Baseball: The World's Game

[FuzzyRussianHat]

The Sundaland Association was really a toss-up all season with 11 of the 14 teams having a legitimate path still into the playoffs entering September. 10 squads finished in the 80s win range. The top squad at the all-star break was last year’s top seed Kuala Lumpur at 56-38. They have a middling second half, but built up enough of a cushion to win the Malacca League at 91-71 for the top seed. The Leopards won their fifth straight ML title and earned a sixth straight playoff trip.

Their closest foes in the ML at the break was Batam at 51-42 and Johor Bahru at 51-44, while Singapore, Medan, and Penang were each a game or two below .500. By September, the Sharks had moved into the #2 spot at 75-63, sitting two ahead of the Blue Wings and three better than the Blue Raiders. Two weeks later, the margin had stayed roughly the same, although it was clearer that Kuala Lumpur wasn’t going to be caught.

Batam got hot to close the season, going 10-2 including a four-game sweep of the Leopards in their final series which included an absurd 31 inning game which lasted more than ten hours.



The Blue Wings and Sharks faced each other to close and split with JB winning the first two and Singapore the final two. With that, the Blue Raiders got the final playoff spot at 87-75. Singapore was one back at 86-76, while both Johor Bahru and Medan were 84-78 and Penang was 80-82. Batam ended a five-year playoff drought.

Four teams were separated by only three wins in the Java Sea League. At the all-star break, it was Depok first at 52-40, followed by Palembang at 50-42, reigning Austronesia Professional Baseball champ Semarang at 48-46, and Jakarta at 47-47. The Jaguars completely collapsed with a 24-44 second half for a 71-91 record. Meanwhile Surabaya, a lackluster 42-53 at the break, had the strongest finish at 43-24 which inserted the Sunbirds into the picture.

Entering September, the Panthers led at 75-63, a half game up on the Demons, two ahead of the Sliders, and seven over both the Sunbirds and Bandung. Two weeks later, Palembang at 81-69 still narrowly had first place. Depok was one game back with Semarang 2.5 away, Surabaya three back, and Bandung 5.5 away. The Panthers took three of four hosting Jakarta, but got swept at Semarang. The Demons got three of four over last place Makassar and two of three over Kuala Lumpur. Semarang had also grabbed three of four over Bandung.

With one series left to go, Palembang and Depok were tied for first at 85-73 and set to face off in a four-game series hosted by the Panthers. The Sliders were a half-game behind them both, while the Sunbirds had an outside shot 2.5 back. Semarang was to close hosting Pekanbaru in three games while Surabaya hosted Jakarta for three. The Sunbirds won two of three, while the Sliders lost two of three.

Palembang got a 2-0 and 5-4 win to start against Depok, the latter in 11 innings. Game three was a ten-inning, 4-2 win for the Demons, but the Panthers had a 10-3 rout in the finale to take first place outright at 88-74. Palembang ended a 16-year playoff drought back to their 2019-21 three-peat. Semarang and Depok were even at 86-76, while Surabaya was one short at 85-77 and Bandung was 80-82. That ended a six-year playoff streak for the Blackhawks.



In the one-game tiebreaker for second place, Semarang hosted and defeated Depok 5-1, keeping their repeat bid alive and earning a sixth straight playoff trip. Surabaya had the fewest runs allowed in the SA at 416, while Penang scored the most at 561.



Leading the Possums’ offense was 1B Tung Vo, who won Sundaland Association MVP with 20 first place votes. Semarang LF Wijaya Yama had the remaining eight first place nods and was the leader in home runs (52) and RBI (107). It was an impressive sophomore campaign for Vo, who had won Rookie of the Year in 2037. For 2038, the 24-year old Malaysian lefty led in OBP (.373), slugging (.627), OPS (1.000), wRC+ (208), and WAR (9.4). Vo added 165 hits, 94 runs, 20 doubles, 48 homers, 97 RBI, and a .302 average. He had been the #2 overall draft pick in 2036 for Penang.

Semarang’s Yuchi Jiang was Pitcher of the Year for the second time in three seasons. It was a competitive battle as he had 16 first place votes and 160 points compared to Kuala Lumpur’s John Gonzalez with 12 first place votes and 148 points. Gonzalez was the leader in WAR (8.0), and wins (19-5). It was Singapore’s Chi-Hsiang Ling with the best ERA (1.30) and Seamarang’s Roddy Patoc with the most Ks (343).

