Zebras the 6-3 win to complete the 3-0 rally.

Ismail was critical in game seven and won series MVP. The 32-year old LF had won three Silver Sluggers with Batam, who traded him to Zamboanga for 2039. Ismail was 9-29 for the series with three homers and five RBI. It was a heartbreaking way for the Demons to fall in their first finals trip, while the Zebras grabbed their third title and kept the cup in the Philippines for another year. There have been seven different champs in seven years.

Other notes: In his 20^th season for Taoyuan, Wei-Yin Wang became APB’s all-time hit king at 3567, passing Junior Sanchez’s 3564. He’s one of only 71 players in world history through 2039 with 3500 career pro hits. Wang also passed Binh Tang’s 568 to become APB’s doubles king at 585. At age 39, he was still good for a 135 wRC+ and 3.4 WAR.

Wang also became only the 3^rd in APB to 1500 runs scored. His 128.76 WAR is 3^rd among APB position players and he became the second in APB with 3000 games played. His 3023 is 30 behind Iqbal Safari’s record. The #1 spots for runs or RBI are likely untouchable with Tang’s 1915 and 1928, but Wang could reach the #2 spot for both stats next year with a good showing.

At age 40 in his Batam debut, six-time MVP James Yuwono was still solid with a .933 OPS, 174 wRC+, and 4.4 WAR. He moved to 138.1 career WAR, which places him 91^st on the all-time leaderboard among all players ever. Yuwono is 2^nd among position players in APB, although Binh Tang’s 189.6 is unreachable. Yuwono has 1403 runs (5^th), 2618 hits (10^th), 676 homers (3^rd), and 1476 RBI (6^th). His career wRC+ sits at 206; only four Hall of Famers in any world league have a higher mark.

Makassar pitcher Rey Oliva was just excited to make his professional debut on September 1 against Medan and hoped to do alright. He did more than alright, throwing APB’s 63^rd perfect game in his first-ever start, striking out 11. Oliva is believed to be the only pitcher ever to be perfect in their first start. Tsi-Hsiang Peng had a no-hitter for Taoyuan later in the month, the second of his career.

Johor Bahru’s Yusuf Tarif had 51 doubles, setting a new single-season APB record. Two players had previously hit 50. Veteran 1B Ashraf Zeky led in walks for the 11^th season and became APB’s all-time leader in walks drawn at 1105. Jen-Feng Leu had held the record of 1079 since 2004. Manila’s Peter Luque had a 28-game hitting streak, tied for the 5^th-longest in APB history.

In other milestones, Chin-Tsai Lan was the 7^th to 600 home runs, the 15^th to 2500 hits, and 4^th to 1500 RBI. 46 aces now have 3500 strikeouts with Yuchi Jiang, Yu-Lin Hsu, and Muhammad Danial Ismail reaching it in 2039. Marten Hasan was the 19^th closer to 300 saves. LF Kundugga Utomo and 1B Amir Yusman both won their 7^th Gold Glove.

Hsinchu continued to struggle with historically bad pitching. Their 9.39 H/9, 1513 hits allowed, and 1.351 WHIP were each new APB all-time worsts. The Sweathogs’ 4.27 ERA, 764 runs allowed, and 688 earned runs were both the 2^nd-worst behind Hsinchu’s 2037 season.

Like many leagues in the 2030s, Austronesia Professional Baseball changed rules to increase scoring. APB had been the lowest-scoring league in the world and still would be in the 2030s, albeit by less extreme metrics. The Taiwan-Philippine Association (with the DH) went from a 2.83 ERA in the 2020s to 3.22 in the 2030s. The TPA’s batting average spiked from .223 to .240.

The Sundaland Association (sans DH) saw a bump from a .212 average to .228 and from a 2.53 ERA to 2.75. The SA was still the lowest-scoring subleague in the world for the 2030s, but they moved from extremely low to merely very low scoring on the historical scale. The TPA was now in the low-to-below average range with its offense relative to baseball history, but still near the bottom compared to other 2030s offerings.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-30-2026, 07:24 PM

At the all-star break, Hobart controlled the Australasia League at 60-28, while Adelaide was a competitive second at 56-32. Sydney, the defending Oceania Baseball Association champ, was a distant third at 50-38. The Snakes had a solid second half, but couldn’t make up ground and finished third at 92-70. The Aardvarks were able to make up some ground after the Tasmaniacs suffered a six-game losing streak in mid-September.

Adelaide got within one game entering the final week and Hobart was 2-4 in their final two series, but the Aardvarks were no better. The Tasmaniacs held on for first place at 100-62, one game ahead of the 99-63 Aardvarks. It was Adelaide’s best season since their most recent pennant way back in 2001, continuing their lengthy drought.

For Hobart, this was their fourth title, having also three-peated from 2034-36. They led the AL in scoring with 762 runs and had the best run differential in OBA at +191. The Aardvarks allowed the AL’s fewest runs at 544. The rest of the league finished with losing records.

There was an incredibly tight race for Australasia League MVP. Hobart 2B Chaz Callihan narrowly took it with 235 points and 11 first place votes, while Canberra 1B David Demidowicz had nine first place votes and 223 points. The Centurions’ lack of team success tanked Demidowicz’s chance, as he posted only the tenth hitting Triple Crown in OBA history.

It was the OBA debut for the 34-year old Polish righty, who had spent his entire career previously with Tirana of the European Baseball Federation. Demidowicz led in home runs (49), RBI (131), total bases (344), average (.354), slugging (.676), OPS (1.043), wRC+ (204), and WAR (8.1). However, Callihan was by no means a bum, winning MVP for the third time in his career (2033, 36, 39).

The 30-year old Australian lefty was the leader in on-base percentage (.379) and runs (97). Callihan had 159 hits, 25 doubles, 7 triples, 36 homers, 95 RBI, .338 average, 1.028 OPS, 194 wRC+, and 7.5 WAR. It was his tenth year with the Tasmaniacs and he was a critical reason Hobart had its first-ever contention in the 2030s. One of Australia’s biggest superstars, Callihan is due for free agency and is expected to draw offers worldwide.

Hobart also had the Pitcher of the Year Ashton Aucoin, who had all but one first place vote. It was his second POTY, having also won it in 2035. The 32-year old Australian righty led in wins (24-12), innings (337), strikeouts (370), quality starts (29), complete games (17), FIP- (69), and WAR (10.1). Aucoin had a 2.99 ERA and 122 ERA+. The former #1 overall pick was in his tenth year as well with the Tasmaniacs, but unlike Callihan, he was under contract through 2043.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-31-2026, 07:57 AM

The Pacific League was a two-team race through the first chunk of the season. Defending champ Honolulu led at the all-star break with a 58-30 record with Timor one back. The Tapirs were hoping for their first-ever pennant, but they faded slightly in the second half. Vanuatu inserted itself into the conversation as well with the best post-break record at 46-28.

That wasn’t enough though to catch the Honu, who repeated as PL champs at 100-62. The Wizards finished second at 97-65, followed by Timor (96-66), Guam (90-72), and Guadalcanal (87-75). Honolulu has 17 pennants (1962, 63, 81-84, 86, 88-90, 93, 95, 96, 2019, 28, 38, 39), tied with the Golden Eagles for the most of any Oceania Baseball Association squad. They’re the first team to repeat in the PL since the 2031-32 Green Jackets.

Honolulu’s 790 runs were the most in OBA, while Timor’s 525 runs allowed were the fewest. This was a franchise-record season for the Tapirs, who are the only squad in OBA without at least one pennant. Tahiti notably dropped to 75-87 only two years removed from winning it all, ending a run of six straight winning seasons by the Tropics.

The Honu had the amazing feat of having the top four placers in a competitive Pacific League MVP race. 1B Levi Cole won with eight first place votes and 211 points, closely followed by 2B Joe Jese with seven first place votes and 185 points. 3B Kipling Smith and 2B Oddur Gaard also received top votes, as did New Caledonia’s 1B Ross Lucios. The runner-up Jese notably led in WAR (8.0), runs (111), and stolen bases (89).

The winner Cole led in home runs (47), total bases (344), and slugging (.585). The 34-year old Australian righty had 167 hits, 100 runs, 24 doubles, 101 RBI, .918 OPS, 164 wRC+, and 6.3 WAR. It was his sixth season in Hawaii after starting his career with Adelaide. Cole is there for the long-haul having signed a five-year, $176,400,000 extension in March 2038. 2039 was a big bounce back for him, having suffered a broken kneecap the prior fall.

Pitcher of the Year was Timor’s Bret Poblano with 11 first place votes and 107 points. Honolulu’s Pio Madigi was second with six first place votes and 91 points. Reliever of the Year winner Khalid Al-Jasim of Vanuatu also got three first place votes. The runner-up Poblano was in his second OBA season, having played in both CABA and MLB previously.

The 29-year old Nicaraguan righty led in ERA (2.68), innings (325.1), WHIP (0.92), quality starts (30), and shutouts (5). Poblano had a 16-14 record, 356 strikeouts, 134 ERA+, 87 FIP-, and 6.3 WAR. He had been a journeyman previously, so the Tapirs got him at a bargain $31,760,000 over six years when he signed. Poblano notably had a no-hitter in January’s Baseball Grand Championship for his native Nicaragua against the Bahamas.

FuzzyRussianHat · 01-31-2026, 11:28 PM

The 80^th Oceania Championship was back-to-back appearances for Honolulu, who lost in 2038 to Sydney. Despite having eight overall titles, the Honu hadn’t won it all since 1995, losing in their last four trips. It was the fourth finals berth in six years for Hobart, whose lone win was 2035 over Samoa. Both teams were 100-62, but the Tasmaniacs’ fewer runs allowed gave them home field advantage.

Hobart opened with a 6-0 home win, getting a five-hit shutout by Pitcher of the Year winner Ashton Aucoin. Game two was a pitcher’s duel that went ten innings. MVP Levi Cole led off the tenth with a triple and was knocked in by Kipling Smith for a 2-1 Honu win. The series shifted to Hawaii, but the Tasmaniacs reclaimed control on an 8-6 road win. 1B Jody Riley homered twice with four RBI.

