[FuzzyRussianHat]

1990 marked the first official season for Arab League Baseball. The best record in ALB in the inaugural season was Casablanca at 99-63, who won the Western Conference’s Mediterranean Division by 15 games. The Nile Division required a tiebreaker game for the title as Cairo and Alexandria both finished at 94-68. The Pharaohs picked up the win despite the 2.74 team ERA from the Astronauts, which is still the conference record as of 2037. The Levant Division had Jerusalem first at 92-70, eight better than Beirut.

The first Western Conference MVP was Casablanca LF Ahmed Hassan Egeh. A 28-year old Somali lefty, he smacked 67 home runs and led in runs (109), RBI (117), total bases (374), slugging (.704), OPS (1.056), wRC+ (202), and WAR (8.7). Egeh’s 67 dingers would be the ALB single-season record until 2004. Pitcher of the Year was Jerusalem’s Adlene Sami, who also won Reliever of the Year. A 26-year old Algerian righty, Sami managed to post 7.5 WAR over 92.2 innings with 81 strikeouts, a 0.58 ERA, and 38 saves.

In the first round of the playoffs, Cairo bested Jerusalem 2-1. The Western Conference Championship went all five games and needed an extra inning in game five. The Pharaohs upset Casablanca 3-2 in the finale to take the series 3-2.



The top two records in the Eastern Conference were both in the Iraq Division, but only one could advance. Sulaymaniya took the title at 98-64, while Baghdad was second at 93-69. In the Saudi Division, Medina prevailed at 87-75, finishing four ahead of Mecca and five better than Jeddah. The Gulf Division had no teams with a winning record, but Abu Dhabi’s 80-82 earned a division title and playoff berth. Kuwait was three back and Dubai was four behind.

Eastern Conference MVP and Pitcher of the Year went to the same player; Medina’s Qadir Al-Khalid. A 29-year old Libyan righty, Al-Khalid led in wins (25-7), quality starts (28), FIP- (55), and WAR (10.6). He added a 2.20 ERA and 292 strikeouts over 278 innings.



The Mastodons made quick work of Abu Dhabi 2-0 in the first round. Medina wasn’t able to carry that momentum for an Eastern Conference Championship upset as top seed Sulaymaniya won the series 3-1. The Sultans went onto win the first Arab League Championship 4-2 over Cairo, bringing the first cup to Iraq. LF Radhi Hamad was both Finals MVP and conference finals MVP for Sulaymaniya. A 28-year old left-handed Iraqi, Hamad posted 14 hits, 10 runs, 3 home runs, 10 RBI, and 8 stolen bases in 10 playoff starts.



Other notes: Casablanca’s Temur Modebadze had ALB’s first four-home run game against Damascus. Three no-hitters were thrown in the inaugural season with the first by Tunis’s Gaye N’Diaye with 10 strikeouts and two walks against Jerusalem on April 7. On June 30, Abu Dhabi’s Mohammad Khatib had six Ks and two walks in a no-no versus Baghdad. On September 1, Jerusalem’s Talaat Abdel Fattah fanned 12 with two walks over Cairo.