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FuzzyRussianHat · 02-28-2025, 01:49 PM

Kharkiv took the Northern Conference’s top seed in 2026 at 108-54 atop the East Division, earning their third straight playoff berth. The Killer Bees were able to outrace reigning European Champion Rotterdam for the top spot. At 105-57 atop the Central Division, the Ravens won their sixth consecutive division title. They were the top scoring teams in the European Baseball Federation with Kharkiv plating 885 and Rotterdam scoring 870.

There was a large gulf to the #3 seed with Dublin at 92-70 to win the West Division. Although it was their weakest effort in seven years, the Dinos still won their seventh straight division crown. Birmingham was five back at 87-75 followed by London at 84-78. Both of those marks weren’t enough in the wild card race with the three spots split between East and Central Division teams.

Both Hanover and Stockholm advanced at 90-72, while both Kyiv and Hamburg were 89-73. The Kings topped the Hammers in the tiebreaker game to grab the final spot. Amsterdam (87-75), Cologne (86-76), and Berlin (86-76) were also just on the outside. The Hitmen allowed the fewest runs in the conference (628) to grow their wild card streak to four and the Swordsmen also earned repeat playoff trips. It was Kyiv’s first playoff berth since 2009 with two relegations coming since. The Kings had just made it back to the EBF Elite tier.

Krakow (57-105) and Tallinn (59-103) both lost 100+ games and thus suffered relegation. Oslo (65-97) only narrowly escaped their own demotion. It was the second relegation for the Canines, who had a brief stint from 2007-08 in the European Second League. The Twisters had earned their first promotion as the 2023 E2L runner-up. Tallinn failed to gain traction in their three EBF Elite seasons with 65, 63, and 59 wins.

Northern Conference MVP went to 1B Rejnaldo Bakiasi in his 13^th season. The 35-year old Albanian signed a four-year, $76 million deal to join newly promoted Kyiv for 2026. In his Kings debut, Bakiasi led in hits (226), runs (129), total bases (406), OBP (.410), and wRC+ (191). He added 40 home runs, 125 RBI, 28 doubles, 16 triples, .363 average, 1.062 OPS, and 9.2 WAR.

Pitcher of the Year was Stefan “Wolfman” Tosik of Kharkiv. The 26-year old Polish left led in ERA (2.06), wins (22-1), and WHIP (0.88). He tied the EBF record for pitching win percentage at .957. Tosik struck out 254 over 222.1 innings with 195 ERA+ and 7.9 WAR.

Both first round playoff matchups went 2-1 with Hanover over Stockholm and Dublin over Kyiv. The top seeds held 3-1 in round two with Kharkiv over the Hitmen and Rotterdam over the Dinos. The Killer Bees hadn’t been in the Northern Conference Championship since their 2002 title, while the Ravens were in their fourth consecutive conference final. Rotterdam pulled off the repeat with the 4-3 road series win over Kharkiv, becoming seven-time Northern Conference champs.

Chisinau won a fourth consecutive East Division crown and set a new franchise record at 106-56, earning the Southern Conference’s top seed. Even with that record, the division wasn’t a cakewalk with Tbilisi chasing at 100-62. The Trains had just gotten promoted back after spending the last eight years in E2L. It was Tbilisi’s first playoff trip since 2005 as they led the conference with 812 runs.

The Central Division was quite competitive with Munich on top at 100-62 for the #2 seed. The Mavericks’ division title streak grew to six seasons and their playoff streak to seven. Munich allowed the fewest runs in EBF at 564. Close behind were Palermo (95-67) and Zagreb (94-68) who took the remaining wild cards. Rome (91-71) was the first team out, followed by the East’s Odesa at 87-75. The Priests picked up their second wild card in three years, while the Gulls’ playoff streak stretched to seven seasons.

The West Division went to Marseille at 89-73, becoming the third 2026 playoff team that had been in the European Second League in 2025. It was the first playoff trip since 2016 for the Musketeers, who were six ahead of Zaragoza and eight better than Seville. Defending conference champ Zurich was fourth at 80-82 to miss the playoffs for only the second time in 11 years. It was also the first time the Mountaineers had a losing season since 2011, ending the longest active run of winning campaigns in EBF.

No one lost 100+ games in the Southern Conference, meaning the lone relegated team would be whomever had the worst record. Both Malta and Lisbon finished at 64-98 with the tiebreaker saving the Clippers and sinking the Marvels. It was a stunning reversal for Malta, who had just posted a franchise-best 89-73 the prior year. The Marvels had been the only EBF original to never make the playoffs since the federation’s 1950 forming. They had managed to avoid relegation though until now.

