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Before the 1999 season, Eurasian Professional Baseball increased it minimum service time required for free agency from eight to nine years. This matched the Arab League for the most restrictive of any world leagues. EPB wanted to keep free agent salaries down and keep players from defecting to other leagues. This change only further annoyed many players, adding to the rumbles that would culminate in the great exodus following the season.



For the third consecutive season, the EPB European League had the same four playoff teams. Defending EBP champ Kharkiv had the top overall record at 108-54 and won the South Division for the fifth consecutive season. Minsk secured the North Division at 104-58 for a fourth straight division title. The Miners also extended their EPB-record postseason streak to 19 seasons. At 99-63, Warsaw took the first wild card and extended its own streak to 12 years. Kazan was the second wild card at 97-65, making the playoffs for the third year in a row. There was a nine game gap to the next closest competitor in Budapest.

Kharkiv ace Igor Kuchkowski repeated as European League Pitcher of the Year and also picked up MVP honors. The 32-year old Polish lefty led in ERA (1.53), shutouts (7), FIP- (50), and WAR (10.7). He added a 19-9 record and 373 strikeouts over 270.1 innings.

Both division champs won their first round playoff matchups as Kharkiv topped Kazan 3-1 and Minsk swept Warsaw 3-0. For the third time in four years, the Killer Bees and Miners met in the European League Championship Series. Kharkiv was the defending champ, while Minsk had taken their 1996 encounter. In their last-ever battle, the Killer Bees prevailed in a seven game classic. Kharkiv repeated and won their fourth pennant overall.



The battle for the Asian League’s top seed was centered in the South Division. Reigning AL champ Tashkent took it at 108-54, earning a third consecutive division title and fifth straight playoff berth. Asgabat gave chase, but ended up the wild card at 104-58. This was a remarkable turnaround for the Alphas, who had won only 65 games the prior season and hadn’t made the playoffs since 1981. Omsk at 96-66 was North Division champ. It was their second playoff berth in three years, but the first division title since 1987 for the Otters. Yekaterinburg ended up the second wild card at 92-70, snapping a nine-year playoff drought. The Yaks edged out Irkutsk (90-72), Ufa (89-73), and Chelyabinsk (88-74) for the last spot.

Asian League MVP went to fourth-year Yekaterinburg second baseman Sarxan Niftaliyev. The 26-year old Russian led in total bases (378), slugging (.629), OPS (1.002), and wRC+ (212). He added 9.0 WAR, a .324 average, and 43 home runs. His Yaks teammate Matvey Ivanov won Pitcher of the Year in his third full season. The 24-year old Russian lefty led in wins (24-7), quality starts (30), and complete games (28). He added a 1.55 ERA over 290.1 innings, 321 strikeouts, and 9.2 WAR.

Tashkent topped Yekaterinburg 3-1 and Asgabat upset Omsk 3-2 in the first round. The Tomcats earned a fourth Asian League Championship Series berth in five years, while it was the Alphas’ first appearance since 1981. Tashkent took care of business quickly, sweeping Asgabat to earn repeat AL pennants. This was the third Asian League crown for the Tomcats (and ultimately their last).



The 45^th Eurasian Professional Baseball Championship was a highly anticipated rematch between Kharkiv and Tashkent. Emotions were mixed throughout EPB as it was expected that both teams would be leaving as part of the brewing exodus (more details to come). The rematch was a seven game thriller with the Killer Bees repeating ad champs. It was Kharkiv’s third title (1980, 1998, 1999) whereas the Tomcats would end 0-3 in their EPB finals tries.



Kharkiv’s Igor Kuchkowski was finals MVP and posted arguably the greatest postseason effort by a pitcher ever. He had four starts, all complete game shutouts. Kuchkowski also had a relief appearance, going 4-0 over 39.2 scoreless innings with only 12 hits allowed, 54 strikeouts, and one walk. He set still-standing EPB playoff records for shutouts, ERA, WHIP (0.33), opponent OBP (.100), opponent OPS (.208), and WAR (2.77). As of 2037, no pitcher in any world league has posted a higher WAR in a single postseason run or thrown four shutouts in one run.

Other notes: EPB’s 30^th perfect game was thrown by Helsinki’s Egor Korneyev on September 13 with 10 strikeouts against Budapest. Sofia’s Ivan Kondev had 684 at bats during the season, setting a new EPB record. Moscow’s Shahin Lebedev set a pitching record for appearances with 80. 1B Jov Vyrubov won his seventh Silver Slugger.

EPB’s offensive stats didn’t change much from the prior two decades, still remaining a low to very low offense environment on the historical scale. The batting average was around .227 and the ERA was around 2.89. Certainly among the lowest of the leagues in the 1990s, but not quite as low as the likes of CLB or APB. Although EPB would shortly go through a rapid change of alignment, the play style would see similar results in the 2000s with a slight bump up after.