In game four, Hobart had a five-run rally in the top of the ninth inning to prevail 8-7, capped off by Riley’s grand slam just over the left field fence. Honolulu exploded though 16-2 in game five to force the series back to Tasmania. The Honu snagged a 6-1 road win in game six on eight strong innings by veteran Aiden Bothel, forcing a decisive game seven on a 56 degree Thursday evening.

Honolulu took control with three runs in the third inning via a Ben Reff solo homer and a two-run shot by Cole. They never surrendered the lead after that, although it was back to 5-3 after the seventh inning, The Honu added some insurance as veteran Dirk Murray gave up only three runs over his eight innings of work. Aucoin gave up 12 hits and seven runs (five earned) over his 7.2 innings. Honolulu prevailed 8-3 to become nine-time OBA champs (1982-84, 86, 88-90, 95, 2039). This ties them with Guam for the most titles and ended their 43-year drought.

CF Richard Solis was named series MVP, going 14-25 with four RBI, six runs, two doubles, and one triple. His .560 average was a new postseason record (20 plate appearances required). Joe Jese also had 14 hits, tied for the third-most in series history. Cole had 11 RBI, tying the OBA playoff record reached by three others.

Other notes: The four-time Pitcher of the Year Dirk Murray decided to retire at age 36 after earning the win in game seven. It was his second year with the Honu and second OBA title, having also won with Tahiti in 2034. Murray was a Canadian who played his first seven years in MLB with Sacramento before arriving and dominating in OBA. He finished his OBA career with an 180-90 record, 2.74 ERA, 2652.1 innings, 2929 strikeouts, 131 ERA+, 79 FIP-, and 63.7 WAR. Adding the MLB years, Murray was 271-176 with a 3.46 ERA, 4290 innings, 4271 Ks, 115 ERA+, 86 FIP-, and 88.0 WAR.

John Skeffington was the 7^th OBA batter to the 3000 hit club. Marika Wati was the 17^th to 1500 RBI. Allan Clover was the 26^th pitcher to 3500 strikeouts and Ashton Aucoin was the 56^th to 3000 K. Both 3B Glen Cortes and SS Aquila Tabucava won their 8^th consecutive Gold Glove. SS Mathew Bellamy won his 11^th Silver Slugger, becoming the 6^th at any position in OBA to win the honor 11+ times.

Sydney’s pitching staff set a new Australasia League record for fewest walks allowed (225) and best BB/9 (1.37). Hobart had 232 walks and 1.43 BB/9, the 2^nd-best mark. Vanuatu’s Helmut Kiala notably had a no-hitter on July 15 against Port Moresby with one walk and zero strikeouts. This was the 5^th no-hitter in all of baseball history with zero strikeouts.

The Oceania Baseball Association’s scoring was slightly down from the prior decade, but mostly in line with OBA’s environment in the 21^st Century. The Australasia League (with the DH) had a 3.65 ERA and .253 batting average in the 2030s, while the Pacific League (sans DH) had a .247 average and 3.59 ERA. On the all-time historical scale, this was around average for scoring, but it was low-ish compared to the many inflated leagues of the 2030s.

01-22-2026, 06:22 AM	#2681
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 Arab League Championship 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. __________________ 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)

01-22-2026, 09:22 PM	#2682
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	ALB After 50 Years 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. __________________ 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)

01-23-2026, 09:20 AM	#2683
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 ABF East League 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. __________________ 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)

01-23-2026, 09:46 PM	#2684
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 ABF West League 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. __________________ 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)

01-24-2026, 12:53 PM	#2685
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 ABF Championship 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. __________________ 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)

01-24-2026, 09:06 PM	#2686
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 SAB Indian League Defending Indian League champ Mumbai had the best record at the all-star break at 68-31, although Madurai was close behind for the top seed at 66-33. The Rams had the best second half at 40-23 and went 11-3 to close the season, passing the Meteors for the #1 seed. At 106-56, the Rams won the South Division and set a franchise record. It was their third playoff trip in four years and their 547 runs allowed were tied for the fewest in all of South Asia Baseball. Mumbai was a strong #2 at 104-58 for a third successive West Division title and their fifth berth in six years. The Meteors led the IL in runs (804) and differential (+236). They had a team .293 batting average and .342 on-base percentage, the second and third-best in IL history. Mumbai had to stay strong to fend off Pune in the West, who finished 40-23. The big cushion still left a five-game gap, but the 99-63 Purple Knights easily got the first wild card. Pune picked up its fourth playoff trip in five years. Visakhapatnam was 61-38 at the all-star break, but had a mediocre 30-33 end to the season. Still, the Volts finished 91-71 to secure the second wild card by a six game margin. Their playoff streak grew to five years and their stretch of winning seasons extended to 18 years. Since 2022, Visakhapatnam has missed the playoffs only thrice. Their 91 wins in 2039 was actually their lowest win total of their playoff appearances in this run. There weren’t any standouts in the Central Division with five of the six teams separated by six wins at the all-star break. Delhi and Kolkata were the only ones with a winning record in the back-end. The Drillers dominated their season series 13-5, which made the difference for to end a three-year playoff drought. Delhi was first at 86-76, followed by the 85-77 Cosmos, 83-79 Jaipur, and 80-82 Lucknow. The Drillers notably were 20-29 in one-run games. Delhi also had 94 triples, the second-most by an IL team in a season. The Central Division had the top two placers in an open Indian League MVP race. Jaipur 3B Niamur Bhuiyan took it with 17 first place votes, while Delhi 2B Hamizan Ilham was a close second with 13. Vadodara’s Rama Raji (4) and Mumbai’s Pingyu Fei (2) also had first place votes. The runner-up Ilham notably led in WAR (8.9), OBP (.428), hits (242), runs (149), doubles (53), triples (30), and steals (115). The runs were tied for the fourth-best single-season in SAB history, the hits were fifth, and triples third. However, Ilham was a leadoff man and his zero homers and 61 RBI was a deal breaker for some voters. The winner Bhuiyan didn’t have huge power stats either, but did lead in total bases with 386. The 25-year old Bangladeshi had 232 hits, 117 runs, 42 doubles, 17 triples, 26 homers, 109 RBI, 1.016 OPS, 170 wRC+, and 8.5 WAR. Bhuiyan also hit for the cycle in September against Vadodara. Jaipur gave him a six-year, $170,400,000 extension in April. Madurai’s Paing Myint won Pitcher of the Year with all but one of the first place votes. The 30-year old Burmese lefty had been up with the Rams since 2031, but had only posted above average stats prior to his 2039 breakout. Myint led in wins (22-7) and strikeouts (353) while posting a 2.48 ERA in 214.1 innings, 161 ERA+, 74 FIP-, and 5.7 WAR. He was the definition of “effectively wild” when on with an 11/10 stuff rating, but 2/10 control and 3/10 movement. Visakhapatnam earned 3-1 and 10-2 road wins against Pune to advance from the wild card round. Top seed Madurai opened the divisional series with 4-2 and 9-5 home wins over the Volts. However, Visakhapatnam was feisty and took the next two by 5-4 and 4-1 margins. The Volts pulled off the 3-2 upset in the finale, forcing a double play to end the game. Visakhapatnam earned repeat trips to the Indian League Championship Series, while the top seed Rams were one-and-done. Mumbai rolled in their first game 8-1, but Delhi rebounded with a 6-4 road upset. The Drillers went ahead with a 2-1 road win despite getting only one hit in the victory. Delhi now had a 2-1 lead after three road games and had two possible home games to end the series. Mumbai survived but needed 12 innings to claim game four 5-2. The teams combined for 22 hits but only seven runs in game five, as Delhi prevailed 4-3 to dethrone the reigning champs. It was the Drillers’ first ILCS trip since their 2034 SAB title. It was the first time since 2027 that the weakest two records advanced to the ILCS. Delhi had home field as a division champ despite Visakhapatnam having a better record. They had split their six regular season games. Game one was a total pitcher’s duel with no scoring through 12 innings. The Volts finally broke the deadlock with a leadoff single in the top of the 13^th by Faure Date. He was bunted to second, then knocked in by Szabolcs Forgacs’ RBI single. The Drillers got a two-out double in the bottom half, but the next batter struck out to strand him. Visakhapatnam then crushed Delhi 11-1 in game two for the 2-0 lead before playing at home. Game three was another pitcher’s duel which was even 1-1 after regulation. The Drillers unloaded with a five-run tenth inning to win 6-1. The next night, the Volts rallied with three runs on three hits in the bottom of the ninth inning. Wes Potter’s sacrifice fly to center scored a tagging Groyou Coulibaly for a 5-4 walkoff win, the first home win of the series. The Volts would clinch the series in five at home with another 5-4 result, earning the seventh pennant since 2023. Visakhapatnam now has nine Indian League titles overall, each in the 21^st Century (2012, 13, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32, 33, 39). Veteran catcher Faure Date was series MVP, going 8-16 with one homer, five runs, and three RBI. __________________ 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)

