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FuzzyRussianHat · 12-21-2024, 11:14 AM

The East League had the exact same four playoff teams from the prior year, although the positions were swapped a bit. Faisalabad did again win the South Division, but this time they were the #1 seed at 106-56. The Fire earned their third straight playoff berth and led the EL in both runs scored (712) and fewest allowed (486). Defending Asian Baseball Federation champ Bishkek was a wild card in 2020, but won the North Division in 2021 at 104-58. The Black Sox secured their third playoff berth in four years.

Last year’s top seed Dushanbe dropped from 110 wins to 93-69, but that still got them the first wild card. The Dynamo playoff streak grew to nine seasons, tying the ABF record set by both Bursa (1997-2005) and Isfahan (1995-2003). Almaty and Rawalpindi tied for the second wild card at 90-72. Tiebreaker games aren’t used for ABF wild cards with the Assassins advancing on tiebreaker formula. Shymkent was also in the mix at 87-75, an impressive finish for a second year expansion team.

East League MVP went to 1B Habib Saquib in his lone season for Bishkek. The 32-year old Pakistani spent his first decade with Tehran, winning MVP for them in 2017. In the last year of an eight-year deal for 2021, the Tarpons traded him in the offseason to the Black Sox for prospects. For Bishkek, Saquib led in runs (113), home runs (57), total bases (409), slugging (.691), OPS (1.071), wRC+ (224), and WAR (9.4). He also had 126 RBI and a .318 average.

Saquib had the awards sweep, earning his third career Gold Glove and his fifth Silver Slugger in addition to the MVP. He also reached the 400 home run and 1000 RBI milestones. The extremely popular slugger would have no shortage of suitors in the offseason, eventually signing with Tabriz at five years and $63 million.

Pitcher of the Year was Faisalabad’s Christian Stewart in his second year with the Fire. The 30-year old righty was an American from Chicago who had seen an interesting pro career thus far. He began in MLB with Columbus and led the National Association in WAR at 8.5 in 2015. Stewart would miss all of 2016 from a torn labrum, then posted mediocre results over his remaining MLB seasons between the Chargers and New York.

Stewart became a free agent and Faisalabad was quite interested for 2020, signing him at $65,800,000 over seven years. He had the most losses in the EL in 2020 at 9-19, but was a victim of poor run support as he still managed a 2.78 ERA and 6.0 WAR. The support flipped in 2021, leading in wins (23-5) and quality starts (28). Stewart had a 1.87 ERA over 245.2 innings, 308 strikeouts, 186 ERA+, and 7.1 WAR.

The top seeds prevailed in the first round with Faisalabad over Almaty 3-1 and Bishkek over Dushanbe 3-2. The Black Sox kept their repeat bid alive and the Fire earned their second East League Championship Series berth in three years. Faisalabad defeated Bishkek 4-2 in the ELCS to claim their third pennant (2011, 2014, 2021). The Fire are the first Pakistani team to win the pennant since their 2014 title.

The West League also saw limited turnover with three of the four playoff teams extending significant streaks. Tabriz took the top seed and the Central Division for the fourth straight year, finishing 109-53. The Tiger Sharks’ playoff streak grew to six seasons, tying for the fewest runs allowed at 564 with Baku. Asgabat gave them a strong run in the division at 101-61, taking the first wild card to also extend a playoff streak to six seasons.

Izmir won the West Division at 98-64, scoring the most runs in the league at 843. Defending WL champ Bursa was eight games back at 90-72. The Blue Claws ended up two games short of the second wild card behind Mashhad at 92-70. The Mercury hadn’t posted a winning season since 2015 and hadn’t made the playoffs since 2014.

For the third consecutive year, Izmir third baseman Hakan Mocuk was West League MVP. The 27-year old Turkish righty led in home runs (53) and RBI (154). Mocuk had only the sixth-ever 150+ RBI season in ABF, falling four short of the single-season record. Mocuk added 108 runs, .312/.351/.649 slash, 161 wRC+, and 7.6 WAR. Notably, Mocuk’s leadoff guy Deniz Bayraktar scored 137 runs, setting a new ABF single-season record, topping the previous best of 133.

Pitcher of the Year also saw a third consecutive victory for Tabriz righty Hafez Farzani. The 27-year old Iranian righty also posted a third Triple Crown in a row, joining CABA legend Junior Vergara and EAB’s Do-Kyun Lee as the only pitchers to pull that off. Farzani’s 2021 saw a 24-6 record, 2.09 ERA, and 374 strikeouts in 237.1 innings. He also led in K/BB (14.4) and WAR (7.2) with a 193 ERA+. Unfortunately for Farzani, he would suffer a torn rotator cuff in summer 2022 that knocked him out 13 months. He managed a few more respectable seasons after that, but never reclaimed elite form.

