[FuzzyRussianHat]

In the second season of the African Association of Baseball, the Southern Conference saw two different playoff teams from the inaugural season. Cape Town, winners of 84 games in 1995, set a new record at 114-48. As of 2037, this is still the SC’s best-ever mark and it would only get bested in all of AAB by Addis Ababa in 2010. The Cowboys also had a 3.23 team ERA, which held as the conference record until 2017. For the wild card spot, defending AAB champ Johannesburg and Luanda tied at 93-69. The Landsharks won the tiebreaker game to deny the Jackalopes’ repeat hopes. Lusaka, the first place team last year, dropped to seventh at 72-90.

Captaining Cape Town’s pitching staff was Yves Munyaneza, who won both Pitcher of the Year and Southern Conference MVP. Nicknamed “Sly,” the 27-year old Rwandan led in ERA (1.59), strikeouts (282), WHIP (0.82), K/BB (5.1), FIP- (40), and WAR (9.3). He had a 21-5 record over 198.1 innings, finishing one win short of a Triple Crown. Munyaneza’s 1.59 ERA is still the AAB single-season record as of 2037. This season also holds records for lowest opponent’s batting average (.157) and OPS (.479).



The Central Conference saw repeat playoff appearances for Ndjamena and Kinshasa, although they switched positions. This time, the Magic finished first at 100-62 and the Sun Cats were second at 96-66. Kinshasa’s pitching staff allowed 1079 hits and 6.59 H/9, both of which are still single-season AAB bests as of 2037. Bujumbura at 86-76 was a distant third place.

Bighorns RF Stijn Steeneveld was the Central Conference MVP. The 31-year old Dutchman was in his second season with Bujumbura after playing in the EBF with Rotterdam previously. Steeneveld led the conference with 58 home runs, 363 total bases, and 7.2 WAR, while adding 106 runs, 128 RBI, and a .290 average. The 58 homers was a new single season record, but that would fall the next year. Pitcher of the Year was Kinshasa’s Hendrik Jongman. The 30-year old South African lefty, he led with 27 quality starts and posted a 15-9 record over 250.1 innings, 2.80 ERA, 220 strikeouts, and 7.8 WAR.

Cape Town cruised to a Southern Conference Championship sweep of Luanda. In a Central Conference Championship rematch, Ndjamena avenged their prior defeat and beat Kinshasa 4-1. It would be two newcomers in the Africa Series, but a South African team would be champ again. The Cowboys topped the Magic 5-3. At 114-48, the 1996 Cowboys would hold the AAB record for most wins by a champion until passed in 2010.



Finals MVP was 3B Almando Galan, a Chilean veteran who joined Cape Town in 1995 after playing for Santiago. In 11 starts, Galan had 13 hits, 6 runs, 3 home runs, and 6 RBI. Pitcher of the Year Yves Munyaneza also set a playoff record with 16.3 K/9. He posted a 1.53 ERA over 17.2 playoff innings with 32 strikeouts. Another still standing playoff record was set by Ndjamena’s Pasi Kalonji with an opponent’s slugging percentage of .125.



Other notes: Johannesburg’s Stefan Cejka had 71 doubles, which still stands as the AAB record as of 2037. Cejka was also the first AAB player to have a 20+ game hit streak, getting to 21 in the summer. Another still standing record was set by Lusaka’s Muktar Abdi with 291 innings pitched.