[FuzzyRussianHat]

Year three of the European Baseball Federation had seven of the eight playoff teams from the prior season back in the postseason field. The best record in the Northern Conference went to Stockholm, dominating the North Central Division at 105-57. Paris again won the Northwest Division and Amsterdam took the wild card with the Poodles at 104-58 and the Anacondas at 100-62. The new playoff team was London atop the weak British Isles Division at 87-75. Last year’s division champ Glasgow dropped to fourth at 71-91.

NC MVP went to Birmingham LF August Johnson. The 35-year old Swede led the conference in home runs (61), walks (101), OBP (.421), slugging (.690), OPS (1.110), and WAR (9.8). The Pitcher of the Year went to Oslo’s Cristiano Moreira. A 32-year old righty from Portugal, Moreira led the NC in wins (23) and ERA (1.63) while posting 262 strikeouts and 8.9 WAR.



The Southern Conference defending champ Munich had the best record in all of Europe in 1952, taking the Southeast Division at 111-51. Barcelona and Madrid both advanced again but switched positions with the Bengals first in the Southwest at 103-59 and the Conquistadors one back at 102-60. Lisbon at 94-68 posted a solid effort, but still short of a wild card. The South Central Division went to Milan at 98-64.

Mavericks LF Wolfgang Heinzmann was the SC’s MVP. The 30-year old German led the conference in runs (118), home runs (56), RBI (145), slugging (.655), and OPS (1.040) with 9.2 WAR. Madrid’s Mike “Horseface” Ring was Pitcher of the Year. A 28-year old Australian, Ring was the leader in strikeouts (386) and WAR (10.5) with a 2.55 ERA. Also notable was Belgrade’s Promoz Kucinic becoming the first two-time Reliever of the Year winner. The left-handed Serb had 41 saves and a 1.05 ERA with a 6.1 WAR.

In the first round of the playoffs in the Northern Conference, Stockholm swept defending European Champion Amsterdam in three and Paris swept London. In the Southern Conference, Munich defeated Madrid in four and Milan swept Barcelona. The Northern Conference Championship saw Paris sweep Stockholm 4-0 and the Southern Conference Championship had Munich down Milan in five, sending the Mavericks to back-to-back European Championships. The third finale went all seven for the first time with the home team winning each game. That favored the Mavericks over the Poodles, sending the title to Germany for the first time.





Other notes: The first EBF perfect game occurred on May 1 via London’s Zdenek Plsek. He struck out 16 in a masterful performance against Glasgowi