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2034 was unusual in the Western League as the top five records all came out of the North Division. However, West African Baseball’s playoff formatting had only the top two from each division advance to the postseason. Reigning WAB champ Bamako and Dakar finished even atop the North at 99-63, followed by Nouakchott (95-67), Banjul (92-70), and Conakry (92-70).

The tiebreaker formula favored the Bullfrogs, which was critical since that guaranteed them a repeat spot in the Western League Championship Series. The Dukes would have to climb the ladder for a third straight LCS trip, although their playoff streak grew to an impressive 11 seasons. Dakar was the leading scorer at 919 runs while Bamako allowed the fewest at 637.

From the South Division, Freetown finished first at 87-75. Monrovia took the second place slot at 84-78, one ahead of 83-79 Kumasi. The Foresters are back after going 77-85 in 2033, which was only their second playoff miss since 2022. The Diplomats earned a third consecutive playoff trip and their fourth berth in five years.

In his 17^th season starting for Freetown, 1B Youssoupha Diop won his first Western League MVP. The 37-year old lefty from Senegal won his eighth Silver Slugger, but he had never taken the top honor despite being a Hall of Fame lock. Diop led in RBI (148) and had 58 home runs, 210 hits, 124 runs, 34 doubles, .347/.415/.690 slash, 181 wRC+, and 8.0 WAR.

It was a remarkable comeback season, as he had posted career worsts across the board the prior year with an .817 OPS and 0.9 WAR; leading many to think he was washed. Diop became WAB’s 5^th member of the 800 home run club and the 5^th to 2000 runs scored. He was one of 31 players in all of pro baseball history with 2000+ runs. Diop had also previously reached 3000 hits and 2000 RBI. Diop and Abdel Aziz Ashraf were both within striking distance of passing Lawrence Nassif’s 2338 RBI for the WAB career record.

He earned MVP despite some stiff competition, including the two-time defending winner Emmanuel Marshall with Accra. The 28-year old RF missed time to a strained back, but still in 127 games led in homers (63), OBP (.431), slugging (.822), OPS (1.253), wRC+ (214), and WAR (8.8). Marshall’s slugging was a new WAB single-season record, beating the previous best .799 by Haji Mussa from 2026.

Marshall’s slugging ranks as the 17^th-best qualifying mark in all of pro baseball history. His OPS was also the third-best in WAB and 29^th in world history, one of only 32 times a player was above 1.250. This got Marshall paid handsomely by the Alligators with an eight-year, $308,500,000 extension signed in May.

Bamako’s Vinny Nga won Pitcher of the Year and was the second closer in WAB history to win the award, joining Francis Koomson (2006, 07). Despite that, Nga actually didn’t win Reliever of the Year, as that went to Dakar’s Irad Lawali with 40 saves, a 1.27 ERA, and 4.4 WAR.

For the 28-year old Cameroonian, he led in saves with 43 and had a 0.95 ERA over 85.3 innings, 69 games, 186 strikeouts, 14 walks, 481 ERA+, and 5.1 WAR. Nga would’ve been only the fifth Reliever of the Year winner with a sub-one ERA had he won that award. He would parlay this into a MLB deal in 2036 with Halifax.

Dakar edged Monrovia in the first round 2-1, then fell 2-0 at Freetown in round two. The Foresters earned their eighth trip to the Western League Championship Series since 2024, having won three pennants in that stretch. They took the defending champ Bamako to the limit, but the Bullfrogs escaped 3-2 for the repeat. Bamako became ten-time WL champs (1976, 83, 86, 2003, 15, 17, 19, 21, 33, 34).



Libreville set a franchise record at 106-56 to win the Coastal Division and take the top seed in the Eastern League. The Lakers had only been the top seed or a division champ once before with their lone pennant in 2016. Libreville hadn’t been a playoff team since 2022 and last made the ELCS in 2021. The Lakers had been building with a near miss at 90-72 the prior year, but that had been their first winning season in 11 years. They had to fend off defending EL champ Douala, who easily took second at 98-64 for their third straight playoff berth.