01-25-2026, 08:08 AM	#2687
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 SAB Southeast Asia League Reigning South Asia Baseball champ Da Nang followed up their 114-win 2038 campaign with an incredible 122-40 run in 2039. It is only the 21^st time in all of pro baseball history that a team won 122+ games in a season. Notably, eight of those have occurred in the notably top-heavy SAB. Three of those teams won the SAB Championship; 1995 Ahmedabad (124-38), 2028 Mandalay (124-38), and 2004 Ho Chi Minh City (122-40). Two others lost in the championship and two others had first round exits, most notably the 126-win HCMC squad in 1993. The 2039 Nailers had a +355 run differential and led SAB in runs scored (902) and fewest allowed (547). Their bullpen had 62 saves, tied for the third-most in SAB history. Da Nang earned a fourth straight 100+ win season and South Division title. They were nearly unstoppable at home with an absurd 72-9 record at Nailers Ballpark. They were 27 games ahead of the next best team in the Southeast Asia League. The #2 seed and the other two division titles had a tight battle. At the all-star break, Nay Pyi Taw was 61-38, four ahead of Vientiane in the Central Division. Mandalay led the West at 60-39 with Rajshahi only one back. Kathmandu would add themselves into the picture with a 42-21 record after the break, the best mark outside of Da Nang. The Capitals’ early cushion allowed them to hold on in the Central at 95-67. This was the first-ever playoff berth for Nay Pyi Taw, who was a 2030 expansion team. The Chaparrals had an 11-2 finish to the season, including a three-game home sweep of the Red Pandas to end the season. Mandalay took two of three from the Nailers in mid-September, but went 2-4 in their final series against Hanoi and Khulna. The Mammoths lost their final two games to the Claws both on walkoffs, the finale 6-5 and the penultimate affair 4-3 in 11 innings. With that, Kathmandu won the West Division at 94-68 and the 93-69 Mammoths got the first wild card. This ended a 23-year playoff drought in the Nepali capital and was their second-ever division title (1986). Mandalay, last year’s SEAL runner-up, earned their fourth playoff trip in five years and has only missed twice since 2026. Rajshahi collapsed late with a ten-game losing streak to end the season, finishing their 162^nd game at 90-72. However, the Red Pandas’ earlier successes kept them in the fight. They finished tied with Central runner-up Vientiane for the final wild card. The next closest was Ho Chi Minh City at 86-76 and Yangon at 85-77; the latter notably closing with a 15-game win streak. The Red Pandas salvaged the season and avoided the complete collapse by beating the Vampires 3-2 in the tiebreaker game. Rajshahi picked up their second playoff trip in three years with the win. Although they missed the cut, Vientiane notably had its first winning season since 2028. Hanoi, the 2036 and 2037 SAB champ, finished at 84-78 and saw its playoff streak end at three seasons. Leading Kathmandu’s charge was Southeast Asia League MVP Ridwan Hassan. The 25-year old Bangladeshi designated hitter had 30 first place votes, while Colombo’s Bhagavan Banerjee had the remaining six. Banerjee had a stellar season despite the Catfish’s mediocrity, leading in batting average (.386), OPS (1.222), and WAR (11.0). He was also second in homers (54) and RBI (145) and would’ve won MVP most other years and/or if Colombo hadn’t stunk. Hassan was certainly plenty worthy though as he helped end Kathmandu’s big playoff drought. He led in homers (62), RBI (161), runs (141), and total bases (478). Hassan added 245 hits, 31 doubles, a .371/.412/.724 slash, 1.136 OPS, 208 wRC+, and 10.2 WAR. The runs scored were tied for the fourth-best single season in SAB history, behind only home run king Majed Darwish’s insane 2008-10 run. The total bases were also fourth-best behind only Darwish and the RBI ranked seventh. Hassan’s hits were also the third-best single season in SAB history, 11 behind Kap Mitanu’s record 256 from 2031. He was the #3 overall pick by the Chaparrals in the 2033 SAB Draft and signed an eight-year, $80,860,000 extension after the 2038 season, which looks like a major bargain if Hassan can replicate his 2039 efforts. Da Nang ace Raihan Sharif was the undisputed Pitcher of the Year, while his teammate Khuzairil Hussein was second in voting. Hussein was the ERA leader at 2.12 in 195 innings, while Sharif was second at 2.22. Sharif led in wins (21-4), WHIP (0.93), FIP- (44), and WAR (8.5). The 25-year old Bangladeshi righty struck out 298 in 198.2 innings with a 208 ERA+. It was only his second season as a full-time starter, having debuted with limited appearances from 2036-37. The Nailers also had the undisputed Reliever of the Year Kuldip Kumar, who had a 1.44 ERA and 47 saves. Despite their late regular season struggles, Rajshahi upset Mandalay with 3-1 and 6-3 wins in the wild card round to advance. Da Nang downed the Red Pandas 9-2 and 6-2 to start the divisional series, but Rajshahi stunned the Nailers by taking the next two games 7-4 and 2-1. POTY Sharif struck out 12 and allowed two hits and one run over seven innings in game five, allowing Da Nang to escape the upset with a 3-1 win. The Nailers earned a fourth consecutive trip to the Southeast Asia League Championship. On the other side of the bracket, Nay Pyi Taw swept Kathmandu with 8-3, 6-5, and 5-4 scores. Game two was a 14-inning marathon with the breakthrough coming on repeat walks and two singles. The Capitals became the first of the 2030 expansion teams to earn a trip to the SEAL Championship. They were certainly a huge underdog against Da Nang and had gone 1-5 against them in the regular season. Between that and the Nailers’ 72-9 home record, the start to the series was shocking. Nay Pyi Taw opened with repeat road wins, 8-7 and 8-6. In game two, the Capitals went ahead with two runs in the top of the ninth inning, starting the inning with a triple and double. They had the 2-0 series lead without playing a game at home in Myanmar. Da Nang regrouped with a 5-2 road win in game three, scoring all of their runs in the eighth inning. The Nailers took game four 4-3 and game five 4-1 to reclaim the advantage heading back to Vietnam. Game six was the lone home win of the series as Da Nang clinched in a ten inning battle. Gotam Akila had a leadoff infield single and stole second and third. With two outs, Sathvik Ravindra smacked the walkoff RBI single for a 9-8 victory. The Nailers were certainly challenged more than they expected, but they now two-time SEAL champs with their repeat. Nay Pyi Taw certainly had plenty to be proud of in their first-ever playoff appearance. Capitals 1B Akbor Haque was series MVP in defeat, going 10-24 with five homers and eight RBI. __________________ 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)

01-25-2026, 08:19 PM	#2688
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 SAB Championship The 60^th South Asia Baseball Championship saw Da Nang shooting for a repeat. They beat Mumbai the prior year having finished 114-48, but a 2039 win at 122-40 could cement an all-time team and a dynasty run. Visakhapatnam was a big underdog at 91-71 despite the franchise’s recent successes. They had gone 5-3 in their finals trips since 2012, but this Volts squad was the only wild card of that group and had the lowest win total. Da Nang didn’t want to start behind like they did against Nay Pyi Taw in the prior series. The Nailers opened with firm 5-1 and 7-3 home wins. Visakhapatnam countered with their own home wins 3-2 and 4-2 to tie the series. Da Nang took a 5-0 road win in game five though, needing just one more win back in Vietnam to complete the repeat. But the Volts were feisty, securing game six by a 4-2 margin. Game seven was a rainy 71 degree Friday night and ended up as an all-time classic. Visakhapatnam turned a one-out triple by Ikaika Na into a run in the first inning. The score stayed there until the Volts added solo runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Da Nang finally broke through against Hasan Ahmed in the eighth with Jubair Islam’s leadoff triple, later scoring on a balk. In the ninth down two, Janistha Pran and Zico Freitas smacked back-to-back solo homers to tie the game at 3-3 and force extras Both starting pitchers allowed three runs, Ahmed’s over 9.1 innings and Khuzairil Hussein’s over eight. Reliever of the Year winner Kuldip Kumar was in his third inning of work in the top of the 11^th and got the first two men out on grounders. Mehedi Islam then fouled off five pitches before getting a two out double to left. Suhrawadi Sumon singled Islam home, putting Visakhapatnam ahead 4-3. Da Nang got a one out single in the bottom half, but Topu Rahman stranded him, giving the Volts the shocking upset win. This was the third time in SAB Championship history that there was an extra innings game seven, joining the 1992 and 2014 events. By spoiling 122-win Da Nang’s repeat bid, Visakhapatnam became six-time South Asia Baseball champs (2023, 24, 25, 32, 33, 39). Of the 21 teams in world history to win 122+ games in a regular season, they have a 6-7 record in the final series. The remaining eight didn’t even get to their league’s finale, showing how nothing is guaranteed in the great game. Fourth-year RF Shahab Ghazali was series MVP, going 6-26 with three homers and five RBI. He was also MVP of the first and second round series, getting 23 hits, 12 runs, 8 homers, 12 RBI, 1.089 OPS, 190 wRC+, and 1.2 WAR over 19 playoff starts. Volts manager Jorrin Castillo is now the seventh SAB manager with 3+ SAB rings. The 59-year old controlling Dominican has a 1314-792 record and .624 winning percentage since taking the Visakhapatnam gig in 2027. Other notes: Yangon’s Drhuv Dhawan hit 61 doubles, one short of Naung Zar’s SAB-record 62 from 2034. His teammate Kaipo Daravong set a new SAB record for singles with 185, beating the old mark of 181 by Arnav Sumedh in 1995. Daravong’s 246 hits were the 2^nd-most in SAB history behind only Kap Mitanu’s 256 from 2031. Sefnat Sadewa set a new record for at-bats with 689. In other hitting milestones, Hamidul Islam was the 29^th to 1500 career RBI and Zulfiker Barua was the 26^th to 1500 runs scored. Barua was also the 21^st member of the 600 home run club. Barua, Tokiya Oshima, Mung Tay Myint, and Dilipan Samataweera each got to 2500 hits, a mark met by 48 SAB batters. 3B Vatish Bharat won his 12^th Gold Glove. He joins fellow third baseman Manju Abbas (15) as the only SAB players with 12+ Gold Glove wins. SS Madfai Mirza joined them as the only guys with 11 Gold Glove wins. 2039 was the first season since 2031 in SAB without a no-hitter from any pitcher. In mound milestones, Arumugampillai Raman and Sohag Othman were the 16^th and 17^th to 200 career wins. Raman was also the 23^rd to reach 3500 strikeouts. Othman and Alok Imam were the 54^th and 55^th with 3000 Ks. Chanawit Poolsap was the 24^th closer with 300 saves. Rule changes made the 2030s the highest-scoring decade in South Asia Baseball history. In the Indian League (sans DH), the league ERA jumped from 3.71 in the 2020s to 4.01 in the 2030s, while the batting average went from .251 to .265. This puts the IL in the above average scoring range relative to all leagues and world history. The Southeast Asia League is now in high-to-very high scoring territory. SEAL’s ERA bumped from 4.13 to 4.40 while the batting average jumped from .262 to .271. SAB is still behind the likes of ALB, WAB, and AAB for scoring, but follows the same trend of increased offense worldwide in the 2030s. __________________ 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)