As for the winner Jiang, the only stat he led was quality starts with 30. The 33-year old lefty from China though was rock solid with a 1.66 ERA in 255.1 innings, 16-8 record, 300 strikeouts, 175 ERA+, 75 FIP-, and 6.5 WAR. Jiang has three years left on what was a historic $322 million contract, the richest active deal in all of APB.



In a rematch of the prior year’s Sundaland Association Championship, Kuala Lumpur got some revenge against Semarang. The Leopards had the one-game advantage, then got 7-0 and 4-1 wins to sweep the Sliders. In game one, John Gonzalez tossed a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts, while POTY Yuchi Jiang got rocked with seven runs (six earned) in four innings. KL earned fifth consecutive trip to the association finals.

Palembang had the game advantage and opened with a 2-1 win against Batam. The Blue Raiders got one back 9-4 in game two, but the Panthers clinched with a 5-4 result in game three in 11 innings. The leadoff man in the bottom of the 11^th Asri Pilus ended the game with a solo homer 409 feet to right-center. Palembang earned their first finals trip since their 2019-21 three-peat. The Leopards had won 4-2 in their regular season encounters.

Kuala Lumpur opened on 7-3 and 8-6 home victories. Palembang won the first game on their home turf 7-1, but this would be their only win. The Leopards took 7-0 and 2-1 road victories to claim the series in five games. Game four featured a two-hit, 11 strikeout shutout by Bo-Cheng Chan, who won series MVP based on that lone start. Gonzalez gave up one run in eight innings in the game five clincher. Kuala Lumpur won their fourth pennant, each coming in the 2030s (2031, 34, 35, 38).

[FuzzyRussianHat]

The 74^th Austronesia Championship was the first finals battle between the Filipino and Malaysian capitals. Kuala Lumpur was in their fourth finals of the decade and looking for their third title, having also won in 2031 and 2035. Manila hadn’t been to the finals since 1999 and their only ring was back in 1986, 51 years prior. The Manatees had home field and saw their bullpen step up big in game one after starter Stanley Hwang went down with an injury after one inning. They gave up only one run and three hits the rest of the way in 3-1 opening win.

Game two was even more of a pitcher’s duel with no runs scored through 13 innings. Finally in the bottom of the 14^th, Derrick Gustavo smacked a two-run homer to send the Manila fans home happy on a 2-0 win for the 2-0 series lead. The Leopards got the better of a game three pitcher’s duel back in Malaysia with a 2-1 score. Thipanraj Shahdan was the winning pitcher with one run and six hits allowed with 11 strikeouts over eight innings.

KL evened the series on a 3-1 score in the fourth contest, scoring their runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Manila opened up 5-0 after the third in game five, but the Leopards exploded with a six-run fourth inning. However, the Manatees went back ahead on a three-run sixth inning en route to a 8-6 victory; the first road winner of the series. This gave Manila the edge heading back to the Philippines. They would be unable to close out though in a game six marathon.

Manila had a solo run in the fourth and Kuala Lumpur one in the sixth. Game six stayed locked up at 1-1 deep into extras with hits few and far between. In the top of the 14^th, the Leopards loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, enabling a sacrifice fly by Fong Chin. A 1-2-3 bottom half gave KL the 2-1 road win to force the first game seven in the APB final since 2027.

Kuala Lumpur opened game seven with a two-run first inning. Manila eventually evened it up with solo homers in the fourth and seventh innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Julkarnain Hidayati had a leadoff homer to put the Manatees ahead. The 3B wasn’t someone you expected homers from with only 15 in his 490 game career to that point.

Manila got a walk and two hits after that for an extra insurance run which proved crucial. On the first pitch of the ninth, the Leopards’ Ahmad Amzar smacked a solo homer. However, the next three hitters were retired consecutively, allowing the Manatees to escape with the 4-3 win and their second APB title. Hidayati’s homer helped him seal series MVP. It was his only RBI of the series, but he led in hits going 9-25 with 5 runs. Every game of the series was decided by one or two runs.



In other playoff notables, KL’s John Gonzalez set the playoff record for innings with 40.2, posting a 1.11 ERA and 37 Ks in five starts. Manila reliever Cody Damaso set the record for appearances with 11, although he had a 3.50 ERA in his 18 innings. The Leopards also saw a new APB playoff record by 1B Kai Bravo, who drew 13 walks in the playoff run.