Wild card Mashhad shocked top seed Tabriz with a first round sweep, sending the Mercury to their first West League Championship Series since their 2014 pennant. Izmir outlasted Asgabat 3-2 in a fierce battle for their second WLCS in three years. The Ice Caps snuffed out any additional Mashhad magic, taking the series firmly 4-1. This was Izmir’s second pennant, joining their 1991 campaign.

The 37^th Asian Baseball Federation Championship had Faisalabad defeat Izmir 4-2, moving the Fire to 3-0 in the finals with wins in 2011 and 2014. The 2014 finals MVP Rafkat Kudaybergenov won the honor again in 2021 in his 17^th year with Faisalabad. The 35-year old Uzbek first baseman in 16 playoff starts had 19 hits, 10 runs, 4 doubles, 4 homers, and 19 RBI. Pitcher Haroon Kundi also played a big role, winning ELCS MVP with two shutouts in his four playoff starts. Kundi was 3-0 with a 1.16 ERA over 31 innings and 42 strikeouts.

Other notes: ABF’s 15^th perfect game came on September 6 from Bishkek’s Nhanoglan Mamytov, striking out 11 against Almaty. Isfahan had 95 triples as a team, setting a new ABF record. Mehmet Fatih Canaydin and Ziad Tarkhan both reached 2500 hits, making five to do so in ABF. Majd Bsharri and Shadi Alam became the 10^th and 11^th members of the 500 home run club.

Hossein Hatami became the eighth pitcher to 4000 career strikeouts. Ananthakrisnan Khan became the second to 300 career saves. 3B Eser Naspolatli extended his ABF Gold Gloves record by winning his 13^th. RF Hana Zuhair won his ninth consecutive Gold Glove.

SS Nizami Aghazade won his eighth Silver Slugger. It was a “down year” for the seven-time MVP at only 8.9 WAR, which would’ve been higher if not for a fractured hand that cost him two months. At age 33, he became tied as ABF’s career WARlord at 117.2 along with teammate Ziad Tarkhan. Tarkhan had passed Petri Viskari’s 114.5 the prior year. Tarkhan would actually drop slightly to 117.1 with one more season, while Aghazade would lap the field with continued dominance.