01-26-2026, 12:15 PM	#2689
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 WAB Western League The Western League saw a very competitive field with seven teams within striking distance of the four playoff spots in the final weeks. At the all-star break, it was Nouakchott with the best record at 60-37. Banjul was two games behind them in the North Division with Bissau a very distant third at 50-44. In the South Division, reigning West African Baseball champ Daloa was first at 57-40 with Monrovia second at 55-41 and all other squads below 50 wins. The battle for the top seed eventually centered in the North as both the Danes and Diplomats had forgettable second halves. The Bullets threw themselves into the race going 44-24 after the break, marking a three-team battle for the North’s two spots. The Night Riders faded with a 33-32 finish, while the Bucks ended 37-28. Entering the final series. Banjul was 94-65 and set to host 92-67 Bissau. Nouakchott meanwhile was also 92-67 and set to play at Cape Verde. The Night Riders lost two of three, while the Bullets claimed two of three over the Bucks. Banjul still held onto first at 95-67, but Bissau (94-68) passed Nouakchott (93-69) to eliminate the Night Riders. It was back-to-back division titles for the Bucks and a third straight playoff trip by the Bullets. Bissau’s 670 runs allowed were the fewest in the Western League. Dakar was a distant fourth at 85-77, which did extend their streak of winning seasons to 16 years. However, it is the first time since the early 2020s that the Dukes had repeat playoff misses. Although Daloa finished 33-32, their earlier cushion kept them in first place in the South Division at 90-72. The Danes expanded their playoff streak to four years with their second division title of that run. Daloa’s 954 runs scored were the most in all of WAB and they had the WL’s best run differential at +159. For the #2 spot, three teams ended up in the mix; Monrovia, Kumasi, and Accra. The Diplomats lost their last with a 31-35 finish, while the Monkeys (38-20) and Alligators (37-29) both gained ground down the stretch. Kumasi had a six-game win streak in late September to gain cushion, including two wins over Daloa. The Monkeys ended up advancing at 87-75, while both Monrovia and Accra finished 86-76. Kumasi prevailed despite a -20 run differential, outperforming their expected win/loss by eight games. This ended a nine-year playoff drought for them and ended a four-year streak for the Alligators, who were the top seed at 110-52 the prior season. Banjul CF Pierre Hassan unanimously won Western League MVP in his third season as a full-time starter and fifth year overall. The 24-year old Cameroonian led in total bases (435) and WAR (9.7). Hassan had 219 hits, 128 runs, 55 doubles, 16 triples, 43 homers, 134 RBI, 1.104 OPS, and 176 wRC+. He also hit for the cycle in August against Conakry. Daloa’s Ibrahim Salia narrowly won Pitcher of the Year against Bamako’s Sergio Cantu with 17 first place votes for the former and 13 for the latter. The runner-up Cantu had by far the best ERA at 2.32; Salia was a distant second at 3.25. However, Cantu comparatively had only 5.5 WAR, 193.2 innings, and 222 Ks; and was on a losing team. It was an impressive rebound for the 32-year old Argentinian righty, who had missed almost all of 2038 to a blown out elbow. He had been a decent pitcher in Beisbol Sudamerica before coming to Africa in 2038. Salia meanwhile was the leader in strikeouts (327), WHIP (1.02), quality starts (21), FIP- (65), and WAR (7.5). The 25-year old Cameroonian righty had a 142 ERA+ and 17-8 record in 230 innings. Salia had been the POTY runner-up the prior season and had emerged as an ace only five seasons into his career with the Danes. The stepladder postseason began with Bissau besting Kumasi in a pair of 6-5 results. Daloa downed the Bullets in round two with 10-8 and 3-2 victories. The latter was a 14-inning marathon with WL home run leader Tommy Ristau ending it on a solo walkoff bomb. The Danes had a shot to repeat, while top seed Banjul was making their first Western League Championship Series trip since 2026. Daloa opened with a 2-1 road win, then shocked the Bucks with a 12-0 blowout in game two. The Danes clinched the sweep and repeat at home with a 5-2 result for game three. Daloa now had two pennants throughout only a decade of existence, having joined as a 2030 expansion squad. Veteran CF Bertin Atouba was WLCS MVP, going 5-13 with two homers and five RBI. The 34-year old signed with the Danes back in 2035 after starting with Lome. __________________ 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)

01-26-2026, 09:37 PM	#2690
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 WAB Eastern League Libreville continued its regular season dominance in the Eastern League and bested the franchise-best 113-49 mark from the prior year. The Lakers finished 115-47, posting a sixth consecutive 100+ win season, third straight 110+ win campaign, and fifth Coastal Division title of that run. It is only third time in West African Baseball history that a team had 6+ successive 100+ win seasons, joining Kano’s 1997-03 dynasty and Lagos from 1976-81. The Lakers had WAB’s best run differential (+285) and fewest runs allowed (582). Their pitching staff set a new EL team record of 1876 strikeouts and had the second-best K/9 at 11.58. The Lakers guaranteed their fifth trip to the Eastern League Championship Series in six years. Libreville had an incredible 71-24 record at the all-star break. The second-best mark at the break was in their division as well with Lagos at 62-35. That kept the Lizards in the #2 spot despite an impressive 42-24 second half from Lome. Lagos at 96-66 ended a seven-year playoff drought, while the Lasers missed at 91-71. Douala, the three-time defending EL champ, took fourth at 86-76 as they couldn’t recover from a weak 45-50 start. The Dingos still led the EL in scoring with 941 runs, missing the playoffs for only the second time in eight years.0 Ibadan at 102-60 dominated the Interior Division to grow their playoff streak to four seasons with their second division title of that run. Jos was the only other Interior team above .500 at the break, but faded down the stretch. Benin City’s 43-23 mark after the break allowed them to move to the #2 spot at 89-73, ahead of the 85-77 Jaspers and 83-79 Abuja. The Blue Devils bounced back after repeat losing seasons. Last year’s division champ Yaounde struggled to 72-90. Despite missing the playoffs, Douala 2B Ram Lengani became a four-time Eastern League MVP. He had 19 first place votes, while Libreville SS Oumar Sidibe had seven. Lagos’ DH Armand Seka was fourth in voting despite getting four first place votes, as he was the clear leader for home runs (66) and RBI (154). For Lengani, his previous MVP wins were 2033, 34, and 37 with the Dingos. In his tenth season, the 31-year old Burkinabe was the leader in WAR (8.4), slugging (.696), and OPS (1.095). Lengani added 212 hits, 128 runs, 42 doubles, 50 homers, 126 RBI, .355 average, and 167 wRC+. The former #1 overall pick remains signed through 2044 on his record-setting $374,500,000 deal. Lengani won his eighth Silver Slugger in 2039. Benin City’s Jiong Wen was Pitcher of the Year with 25 first place votes, while Port Harcourt’s Fuwad Mohammad had four and Jos’ Musah Sale had one. This was the WAB debut for the 31-year old Wen, who had spent his first decade in his native China with Foshan. He had been solid with the Flyers, but never an awards finalist until now. The Blue Devils had signed Wen in the offseason to a four-year, $69,600,000 deal. It was a rare case where the POTY winner wasn’t a league leader in any stat, although he was top three in ERA and WAR. In 209.2 innings, Wen had a 2.79 ERA, 15-10 record, 269 strikeouts, 165 ERA+, 68 FIP-, and 6.4 WAR. The first round of the playoffs opened with a 6-4, 12-inning win for Lagos against Benin City, getting a walkoff homer by Cheick Oumarou. The Blue Devils countered with an 8-6 road win, taking the lead in the top of the ninth on Bolaji Adeleye’s two-run bomb. The Lizards would rout Benin City though 8-0 in the finale on a combined three-hitter. In the battle of green amphibians in round two, Ibadan earned two close wins (3-2, 4-2) to sweep Lagos. The Iguanas got their first Eastern League Championship Series trip since 2034 and looked to end a drought back to 2025. They lost to Libreville in the most recent appearance. The Lakers got pennants in 2034-35, but had failed to capture the crown in the three years since despite winning 103, 110, and 113 games. Libreville had won the season series 5-1 over Ibadan and would sweep them in the ELCS, although the games were competitive with 3-2, 4-2, and 3-1 scores. Game one notably had a two-run eighth inning rally. SS Oumar Sibide was series MVP having gone 4-11 with three RBI. It is the fourth pennant for the Lakers since joining as a 2009 expansion team (2016, 2034, 2035, 2039). __________________ 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)

