[FuzzyRussianHat]

Manila dominated the Philippine League at 103-59, getting their first playoff berth since their 1986 title. The Manatees were the only PL team above .500 and had the top seed in the Taiwan-Philippine Association. Cebu, last year’s winner, struggled to 68-94. In the Taiwan League, defending Austronesia Champion Taoyuan took the TL title for the fourth successive season. The Tsunami was 93-69, edging out Taipei (90-72) and Kaohsiung (89-73).

TPA MVP was Taoyuan’s Ting-Jen Hsu for the second time in three years. The two-way 27-year old lefty had a 2.26 ERA over 299.1 innings with 319 strikeouts and 6.5 WAR. In the outfield, he had 94 games with 6.3 WAR, a .298 average, and 11 home runs. Pitcher of the Year was Manila’s Kan-Lin Ching, who led in wins at 21-6 and quality starts in 31. The 28-yaer old righty had a 1.61 ERA over 285.2 innings with 313 strikeouts and 6.9 WAR.



After missing the playoffs last year, Batam was back atop the Malacca League standings for the sixth time in eight years. The Blue Raiders were 99-63 for the top record in the Sundaland Association. Defending SA champ Singapore was a distant second at 82-80. Depok ended an impressive Java League title drought at 96-66. The Demons hadn’t been in the postseason since 1978. Depok was two games ahead of Jakarta. Bandung, who had taken the JL three straight years, fell to 76-86.

Batam’s Wisnu Mahmudiana won his fifth straight Pitcher of the Year while also winning Sundaland Association MVP. The 30-year old Indonesian righty led in wins (21-8), ERA (1.05), WHIP (0.65), quality starts (32), shutouts (6), FIP- (31), and WAR (13.2). Mahmudiana was second in strikeouts with 407 over 273.1 innings. He became the third APB pitcher to win POTY five times.

Taoyuan took out Manila 4-2 in the Taiwan-Philippine Association Championship. For the Tsunami, this was their third pennant in four years and their seventh overall. The Sundaland Association Championship had Batam sweep Depok for their first pennant since 1991. It was the fourth title for the Blue Raiders (1972, 73, 91, 97).



In the 33^rd Austronesia Championship, Taoyuan outlasted Batam in a seven game thriller. RF Fernando Reyes was a postseason beast, winning MVP of both playoff series. The 30-year old had missed half the season to a sprained knee. In 13 playoff starts, Reyes had 16 hits, 11 runs, 4 doubles, 5 home runs, and 12 RBI. The Tsunami became the third franchise to repeat as APB champs, doing it for the second time (1982-83). Taoyuan is now tied with Jakarta for the most APB titles with five apiece.



Other notes: Manila’s Dedi Dewi set a playoff record for K/9 at 19.8. He fanned 33 over 15 innings, although still struggled to a 4.20 ERA. Dewi also had other notable strikeout efforts, fanning 21 against Taichung on March 31. He also had two 20 strikeout games later in the season. Dewi also tossed one of the season’s seven no-hitters, striking out 14 with one walk against Zamboanga on June 5. Three pitchers (Ricky Jungao, Ronald Purnomo, Mulya Dayanti) crossed 4500 career strikeouts, making seven players to reach the mark. Dayanti and Jungao both crossed 200 wins, making 10 to do so. Chang-Rong Chang was the fourth batter to 500 home runs. 1B Akbar Fatchurohman won his tenth Gold Glove. Fransisco Hartati won his eighth Silver Slugger. It was his second at 2B with the others at CF. 3B Gede Manuaya grabbed his seventh Silver Slugger.