[FuzzyRussianHat]

Melbourne’s dynasty continued as the three-time defending Oceania Champions won a fifth Australasia League title in a row. The Mets set a franchise record at 110-52, winning their tenth pennant. Brisbane at 94-68 was a distant second despite the Black Bears setting AL records for runs scored (872), hits (1656), and batting average (.288). The runs and hits marks remain AL records as of 2037. The difference was Brisbane allowed 700 runs, while Melbourne surrendered only 517.

Mets SS Tyler Straw won his fourth Australasia League MVP, placing it next to his 2000, 2001, and 2003 trophies. Leg injuries kept him from playing more than 95 games in a season from 2004-2006 and he still missed almost two months in 2007 including the championship. However, he was the WARlord (11.2) over 124 games and 118 starts, posting 39 home runs, a .360/.420/.727 slash, and 209 wRC+.

Melbourne also had Pitcher of the Year Gavala Rahim. In his third full season, the righty from Sydney led in ERA at 2.43. He added a 19-8 record over 233 innings, 202 strikeouts, and 6.1 WAR.



After taking second in 2006, Tahiti was back atop the Pacific League in 2007. The Tropics finished 98-64 to win their fourth pennant in five years, along with their ninth overall. Guam and Honolulu tied for second at 91-71 with Samoa at 89-73. Last year’s PL champ Fiji fell to fifth place at 82-80. Tahiti’s offense blew away the field with 872 runs and a .334 team OBP, both second-best all-time in the PL behind the Tropics’ 2005 efforts (880 and .334).

Honolulu 2B Kalos Ryniker repeated as Pacific League MVP and won his third in four years. The 27-year old Solomon Islander led in hits (212), average (.359), OBP (.408), and WAR (9.8). Ryniker added 49 home runs, 114 runs, 105 RBI, and a 1.063 OPS. He’d play one more year for the Honu, then head to MLB on a massive seven-year, $94,400,000 deal with Denver.

Samoa’s Austin Jong won Pitcher of the Year in his third season. The 22-year old Papuan righty led in WAR (13.0), strikeouts (434), quality starts (31), and FIP- (51). It was only the 11^th time in OBA history that a pitcher posted 13+ WAR in a season. Jong also had a 2.49 ERA over 314.1 innings and a 19-13 record. The Sun Sox locked him up after that effort with a seven-year, $26,560,000 extension in the winter.



The 48^th Oceania Championship was the fourth meeting in five years between Melbourne and Tahiti. The Tropics won in 2003, but the Mets took the 2004 and 2005 meetings, plus the 2006 final over Fiji. Melbourne rolled to a 4-1 victory earn the first-ever four-peat in OBA history. LF Samson Gould was the finals MVP as the five-time Gold Glover went 10-21 with 5 runs, 1 double, and 1 homer.



By record, this was Melbourne’s best team of the dynasty and as of 2037, they’re the only ever OBA team to win it all in four straight years. The only other four-peats in any other pro league came from EAB’s Pyongyang (1965-68), CABA’s Mexico City (1969-73), MLB’s Philadelphia (1941-44), CLB’s Dalian (1991-94), SAB’s Ahmedabad (1989-92), and AAB’s Kinshasa (1997-00). It was the Mets’ sixth overall title, having also won in 1967 and 1969.

Other notes: In only their second season, expansion Canberra was 44-118, which stands as the worst record in OBA history as of 2037. 2007 was odd in that four players had a six-hit game. There had been only eight previous six-hit games in OBA’s history prior to that.

Timothy Manglona became the sixth pitcher to 4500 career strikeouts. Kai Brockhurst became the 15^th to reach 200 wins. LF Ian Griff won his ninth Silver Slugger while also crossing 1000 runs scored and 400 homers.