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FuzzyRussianHat · 05-10-2024, 04:09 AM

Three teams fought for the two byes in the Northern Conference. Defending European Champion Glasgow narrowly took it at 107-55, wining the British Isles Division for the sixth year in a row. The Highlanders also extended their postseason streak to seven years. There was a tie for the #2 seed between North Central Division champ Hamburg and Northeast Division winner Copenhagen at 106-56, both one game behind Glasgow. The tiebreaker gave the bye to the Corsairs, who earned a third straight division title.

The Hammers earned a fourth straight playoff berth, but were stuck playing in the first round. They had fierce competition in the division, which saw Kyiv (98-64) and Kharkiv (97-65) run away with the wild cards. The Killer Bees earned an eighth consecutive playoff berth dating back to their EPB days, while the Kings ended a five-year postseason drought. The once stout Northwest Division had the weakest playoff team by wins as Amsterdam took first at 90-72. The Anacondas repeated as division champs and were three games ahead of Paris.

Both top awards went to Hamburg with Ulf Alstrom winning his second Northern Conference MVP in three years. The 28-year old Swedish first baseman led in runs (120), total bases (386), slugging (.659), and OPS (1.071). Alstrom added 9.0 WAR, a 196 wRC+, .348 average, 50 home runs,, and 126 RBI. This would be the last year of his Hamburg run, as Alstrom earned a mega deal in Major League Baseball. In December, he signed an eight-year, $85,600,000 contract to move to Houston.

Pitcher of the Year for the Hammers was Viktor Stier in his sixth season with the squad. The 27-year old German righty led in ERA (1.99), WHIP (0.75), K/BB (12.3), FIP- (53), and WAR (9.0). Stier added an 18-6 record over 235.1 innings and 296 strikeouts. Unlike Alstrom, Hamburg was able to lock Stier down, as he received a five-year, $23,120,000 extension in April.

In an intense first round of the playoffs, both wild card times advanced on the road. Kyiv edged Amsterdam 2-1 and Kharkiv stunned Hamburg 2-1. The Killer Bees continued to roll, sweeping Copenhagen in round two. The Kings gave Glasgow a spirited effort, but the Highlanders survived in five.

This set up a rematch of the 2000 Northern Conference Championship with the 2000 champ (Kharkiv) and the 2001 champ (Glasgow) squaring off. The series needed all seven games, but the Killer Bees pulled off the upset of the Highlanders. Kharkiv earned its second NC pennant in its third year in EBF and won its fourth pennant in five years counting their last two in EPB.

Madrid was a wild card in 2001 after winning the Southern Conference the prior two years. The Conquistadors returned to the top spot with EBF’s best record at 111-51 atop the Southwest Division. Defending SC winner Munich grabbed the other first round bye, claiming the South Central Division at 106-56. In the Southeast Division, Tbilisi went 96-66 as the only winning team in the division. This was the first playoff spot for the Trains since the 1998 season in EPB and their first division title since 1993.

The East Central Division had a tie for first at 93-69 between Athens and Budapest. The Anchors won the tiebreaker game for their sixth division title in eight years. The Bombers were able to repeat as a wild card. Zurich at 93-69 had the other wild card, edging out Milan (92-70), and Vienna (89-73). It was a good bounce-back for the Mountaineers, who fell to 80-82 the prior year after a conference finals berth in 2000. Notably, Seville fell off from 100 wins the prior season to only 79 in 2002.

In his first full-season as a starter, Vienna 3B Ben Springer won Southern Conference MVP. Nicknamed “Dump Truck” for his ample posterior, the 24-year old Austrian led in RBI (131), and WAR (9.5). Springer added a .359/.403/.651 slash, 184 wRC+, and 39 home runs. Madrid’s Gjohl Wallinder won Pitcher of the Year. The 29-year old Swede led in wins at 21-9 and posted a 2.17 ERA over 261.1 innings, 251 strikeouts, and 8.0 WAR.

Athens swept Zurich and Tbilisi bested Budapest 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs. Madrid cruised to a sweep of the Anchors, but the Trains shocked Munich by upsetting the defending champs in five games. Tbilisi had only twice ever gotten to the Asian League Championship Series during their EPB tenure, losing in 1973 and 1993. The magical run ended though with the Conquistadors taking the Southern Conference Championship 4-2. With that, Madrid earned its third pennant in four years and eighth overall.

The 53^rd European Championship was a rematch of the 2000 final between Madrid and Kharkiv, although the roles were a bit different. That year saw them clash as the two best records in EBF, as well as the defending EBF champ (Madrid) against the reigning EPB champ (Kharkiv) in its first season post-defection. The Conquistadors had EBF’s best record in 2002, while the Killer Bees made a run as the #6 seed.