Belgrade was a non-factor at 74-88, but their RF Nikol Baxevanidis won Southern Conference MVP. The 29-year old Greek switch hitter led in home runs (56), total bases (412), OBP (.431), slugging (.740), OPS (1.171), wRC+ (223), and WAR (9.8). Baxevanidis added 120 runs, 125 RBI, and a 357 average. He was due free agency after 2027 and because he wouldn’t re-sign, the Bruisers traded him in the offseason to Bratislava for prospects. The Blue Falcons were in E2L, essentially demoting the MVP down a rung for a year. After one season with Bratislava, he returned to the EBF Elite on a free agent deal with Seville.

Lucas Van Dyke was Pitcher of the Year in his fourth year with Munich, coming the Mavericks in a 2023 trade from Edinburgh. The 30-year old Belgian lefty led in wins (23-4) and ERA (1.91). Van Dyke struck out 256 in 212 innings with 202 ERA+ and 6.8 WAR. He would sign a five-year, $121 million extension in February 2028 to stick with the Mavericks.

In the first round of the playoffs, Tbilisi swept Palermo and Zagreb swept Marseille. The Gulls then stunned top seed Chisinau 3-2 in round two, sending Zagreb to the Southern Conference Championship for the fourth time in six years. Munich held firm 3-1 over the Trains, giving the Mavericks their sixth conference finals trip in seven years.

Munich had stood in the way of Zagreb in recent memory, beating them in the conference final in both 2021 and 2023. The Mavericks also ousted the Gulls in the first round in 2020 and the second round in 2022. Munich yet again ruined Zagreb’s hopes in 2026, claiming the Southern Conference Championship 4-2. The Mavericks earned their fifth pennant in a decade and their 11^th overall. Meanwhile the Gulls’ drought grew to 51 years with six straight conference final defeats.

Although both Rotterdam and Munich had been quite successful, the 77^th European Championship was their first-ever finals encounter. The Ravens downed the Mavericks 4-2 to pull off the repeat and move to 7-0 all-time in the championship (1969, 1972, 1977, 1980, 1992, 2025, 2026). 3B Giordano Koch was finals MVP in his Rotterdam debut, signing as a free agent after a decade in Glasgow. In 17 playoff starts, the 29-year old Austrian had 25 hits, 4 runs, 4 doubles, 4 triples, and 12 RBI.

The seven rings tied Rotterdam with Dublin for the most. It is the third repeat champ already in the 2020s with Munich’s 2020-21 repeat and Dublin’s in 2022-23. There have been seven total repeat champs in EBF with Dublin also doing it in 2010-11, Copenhagen in 2004-05, Marseille in 1985-86, and Amsterdam in 1983-84. The Mavericks are now 4-7 all-time in their finals trips.

Other notes: 2026 was the final EBF season for nine-time MVP Harvey Coyle, who played his age 39 campaign with Birmingham after his 20 year run with Oslo ended in a trade. He only played 95 games for the Bees because of a concussion and elbow inflammation, but he still managed a 6.8 WAR campaign anyway. This got Coyle to 212.3 career WAR, second in all of world baseball history behind legendary OBA/MLB IF Jimmy Caliw’s 214.0.

Coyle also left as EBF’s home run king with 979 and moved into 2^nd in RBI at 2213 behind Jiri Lebr’s 2346. Coyle’s 1914 runs ranked 5^th and his 3235 hits ranked 9^th at departure. Adding to that he had 13 Gold Gloves and a career 554.1 zone rating at shortstop in EBF, coming his stellar bat with arguably the best-ever defense in baseball history. Coyle’s pro career wasn’t done yet though as he’d head to Major League Baseball in 2027 on a two-year, $55,600,000 deal with Ottawa.

Dublin’s Brites Castro threw EBF’s 40^thPerfect Game on August 10, striking out 10 against Amsterdam. Rory Moriarty and Slawomir Boguski became the 56^th and 57^th pitchers to 3000 strikeouts. In other milestones, Stefanos Emmanoulidis became the 20^th member of the 600 home run club and the 30^th to 1500 RBI. Emmanoulidis also won his 7^th Silver Slugger at 3B. Theofilos Psarras won his 11^th Silver Slugger splti between LF/RF/1B. Max Gerlach was the 42^nd to 2500 career hits.

Promotion/Relegation: Demoted teams were Malta from the Southern Conference and both Tallinn and Krakow from the Northern Conference, while the promoted teams were Nantes and Barcelona from the E2L Western Conference and Vienna from the Eastern Conference. Of course with the directional divide, it wasn’t the easy simple “plug-and-play.” Below are the shifts made with the 2026 promotion and relegation.

