[FuzzyRussianHat]

Defending Western League champ Abidjan had the top record in the WL for the fifth time and earned their eighth playoff berth in West Africa Baseball’s first eight seasons. The Athletes dropped from their 112 win seasons in the prior two years, but still had the top spot firmly at 103-59. Kumasi and Monrovia again were the wild cards with the Monkeys getting their fifth straight playoff berth and the Diplomats their fourth. Kumasi finished second at 96-66, while Monrovia was 90-72. The Diplomats narrowly took the final playoff spot with Nouakchott one game behind and Bamako five back.

Western League MVP was third year Kumasi RF Austin Massaquoi. The 23-year old Sierra Leonean had 7.2 WAR, a .291/.390/.536 slash, 36 home runs, and 101 RBI. Pitcher of the Year went to Abidjan’s Albert Kamara for the second time in three years. The 25-year old righty also from Sierra Leone was the leader in wins (24-8), ERA (2.09), WHIP (0.81), K/BB (11.4), quality starts (28), FIP- (65), and WAR (8.5). He pitched 267 innings and was second in strikeouts at 320.

In the wild card round, Monrovia upset Kumasi in three games, sending the Diplomats to the Western League Championship Series for the third time in four years. Abidjan would defeat Monrovia 3-1 to give the Athletes back-to-back WL titles. They’ve also won four of the first eight WLCS.



Benin City earned a third straight playoff berth and their fifth overall, but 1982 saw their first time atop the Eastern League standings. The Blue Devils were 98-64, allowing the fewest runs in the EL at 570. 1980 champ Port Harcourt, who dropped to below .500 in 1981, earned the second place spot at 94-68. Ouagadougou finished third at 91-71 in an impressive turnaround for a franchise that had been cartoonishly bad and hadn’t won more than 69 games in a season prior. Lagos, who had won the EL four of the last five seasons, missed the playoffs for the first time at 80-82. With the Lizards’ down year, Abidjan is the only WAB team left to have made the playoffs in each season.

Helping Ouagadougou’s turnaround was second year LF Oparaku Stone, who won Eastern League MVP and became WAB’s first Triple Crown winning batter. The 24-year old Nigerian had a .330/.389/.688 slash with 59 home runs, 147 RBI, 123 runs, 426 total bases, a 1.077 OPS, 197 wRC+, and 9.5 WAR. Stone had a strange career as he’d post 21.9 WAR in his first three seasons, then only 8.1 total for the next decade. Pitcher of the Year was Port Harcourt’s Marcus Nyathi, winning it for the third time in his career. It was a great comeback season for the 30-year old Motswana after a torn UCL ended his 1981 after two starts. In his return, Nyathi was the ERA leader at 2.78 and leader in WHIP (0.98) and FIP- (64). He added 7.3 WAR, 230 innings, 279 strikeouts, and a 17-4 record.

Port Harcourt swept Ouagadougou in the wild card round. In the Eastern League Championship Series, the Hillcats would upset Benin City 3-2, giving Port Harcourt its second title in three years. PH couldn’t hang with Abidjan though in the eighth West African Championship. The Athletes took the finale 4-1 to take their first overall ring after failing in their three prior finals appearances. SS Amin Elamin was the finals MVP with the 35-year old Sudanese righty had six hits, four runs, and one home run in nine playoff starts.





Other notes: Kumasi’s ninth Perfect Game was thrown by Kumasi’s Issaka Camara on April 8 with 11 strikeouts against Freetown. Power Bonou became the first pitcher to 2500 career strikeouts. LF Arafat Soumah won his seventh Gold Glove.