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The years between 2025 and 2030 will be long remembered ni NABF history - the years of impossible feats, incredible finishes, fallen records, franchise turnarounds, and the greatest seasons for any team of the first thirty years of play.

Much like in the previous recap, we have to begin in Baltimore. The Terrapins had spent Cycle 5 tearing through Division 4, and Cycle 6 doing the same to Division 3. Only two other teams - the Salt Lake Gulls of 2007-2012 and the Columbus Red Birds of 2013-2018 - had accomplished the feat of moving from D4 to D2 in just two cycles, but both of them failed to capitalize, struggling against D2 competition as their core players either left or aged. So all eyes were on the Pins as they began play: their unique position as a smaller market team with strong financial resources had allowed them to replenish talent, keep stars, and cultivate younger players, and the resulting mix held a great deal of promise.

That promise was met and vastly exceeded. The Terrapins began the season with two straight losses, but then ripped off a dozen straight wins, and kept on going. Sluggers Doug Padgett and Steve Mauck were joined by star 3B Connor Carey, and that 3-4-5 combo delivered souvenirs to fans in bleachers at an extraordinary rate: over 100 homers combined, just between the three of them, with catcher Jose Molina, RF Kyle Marshall, and rookie 1B Josh Hinthorne delivering more than 20 each. Baltimore scored 826 runs over the season - not a record, but not far from one (though incredibly the team would improve on that figure in both of the next two years).

The even bigger strength lay in their exceptional pitching staff. Four starters had 4 WAR seasons, including Jim Betz, whose late-career renaissance hit its highest point in 2025 - 20-6 with a 2.29 ERA and almost identical 2.27 FIP, good for 8.3 WAR and a Pitcher of the Year trophy. Mike Martinez was outstanding behind him, while Danny Rzasa set the NABF wins record, going 23-3 while posting 4.3 WAR. The bullpen was easily the best in the business. The team had no holes, and their record reflected it, finishing with a 115-39 record that was nine wins better than the previous record, which the Terrapins themselves had set the year before in D3. They won the Championship in a thrilling seven game series (see previous section).

For the next two seasons, they kept almost the exact same core of players (though Betz departed after 2026), with similar results: the second and third best seasons in NABF history, with 108 and 112 win seasons in 2026 and 2027, to go along with two more championships: another thrilling seven game series win over Vancouver, and a five game rout of Seattle, to bring their championship total to seven, the most of any team. Promotion was not even a question.

Division 1 proved more of a challenge for the Terrapins, especially as their stars began the ends of their careers. Steve Mauck led D1 in homers every year of Cycle 8, but his overall production dropped, as did his health. The team shocked its fans by trading Padgett in 2029 as their season crumbled, finishing with a losing record for the first time since 2011. Mike Martinez remained productive into the 2030s, but could no longer be called an ace, and Irving - still an incredible defender - never had an offensive season like his 2025-2026 peak again. The powerhouse in D1 in 2028 and 2029 was a resurgent Boston Bees, not the fading Pins.

The team had one more run left in what remained, however, and a weak D1 East allowed them to take the Conference with just 88 games in 2030. Matched up against a superior Angels team, they pulled out that magic one more time, winning in seven to become the only NABF team with 8 championships, and the only to win at least one in each Division.

The Terrapins weren’t the only ones setting records in those years. In New Orleans, young slugger Pedro Quiroz began a run of dominance unparalleled in the NABF, winning the home run title every year between 2025 and 2032, across both D3 and D2. Over those 8 years he hit 423 homers, a total only 19 other players have ever reached in their entire careers; he averaged 53 a year, a total reached only 11 times by any player who wasn’t Quiroz. Among those was his stunning 62 home run 2029, breaking the all-time single season mark of 60 set by the Monarchs’ Eric Bryant 20 years earlier. Quiroz also set the single season Total Bases record that year, while driving in 136 runs. Other hallowed records fell in the same period, from fellow New Orleans Zephyrs player Bobby Usry’s 2027 pursuit of the all-time hits record (which he set at 228) to Danny Rzasa’s record 23 wins in 2025 to Baltimore closer Matt Heitzman’s 51 saves in 2026. And on the other side of things, the St. Paul Saints set a record in 2027 that no one wanted: 107 losses, the most in NABF history.

Outside of the record-setting Terrapins, Cycle 7 belonged to the Philadelphia Athletics, who overcame strong El Paso teams in both 2025 and 2027 with a deep pitching staff backing aging superstar RF Brent Byrd and young CF phenom Eduardo Garcia (winner of 2028’s MVP in D1). The wins were the second and third in Philadelphia’s history, and established them as a force in Division 1, though the arrival of the Terrapins and the resurgence of the Bees complicated things. Still, the Athletics placed 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd again in Cycle 8, keeping things interesting until the end each year.

In D1 West, it was El Paso: the most consistent team in NABF history closed out the best run in team history. Behind 2B/SS Mike Smart and a roster of outstanding hitters, the Sun Kings took three straight D1 West titles in Cycle 7, though they lost each time - twice to Philly and once to the Montreal Expos, who won their first championship.

The Albuquerque Dukes were able to build on their 2025 championship with two more Conference titles in 2026 and 2027 to earn promotion to D3. The team kept rolling there, winning the D3 Championship in 2028. Their period of dominance coincides with one of the saddest stories of the NABF: Brian Tate looked to be building an all-time great career as he led the Dukes in the last half of the 2020s, putting up four straight D4/D3 best WAR seasons between ages 24 and 27 while the Dukes took first place each time. But something changed during the 2029 season, as Tate’s fastball simply dried up. His strikeout rate plummeted and HR rate rose, and he was out of baseball by 2032.

In Cycle 8, things started to shift in the lower Divisions that would have major ramifications for the next six years. The Chicago Whales, Kansas City Monarchs, Denver Bears, and Cincinnati Tigers had long been among the most hapless teams in the game: Denver and Cincinnati had famously never won a Conference title, while Kansas City had only one to its name, all the way back in 2011. But in 2027, the Tigers snuck into first in the D4 East with an 83-71 season, and upset the Dukes to win their first championship. Kansas City was next, winning a championship in both 2028 and 2029 before a narrow second place finish in 2029; it was more than enough to launch them into D3 for the first time in their history. And the Chicago Whales, who had bounced between Divisions 1 and 2 for the first twenty years of the NABF with just two Conference titles and no championships, suddenly emerged as a powerhouse, with CF Kyle DuBell emerging as a star.

The biggest story, though, was the Denver Bears, long a league laughingstock, they suddenly started winning. 2028 and 2029 saw two straight 88 win seasons - the latter their first ever Conference title. They won the 2030 championship at home against the Miami Marlins in front of a massive crowd, sparking the biggest celebration Denver could recall.

So as Cycle 8 came to a close, records lay shattered, new heroes emerged, a dynasty was on its last legs, and several long-time losers looked ready to take their place.

Next: Greatest Individual Seasons, 2025-2032