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For the first time since their dynasty ended in 1970, Melbourne took first in the Australasia League. The Mets took the top spot at 98-64 with the top offense in the AL, scoring 701 runs. Christchurch at 95-87 was their closest competitor with Sydney at 88-74. Defending AL champ Perth was fourth at 79-83.

Leading Melbourne’s success was fourth-year 3B Thomas Silverhawk, who won Australasia League MVP. The 25-year old Australian hit the most home runs (50) and led in hits (188), average (.313), and WAR (10.5). He added a 180 wRC+ and 119 RBI. For the first time in AL history, Pitcher of the Year went to a reliever with Mets closer Scott Kyle taking it. He also became OBA’s first five-time Reliever of the Year winner. In his second season with Melbourne, the 32-year old New Zealander posted 5.4 WAR over 97 innings with 44 saves, 53 shutdowns, 149 strikeouts, and a 1.30 ERA. He also became the first OBA pitcher to cross 400 career saves. It would be his final OBA season as Kyle would spend his remaining five seasons in MLB. His 402 OBA saves would be the all-time top mark until the late 2020s.



The Pacific League title went Samoa, snapping a 13-season drought. The Sun Sox finished 89-73 and beat out defending champion Honolulu by only one game, denying the Honu their sixth title of the 1980s. It was a competitive race with only ten games separating first from seventh.

Fiji’s David Rotinsulu was named Pacific League MVP in his second season. The two-way righty from Indonesia on the mound led in wins at 25-12 and posted a 2.53 ERA over 327.2 innings with 273 strikeouts and 6.9 WAR. As an outfielder, he had 3.0 WAR with a .271/.310/.489 slash, 167 wRC+, and 14 home runs in 122 games. Honolulu’s Scottie Hunt was the Pitcher of the Year, having joined the Honu in 1985 after flaming out of MLB. The 30-year old from Portsmouth, Virginia led in ERA (2.21), strikeouts (368), quality starts (34), FIP- (70), and WAR (8.9), adding an 18-13 record in 317.2 innings. Hunt would miss all of 1988 needing elbow reconstruction surgery, then spent his remaining seasons bouncing between MLB teams.



The 28^th Oceania Championship would see the first sweep since 1970. Like in 1970, Melbourne was on the bad side of it as Samoa took the title. It is the second championship for the Sun Sox, who also won in 1973. CF Luther Barry was the finals MVP with 8 hits, 5 runs, 1 triple, and 3 RBI in the series.



Other notes: Tarzan Rao and Nigel Chalmers became the second and third OBA pitchers to 5000 career strikeouts, both passing Nathaniel Doloran’s top mark of 5026. Chalmers would retire after the season with 5144, while Rao played two more years and retired the all-time leader with 5650 Ks. Port Moresby’s Thompson Bobby had the third four home run game by an OBA slugger. Trent Atkins became the second batter to 500 home runs. He’d retire after 1989 with 564, still a distant second to Sione Hala’s 691. 3B Jarrod Stacy won his ninth Gold Glove.