[FuzzyRussianHat]

The European Second League’s Western Conference was very top heavy in 2034. Hamburg, who had just gotten sent down the year prior, took the top spot at 110-52. Luxembourg was close behind at 104-58, followed by Stuttgart (102-60) and Valencia (98-64). It was a ten game drop to Amsterdam at 88-74 for the next closest contender.

The Lancers got their second playoff trip since getting relegated from the European Baseball Federation’s Elite Tier for 2031. The Silver Sabres ended a six-year playoff drought and were the only original E2L team still yet to get promoted at least once. This was the Vandals’ first playoff appearance since returning to E2L in 2028. Leeds, who had just gotten promoted from European Tier Three, was immediately relegated back down after an abysmal 37-125 season. That was the worst record in E2L history.

Hamburg took the top spot in the double round robin at 5-1 to secure a quick promotion after only two years. Luxembourg and Stuttgart both were 3-3 and Valencia was 1-5. The Lancers advanced on the tiebreaker, keeping the Silver Sabres in E2L for another year. Luxembourg escaped after a four-year E2L stint. In the Western Conference Championship, the Hammers defeated the Lancers 4-2.



Lviv took first in the Eastern Conference at 99-63, giving them a third straight playoff berth. The Lunkers have been a playoff team six times in eight years, but have been stuck in E2L. Their only previous promotion came in 2018, but they were relegated right back after one year.

A tight fight for the remaining three playoff spots saw Gothenburg (93-69), Leipzig (92-70) and Sarajevo (90-72) advance. The first teams out were Malta (89-73) and Riga (88-74). The Gales got their third berth in four years, but had a similar trajectory to Lviv. Gothenburg had been promoted once before in 2012, but likewise only lasted one season in the big time.

For the Lumberjacks, this was their first playoff berth since getting sent back down two years prior. The Salukis had just gotten demoted for 2034 after a three-year stint in the top tier. After two years in E2L, Montenegro was relegated back to ET3 with a last place 53-109. Bratislava only narrowly escaped with their own 58-104 record. For the Mountain Goats, they set new conference all-time worsts for team ERA (4.44), hits allowed (1433), runs (783), and earned runs (724).



All four playoff teams were even at 3-3 in the double round robin, but the tiebreakers favored the top two seeds Lviv and Gothenburg. Both teams picked up their second-ever promotions with hopes of lasting longer than one year this next time around. In the Eastern Conference Championship, the Lunkers downed the Gales 4-2. However, Hamburg rolled to a 4-1 win over Lviv in the E2L Championship.





Palermo had just gotten sent to European Tier Three, but escaped after one year with a first place 108-54. Athens also was promoted at 106-56 with the next closest being Kosovo (98-64), and Bordeaux (95-67). The roller coaster continued for the Anchors, who got relegated to ET3 in 2031, promoted back to E2L for 2033, demoted back to ET3 in 2034, and now promoted again for 2035. Athens defeated the Priests 4-2 in the ET3 Championship.