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FuzzyRussianHat · 05-24-2025, 07:28 AM

The Asian Baseball Federation’s East League was strongly tilted again towards the Pakistani teams, now in the rechristened Pakistan Division post 2030 expansion. It got even stronger as the one Pakistani team that had been in the North Division, Peshawar, was now back with the other Pakistan teams. The Predators were the North Division champ in 2029 and the defending EL champ. They had pulled it off with a 99-63 record, while the old South Division had featured a 110-win Hyderabad and 106-win Lahore.

2030 saw similar successes for those three teams in the Pakistan Division. Hyderabad came out on top at 111-51 for a fourth straight division title and seventh straight playoff berth. Lahore was right behind at 110-52, again having to settle for a wild card despite a stellar record. The Longhorns had their third straight playoff berth. Peshawar was next at 96-66, firmly taking the second wild card to extend their playoff streak to four seasons.

Hyderabad allowed the fewest runs in ABF at 487, although Lahore was at 496. The Longhorns had 790 runs to the Horned Frogs’ 764 to top the EL teams. Lahore’s run total was the second-highest in East League history behind the 841 by Peshawar from the prior year. The Longhorns also set a new EL team record for slugging percentage (.480) and had the second-best batting average in EL history at .272.

With Peshawar gone, the North Division field was completely wide open. Samarkand and Almaty tied for first at 89-73 with new expansion team Namangan and Bishkek both three back at 86-76. ABF doesn’t use tiebreaker games and the formula gave the Spurs their first-ever playoff berth since joining with the 2020 expansion. This also ended the Assassins’ playoff streak at 10 seasons, tied for the ABF record.

Earning East League MVP was Lahore RF Hussein Rabie in his first season as a starter, having debuted the prior year with 111 games and 44 starts. The 22-year old Egyptian lefty led in the triple slash (.372/.417/.683), OPS (1.100), wRC+ (226), and WAR (10.6). Rabie added 214 hits, 107 runs, 44 doubles, 39 home runs, 101 RBI, and 48 stolen bases.

His Longhorns teammate Zakir Mehdiyev was Pitcher of the Year for the second time, having also won in 2026. The 31-year old Tajik righty led in wins (22-6), strikeouts (391), WHIP (0.84), K/BB (11.2), quality starts (28), and WAR (9.6). Mehdiyev’s 2.20 ERA fell six points short of a Triple Crown behind Hyderabad’s Talib Abdul Qadir. Mehdiyev had 261.2 innings and 161 ERA+. Lahore gave their long-time ace a seven-year, $161,600,000 extension in April, but unfortunately a torn flexor tendon in summer 2031 would derail his career.

In the new double-elimination playoffs, the first round started with Peshawar upsetting Hyderabad 2-1 and Lahore sweeping Samarkand 2-0. The Horned Frogs bounced back 2-1 over the Spurs to stay alive. The Longhorns edged the Predators 2-1 in round two, sending Lahore to the East League Championship Series for the first time since 2018.

The defending champ Peshawar earned a rematch in the ELCS by sweeping top seed Hyderabad in the loser’s bracket. Lahore kept rolling in the ELCS, unseating the Predators 4-1 to end a 17-year pennant drought. It was Lahore’s fourth East League title, having also won in 2005, 2006, and 2012.

Defending ABF Champion Baku had an outstanding 113-49 record atop the West Division, which was tied for the third-best record in ABF history. The only team which had won more was Tehran, who went 116-46 in 2017 and 115-47 in 2015. The Blackbirds led the West League in scoring (856) and runs allowed (547) for their seventh playoff trip in a decade.

The remaining three playoff spots had an intense fight for the Central Division crown. Isfahan and Tabriz ended even at 97-65 while Mashhad was 96-66; which earned playoff berths for all three. The tiebreaker gave the division title to the Imperials, their first since 2002. Isfahan ended a seven-year playoff drought and the Tiger Sharks stopped a five-year skid.

For Mashhad, their playoff streak extended to ten seasons to tie the ABF record set by Dushanbe (2013-22) and Almaty (2020-29). The West Division’s Ankara (93-69), Gaziantep (89-73) and Adana (87-75) were also in the wild card mix, but fell short of the Mercury.

Baku swept the top awards with all-time efforts by both winners. MVP went to 1B Artyom Masharipov in only his second season as a full-time starter. The 26-year old Azeri lefty 73 home runs, just missing the ABF record of 74 set by Vahid Hadadi in 1991. Masharipov was the second in ABF history to hit 70+ dingers.

He would break two ABF records with 175 RBI and 503 total bases. Masharipov crushed Gokhan Karatas’ 458 total bags from 1993 and firmly beat Khalaf bin Abdullah’s 162 RBI from 2024. Masharipov’s season was only the ninth in all of pro baseball history to that point with 500+ total bases. It was also only the 14^th season of 175+ RBI.