The rematch was a classic that needed all seven games. Just like before, Kharkiv came out on top of Madrid, earning their second EBF ring. The Killer Bees have now won four championships in five years when including their 1998-99 EPB rings. Finals MVP was LF Vitaliy Batsuka in his eighth year with the team. Typically a backup previously, the 30-year old Ukrainian had 19 playoff games and 15 starts, getting 27 hits, 13 runs, 2 doubles, 2 triples, 10 RBI, and 7 stolen bases.

This would be the capper for Kharkiv’s dynasty, although they would still make the playoffs the next year. It goes down as one of the finest runs in European baseball history and remains a notable part of baseball history since they went from champion of EPB to champion of EBF. Their success immensely helped EBF grow both in Ukraine and in the former Eastern Bloc. Three years since the exodus, the EBF and the teams that came over found themselves very happy with their decision.

Other notes: 2002 was historic as there were three perfect games thrown, making it 27 in EBF history. The first was April 4 by Munich’s Karel Raes with seven strikeouts against Lisbon. Next was Athens’ Ebbe Arvidsson with seven Ks against Zagreb on July 2. The third was Marseille’s Enrico Gini with 6 strikeouts versus Barcelona on September 5. Gini became the first EBF pitcher with two perfectos, having also done it in 2000. Gini was the 11^th pitcher in world history to earn the feat with APB’s Yu-Ren Yang having just joined the list two days prior.

Krakow had a historically bad pitching staff, allowing 826 earned runs with a 5.15 team ERA. These were both all-time EBF worsts that held until Marseille did worse in 2018. Willum Kleist smacked 64 home runs, his fourth straight season with 60+. To that point, no one else in EBF had done that feat. Harvey Coyle would later have more 60+ seasons total, but wouldn’t do it consecutively like Kleist. He also became the tenth in EBF history to reach 600 career homers.

Lindsey Brampton became the seventh pitcher to 250 wins. He would pitch one more season and finish with 268, which stands sixth as of 2037. Brampton would also finish with 5955 strikeouts, becoming the all-time king ahead of Jean-Luc Roch’s 5757. No one else since has crossed 5000. Khaled Jabri would get to 4500 in 2002, finishing his career with 4518. That’s still good for fourth all-time.

