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1994 Season :

• League announcement:

Jean Nooked, the commissioner of the LBL retired after 36 years. Bartholomée Kaos is the new commisioner to replace him. His first big task will be to handle the next expansion, that is set to happen in 1996.
Kaos said during his introduction:

"As for the 1988 expansion, there will be four new franchises. The league will continue to reach new markets in the country. No additional changes to the league structure are planned. The four franchises will be announced soon."

The new commissioner also stated a new format for the playoffs matchups starting from this year :
"The matchups will be no longer be fixed according to position, but rather by overall record. This means winning a division doesn't provide a high seed anymore. Interleagues will still happen in the playoffs. We believe this will avoid having the same matchups every year, and lead to a more open competition."

• Pre-season story:

After a lost in the LBS in the 1992, Linga Bay were able to bounce back to won their second championship, showing some personality. After two exceptional years rewarded by a Golden Ball, the injury-prone pitcher Huang Lin only started 7 games last year. Will he be able to come back to his level of performance before injuries ?

With three LBS participations in four years, the Freros had started the decade on a high note. Their roster is now packed with stars that performs really well. Anwa Adejola was never the ace, but he still delivered solid seasons. He won the Silver Glove in 1988, and last year he pitched for 3.45 ERA, with 164 K, 1.10 WHIP and 3.0 WAR.

The Nang Nius dynasty are more than over, but quality is still there in Lingalie City. The biggest franchise in the league cannot tolerate to miss several playoffs, especially with a payroll that high. 3B Danny Constante was a nice addition to the squad in 1991, when he won the Silver Glove. Since then, he was awarded two Ruby Awards. Last season, he led the league with 7.3 WAR, and .874 OPS. Furthermore, he batted for .303/.382/.492 with 181 H, 28 HR, and 107 RBI.

After three consecutive division titles, Lingalia has lost two important players this offseason : Cheng who returned with the Freros and Gomez who will play for the B&Y. This may be the time for Edward Hanscombe to carry the team. The RF who won the Silver Glove in 1991 had delivered his best season last year with a batting line of .310/.350/.394, 195 H and 3.6 WAR.

Placed in a tough division, the Diamonds is still an underdog to clinch a postseason berth. They had many All-Star in their roster, 2B Rudolf Palenik is one of them. He led the league in triples for the four past seasons (with 13, 11, 12 and 9) and proved that he is a solid hitter. Last year he batted for .305/.358/.380with 4.8 WAR.

After a couple of postseason appearances, can Narballo establish themselves as playoff regular ? There is clearly an open spot behind the Expendables in the Outlands division, and it looks like the Tattoed Sharks will compete with the Maple Leaves. Power hitter Bruce Cabrera accomplished three decent seasons for the Tattoed Sharks. Last season, he had 5.0 WAR and a batting line of .213/.369/.370 with 19 HR.

Transactions/ FA :

- Cesar Gomez, 39 yo SP, signed as a FA (LGG --> B&Y) a contract of 8 400 000 € in 2 y
- Michel Dubost, 34 yo CF, declined option and signed as a FA (SST --> CAL(MLB)) a contract of 13 880 000 € in 4 y
- Jerome Imbert, 33 yo SP, signed as a FA (DIA --> BEA) a contract of 9 760 000 € in 4 y
- Carl Leeson, 34 yo SP, signed as a FA (GRE --> LNN) a contract of 22 000 000 € in 4 y
- Xing-yun Cheng, 31 yo 3B, declined option and signed as a FA (LGG --> FRE) a contract of 36 980 000 € in 7 y
- Rhys Lawless, 25 yo RF, signed as a FA (CITY --> THU) a contract of 44 480 000 € in 8 y
- Carlos Garica, 35 yo LF, signed as a FA (SEAG --> SST) a contract of 6 400 000 € in 4 y
- Fernando Nieto, 26 yo RF, signed as a FA (GDD --> CITY) a contract of 14 560 000 € in 4 y

Managerial changes :

JDT Daniel Albritton parted ways with the Jade Tigers. He will be replaced by Jesus Jones, a manager that rely on sabermetrics.
BEA Miguel Vega will not stay in Kuronga. Former Thunders bench coach, Verastegui has been given an opportunity from the FO to become a manager.
TSH Rubel Cespedes is no longer in charge of Narballo. He will instead be the manager of the Zappir Phoenix in the l-league. Deyvi Castillo, an inexperienced manager was appointed.
GDD Nick Mould has been fired after only one season, he will seek to bounce back as a bench coach for the Expendables. Winner of the 1979 LBS with the Sea Stars, Carlos Ramos had returned last year in the LBL as a GDD BC, after a career in the MLB with Toronto and Seattle. He is now promoted to the managerial position in Golden District.

