[FuzzyRussianHat]

Reigning Arab League Baseball champion Cairo was a solid 95-67, but that wasn’t enough to win a strong Nile Division. At 105-57, Khartoum took the top seed in the Western Conference for their first-ever playoff berth. It was only the second time in ALB’s eight seasons to date that the Pharaohs missed the playoffs. Casablanca, who had won five straight Mediterranean Division titles and three conference pennants in that stretch, dropped to 76-86. Tripoli would roll to the Mediterranean crown at 99-63 to get their second division title along with the 1991 campaign. Jerusalem took the Levant Division at 84-78, beating defending division winner Amman by four games. The Jets snapped a four-year playoff drought.

Western Conference MVP went to Jerusalem 2B Mustafa bin Nazim. In his first full-time season as a starter, the 22-year old Omani switch hitter led in total bases (385), slugging (.675), OPS (1.071), wRC+ (187), and WAR (10.1). He added a .319 average, 50 home runs, and 112 RBI. Khartoum’s Mohamed Wael became a two-time Pitcher of the Year winner. The 26-year old Egyptian lefty led in ERA (2.36), strikeouts (329), WHIP (0.79), K/BB (9.7), FIP- (57), and WAR (8.7). Wael added a 16-9 record over 233 innings.

Tripoli rolled to a 2-0 first round series win over Jerusalem, earning their second-ever Western Conference Final appearance. They proved no match for Khartoum, who became a first-time pennant winner by sweeping the WCF 3-0.



The only repeat playoff team in all of ALB was reigning Eastern Conference champion Mosul. The Muskies earned a third Iraq Division title in a row at 107-55. They led all ALB teams in both runs scored (820) and fewest allowed (557). Doha had a remarkable turnaround to win the Gulf Division at 95-67. The Dash hadn’t won more than 65 games in any season prior and had an ALB-worst 58 wins in 1996. Dubai, who had won three straight Gulf Divisions, was a distant second at 85-77. The Saudi Division needed a tiebreaker game as both Medina and Jeddah tied at 88-74. The Mastodons prevailed for their seventh division title in eight years. Riyadh was a competitive third at 83-79, while last year’s winner Mecca fell to 76-86.

Mosul SS Mohammed Mohamed won a third consecutive Eastern Conference MVP. He didn’t reach his record-setting 16.0 WAR for the prior year, but his 14.5 WAR still stands as the second-best ever in 2037 by a position player. At only 23 years old, the Saudi righty repeated as a Triple Crown winner and won his third Gold Glove at shortstop. Mohamed led the EC in runs (124), hits (198), home runs (51), RBI (141), triple slash (.390/.453/.776), OPS (1.229), and wRC+ (242). His runs, batting average, and OPS set single season ALB records. As of 2037, he’s the only ALB batter to earn multiple Triple Crown seasons.

Muskies ace Rashiq Tariq was also dominant again, taking his third straight Pitcher of the Year and the fourth of his career. The 28-year old Iraqi righty led in wins (27-4), ERA (1.72), innings (293.2), WHIP (0.85), quality starts (29), complete games (15), shutouts (5), FIP- (53), and WAR (11.9). The 27 wins remains the ALB single-season record as of 2037. Tariq also struck out 365, second to a record-setting 410 Ks from Jeddah’s Ahmad Abu Kabeer. Abu Kabeer, a fourth-year Palestinian righty, was the first ALB pitcher to fan 400+ in a season. Only two others would eventually join him with only one passing him in 2013.

Doha downed Medina 2-0 in the first round of the playoffs. The Dash were a major underdog against a loaded Mosul squad for the Eastern Conference Final, as the Muskies looked for a repeat pennant. However, Doha pulled off the stunning upset 3-1 to take the title.



Doha’s improbable run continued into the eighth Arab League Championship. The Dash were the underdog to 105-win Khartoum, but swept the Cottonmouths 4-0. Doha completed one of the finest bounce-back stories in pro baseball history, going from a 58-win stinker the prior year that had never posted a winning season to the champion of the Arab world. 2B Ammar Mohammed was finals MVP as the 28-year old Yemeni had 16 hits, 6 runs, 2 doubles, 2 home runs, and 5 RBI in 10 playoff starts.



Other notes; Doha’s Jassem Al-Yamahi threw ALB’s second perfect game on September 14, striking out 13 against Baghdad. In addition to setting the single-season strikeout record, Jeddah’s Ahmad Abu Kabeer became the first ALB pitcher to strike out 20 in a game. He did it against Doha on May 8 while walking two. Alexandria’s Alfons Brandstetter set a bad record as a pitcher, walking 127 batters. This remains ALB’s all-time worst as of 2037. Casablanca’s Mamadou Bassirou had a 26-game hit streak, which set the ALB record that held until 2002. Abdullah Al-Muhafazat became the first pitcher to 2500 career strikeouts.