[FuzzyRussianHat]

Arab League Baseball’s first expansion came in 2016, adding four teams to get to 28 total teams. The long-term plan was to get to 30 so that each division would have five teams, but officials wanted some time to pass to avoid potentially diluting the talent pool. They also wanted to finalize which cities would earn the new franchises.

The 2024 season marked the addition of these two new teams. In the Western Conference, the Syria-based Aleppo Alliance joined the Levant Division. In the Eastern Conference, Yemen got its first team with the Sanaa Shockers joining the previously named Saudi Division. Now that there was a team from outside of Saudi Arabia in the group, the division was renamed as the Arabia Division. The 15/15 conference divide also meant there would be limited inter-conference play for schedule purposes.



ALB also decided to change its playoff format, which had been steady since the league’s formation in 1990. Previously, only the three division winners had earned playoff spots. Some in ALB had disliked the format as there had been seasons where a 90+ win second place team had to sit out while the weakest division winner made it in just above .500. Twice before a team finished at 100-62 but missed the cut as the second place team in their division.

Officials didn’t want to punish great teams in strong divisions, but also wanted to maintain a reward for division titles. They decided to add a separate wild card round where the two-best wild cards met. It was a “best of three,” but the higher ranked wild card got a one-game advantage and home field. They would only have to win twice, while the lower wild card had to win three-in-a-row.

The wild card winner advanced to a best-of-three hosted by the #1 seed, while the #2 seed hosted #3 on the other side. Some argued for re-seeding to avoid having a strong wild card against the #1 seed if the other division winners were weak, but simplicity won out. The second round winners still met in a best-of-five conference final, followed by the best-of-seven Arab League Championship.