The Dingos didn’t match their record-setting offense from 2033 and it was Libreville who led WAB with 995 runs. Douala still scored a strong 922 runs and had a .318 team batting average and .364 on-base percentage, second-best in WAB history behind their .326/.369 from the prior year. The Dingos also only struck out 1101 times, which was the second-best in EL history. Notably down in the division was Cotonou at 77-85, ending their eight-year playoff streak.

Ibadan won the Interior Division by a firm margin at 97-65 and allowed the EL’s fewest runs at 710. This ended a six-year playoff drought for the Iguanas. Second place had a tie at 88-74 between Benin City and Niamey, followed by Kano (82-80) and Ouagadougou (81-81). The Blue Devils won the tiebreaker game for their third straight playoff berth and fifth in six years.

Douala’s Ram Lengani repeated as Eastern League MVP, leading in runs (134), RBI (164), triple slash (.381/.439/.695), OPS (1.134), wRC+ (173), and WAR (9.1). The 26-year old Burkinabe second baseman added 231 hits, 49 doubles, and 44 home runs. The former #1 overall pick eventually got a mammoth extension with the Dingos in March 2036 at eight years and $374,500,000.

Ibadan’s Yakubu Babwo won his second Pitcher of the Year, having also done it in his sophomore 2031 campaign. The 26-year old Nigerian lefty won the ERA title (2.44) and led in WHIP (1.02). Babawo had a 17-8 record, 181 innings, 270 strikeouts, 194 ERA+, and 7.0 WAR. He missed a few starts in the early spring to a strained shoulder. The Iguanas gave Babawo a five-year, $35,520,000 extension in May.

Benin City ousted the defending EL champ Douala 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs. The Blue Devils fell 2-0 to Ibadan in round two, sending the Iguanas to their first Eastern League Championship Series since 2027. The series went all five games, but top seed Libreville held to win their second pennant (2016, 2034).



The 60^th West African Championship had Bamako defeat Libreville 4-1. After losing their first eight finals trips, the Bullfrogs were now repeat champs. Finals MVP went to Lakers’ RF Kadhiri Sassou in a losing effort, getting 13 hits, 8 runs, 3 homers, and 9 RBI in 10 playoff starts. Bamako is the fourth WAB franchise to earn a repeat, joining Lagos (1978-79, 91-92), Cotonou (2010-11, 26-27), and Kano (1975-76, 97-99, 2001-03).



Other notes: Dakar’s Cedric St-Pierre notably had 709 at-bats, 271 hits, 127 runs, 444 total bases, a .382 average, and 7.6 WAR. The at-bats tied the world record set by WAB’s Justin Karefa-Smart in 709. It was only the third-time in world history that anyone had 270+ hits, as WAB legend and world hit king Fares Belaid had twice gotten to 282. 260+ hits has only happened 11 times ever; St-Pierre has now done it twice (260 in 2033) and Belaid did it six times. St-Pierre also had a 32-game hitting streak in the fall.

Amazingly, there were three longer streaks in 2034 with Popeye Bukola and Rodrigue Adoum both going 35 games. The clear standout was Banjul’s William Green at 45 games, breaking Belaid’s WAB record 43 from 2021. This was only the 17^th streak in pro baseball history of 40+ games and one of six at 45+ games. The world record remains 54 by Sandile Nyambi in the 2018 CABA season.

Junior Jose became the 14^th member of the 600 home run club and Julus Emmanuel was the 28^th to 500 dingers. Jose and Edward Mumini became the 26^th and 27^th to 1500 career RBI. Tigui Ekanga was the 21^st to 1500 runs scored. El Hadj Sghair was the 42^nd to 2500 hits. Jose won his 9^th Silver Slugger at 3B and SS Prince Kofi won his 7^th. Guillaume Mbimbiangoye was the 2^nd closer to 300 saves. The record is 377 by Christopher James.