Masharipov also led the WL in runs (142), OBP (.416), slugging (.804), OPS (1.220), wRC+ (217), and WAR (11.7). He had 223 hits, 45 doubles, and a .356 batting average. The 142 runs ranked second in ABF history behind Majed Mahadeen’s 152 from 2028. Masharipov’s slugging and OPS both ranked as ABF’s third-best. He also hit for the cycle in May against Tehran.

The effort made Masharipov’s home country squad extend to a hefty eight-year, $227,200,000 deal in February 2031. He missed the Triple Crown by three points behind Adana’s Ibrahim Rabee at .359. Rabee made his own history by breaking ABF’s single-season hits record with 230, edging Hasbalah Kadoor’s 229 from 1997. Rabee also had 28 triples, one short of the league record.

While Masharipov missed the Triple Crown, his Baku teammate and Pitcher of the Year Agshin Jumayev grabbed it for back-to-back seasons. He won his fourth POTY (2025, 27, 29, 30) with his strongest effort yet, leading with a 25-2 record, 1.91 ERA, 273.2 innings, 457 strikeouts, 29 quality starts, 203 ERA+, 45 FIP-, and 12.5 WAR.

The 29-year old Tajik lefty had the second-most strikeouts in ABF history behind Sa’id Farahani’s 471 from 1994. Jumayev’s WAR was the fourth-best by an ABF pitcher and he was only the fourth to win 25+ games, which hadn’t been done since 2000. Jumayev was the fourth in ABF history to win Pitcher of the Year 4+ times.

Baku swept Mashhad 2-0 and Tabriz edged Isfahan 2-1 in round one. The Blackbirds then kept their repeat bid intact with a 2-1 round two win against the Tiger Sharks. The Mercury beat the Imperials 2-1 in the loser’s bracket, but was ousted 2-1 by Tabriz.

The Tiger Sharks earned another shot at Baku and had their first West League Championship Series appearance since beating the Blackbirds in 2023 en route to the ABF title. Baku got long-waited revenge, rolling to a sweep for their fourth pennant in nine years and seventh overall (2010, 12, 13, 22, 24, 29, 30).

In the 46^th Asian Baseball Federation Championship, Baku staked a claim for the top team in league history. The showdown had a 113-win team against a 110-win one, but the Blackbirds earned a dominant 4-1 win over Lahore. With the repeat, Baku was now four-time ABF champs (2012, 2024, 29, 30).

Finals MVP was RF Mustafa Sarir in his seventh year with Baku, In 13 playoff starts, the 28-year old Pakistani switch hitter had 19 hits, 8 runs, 4 doubles, 6 home runs, 11 RBI, and 1.260 OPS. Pitcher of the Year Agshin Jumayev was also notable, setting an ABF playoff record for pitching WAR at 2.03. Jumayev tied the strikeouts record of 65 set the prior season by Sahrokh Morteza. Over 38.2 innings, Jumayev had a 2-1 record, 3.03 ERA and only one walk.

The 2030 Baku squad was tied for the second-winningest team in ABF history to win it all. The Blackbirds were behind only 2017 Tehran, who earned their own repeat that year at 116-46. Multan also took the title at 113-49 back in 2003. It was the eighth repeat in ABF Championship history with Baku etching their place among the federation’s all-time dynasties.

Other notes: Dushanbe’s Roni Vieri hit 71 doubles, becoming only the seventh in pro baseball history with a 70+ double season. He was one back on Gokhan Karatas for the ABF record and two behind Kerlos Sharaf’s world record of 73 from the 2028 Arab League Baseball season.

In bad records, Multan had the worst record in East League history at 44-118. It was the second-worst in ABF history with only 1986 Shiraz worse at 38-124. The 2030 Suns were also bad at 57-105, setting all-time ABF worsts for team ERA (5.14), runs allowed (882) and earned runs (821). Shiraz allowed 1628 hits, second-worst behind their own 1634 from the prior year. Dushanbe notably had bad pitching in the DH-less EL with 1517 hits allowed and a 9.41 H/9; both the second-worst in East League history.

In milestones, Ismail Akbar became the 7^th member of the 600 home run club. H.A. Rahman was the 15^th batter to reach 2500 hits. Elnur Hasanov was the 16^th pitcher to earn 200 wins and Hasan Yousefi was the 34^th to reach 3000 strikeouts. C Ali Mahdian won his 11^th Gold Glove and CF Anatoly Memmedov won his 9^th, both position records. 3B Hakam Mocuk won his 11^th Silver Slugger. Two-way player Safdar Kahlwan won his 8^th Silver Slugger as a pitcher.

