[FuzzyRussianHat]

The fourth season of the European Baseball Federation saw Stockholm with the best record in the Northern Conference at 111-51, easily taking the North Central Division for the third straight season. Close behind in record were the Northwest Division’s Paris and Amsterdam, each making it into the playoff field for the fourth time. The defending conference champ Poodles narrowly took the division at 110-52, while the Anacondas were the wild card at 108-54. The British Isles Division went to London, bringing the same four teams from last year’s playoffs back into the field. The Monarchs at 90-72 finished two games better than Birmingham.

The NC MVP went to Paris’s Brainslav Mikusiak. The 27-year old Slovakian CF had the conference lead in WAR (9.5) and slugging (.597), posting 40 home runs and 132 RBI with a .300 average. Amsterdam had the Pitcher of the Year in Elih Cruz. The 31-year old Spaniard led the conference with a 1.88 ERA, posting a 22-5 record, 287 strikeouts, and 10.5 WAR.



The best overall record in Europe was the Southern Conference’s Madrid at 124-38. They were only one game behind the 125-win league record they had set back in 1951. At 98-64, Southwest Division foe Barcelona earned the wild card. Defending European Champion Munich at 11-51 won the Southeast Division for their third straight playoff berth, while Milan won their fourth straight South Central Division title at 96-66. With that, the 1953 playoff field is the exact same eight teams as the prior season.

Maulers CF Danijel Cindric was the SC MVP with an all-time great season, having joined Milan in an offseason trade from Copenhagen. The 30-year Croatian CF had the EBF’s first hitting Triple Crown with 54 home runs, 132 RBI, and .322 average. His incredible 15.4 WAR would be the single-season record for any EBF player until 2010 and would be third-best all-time as of 2036. He also led the Southern Conference in runs (131), OBP (.423), slugging (.730), OPS (1.153), and wRC+ (227). Pitcher of the Year went to Barcelona’s Sergio Flores. The 30-year old Spaniard led in WAR (12.9), wins (24), and innings pitched (297.1), posting a 1.94 ERA and 308 strikeouts.

In the first round of the 1953 postseason in the Northern Conference, Amsterdam won in four games at Stockholm and London upset Paris in five. The NCC saw the Monarchs prevail over the Anacondas 4-2, sending London to the European Championship for the first time. In the Southern Conference, Madrid bested Barcelona in four and Munich swept Milan. The SCC had the Conquistadors over the Mavericks in six, giving Madrid its first conference title despite 450 wins in their first four seasons. By record, the Conquistadors (124) were the big favorite over the Monarchs (90), but the scrappy London squad claimed the European Championship in six games. It is the first title for an English team.





Other notes: The second and third EBF perfect games were thrown in 1953. On March 22, Munich’s Todd Sandstrom struck out 12 against Belgrade. Then on May 29, Belgrade’s Domagoj Brankovic had nine Ks in a perfect versus Zagreb. Elsewhere, Madrid’s Fernando Quiztapa had a 29-game hitting streak, which would hold as the record in EBF until 1960.