05-10-2024, 04:09 AM	#1230
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 2,829	2002 in EBF Three teams fought for the two byes in the Northern Conference. Defending European Champion Glasgow narrowly took it at 107-55, wining the British Isles Division for the sixth year in a row. The Highlanders also extended their postseason streak to seven years. There was a tie for the #2 seed between North Central Division champ Hamburg and Northeast Division winner Copenhagen at 106-56, both one game behind Glasgow. The tiebreaker gave the bye to the Corsairs, who earned a third straight division title. The Hammers earned a fourth straight playoff berth, but were stuck playing in the first round. They had fierce competition in the division, which saw Kyiv (98-64) and Kharkiv (97-65) run away with the wild cards. The Killer Bees earned an eighth consecutive playoff berth dating back to their EPB days, while the Kings ended a five-year postseason drought. The once stout Northwest Division had the weakest playoff team by wins as Amsterdam took first at 90-72. The Anacondas repeated as division champs and were three games ahead of Paris. Both top awards went to Hamburg with Ulf Alstrom winning his second Northern Conference MVP in three years. The 28-year old Swedish first baseman led in runs (120), total bases (386), slugging (.659), and OPS (1.071). Alstrom added 9.0 WAR, a 196 wRC+, .348 average, 50 home runs,, and 126 RBI. This would be the last year of his Hamburg run, as Alstrom earned a mega deal in Major League Baseball. In December, he signed an eight-year, $85,600,000 contract to move to Houston. Pitcher of the Year for the Hammers was Viktor Stier in his sixth season with the squad. The 27-year old German righty led in ERA (1.99), WHIP (0.75), K/BB (12.3), FIP- (53), and WAR (9.0). Stier added an 18-6 record over 235.1 innings and 296 strikeouts. Unlike Alstrom, Hamburg was able to lock Stier down, as he received a five-year, $23,120,000 extension in April. In an intense first round of the playoffs, both wild card times advanced on the road. Kyiv edged Amsterdam 2-1 and Kharkiv stunned Hamburg 2-1. The Killer Bees continued to roll, sweeping Copenhagen in round two. The Kings gave Glasgow a spirited effort, but the Highlanders survived in five. This set up a rematch of the 2000 Northern Conference Championship with the 2000 champ (Kharkiv) and the 2001 champ (Glasgow) squaring off. The series needed all seven games, but the Killer Bees pulled off the upset of the Highlanders. Kharkiv earned its second NC pennant in its third year in EBF and won its fourth pennant in five years counting their last two in EPB. Madrid was a wild card in 2001 after winning the Southern Conference the prior two years. The Conquistadors returned to the top spot with EBF’s best record at 111-51 atop the Southwest Division. Defending SC winner Munich grabbed the other first round bye, claiming the South Central Division at 106-56. In the Southeast Division, Tbilisi went 96-66 as the only winning team in the division. This was the first playoff spot for the Trains since the 1998 season in EPB and their first division title since 1993. The East Central Division had a tie for first at 93-69 between Athens and Budapest. The Anchors won the tiebreaker game for their sixth division title in eight years. The Bombers were able to repeat as a wild card. Zurich at 93-69 had the other wild card, edging out Milan (92-70), and Vienna (89-73). It was a good bounce-back for the Mountaineers, who fell to 80-82 the prior year after a conference finals berth in 2000. Notably, Seville fell off from 100 wins the prior season to only 79 in 2002. In his first full-season as a starter, Vienna 3B Ben Springer won Southern Conference MVP. Nicknamed “Dump Truck” for his ample posterior, the 24-year old Austrian led in RBI (131), and WAR (9.5). Springer added a .359/.403/.651 slash, 184 wRC+, and 39 home runs. Madrid’s Gjohl Wallinder won Pitcher of the Year. The 29-year old Swede led in wins at 21-9 and posted a 2.17 ERA over 261.1 innings, 251 strikeouts, and 8.0 WAR. Athens swept Zurich and Tbilisi bested Budapest 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs. Madrid cruised to a sweep of the Anchors, but the Trains shocked Munich by upsetting the defending champs in five games. Tbilisi had only twice ever gotten to the Asian League Championship Series during their EPB tenure, losing in 1973 and 1993. The magical run ended though with the Conquistadors taking the Southern Conference Championship 4-2. With that, Madrid earned its third pennant in four years and eighth overall. The 53^rd European Championship was a rematch of the 2000 final between Madrid and Kharkiv, although the roles were a bit different. That year saw them clash as the two best records in EBF, as well as the defending EBF champ (Madrid) against the reigning EPB champ (Kharkiv) in its first season post-defection. The Conquistadors had EBF’s best record in 2002, while the Killer Bees made a run as the #6 seed. The rematch was a classic that needed all seven games. Just like before, Kharkiv came out on top of Madrid, earning their second EBF ring. The Killer Bees have now won four championships in five years when including their 1998-99 EPB rings. Finals MVP was LF Vitaliy Batsuka in his eighth year with the team. Typically a backup previously, the 30-year old Ukrainian had 19 playoff games and 15 starts, getting 27 hits, 13 runs, 2 doubles, 2 triples, 10 RBI, and 7 stolen bases. This would be the capper for Kharkiv’s dynasty, although they would still make the playoffs the next year. It goes down as one of the finest runs in European baseball history and remains a notable part of baseball history since they went from champion of EPB to champion of EBF. Their success immensely helped EBF grow both in Ukraine and in the former Eastern Bloc. Three years since the exodus, the EBF and the teams that came over found themselves very happy with their decision. Other notes: 2002 was historic as there were three perfect games thrown, making it 27 in EBF history. The first was April 4 by Munich’s Karel Raes with seven strikeouts against Lisbon. Next was Athens’ Ebbe Arvidsson with seven Ks against Zagreb on July 2. The third was Marseille’s Enrico Gini with 6 strikeouts versus Barcelona on September 5. Gini became the first EBF pitcher with two perfectos, having also done it in 2000. Gini was the 11^th pitcher in world history to earn the feat with APB’s Yu-Ren Yang having just joined the list two days prior. Krakow had a historically bad pitching staff, allowing 826 earned runs with a 5.15 team ERA. These were both all-time EBF worsts that held until Marseille did worse in 2018. Willum Kleist smacked 64 home runs, his fourth straight season with 60+. To that point, no one else in EBF had done that feat. Harvey Coyle would later have more 60+ seasons total, but wouldn’t do it consecutively like Kleist. He also became the tenth in EBF history to reach 600 career homers. Lindsey Brampton became the seventh pitcher to 250 wins. He would pitch one more season and finish with 268, which stands sixth as of 2037. Brampton would also finish with 5955 strikeouts, becoming the all-time king ahead of Jean-Luc Roch’s 5757. No one else since has crossed 5000. Khaled Jabri would get to 4500 in 2002, finishing his career with 4518. That’s still good for fourth all-time. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)