Other notes: Both Ronald Arias and Wei-Yin Wang passed what was the long-standing career record for runs scored of Junior Sanchez (1446) with Arias to 1553 and Wang to 1448. Both have a long way to catch Binh Tang’s 1915, although with Tang gone to MLB, his numbers are set unless he later returns to APB. Arias also became the 6^th to 600 career homers. Wang became the 3^rd to 1500 RBI behind only Tang and Wil Tabaldo.

In other milestones, Shen Chang was the 16^th to 500 homers and he became one of 75 with 2000 hits. James Yuwono became the 14^th to 2500 hits. Isa Amirudin and Ashraf Zeky were the 40^th and 41^st to 1000 runs scored, while Amirudin was the 50^th to 1000 RBI. For pitching notables, Fred Pasaya was the 43^rd to 3500 strikeouts and Hakimi Aziz was the 32^nd to 200 wins.

It was the final season for three-time Pitcher of the Year Kuan-Yang Kang, who had a 16-year run with Tainan. He finished with a 231-137 record, 2.16 ERA, 3402.1 innings, 5332 strikeouts, 141 ERA+, 57 FIP-, and 119.2 WAR. Kang retired 24^th in the world for strikeouts and 3^rd in APB history, while ranking 13^th in wins and 8^th in APB pitching WAR. He also has 11 Gold Gloves, the most in world history for a pitcher.

Chiayi’s Maysaroh Putro had only the 4^th four home run game in APB history, doing it against Taipei on July 18. Bryan Surdani had a 30-game hit streak for Manila in the summer, which was the 4^th-longest streak in APB history. 3B Chun-Jung Lai won his 7^th Silver Slugger.

Hsinchu’s Liu-Ching Chang set a bad record getting caught stealing 98 times, which was the most in a single-season in any world league, ever. Chang did at least have 64 successful steals and led with a .388 OBP. The Sweathogs’ pitching continued to be atrocious as their 4.13 team ERA, 1464 hits allowed, 755 runs, 663 earned runs, 9.12 H/9, and 1.332 WHIP were all either the 2^nd or 3^rd-worst for those stats in APB history. I suppose it was an improvement, since the dirt worst for each stat was set the prior year by the Sweathogs.

[FuzzyRussianHat]

The rebuild was complete for Sydney, who had won their seven Australasia League pennants from 2018-29. The Snakes had dropped to .500 by 2032, then were well below for the next four years. Sydney was back at 80-82 in 2037, followed by a breakthrough in 2038 for their eighth pennant (2018, 19, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 38). It was an impressive haul for a franchise that had no titles in its first 58 seasons.

Sydney had control all season, holding the AL’s best record at the all-star break at 54-34; four ahead of Hobart and six ahead of Adelaide. The Snakes had the best second half as well for a 97-65 finish, leading the league in runs scored (740) and all of the Oceania Baseball Association in run differential (+161). The Tasmaniacs took second at 90-72 with the Aardvarks third at 89-73 and Perth fourth at 86-76. Last year’s AL winner Melbourne fell to seventh at 80-82. Gold Coast, the fifth place finisher at 83-79, allowed the fewest runs at 577.



Leading the way for Sydney was the unanimous Australasia League MVP Sam Erickson, winning in back-to-back seasons. The 26-year old Australian LF led in the triple slash (.368/.402/.679), OPS (1.080), wRC+ (214), hits (222), RBI (120), and total bases (410). Erickson also had 108 runs, 34 doubles, 46 homers, and 8.9 WAR. He was one homer short of a Triple Crown to Hobart’s Chaz Callihan, the runner-up. The Snakes secured Erickson for the long-haul days after the season ended with an eight-year, $184,300,000 extension.

Pitcher of the Year also had a unanimous and repeat winner in Melbourne’s Wyatt Ferullo with an explosive 452 strikeout season. It was 23^rd on the OBA single-season record board, but one of only 52 seasons in any world league with 450+ Ks. The 27-year old Australian righty also led in ERA (2.00), WHIP (0.84), K/BB (11.6), quality starts (35), FIP- (52), and WAR (12.97).

Ferullo had a 20-15 record and 173 ERA+ in 324 innings, missing the Triple Crown by four wins to Adelaide’s Dinis Ponces. His WAR was the 21^st-best single-season by an OBA pitcher and just fell short of 13, which had only happened 99 times in world history from a pitcher. Melbourne also locked Ferullo up with a seven-year, $244,100,000 extension signed in September, making him OBA’s highest-paid pitcher.