02-28-2025, 01:49 PM	#2112
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 2,817	2026 in EBF Kharkiv took the Northern Conference’s top seed in 2026 at 108-54 atop the East Division, earning their third straight playoff berth. The Killer Bees were able to outrace reigning European Champion Rotterdam for the top spot. At 105-57 atop the Central Division, the Ravens won their sixth consecutive division title. They were the top scoring teams in the European Baseball Federation with Kharkiv plating 885 and Rotterdam scoring 870. There was a large gulf to the #3 seed with Dublin at 92-70 to win the West Division. Although it was their weakest effort in seven years, the Dinos still won their seventh straight division crown. Birmingham was five back at 87-75 followed by London at 84-78. Both of those marks weren’t enough in the wild card race with the three spots split between East and Central Division teams. Both Hanover and Stockholm advanced at 90-72, while both Kyiv and Hamburg were 89-73. The Kings topped the Hammers in the tiebreaker game to grab the final spot. Amsterdam (87-75), Cologne (86-76), and Berlin (86-76) were also just on the outside. The Hitmen allowed the fewest runs in the conference (628) to grow their wild card streak to four and the Swordsmen also earned repeat playoff trips. It was Kyiv’s first playoff berth since 2009 with two relegations coming since. The Kings had just made it back to the EBF Elite tier. Krakow (57-105) and Tallinn (59-103) both lost 100+ games and thus suffered relegation. Oslo (65-97) only narrowly escaped their own demotion. It was the second relegation for the Canines, who had a brief stint from 2007-08 in the European Second League. The Twisters had earned their first promotion as the 2023 E2L runner-up. Tallinn failed to gain traction in their three EBF Elite seasons with 65, 63, and 59 wins. Northern Conference MVP went to 1B Rejnaldo Bakiasi in his 13^th season. The 35-year old Albanian signed a four-year, $76 million deal to join newly promoted Kyiv for 2026. In his Kings debut, Bakiasi led in hits (226), runs (129), total bases (406), OBP (.410), and wRC+ (191). He added 40 home runs, 125 RBI, 28 doubles, 16 triples, .363 average, 1.062 OPS, and 9.2 WAR. Pitcher of the Year was Stefan “Wolfman” Tosik of Kharkiv. The 26-year old Polish left led in ERA (2.06), wins (22-1), and WHIP (0.88). He tied the EBF record for pitching win percentage at .957. Tosik struck out 254 over 222.1 innings with 195 ERA+ and 7.9 WAR. Both first round playoff matchups went 2-1 with Hanover over Stockholm and Dublin over Kyiv. The top seeds held 3-1 in round two with Kharkiv over the Hitmen and Rotterdam over the Dinos. The Killer Bees hadn’t been in the Northern Conference Championship since their 2002 title, while the Ravens were in their fourth consecutive conference final. Rotterdam pulled off the repeat with the 4-3 road series win over Kharkiv, becoming seven-time Northern Conference champs. Chisinau won a fourth consecutive East Division crown and set a new franchise record at 106-56, earning the Southern Conference’s top seed. Even with that record, the division wasn’t a cakewalk with Tbilisi chasing at 100-62. The Trains had just gotten promoted back after spending the last eight years in E2L. It was Tbilisi’s first playoff trip since 2005 as they led the conference with 812 runs. The Central Division was quite competitive with Munich on top at 100-62 for the #2 seed. The Mavericks’ division title streak grew to six seasons and their playoff streak to seven. Munich allowed the fewest runs in EBF at 564. Close behind were Palermo (95-67) and Zagreb (94-68) who took the remaining wild cards. Rome (91-71) was the first team out, followed by the East’s Odesa at 87-75. The Priests picked up their second wild card in three years, while the Gulls’ playoff streak stretched to seven seasons. The West Division went to Marseille at 89-73, becoming the third 2026 playoff team that had been in the European Second League in 2025. It was the first playoff trip since 2016 for the Musketeers, who were six ahead of Zaragoza and eight better than Seville. Defending conference champ Zurich was fourth at 80-82 to miss the playoffs for only the second time in 11 years. It was also the first time the Mountaineers had a losing season since 2011, ending the longest active run of winning campaigns in EBF. No one lost 100+ games in the Southern Conference, meaning the lone relegated team would be whomever had the worst record. Both Malta and Lisbon finished at 64-98 with the tiebreaker saving the Clippers and sinking the Marvels. It was a stunning reversal for Malta, who had just posted a franchise-best 