01-27-2026, 08:51 AM	#2691
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 WAB Championship The 65^th West African Championship had Daloa looking to defend their crown, although the 90-win Danes were still a big underdog against 115-win Libreville. The Lakers hoped to establish this squad as an all-time and win their second overall ring. Libreville had won in 2035 over Monrovia, but lost to Bamako in 2034 and Dakar in 2016. . They had met in Gabon in August with the Laker taking two of three. Libreville opened with a 5-0 win, getting a combined seven-hitter with 16 strikeouts between pitchers Ibrahima Ndaw and Tope Adamu. They held on 4-3 in game two, then saw a combined six-hit shutout on the road in a 6-0 game three. At that point, the Lakers seemed on their way to a sweep. But Daloa would swing back, starting with an 8-6 victory in game four. Game five was tied 3-3 after regulation. Libreville scored in the top of the 12^th inning, but Daloa’s Bertin Atouba smacked a three-run walkoff homer for a 5-3 victory. This forced the series back to Gabon where the Danes secured a stunning 7-3 win in game six. With that, the series was even with Daloa hoping to become the first-ever WAB finals team to rally from a 3-0 hole. The finale was a rainy Tuesday which had a 45-minute delay in the third inning. Libreville opened with two runs and three hits in the first inning. In the sixth, three hits, an error, a hit batsmen, and wild pitch allowed them to plate three more. Daloa got two back in the seventh, but no more as the Lakers won 5-2 to avoid the full collapse and dethrone the defending champ. SS Oumar Sidibe was finals MVP, going 11-28 with 5 homers and 7 RBI. The 28-year old Malian had also earned LCS MVP, finishing his postseason with 15 hits, 9 runs, 2 doubles, 5 homers, 10 RBI, 1.262 OPS, 223 wRC+, and 0.9 WAR in 10 starts. At 115-47, the 2039 Lakers posted the second-best record by a West African Baseball champ. Only Kano’s 123-39 mark in 1999 during their epic dynasty was better, putting Libreville into rarefied air. Other notes: 2039 was the final season for Youssoupha Diop, who spent one final year at age 42 with Yaounde with 28 homers, .804 OPS, 101 wRC+, and 0.9 WAR. He became one of only eight players in all of professional baseball to reach 4000 career hits. Diop retires at 4095, 5^th on the all-time world leaderboard and 2^nd in WAB behind the world hit king Fares Belaid. Diop also ended with 3486 games, 2474 runs, 794 doubles, 986 home runs, 2703 RBI, 1437 walks, .998 OPS, 147 wRC+, and 108.4 WAR. On the world leaderboard, he is 9^th in games, 8^th in at-bats (12,978), 3^rd in runs, 4^th in doubles, 8^th in homers, and 2^nd in RBI. Diop is WAB’s leader in games and RBI and ranks 2^nd in runs, 2^nd in total bases (7957), and 2^nd in doubles behind only Belaid. He’s also 2^nd in homers, 3^rd in walks, and 6^th in WAR among position players. Another long-tenured player retired in 2039 with Mark Johnston, who struggled to -1.7 WAR in his final year for Freetown at age 42. He had three WAB seasons and was known for his 19-year MLB tenure, but he also registers on the world leaderboards. Johnston’s combined pro career had 3296 games, 12,612 at-bats, 2025 runs, 3866 hits, 503 doubles, 864 homers, 2294 RBI, .914 OPS, 156 wRC+, and 106.3 WAR. He breached 2000 runs in his final year, one of only 41 to do so in baseball history through 2039. Johnson ranks 34^th in runs, 18^th in hits, 12^th in at-bats, 27^th in games, 41^st in homers, and 19^th in RBI. 2039 also was the end for RF Randall Batin, who had two WAB seasons and the rest of his career in South Asia Baseball. He notably retired with 703 doubles, one of only 24 in world history with 700+. In other hitting milestones, Junior Jose was the 13^th to 3000 hits. In 17 years with Dakar, the five-time MVP now has 3013 hits, 1898 runs, 558 doubles, 874 homers, 2195 RBI, 1.027 OPS, 154 wRC+, and 11.7 WAR. Emmanuel Marshall was the 19^th to 600 homers. Julius Emmanuel and Adekunle Ojo were the 32^nd and 33^rd to 1500 RBI. Kene Gbade was the 26^th to 1500 runs. 51 batters now have 2500 hits with Rodrigue Adoum and Julien Diakhate reaching the mark. Marshall won his 8^th Silver Slugger in RF. Yussof Salou was the 12^th WAB pitcher to 200 wins, joining Mahamoud Sy and others. It was Sy’s last year, ending with a 211-115 record, 3.62 ERA, 3138.1 innings, 3316 Ks, and 80.2 WAR. On the WAB leaderboard, Sy is 5^th in wins, 19^th in strikeouts, and 4^th in pitching WAR. C Chuck Koffie won his 8^th Gold Glove. Conakry had 535 stolen bases as a team, setting a new WAB single season record. The Coyotes held the record previously with 525 in 1989. West African Baseball had a small bump in scoring for the 2030s relative to the 2020s, ranking as the highest-scoring environment in the nearly 140 years of pro baseball history. WAB’s league ERA was around 4.70 with a batting average around .279. WAB has been the world’s highest-scoring league firmly since the 2010s, although the Arab League and African Association of Baseball have both closed the gap. __________________ 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)

01-27-2026, 08:43 PM	#2692
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 CLB Northern League Xi’an had the Northern League’s best record by a healthy margin at the all-star break at 67-36 with only Hangzhou (62-41) particularly close. However, the Attack struggled to a 27-32 mark in the second half, a major problem in the West Division which included reigning NL champ Urumqi. The Unicorns went 38-21 down the stretch, passing Xi’an to take the West Division at top seed at 97-65. The Attack finished 94-68, missing the playoffs along with 90-72 Zhengzhou as only division champs advance. Xi’an (553) and the Zips (555) had the fewest runs allowed in the NL, but came up short. Hangzhou’s 721 runs led all of Chinese League Baseball. They just missed the #1 seed at 96-66 but cruised to their third Southeast Division title in four years. The Hens had China’s best run differential at +135. Shijiazhuang was the only East Central Division team above .500 at 88-74, giving the Serpents the CLB-record for longest playoff streak at nine seasons. The Northeast Division meanwhile was terrible with no winning teams, but competitive as they were separated by only three wins. Harbin (76-86) ended up the best of the bench ahead of Changchun (75-87), Shenyang (75-87), and Dalian (73-89). This ended a five-year playoff drought for the Hellcats. Since the switch to the divisional format in 2030, Harbin is the first team to advance with a losing record. Despite being in that dung pile of a division, Swans LF Yi Zhao dominated Northern League MVP voting. He had 30 first place votes with the remaining two going to Urumqi’s Pengqing Gao. The 28-year old lefty led in home runs (53), RBI (119), total bases (391), slugging (.671), OPS (1.019), wRC+ (205), and WAR (10.6). Zhao won his sixth Gold Glove and added 180 hits, 98 runs, 30 doubles, and a .309 average. Shenyang drafted him #3 back in the 2032 CLB Draft. Tianjin at 80-82 was also unremarkable, but they had the unanimous Pitcher of the Year Shaolei Liu. The 25-year old righty led in ERA (1.72), ERA+ (189), WHIP (0.84), FIP- (49), and WAR (8.4). Liu struck out 303 over 219.1 innings with a 17-7 record and 13 saves. The fifth-year Jackrabbit also tossed a no-hitter on June 19 against Lanzhou with 13 strikeouts and two walks. Although Xi’an faded, their closer Chengye Xiong won his third consecutive Reliever of the Year. He also won in 2034, becoming the sixth in CLB history to win the award 4+ times. Xiong had a career-best 4.5 WAR and posted 36 saves in 71 games, a 2.02 ERA, 89 innings, and 134 strikeouts. In the Triple Round Robin, Hangzhou took top billing at 6-3 to earn their third semifinal trip in seven years. Both Urumqi and Shijiazhuang went 5-4 while Harbin was 2-7. The Unicorns won their first game 4-1 over the Serpents and took the second 6-4. Although Shijiazhuang won the last one 2-1, Urumqi had the tiebreaker to keep their repeat hope intact. The Hens went 2-1 against the Unicorns wit 3-0 and 7-3 wins and a 7-0 loss. Hangzhou had won 5-4 in their regular season meetings and got home field for the semifinal with their round robin performance. Urumqi led the opener 4-0, but three runs in the eighth and one in the ninth forced extras. The Unicorns picked up three singles to score a run in the 15^th en route to a 5-4 win. Urumqi then took game two 6-3, claiming the 2-0 advantage. Hangzhou bounced back 2-1 in game three, trailing 2-1 as the series shifted out west. Urumqi won 6-1 at home, but the Hens battled back with 3-0 and 5-0 road wins to tie the series. Game five had a four-hit shutout by Imran Mahmud with a combined four-hitter in game six. Fans were excited for a decisive game seven back in Hangzhou, but the result was a shocking 11-1 blowout road win for the Unicorns. With that, Urumqi earned its fourth trip to the China Series of the decade and sixth overall (2022, 24, 31, 35, 38, 39). They’re the first repeat Northern League winner since Changchun in 2016-17. Catcher Dongzhu Li was series MVP, going 12-39 with three homers and seven RBI. __________________ 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)

01-28-2026, 10:30 AM	#2693
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 CLB Southern League Kunming was the main standout in the Southern League and had the best record at the all-star break at 64-39. Foshan was the next best at 59-44 and in the Southwest Division as well, but the Muscle pulled away and took first at 96-66. Nanning was second at 89-73 and the Flyers were third at 87-75. Kunming ended a four-year playoff drought, as Guangzhou had controlled the division in that gap. The Gamecocks took fourth at 82-80, although their streak of winning seasons is up to 11 years. The Muscle led all of Chinese League Baseball with 438 runs allowed. No other teams breached 90 wins in the SL. Wuhan was the next best at 89-73 in the Central, finishing seven ahead of Chengdu. Reigning CLB champ Changsha fell hard down to 73-89. The Wolverines earned their second division title in four years. In the Southeast Division, Xiamen (87-75) held off Macau (84-78) and Hong Kong (83-79). The Mutts played their way to first in September with two sweeps of the Champions and a split in six games with the Magicians. Xiamen ended a nine-year playoff drought. Nanchang led Shantou in the East division entering September, but the Scorpions erased the hole using a home sweep in the middle of the month. The Crickets hosted as they met again in the final series. Shantou won the first two by 2-0 and 7-4 margins, but Nanchang took the finale 7-2 to force a tiebreaker game. The Crickets prevailed 5-1 to avoid the collapse, repeating as division champs with their fifth title in seven years. Nanchang was the SL’s highest-scoring team with 654 runs. It was the third Southern League MVP win for Nanchang’s Jinhao Lin, who also won in 2034 and 2035. The 32-year old LF won unanimously and led in runs (109), hits (202), RBI (118), walks (79), total bases (395), triple slash (.351/.430/.686), OPS (1.115), wRC+ (224), and WAR (11.1). Lin also had 48 home runs, 27 doubles, and 11 triples. In a decade with the Crickets, Lin has 1718 hits, 967 runs, 192 doubles, 82 triples, 410 home runs, 960 RBI, 696 walks, .322/.403/.602 slash, 205 wRC+, and 90.7 WAR. He certainly could chase many of CLB’s statistical milestones, but many expect him to depart China altogether. Lin will be one of the world’s most in-demand free agents in the winter and few CLB teams may be willing or able to match the price-tag for a five-star player on the market. Macau’s Vihaan Gita won his second Pitcher of the Year award in four years against a competitive field. He had 12 first place votes and 127 points, while Kunming’s Yoksing Hu was a very close second with nine first place votes and 119 points. Four other aces ended up with two or three first place votes. Power won the day for Gita with 381 strikeouts, the seventh-best single-season in CLB history. The 26-year old Indian righty also was the leader in WAR (9.9) and FIP- (45). Gita had a 17-7 record, 2.09 ERA, 236.2 innings, and 125 ERA+. Kunming dominated the Triple Round Robin at 7-2, earning their first semifinal trip since 2027. Both Nanchang and Wuhan finished 4-5 while Xiamen was 3-6. The Wolverines opened the postseason with a 5-3 win over the Crickets, but Nanchang matched by the same margin. The decisive third meeting saw an 8-5 lead for Wuhan entering the bottom of the ninth inning. Nanchang saved their season with a four-run rally with two hits, one error, and three walks. Renliang Ni had the walkoff two RBI single with bases loaded to win it 9-8. The Muscle was the favorite, having also just swept Nanchang in their three round robin meetings. The most recent one had been 9-6 in 11 innings. In the regular season though, the Crickets had narrowly taken the season series 5-4. They opened the Southern League final with a 7-3 road win. Kunming countered in a 13-inning second contest with a 2-1 final. Xiuquan Du had the walkoff RBI single. But Nanchang rebounded 6-2 in game three, reclaiming the series edge before getting to play three at home. In game four, Ling Yang’s walkoff RBI single pushed Nanchang to a 3-2 victory. Kunming refused to concede with 6-2 and 8-3 road wins, forcing a decisive game seven back at Muscle Ballpark. It was a beautiful clear 82 degree Friday afternoon and a pitcher’s duel initially. The Crickets got solo runs in the sixth and eighth innings, taking a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning. There, Kunming unloaded with six runs on four hits, one walk, and one error. A one-two-three ninth gave the Muscle the 6-2 win and the series in seven games. Kunming earned its ninth trip to the China Series (1977-79, 2000, 02-03, 16, 26, 38), tied for the second-most among CLB squads. RF Xuelin Huang was series MVP, going 14-37 with 6 homers and 12 RBI. His lone hit in game seven was the two-run homer that punctuated the six-run inning. __________________ 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)