CITY Manny Mota (1992-)
LNN Jose Mayorga (1992-)
THU Hunter Bailey (1992-)
FRE Felix Cuevas (1993-)

WHE Ahmed Wiese (1988-)
GRE Matt Curry (1989-)
MAP Gregory Paulino (1992-)
TSH Deyvi Castillo (1994-)


B&Y Andrew Lefave (1981-)
SST Oberdan Diaz (1991-)
DIA Miguel Brito (1992-)
BEA Adenson Verastegui (1994-)

SEAG Ernie Banks (1988-)
LGG Wolde-Selassie Imara (1993-)
JDT Jesus Jones (1994-)
GDD Carlos Ramos (1994-)

• Regular season :

Moon League

They did it again! City won their second Metro division in a row. Since the beginning of last year season, Ixzi Fitzgerald delivered continuously great performances. The Freros finished only 4 games ahead of the Nang Nius. The latter missed the playoffs for the third year in a row, a first for the franchise. The Thunders didn't showed any improvement at all.

Very close race in the Outlands between the Expendables and the Maple Leaves, but in the end, Green District managed to keep their crown. Their ace Mas Odhiambo, despite a great season, lost the race to the Maples Leaves'ace, P.T. Maedgen though. Stonegap is the first 1988 expansion franchise to achieve a winning record. Narballo finished last.

Sun League

The best team in the Sun League this year was the Jade Tigers, who were only 4 wins away to win their first division ever. They could count on their closer Jonathan Todaro who won the Silver Ball. With a record of .506, the Silver Eagles were able to clinch the second playoff berth. Lingalia fell into the third place, ahead of the Golden Dragons.

LBS holder, Linga Bay won the Coast division, 5 games ahead of the Black&Yellow. Ian Bostock was one of the leaders on the field. He was awarded the 1994 Golden Glove. For the first time in their short history, the Bears did not finish last, but 3rd. Instead, the Diamonds had their worst season ever.

• Draft :
  

Pitcher Mike Ornelas was picked first by the Wayt Tides Thunders this season.

• All Stars Game :

Moon League

Caspar Bond(CITY) & Jason Donahue(THU) were notably elected for the first time.
Return of Xing-yun Cheng(FRE), Kei Shibuya(CITY) in the ML squad.
Rhys Lawless(CITY), Miguel Estrada(WHE), Quintin Treveylan Jr.(MAP), Mas Odhiambo(GRE), P.T. Maedgen(MAP), Run-ming Sun(LNN), Chee-hwa Er(FRE), Ji-e Jung(GRE), Yun-qi Chu(CITY), Robin Britton(LNN), Luis Loeza(FRE), Carl Leeson(LNN), Diepolt Hesse(GRE), Alex Nunez(FRE) will again be present in the ASG this season.

Sun League

First honors for Heller Glass(B&Y), Ryuuya Takahashi(BEA), Wagih Hatari(BEA), Jérôme Imbert(BEA) & Danny Guizar(B&Y)
After being left last year Huang Lin(SST), Filip Zadunov(SEAG) played in this season All-star Game.
Players like Teshome Shakes(LGG), Wayne Davies(JDT), Harris Nash(LGG), Tony Aviles(B&Y), Cesar Gomez(B&Y), Ian Bostock(SST), Kyle Petrillo(SEAG), Herman Strazzer(SEAG), Anwa Zhao(SST), Victor Morales(SEAG) are on a streak on playing the ASG.

In Woodbury, the Moon League took the lead over the Sun League with their third victory.