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Minsk continued its streak of a playoff berth in each of the first eight seasons of Eurasian Professional Baseball with their seventh straight 100+ win season. The Miners had the best overall record in EPB with a 112-50 mark atop the European League North Division. Both EL wildcards came from the North with St. Petersburg at 104-58 and Moscow at 102-60. It is the first playoff berth for the Polar Bears and the third straight for the Mules. Defending Soviet Series champ Kazan missed out, finishing fourth at 89-73. In the South Division, Kyiv advanced at 98-64, back in after taking second last year. Bucharest, who had made it into the playoffs in the first seven EPB seasons, just missed out with a second place 91-71 mark.

Winning European League MVP was Moscow 2B Anton Kirilenko. The 34-year old Belarusian led the league in WAR (8.4) and walks (87), adding 29 home runs and 157 hits. Bucharest ace Bogdan Chirita won his record fifth Pitcher of the Year. The 35-year old Romanian was again the WARlord, this time with 10.7 and a league-best 29 quality starts. He struck out 283 over 271.2 innings with a 1.82 ERA. This would ultimately be the end of a brief but stellar career for Chirita, as he tore his flexor tendon in the 1963 World Baseball Championship, followed by a torn labrum the following winter.



Finishing atop the Asian League was Chelyabinsk, winning the North Division at 108-54 for a second straight playoff berth. Tashkent took the South Division at 104-58 for a third straight berth. Both second place finishing teams picked up wild cards. Almaty got in at 101-61, back after missing out narrowly the prior two seasons. Meanwhile, defending AL champ Irkutsk made it four consecutive playoff berths with a 98-64 record.

Baku was a bottom rung team, but had both the league MVP and Pitcher of the Year. 27-year old lefty David Constantin won both with a league-best 1.64 ERA and 10.6 WAR. He had 30 complete games with 8 shutouts over 296 innings with 340 strikeouts.

In the playoffs in the European League, Minsk downed Moscow 3-1 and Kyiv outlasted St. Petersburg 3-2. Both Asian League first round series went all five with Tashkent surviving Almaty and Chelyabinsk defeating Irkutsk. In the European League Championship Series, the Miners dropped the Kings in six, giving Minsk its third league title and first since the opening two seasons. The Cadets won a seven-game classic over the Tomcats to give Chelyabinsk its first Asian League Championship Series. The Soviet Series was far less dramatic as Minsk swept Chelyabinsk for its second overall title. 39-year old CF Artyom Zakharov was the series MVP.





Other notes: Artur Golub of Ufa became the first EPB pitcher to have 400+ strikeouts in a season, fanning 418. Omsk’s Arutyun Lezjov set a single-game record with 22 strikeouts over 11.1 innings against Baku. Kirill Edelman and Sergei Filatov were the first to reach 2500 career strikeouts. Stepan Kirov and Rodion Zhukov both became the first hitters to 300 home runs. Catcher Lassi Luhta won his seventh Silver Slugger. Pitcher Skerdi Hoxha won his eighth and final Gold Glove.