01-28-2026, 06:52 PM	#2694
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 China Series The 70^th China Series was the first finals battle between Kunming and Urumqi. The Unicorns were the runner-up the prior year to Changsha and were looking for their third Chinese League Baseball crown (2024, 2031). The Muscle were hoping for their fourth, but it had been a while since the last rings in 2002, 1978, and 1977. It was Kunming’s first finals trip since 2026. The Unicorns had home field advantage and opened with a 5-0 win as they scattered eight hits. Urumqi then won 5-3 the next night. A solo run in the ninth pushed the Unicorns to a 3-2 road win in game three, putting them on the cusp of a sweep. Kunming battled back with 9-5 and 6-2 wins, forcing the series back out west for at least one more. Urumqi took a 6-1 lead into the final inning of game six and survived the comeback bid for a 6-4 win, taking the series in six games. 3B Tan Aye Aung was series MVP, as the 25-year old from Myanmar went 9-17 with two homers and five RBI. Muscle RF Xuelin Huang notably set a CLB playoff record with 19 runs scored. Huang also had 12 homers and 20 RBI, ranking as second and fourth respectively in CLB postseason history. Hangzhou’s Ying Xiang also tied the CLB playoff record with 12 walks drawn. Other notes: CLB home run king and runs leader Syamsul Azzahari added total bases and RBI to his career crowns. He now has 4996 total bags, passing Tao Cai’s 4759; and 1504 RBI; passing Cai’s 1426. At age 37, the Malaysian 1B was still strong with 6.3 WAR in his 16^th year for Jinan. Azzahari has 2749 hits, 1419 runs, 653 homers, .979 OPS, 189 wRC+, and 131.7 WAR. He’s #2 in hits behind Junjie Hsiung’s 2824 and now #4 in WAR for position players. At only age 29, Shijiazhuang 3B Xiaotian Xu became CLB’s leader for playoff homers with 34. Kenny Sang entered the year with the record 31, which Urumqi’s Pengqing Gao also passed in 2039 with 32. Xu by far is the RBI leader with 87. Active players also hold the lead for runs (Yan Bashi, 78) and hits (Chao Song, 140; Bashi has 139). CLB’s 59^th perfect game came on August 15 from Guangzhou’s Gengji Zhou with 10 strikeouts against Chongqing. Then on September 1, Zhengzhou’s Samuel Louis had CLB’s 60^th perfecto in an 11 strikeout effort against Qingdao. Kunming closer Yoyo Hu made CLB history, becoming the first to win both Reliever of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season. In other milestones, Tarzin Dohadailo and Jinhao Lin were the 23^rd and 24^th to 400 career homers. Kerui Wang was the 25^th to 1000 runs scored and the 24^th to 2000 hits. Hao Tian and Sang Choy were the 21^st and 22^nd to 1000 RBI. Hongjun Wang was the 18^th pitcher to 3000 strikeouts. CF Ming Bai won his 8^th Gold Glove. Rule changes made the 2030s the highest-scoring decade for Chinese League Baseball by a noticeable margin. The league ERA went from around 2.55 in the 2010s, to around 2.87 in the 2020s, up to about 3.25 in the 2030s. The batting average also grew from around .215, to .230, up to about .243. It is a large departure from CLB being the lowest-scoring league or close to it for most of its prior history. On the world historical scale, the 2030s CLB still is a below average scoring league and among the lower-end compared to other 2030s leagues. __________________ 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)

01-29-2026, 08:14 AM	#2695
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 APB Taiwan-Philippine Association Austronesia Professional Baseball was the latest to become more restrictive for player movement, increasing the minimum service years required for free agency to nine years. APB had alternated between seven and eight years in its history prior. Only Eurasian Professional Baseball was more restrictive at ten seasons. Many world leagues were trying to retain homegrown talent. Major League Baseball also bumped up to nine years in 2039, joining APB, Beisbol Sudamerica, and Chinese League Baseball. Four teams were in a fierce fight for the Taiwan League title at the all-star break. Kaohsiung narrowly led this group at 58-36 with defending TL champ Chiayi at 56-38, Tainan at 56-39, and Taichung at 56-40. It was the Toucans who ultimately pulled away with a high-powered offense, going 45-21 after the break. Taichung finished 101-61 for the top seed in the Taiwan-Philippine Association, ending an eight-year playoff drought. Taichung’s offense set a new Austronesia Professional Baseball record for team batting average at .269. Their .314 on-base percentage and .438 slugging were both second-best, while their 720 runs and 1473 hits ranked as third-best. The Toucans also had APB’s top run differential in 2039 at +189 and were second in runs allowed for the TPA at 531. For the #2 spot, Tainan was 8-2 in their last ten games while both Kaohsiung and Chiayi were 5-5. That made the difference for the Titans to take second at 95-67, ahead of the 92-70 Steelheads and 91-71 City Hawks. Tainan’s playoff streak grew to nine seasons, tied for the longest in APB history along with Taipei’s 2012-20 run. The Titans have been above .500 each year since 2027. In the Philippine League, defending APB champ Manila was 60-34 at the all-star break with a healthy lead over 55-38 Batangas and 52-41 Zamboanga. The Manatees used the cushion to hold onto the #1 spot for back-to-back seasons at 98-64. Manila was great at escaping jams in 2039 with a 38-21 record in one-run games and 17-4 mark in extra innings. The Zebras’ 42-27 second half allowed them to catch and pass the Beach Bums, including a 12-game winning streak in mid-September. Zamboanga finished 94-68 to grow their playoff streak to five seasons, while Batangas was one back at 93-69. It was a new franchise best for the Beach Bums, a 2029 expansion team still shooting for its first playoff appearance. Cebu was a distant fourth at 87-75. The Zebras allowed 529 runs, the best in the TPA. Leading Taichung’s powerful offense was Taiwan-Philippine Association MVP Chih-Sheng Hsiao. The 27-year old first baseman got 25 first place votes, while Chiayi’s Maysaroh Putro got the remaining three. Hsiao led in triple slash (.345/.415/.655), OPS (1.070), wRC+ (219), WAR (11.2), total bases (380), and RBI (127). The 6’8’’ slugger added 200 hits, 110 runs, 32 doubles, and 48 homers; four dingers short of a Triple Crown. Hsiao’s OBP was the second-best single-season in APB history behind only Binh Tang’s .416 from 2032. His OPS also ranked as fourth-best behind only three Tang seasons. Hsaio was in his fourth season with the Toucans, having been picked 10^th overall in the 2035 APB Draft. He also earned All-Star Game MVP honors in 2039. Pitcher of the Year was a close battle with Zamboanga’s Syamsir Wahyudi taking it narrowly over Taichung’s Chih-Kang Kuo. The former had 17 first place votes and 163 points, while the latter had 11 and 145. Kuo notably was the leader in WAR at 7.4 and FIP at 1.98. As for Wahyudi, he had a breakout season with an ERA title at 2.01. The 27-year old Indonesian righty had a 17-8 record, 255 innings, 268 strikeouts, 164 ERA+, 68 FIP-, and 6.5 WAR. Wahyudi debuted in 2034 at age 22, but was only used for 41 total innings in his first five seasons. The divisional round saw reigning champ Manila grab 6-5 and 3-2 wins over Tainan, getting the sweep along with their one-game advantage as PL champ. The Manatees erased a 5-0 hole in the first game, then got a walkoff sacrifice fly in the second game after a leadoff triple. On the other side, Taichung came with the built-in game advantage, but Zamboanga rattled off three straight road wins. Their 2-1 opener had the go-ahead run in the ninth, followed by a 4-3 win in ten innings. The finale was 12-10 as the Zebras earned their first Taiwan-Philippine Association Championship trip since 2035. Since the 2029 expansion, the TPA had never seen two teams from the same league meeting in the final. Incidentally, it had happened thrice over in the Sundaland Association. Although Manila was four games ahead of Zamboanga in the Philippine League, the Zebras had won the season series 12-8. They kept that energy by taking the series opener 3-2 on the road, getting a complete game win from POTY winner Samsir Wahyudi. Manila countered 7-1 in game two. In game three, an RBI walkoff single in the ninth gave Zamboanga the 2-1 home win. The Zebras then took 7-3 and 7-2 home wins to claim the series in five, dethroning the reigning champ. Zamboanga ended a 15-year pennant drought and became ten-time Taiwan-Philippine Association champs (2001, 03, 04, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 23, 39) second-most behind Cebu (11). 2B Charles Balatibat was the series MVP in his 13^th season with the team. He was a beloved fan favorite known for his scrappiness with a career 111 wRC+ and 23.2 WAR in 1815 games. The 35-year old Filipino went 8-19 in the series with two homers and five RBI. Balatibat was also the MVP of their earlier sweep of Taichung, going 8-13 in that series with a homer and two RBI. __________________ 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)

