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Minsk had the best record in Eurasian Professional Baseball in 1971 as the Miners earned a fourth straight playoff berth and their 16^th in EPB’s first 17 years. The Miners won the North Division at 115-47 with Moscow taking second at 105-57 for back-to-back playoff berths. St. Petersburg was 95-67 to get the second wild card, their first playoff berth since 1964. The South Division saw a tie between Kharkiv and Kyiv at 88-74 with the Killer Bees advancing on a one-game tiebreaker for back-to-back playoff berths. Defending European League champ Tirana dropped to 84-78, ending their four-year playoff streak.

League MVP went to Minsk’s Zina Gigolashvili. The 35-year old Georgian first baseman in his third year with the Miners set the new EPB single-season home run record with 65, defeating his own record of 56 from 1961. This would remain the record until 1986. Gigolashvili also had 139 RBI, one short of the single-season record set by Pavlo Kolesnik in 1955. He also led the league in the triple slash (.309/.383/.706), OPS (1.089), wRC+ (221) and WAR (11.1). This earned him the fourth Triple Crown by an EPB hitter. His OPS mark was also a single-season record that would hold until 1984. Gigolashvili also became the third EPB hitter to 500 career home runs and crossed 1000 RBI.

Pitcher of the Year went to 25-year old Kazakh Anatoli Agakerimzade. After being drafted by Bishkek, he was traded for 1970 to St. Petersburg. In his second season with the Polar Bears, he led the league in ERA (1.81), quality starts (30) and wins (21-7), adding 263.1 innings, 217 strikeouts, and 6.1 WAR.



Omsk had the best record in the Asian League at 100-62 atop the North Division, earning a fourth straight playoff berth. Defending Soviet Series champ Yekaterinburg took second at 98-64 and got the first wild card, extending their postseason streak to eight, the longest active one in EPB. In the South Division, Almaty took first at 96-66 for their first playoff berth since their 1963 AL title. Dushanbe narrowly took second at 92-70, finishing one ahead of Tashkent, three ahead of Ulaanbaatar, and four over Krasnoyarsk for the final wild card. The Dynamo earned back-to-back playoff berths.

MVP went to Dushanbe shortstop Daurenbek Zeynalov. The 29-year old Tajik was the league leader in WAR (8.6), total bases (326) and triples (35). This was a EPB record for triples as Zeynalov led for the seventh time in his eight year career. Pitcher of the Year was Yekaterinburg’s Vladimir Hora. The 32-year old Czech righty was the WARlord at 12.1, leading in FIP- (47), wins (22-7), and shutouts (8), adding a 1.90 ERA over 293.1 innings with 358 strikeouts.

In the first round of the European League playoffs, St. Petersburg stunned Minsk with an upset 3-1, while Moscow downed Kharkiv 3-1. In the Asian League, Dushanbe upset Omsk in four and Almaty swept Yekaterinburg. In their first-ever European League Championship Series appearance, the Polar Bears took the league title, downing the Mules in six games. The Asian League Championship Series saw the Assassins sweep the Dynamo. Almaty becomes a three-time Asian League champ, having also won in 1957 and 1963.



The 17^th Soviet Series was the second ever to go all seven games. St. Petersburg won the first three games, but Almaty rallied back by winning the next three. The Polar Bears avoided the full collapse and won game seven for their first-ever EPB title. The Assassins are now 0-3 in Soviet Series appearances. Although they lost, Almaty’s Azamat Boboev was the finals MVP. The 28-year old CF also was the ALCS MVP, posting 21 hits, 10 runs,4 home runs, and 14 RBI in 16 playoff games.



Other notes: Baku’s Yunis Atamuradov threw EPB’s 13^th Perfect Game, striking out seven against Yerevan on September 5. Sergei Filatov became the first pitcher to 4500 career strikeouts. A few months later, Alvi Tahiri became the second. RF German Daugelo won his 11^th straight Gold Glove. OF Amam Charyyew won his eighth Silver Slugger.