12-21-2024, 11:14 AM	#1904
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,440	2021 in ABF The East League had the exact same four playoff teams from the prior year, although the positions were swapped a bit. Faisalabad did again win the South Division, but this time they were the #1 seed at 106-56. The Fire earned their third straight playoff berth and led the EL in both runs scored (712) and fewest allowed (486). Defending Asian Baseball Federation champ Bishkek was a wild card in 2020, but won the North Division in 2021 at 104-58. The Black Sox secured their third playoff berth in four years. Last year’s top seed Dushanbe dropped from 110 wins to 93-69, but that still got them the first wild card. The Dynamo playoff streak grew to nine seasons, tying the ABF record set by both Bursa (1997-2005) and Isfahan (1995-2003). Almaty and Rawalpindi tied for the second wild card at 90-72. Tiebreaker games aren’t used for ABF wild cards with the Assassins advancing on tiebreaker formula. Shymkent was also in the mix at 87-75, an impressive finish for a second year expansion team. East League MVP went to 1B Habib Saquib in his lone season for Bishkek. The 32-year old Pakistani spent his first decade with Tehran, winning MVP for them in 2017. In the last year of an eight-year deal for 2021, the Tarpons traded him in the offseason to the Black Sox for prospects. For Bishkek, Saquib led in runs (113), home runs (57), total bases (409), slugging (.691), OPS (1.071), wRC+ (224), and WAR (9.4). He also had 126 RBI and a .318 average. Saquib had the awards sweep, earning his third career Gold Glove and his fifth Silver Slugger in addition to the MVP. He also reached the 400 home run and 1000 RBI milestones. The extremely popular slugger would have no shortage of suitors in the offseason, eventually signing with Tabriz at five years and $63 million. Pitcher of the Year was Faisalabad’s Christian Stewart in his second year with the Fire. The 30-year old righty was an American from Chicago who had seen an interesting pro career thus far. He began in MLB with Columbus and led the National Association in WAR at 8.5 in 2015. Stewart would miss all of 2016 from a torn labrum, then posted mediocre results over his remaining MLB seasons between the Chargers and New York. Stewart became a free agent and Faisalabad was quite interested for 2020, signing him at $65,800,000 over seven years. He had the most losses in the EL in 2020 at 9-19, but was a victim of poor run support as he still managed a 2.78 ERA and 6.0 WAR. The support flipped in 2021, leading in wins (23-5) and quality starts (28). Stewart had a 1.87 ERA over 245.2 innings, 308 strikeouts, 186 ERA+, and 7.1 WAR. The top seeds prevailed in the first round with Faisalabad over Almaty 3-1 and Bishkek over Dushanbe 3-2. The Black Sox kept their repeat bid alive and the Fire earned their second East League Championship Series berth in three years. Faisalabad defeated Bishkek 4-2 in the ELCS to claim their third pennant (2011, 2014, 2021). The Fire are the first Pakistani team to win the pennant since their 2014 title. The West League also saw limited turnover with three of the four playoff teams extending significant streaks. Tabriz took the top seed and the Central Division for the fourth straight year, finishing 109-53. The Tiger Sharks’ playoff streak grew to six seasons, tying for the fewest runs allowed at 564 with Baku. Asgabat gave them a strong run in the division at 101-61, taking the first wild card to also extend a playoff streak to six seasons. Izmir won the West Division at 98-64, scoring the most runs in the league at 843. Defending WL champ Bursa was eight games back at 90-72. The Blue Claws ended up two games short of the second wild card behind Mashhad at 92-70. The Mercury hadn’t posted a winning season since 2015 and hadn’t made the playoffs since 2014. For the third consecutive year, Izmir third baseman Hakan Mocuk was West League MVP. The 27-year old Turkish righty led in home runs (53) and RBI (154). Mocuk had only the sixth-ever 150+ RBI season in ABF, falling four short of the single-season record. Mocuk added 108 runs, .312/.351/.649 slash, 161 wRC+, and 7.6 WAR. Notably, Mocuk’s leadoff guy Deniz Bayraktar scored 137 runs, setting a new ABF single-season record, topping the previous best of 133. Pitcher of the Year also saw a third consecutive victory for Tabriz righty Hafez Farzani. The 27-year old Iranian righty also posted a third Triple Crown in a row, joining CABA legend Junior Vergara and EAB’s Do-Kyun Lee as the only pitchers to pull that off. Farzani’s 2021 saw a 24-6 record, 2.09 ERA, and 374 strikeouts in 237.1 innings. He also led in K/BB (14.4) and WAR (7.2) with a 193 ERA+. Unfortunately for Farzani, he would suffer a torn rotator cuff in summer 2022 that knocked him out 13 months. He managed a few more respectable seasons after that, but never reclaimed elite form. Wild card Mashhad shocked top seed Tabriz with a first round sweep, sending the Mercury to their first West League Championship Series since their 2014 pennant. Izmir outlasted Asgabat 3-2 in a fierce battle for their second WLCS in three years. The Ice Caps snuffed out any additional Mashhad magic, taking the series firmly 4-1. This was Izmir’s second pennant, joining their 1991 campaign. The 37^th Asian Baseball Federation Championship had Faisalabad defeat Izmir 4-2, moving the Fire to 3-0 in the finals with wins in 2011 and 2014. The 2014 finals MVP Rafkat Kudaybergenov won the honor again in 2021 in his 17^th year with Faisalabad. The 35-year old Uzbek first baseman in 16 playoff starts had 19 hits, 10 runs, 4 doubles, 4 homers, and 19 RBI. Pitcher Haroon Kundi also played a big role, winning ELCS MVP with two shutouts in his four playoff starts. Kundi was 3-0 with a 1.16 ERA over 31 innings and 42 strikeouts. Other notes: ABF’s 15^th perfect game came on September 6 from Bishkek’s Nhanoglan Mamytov, striking out 11 against Almaty. Isfahan had 95 triples as a team, setting a new ABF record. Mehmet Fatih Canaydin and Ziad Tarkhan both reached 2500 hits, making five to do so in ABF. Majd Bsharri and Shadi Alam became the 10^th and 11^th members of the 500 home run club. Hossein Hatami became the eighth pitcher to 4000 career strikeouts. Ananthakrisnan Khan became the second to 300 career saves. 3B Eser Naspolatli extended his ABF Gold Gloves record by winning his 13^th. RF Hana Zuhair won his ninth consecutive Gold Glove. SS Nizami Aghazade won his eighth Silver Slugger. It was a “down year” for the seven-time MVP at only 8.9 WAR, which would’ve been higher if not for a fractured hand that cost him two months. At age 33, he became tied as ABF’s career WARlord at 117.2 along with teammate Ziad Tarkhan. Tarkhan had passed Petri Viskari’s 114.5 the prior year. Tarkhan would actually drop slightly to 117.1 with one more season, while Aghazade would lap the field with continued dominance. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports The Level Playing Field: Alternate MLB History From 1884-Onward Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)