01-29-2026, 06:52 PM	#2696
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 APB Sundaland Association Batam rolled the Malacca League field at 98-64 and took the top seed in the Sundaland Association. While the Blue Raiders earned repeat playoff trips, it was their first time in the top spot since 2032. They had the SA’s best run differential at +117 and was 47-21 after the all-star break, the best in all of Austronesia Professional Baseball. At the break, they were actually 1.5 back on Pekanbaru for first place. The Palms needed all of that cushion they built up to hold onto the #2 spot with a 33-34 finish to the season. At 86-76, Pekanbaru just narrowly stayed ahead of Johor Bahru (85-77), defending SA champ Kuala Lumpur (84-78) and Singapore (82-80). The Palms ended an eight-year playoff drought, while the Leopards had their six-year streak ended. Medan, who had been .500 or better each year since 2029, notably fell completely off a cliff to 56-106. The Marlins had a 1.240 team WHIP, which was a new Sundaland Association worst. At the midway point, Depok, Semarang, Surabaya, Palembang, and Jakarta were all separated by only three wins in the Java Sea League. The Jaguars imploded with a 21-47 finish, while the Panthers and Sunbirds both played around .500 ball the rest of the way. The Demons went 9-1 in their last ten and ended up tying with the Sliders at 90-72. Tiebreaker games aren’t used for league titles, giving the crown to Depok as they were 11-9 in the season series with Semarang. This ended a six-year playoff drought for the Demons and was their first title since 2000. The Sliders playoff streak grew to seven seasons with their fifth wild card of that run. Depok led the Sundaland Association with 617 runs scored, while Semarang had the fewest runs allowed in APB at 423. Depok 2B Chun-Hsiu Lai won a near deadlocked MVP race with 13 first place votes and 307 points, while Johor Bahru LF Made Daniel had 12 first place vote and 301. Demons RF Mohd Ashraf Matlan also had two first place votes. The runner-up Daniel led in RBI (112), runs (102), and had 56 home runs. The winner Lai was the WARlord in his third season at 9.5 and led with 22 triples. The 26-year old Taiwanese righty added 174 hits, 91 runs, 26 doubles, 32 homers, 94 RBI, .934 OPS, and 189 wRC+. He was signed as a prospect by Tainan, but was traded to Cebu and then Depok before debuting in 2037. Semarang LF Wijaya Yama wasn’t an MVP finalist despite his 60 home runs, two short of the APB single-season record of 62 from 1969 by Po-Yu Shao. The only other 60+ dinger season in APB was Wil Tabaldo’s 61 in 2012. The 33-year old Yama has led in homers five consecutive seasons and posted a 164 wRC+ and 5.6 WAR in 2039. Pitcher of the Year was Makassar’s Muhammad Fakhrul Balagumaran with 13 first place votes and 141 points. Kuala Lumpur’s John Gonzalez was second with 109 points and 7 first place nods, while Semarang’s Yuchi Jiang has 103 points and eight first place nods. In his second season, Balagumaran won the ERA title at 1.46. The 24-year old Malaysian lefty had a 15-8 record, 221.1 innings, 233 strikeouts, 206 ERA+, 63 FIP-, and 7.1 WAR. The tragic news for him and the Maroon Giants was his torn labrum suffered on September 15. Balagumaran is expected to miss the entire 2040 season with an estimated 13-14 month recovery. In the divisional round, Batam had the one-game bonus and opened with a 4-2 win over Semarang. The Sliders took game two 4-3, but were routed 10-1 in game three to give the Blue Raiders their first Sundaland Association Championship trip since their 2029 pennant. On the other side of the bracket, Depok had the bonus and took the opener 4-3, although they needed 11 innings. On the first pitch in the bottom of the inning, Adam Jeminez ended the game on a 341 home run just over the left field fence. Pekanbaru wasn’t going to be an easy out, winning the next two by 6-3 and 8-5 margins. In the game four clincher, Depok opened with a three-run homer by Mohd Ashraf Matlan in the first inning. That held in a 3-1 win, earning their second finals trip since 2032. Depok was the only original APB team to have never won a pennant to this point, going 0-6 in their prior trips to the Sundaland Association Championship. The Demons won the season series 4-2 over Batam, but the Blue Raiders had home field advantage. The opener needed ten innings with Depok taking it 2-1, getting four singles for the go-ahead run in the top half. Batam got the leadoff man on in the bottom half, but then had a flyout and double play. The Blue Raiders got the better of a 1-0 pitcher’s duel in game two, the lone run coming on Isak Apridianto’s homer in the fifth. Batam then took the series lead on a 5-3 road win, but the Demons countered 3-2 the next night. In game five, the Blue Raiders had a 6-3 lead after the top of the sixth, but Depok chipped away with solo runs in the remaining innings. In the ninth, MVP Chun-Hsiu Lai got a one-out triple and was knocked in on an RBI single by Irsal Putriana for a 7-6 walkoff win. Depok then clinched the series in game six on the road 5-0 on a gem by Cy Pongo, a two-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and four walks. SS John Aguirre was series MVP, leading all players with ten hits. Closer Mike Kyaw had three wins with five scoreless innings of relief in close games. __________________ 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)

01-30-2026, 07:33 AM	#2697
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 APB Championship The 75^th Austronesia Championship was the first for Depok despite being a charter franchise. Zamboanga was making their tenth appearance and first since 2023. The Zebras had gone 2-7 in their previous tries with the lone wins in 2013 and 2018; book-ending their five trips in six years. They had different paths as Zamboanga was their association’s best in pitching, while the Demons were theirs for scoring. Austronesia Professional Baseball alternates home field between associations, so Depok had it for 2039. The Demons opened the series with 3-1 and 7-4 home wins, then took game three on the road 3-1. It appeared Depok might finally get that first title, but the Zebras rallied. Zamboanga won 8-4 and 7-0 to close the action in the Philippines, then went to Indonesia to claim game six 5-3. The Austronesia Championship had never seen a team rally from down 3-0 to win the championship. Game seven made more history as it ultimately went 14 innings. The APB finals had gone to extra twice before in a game seven; a 12-inning affair in 1996 with Taoyuan over Singapore and a 13-inning battle in 2016 with Semarang beating Taipei. The 14 innings were the second-most ever by a game seven in any league’s overall championship. The only one longer was the 2019 Arab League Championship battle between Tripoli and Jeddah which needed 17 innings. In regulation, Depok’s runs were solo spots in the second, fourth, and seventh innings. Zamboanga scored one in the fourth and two in the eighth, the latter with a two-run bomb to center by Malaka Ismail. The score stayed 3-3 with only one player getting in scoring position from innings 9-13. In the tenth, Depok’s Mohd Ashraf Matlan got a two-out walk, stole second, and got to third on a throwing error. But MVP Chun-Hsiu Lai struck out on three pitches and the game continued. In the top of the 14^th for Zamboanga, Ismail got an infield single and then stole second base. The next batter Arthur Cubano had an RBI single to score Ismail. Cubano advanced to second and they intentionally walked the next man to setup a double play. Cubano got to third on a flyout, then scored on a passed ball. Another intentional walk put two on, with Hu Hu getting an RBI double to score C.J. Diaz. They got the next two outs, but the damage was done. Depok went 1-2-3 in the bottom half, giving the Zebras the 6-3 win to complete the 3-0 rally. Ismail was critical in game seven and won series MVP. The 32-year old LF had won three Silver Sluggers with Batam, who traded him to Zamboanga for 2039. Ismail was 9-29 for the series with three homers and five RBI. It was a heartbreaking way for the Demons to fall in their first finals trip, while the Zebras grabbed their third title and kept the cup in the Philippines for another year. There have been seven different champs in seven years. Other notes: In his 20^th season for Taoyuan, Wei-Yin Wang became APB’s all-time hit king at 3567, passing Junior Sanchez’s 3564. He’s one of only 71 players in world history through 2039 with 3500 career pro hits. Wang also passed Binh Tang’s 568 to become APB’s doubles king at 585. At age 39, he was still good for a 135 wRC+ and 3.4 WAR. Wang also became only the 3^rd in APB to 1500 runs scored. His 128.76 WAR is 3^rd among APB position players and he became the second in APB with 3000 games played. His 3023 is 30 behind Iqbal Safari’s record. The #1 spots for runs or RBI are likely untouchable with Tang’s 1915 and 1928, but Wang could reach the #2 spot for both stats next year with a good showing. At age 40 in his Batam debut, six-time MVP James Yuwono was still solid with a .933 OPS, 174 wRC+, and 4.4 WAR. He moved to 138.1 career WAR, which places him 91^st on the all-time leaderboard among all players ever. Yuwono is 2^nd among position players in APB, although Binh Tang’s 189.6 is unreachable. Yuwono has 1403 runs (5^th), 2618 hits (10^th), 676 homers (3^rd), and 1476 RBI (6^th). His career wRC+ sits at 206; only four Hall of Famers in any world league have a higher mark. Makassar pitcher Rey Oliva was just excited to make his professional debut on September 1 against Medan and hoped to do alright. He did more than alright, throwing APB’s 63^rd perfect game in his first-ever start, striking out 11. Oliva is believed to be the only pitcher ever to be perfect in their first start. Tsi-Hsiang Peng had a no-hitter for Taoyuan later in the month, the second of his career. Johor Bahru’s Yusuf Tarif had 51 doubles, setting a new single-season APB record. Two players had previously hit 50. Veteran 1B Ashraf Zeky led in walks for the 11^th season and became APB’s all-time leader in walks drawn at 1105. Jen-Feng Leu had held the record of 1079 since 2004. Manila’s Peter Luque had a 28-game hitting streak, tied for the 5^th-longest in APB history. In other milestones, Chin-Tsai Lan was the 7^th to 600 home runs, the 15^th to 2500 hits, and 4^th to 1500 RBI. 46 aces now have 3500 strikeouts with Yuchi Jiang, Yu-Lin Hsu, and Muhammad Danial Ismail reaching it in 2039. Marten Hasan was the 19^th closer to 300 saves. LF Kundugga Utomo and 1B Amir Yusman both won their 7^th Gold Glove. Hsinchu continued to struggle with historically bad pitching. Their 9.39 H/9, 1513 hits allowed, and 1.351 WHIP were each new APB all-time worsts. The Sweathogs’ 4.27 ERA, 764 runs allowed, and 688 earned runs were both the 2^nd-worst behind Hsinchu’s 2037 season. Like many leagues in the 2030s, Austronesia Professional Baseball changed rules to increase scoring. APB had been the lowest-scoring league in the world and still would be in the 2030s, albeit by less extreme metrics. The Taiwan-Philippine Association (with the DH) went from a 2.83 ERA in the 2020s to 3.22 in the 2030s. The TPA’s batting average spiked from .223 to .240. The Sundaland Association (sans DH) saw a bump from a .212 average to .228 and from a 2.53 ERA to 2.75. The SA was still the lowest-scoring subleague in the world for the 2030s, but they moved from extremely low to merely very low scoring on the historical scale. The TPA was now in the low-to-below average range with its offense relative to baseball history, but still near the bottom compared to other 2030s offerings. __________________ 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)