89-73 the prior year. The Marvels had been the only EBF original to never make the playoffs since the federation’s 1950 forming. They had managed to avoid relegation though until now. Belgrade was a non-factor at 74-88, but their RF Nikol Baxevanidis won Southern Conference MVP. The 29-year old Greek switch hitter led in home runs (56), total bases (412), OBP (.431), slugging (.740), OPS (1.171), wRC+ (223), and WAR (9.8). Baxevanidis added 120 runs, 125 RBI, and a 357 average. He was due free agency after 2027 and because he wouldn’t re-sign, the Bruisers traded him in the offseason to Bratislava for prospects. The Blue Falcons were in E2L, essentially demoting the MVP down a rung for a year. After one season with Bratislava, he returned to the EBF Elite on a free agent deal with Seville. Lucas Van Dyke was Pitcher of the Year in his fourth year with Munich, coming the Mavericks in a 2023 trade from Edinburgh. The 30-year old Belgian lefty led in wins (23-4) and ERA (1.91). Van Dyke struck out 256 in 212 innings with 202 ERA+ and 6.8 WAR. He would sign a five-year, $121 million extension in February 2028 to stick with the Mavericks. In the first round of the playoffs, Tbilisi swept Palermo and Zagreb swept Marseille. The Gulls then stunned top seed Chisinau 3-2 in round two, sending Zagreb to the Southern Conference Championship for the fourth time in six years. Munich held firm 3-1 over the Trains, giving the Mavericks their sixth conference finals trip in seven years. Munich had stood in the way of Zagreb in recent memory, beating them in the conference final in both 2021 and 2023. The Mavericks also ousted the Gulls in the first round in 2020 and the second round in 2022. Munich yet again ruined Zagreb’s hopes in 2026, claiming the Southern Conference Championship 4-2. The Mavericks earned their fifth pennant in a decade and their 11^th overall. Meanwhile the Gulls’ drought grew to 51 years with six straight conference final defeats. Although both Rotterdam and Munich had been quite successful, the 77^th European Championship was their first-ever finals encounter. The Ravens downed the Mavericks 4-2 to pull off the repeat and move to 7-0 all-time in the championship (1969, 1972, 1977, 1980, 1992, 2025, 2026). 3B Giordano Koch was finals MVP in his Rotterdam debut, signing as a free agent after a decade in Glasgow. In 17 playoff starts, the 29-year old Austrian had 25 hits, 4 runs, 4 doubles, 4 triples, and 12 RBI. The seven rings tied Rotterdam with Dublin for the most. It is the third repeat champ already in the 2020s with Munich’s 2020-21 repeat and Dublin’s in 2022-23. There have been seven total repeat champs in EBF with Dublin also doing it in 2010-11, Copenhagen in 2004-05, Marseille in 1985-86, and Amsterdam in 1983-84. The Mavericks are now 4-7 all-time in their finals trips. Other notes: 2026 was the final EBF season for nine-time MVP Harvey Coyle, who played his age 39 campaign with Birmingham after his 20 year run with Oslo ended in a trade. He only played 95 games for the Bees because of a concussion and elbow inflammation, but he still managed a 6.8 WAR campaign anyway. This got Coyle to 212.3 career WAR, second in all of world baseball history behind legendary OBA/MLB IF Jimmy Caliw’s 214.0. Coyle also left as EBF’s home run king with 979 and moved into 2^nd in RBI at 2213 behind Jiri Lebr’s 2346. Coyle’s 1914 runs ranked 5^th and his 3235 hits ranked 9^th at departure. Adding to that he had 13 Gold Gloves and a career 554.1 zone rating at shortstop in EBF, coming his stellar bat with arguably the best-ever defense in baseball history. Coyle’s pro career wasn’t done yet though as he’d head to Major League Baseball in 2027 on a two-year, $55,600,000 deal with Ottawa. Dublin’s Brites Castro threw EBF’s 40^thPerfect Game on August 10, striking out 10 against Amsterdam. Rory Moriarty and Slawomir Boguski became the 56^th and 57^th pitchers to 3000 strikeouts. In other milestones, Stefanos Emmanoulidis became the 20^th member of the 600 home run club and the 30^th to 1500 RBI. Emmanoulidis also won his 7^th Silver Slugger at 3B. Theofilos Psarras won his 11^th Silver Slugger splti between LF/RF/1B. Max Gerlach was the 42^nd to 2500 career hits. Promotion/Relegation: Demoted teams were Malta from the Southern Conference and both Tallinn and Krakow from the Northern Conference, while the promoted teams were Nantes and Barcelona from the E2L Western Conference and Vienna from the Eastern Conference. Of course with the directional divide, it wasn’t the easy simple “plug-and-play.” Below are the shifts made with the 2026 promotion and relegation. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)