01-30-2026, 07:24 PM	#2698
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 OBA Australasia League At the all-star break, Hobart controlled the Australasia League at 60-28, while Adelaide was a competitive second at 56-32. Sydney, the defending Oceania Baseball Association champ, was a distant third at 50-38. The Snakes had a solid second half, but couldn’t make up ground and finished third at 92-70. The Aardvarks were able to make up some ground after the Tasmaniacs suffered a six-game losing streak in mid-September. Adelaide got within one game entering the final week and Hobart was 2-4 in their final two series, but the Aardvarks were no better. The Tasmaniacs held on for first place at 100-62, one game ahead of the 99-63 Aardvarks. It was Adelaide’s best season since their most recent pennant way back in 2001, continuing their lengthy drought. For Hobart, this was their fourth title, having also three-peated from 2034-36. They led the AL in scoring with 762 runs and had the best run differential in OBA at +191. The Aardvarks allowed the AL’s fewest runs at 544. The rest of the league finished with losing records. There was an incredibly tight race for Australasia League MVP. Hobart 2B Chaz Callihan narrowly took it with 235 points and 11 first place votes, while Canberra 1B David Demidowicz had nine first place votes and 223 points. The Centurions’ lack of team success tanked Demidowicz’s chance, as he posted only the tenth hitting Triple Crown in OBA history. It was the OBA debut for the 34-year old Polish righty, who had spent his entire career previously with Tirana of the European Baseball Federation. Demidowicz led in home runs (49), RBI (131), total bases (344), average (.354), slugging (.676), OPS (1.043), wRC+ (204), and WAR (8.1). However, Callihan was by no means a bum, winning MVP for the third time in his career (2033, 36, 39). The 30-year old Australian lefty was the leader in on-base percentage (.379) and runs (97). Callihan had 159 hits, 25 doubles, 7 triples, 36 homers, 95 RBI, .338 average, 1.028 OPS, 194 wRC+, and 7.5 WAR. It was his tenth year with the Tasmaniacs and he was a critical reason Hobart had its first-ever contention in the 2030s. One of Australia’s biggest superstars, Callihan is due for free agency and is expected to draw offers worldwide. Hobart also had the Pitcher of the Year Ashton Aucoin, who had all but one first place vote. It was his second POTY, having also won it in 2035. The 32-year old Australian righty led in wins (24-12), innings (337), strikeouts (370), quality starts (29), complete games (17), FIP- (69), and WAR (10.1). Aucoin had a 2.99 ERA and 122 ERA+. The former #1 overall pick was in his tenth year as well with the Tasmaniacs, but unlike Callihan, he was under contract through 2043. __________________ 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)

01-31-2026, 07:57 AM	#2699
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 OBA Pacific League The Pacific League was a two-team race through the first chunk of the season. Defending champ Honolulu led at the all-star break with a 58-30 record with Timor one back. The Tapirs were hoping for their first-ever pennant, but they faded slightly in the second half. Vanuatu inserted itself into the conversation as well with the best post-break record at 46-28. That wasn’t enough though to catch the Honu, who repeated as PL champs at 100-62. The Wizards finished second at 97-65, followed by Timor (96-66), Guam (90-72), and Guadalcanal (87-75). Honolulu has 17 pennants (1962, 63, 81-84, 86, 88-90, 93, 95, 96, 2019, 28, 38, 39), tied with the Golden Eagles for the most of any Oceania Baseball Association squad. They’re the first team to repeat in the PL since the 2031-32 Green Jackets. Honolulu’s 790 runs were the most in OBA, while Timor’s 525 runs allowed were the fewest. This was a franchise-record season for the Tapirs, who are the only squad in OBA without at least one pennant. Tahiti notably dropped to 75-87 only two years removed from winning it all, ending a run of six straight winning seasons by the Tropics. The Honu had the amazing feat of having the top four placers in a competitive Pacific League MVP race. 1B Levi Cole won with eight first place votes and 211 points, closely followed by 2B Joe Jese with seven first place votes and 185 points. 3B Kipling Smith and 2B Oddur Gaard also received top votes, as did New Caledonia’s 1B Ross Lucios. The runner-up Jese notably led in WAR (8.0), runs (111), and stolen bases (89). The winner Cole led in home runs (47), total bases (344), and slugging (.585). The 34-year old Australian righty had 167 hits, 100 runs, 24 doubles, 101 RBI, .918 OPS, 164 wRC+, and 6.3 WAR. It was his sixth season in Hawaii after starting his career with Adelaide. Cole is there for the long-haul having signed a five-year, $176,400,000 extension in March 2038. 2039 was a big bounce back for him, having suffered a broken kneecap the prior fall. Pitcher of the Year was Timor’s Bret Poblano with 11 first place votes and 107 points. Honolulu’s Pio Madigi was second with six first place votes and 91 points. Reliever of the Year winner Khalid Al-Jasim of Vanuatu also got three first place votes. The runner-up Poblano was in his second OBA season, having played in both CABA and MLB previously. The 29-year old Nicaraguan righty led in ERA (2.68), innings (325.1), WHIP (0.92), quality starts (30), and shutouts (5). Poblano had a 16-14 record, 356 strikeouts, 134 ERA+, 87 FIP-, and 6.3 WAR. He had been a journeyman previously, so the Tapirs got him at a bargain $31,760,000 over six years when he signed. Poblano notably had a no-hitter in January’s Baseball Grand Championship for his native Nicaragua against the Bahamas. __________________ 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)

01-31-2026, 11:28 PM	#2700
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,259	2039 Oceania Championship The 80^th Oceania Championship was back-to-back appearances for Honolulu, who lost in 2038 to Sydney. Despite having eight overall titles, the Honu hadn’t won it all since 1995, losing in their last four trips. It was the fourth finals berth in six years for Hobart, whose lone win was 2035 over Samoa. Both teams were 100-62, but the Tasmaniacs’ fewer runs allowed gave them home field advantage. Hobart opened with a 6-0 home win, getting a five-hit shutout by Pitcher of the Year winner Ashton Aucoin. Game two was a pitcher’s duel that went ten innings. MVP Levi Cole led off the tenth with a triple and was knocked in by Kipling Smith for a 2-1 Honu win. The series shifted to Hawaii, but the Tasmaniacs reclaimed control on an 8-6 road win. 1B Jody Riley homered twice with four RBI. In game four, Hobart had a five-run rally in the top of the ninth inning to prevail 8-7, capped off by Riley’s grand slam just over the left field fence. Honolulu exploded though 16-2 in game five to force the series back to Tasmania. The Honu snagged a 6-1 road win in game six on eight strong innings by veteran Aiden Bothel, forcing a decisive game seven on a 56 degree Thursday evening. Honolulu took control with three runs in the third inning via a Ben Reff solo homer and a two-run shot by Cole. They never surrendered the lead after that, although it was back to 5-3 after the seventh inning, The Honu added some insurance as veteran Dirk Murray gave up only three runs over his eight innings of work. Aucoin gave up 12 hits and seven runs (five earned) over his 7.2 innings. Honolulu prevailed 8-3 to become nine-time OBA champs (1982-84, 86, 88-90, 95, 2039). This ties them with Guam for the most titles and ended their 43-year drought. CF Richard Solis was named series MVP, going 14-25 with four RBI, six runs, two doubles, and one triple. His .560 average was a new postseason record (20 plate appearances required). Joe Jese also had 14 hits, tied for the third-most in series history. Cole had 11 RBI, tying the OBA playoff record reached by three others. Other notes: The four-time Pitcher of the Year Dirk Murray decided to retire at age 36 after earning the win in game seven. It was his second year with the Honu and second OBA title, having also won with Tahiti in 2034. Murray was a Canadian who played his first seven years in MLB with Sacramento before arriving and dominating in OBA. He finished his OBA career with an 180-90 record, 2.74 ERA, 2652.1 innings, 2929 strikeouts, 131 ERA+, 79 FIP-, and 63.7 WAR. Adding the MLB years, Murray was 271-176 with a 3.46 ERA, 4290 innings, 4271 Ks, 115 ERA+, 86 FIP-, and 88.0 WAR. John Skeffington was the 7^th OBA batter to the 3000 hit club. Marika Wati was the 17^th to 1500 RBI. Allan Clover was the 26^th pitcher to 3500 strikeouts and Ashton Aucoin was the 56^th to 3000 K. Both 3B Glen Cortes and SS Aquila Tabucava won their 8^th consecutive Gold Glove. SS Mathew Bellamy won his 11^th Silver Slugger, becoming the 6^th at any position in OBA to win the honor 11+ times. Sydney’s pitching staff set a new Australasia League record for fewest walks allowed (225) and best BB/9 (1.37). Hobart had 232 walks and 1.43 BB/9, the 2^nd-best mark. Vanuatu’s Helmut Kiala notably had a no-hitter on July 15 against Port Moresby with one walk and zero strikeouts. This was the 5^th no-hitter in all of baseball history with zero strikeouts. The Oceania Baseball Association’s scoring was slightly down from the prior decade, but mostly in line with OBA’s environment in the 21^st Century. The Australasia League (with the DH) had a 3.65 ERA and .253 batting average in the 2030s, while the Pacific League (sans DH) had a .247 average and 3.59 ERA. On the all-time historical scale, this was around average for scoring, but it was low-ish compared to the many inflated leagues of the 2030s. __________________ 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)