05-24-2025, 07:28 AM	#2257
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,257	2030 in ABF The Asian Baseball Federation’s East League was strongly tilted again towards the Pakistani teams, now in the rechristened Pakistan Division post 2030 expansion. It got even stronger as the one Pakistani team that had been in the North Division, Peshawar, was now back with the other Pakistan teams. The Predators were the North Division champ in 2029 and the defending EL champ. They had pulled it off with a 99-63 record, while the old South Division had featured a 110-win Hyderabad and 106-win Lahore. 2030 saw similar successes for those three teams in the Pakistan Division. Hyderabad came out on top at 111-51 for a fourth straight division title and seventh straight playoff berth. Lahore was right behind at 110-52, again having to settle for a wild card despite a stellar record. The Longhorns had their third straight playoff berth. Peshawar was next at 96-66, firmly taking the second wild card to extend their playoff streak to four seasons. Hyderabad allowed the fewest runs in ABF at 487, although Lahore was at 496. The Longhorns had 790 runs to the Horned Frogs’ 764 to top the EL teams. Lahore’s run total was the second-highest in East League history behind the 841 by Peshawar from the prior year. The Longhorns also set a new EL team record for slugging percentage (.480) and had the second-best batting average in EL history at .272. With Peshawar gone, the North Division field was completely wide open. Samarkand and Almaty tied for first at 89-73 with new expansion team Namangan and Bishkek both three back at 86-76. ABF doesn’t use tiebreaker games and the formula gave the Spurs their first-ever playoff berth since joining with the 2020 expansion. This also ended the Assassins’ playoff streak at 10 seasons, tied for the ABF record. Earning East League MVP was Lahore RF Hussein Rabie in his first season as a starter, having debuted the prior year with 111 games and 44 starts. The 22-year old Egyptian lefty led in the triple slash (.372/.417/.683), OPS (1.100), wRC+ (226), and WAR (10.6). Rabie added 214 hits, 107 runs, 44 doubles, 39 home runs, 101 RBI, and 48 stolen bases. His Longhorns teammate Zakir Mehdiyev was Pitcher of the Year for the second time, having also won in 2026. The 31-year old Tajik righty led in wins (22-6), strikeouts (391), WHIP (0.84), K/BB (11.2), quality starts (28), and WAR (9.6). Mehdiyev’s 2.20 ERA fell six points short of a Triple Crown behind Hyderabad’s Talib Abdul Qadir. Mehdiyev had 261.2 innings and 161 ERA+. Lahore gave their long-time ace a seven-year, $161,600,000 extension in April, but unfortunately a torn flexor tendon in summer 2031 would derail his career. In the new double-elimination playoffs, the first round started with Peshawar upsetting Hyderabad 2-1 and Lahore sweeping Samarkand 2-0. The Horned Frogs bounced back 2-1 over the Spurs to stay alive. The Longhorns edged the Predators 2-1 in round two, sending Lahore to the East League Championship Series for the first time since 2018. The defending champ Peshawar earned a rematch in the ELCS by sweeping top seed Hyderabad in the loser’s bracket. Lahore kept rolling in the ELCS, unseating the Predators 4-1 to end a 17-year pennant drought. It was Lahore’s fourth East League title, having also won in 2005, 2006, and 2012. Defending ABF Champion Baku had an outstanding 113-49 record atop the West Division, which was tied for the third-best record in ABF history. The only team which had won more was Tehran, who went 116-46 in 2017 and 115-47 in 2015. The Blackbirds led the West League in scoring (856) and runs allowed (547) for their seventh playoff trip in a decade. The remaining three playoff spots had an intense fight for the Central Division crown. Isfahan and Tabriz ended even at 97-65 while Mashhad was 96-66; which earned playoff berths for all three. The tiebreaker gave the division title to the Imperials, their first since 2002. Isfahan ended a seven-year playoff drought and the Tiger Sharks stopped a five-year skid. For Mashhad, their playoff streak extended to ten seasons to tie the ABF record set by Dushanbe (2013-22) and Almaty (2020-29). The West Division’s Ankara (93-69), Gaziantep (89-73) and Adana (87-75) were also in the wild card mix, but fell short of the Mercury. Baku swept the top awards with all-time efforts by both winners. MVP went to 1B Artyom Masharipov in only his second season as a full-time starter. The 26-year old Azeri lefty 73 home runs, just missing the ABF record of 74 set by Vahid Hadadi in 1991. Masharipov was the second in ABF history to hit 70+ dingers. He would break two ABF records with 175 RBI and 503 total bases. Masharipov crushed Gokhan Karatas’ 458 total bags from 1993 and firmly beat Khalaf bin Abdullah’s 162 RBI from 2024. Masharipov’s season was only the ninth in all of pro baseball history to that point with 500+ total bases. It was also only the 14^th season of 175+ RBI. Masharipov also led the WL in runs (142), OBP (.416), slugging (.804), OPS (1.220), wRC+ (217), and WAR (11.7). He had 223 hits, 45 doubles, and a .356 batting average. The 142 runs ranked second in ABF history behind Majed Mahadeen’s 152 from 2028. Masharipov’s slugging and OPS both ranked as ABF’s third-best. He also hit for the cycle in May against Tehran. The effort made Masharipov’s home country squad extend to a hefty eight-year, $227,200,000 deal in February 2031. He missed the Triple Crown by three points behind Adana’s Ibrahim Rabee at .359. Rabee made his own history by breaking ABF’s single-season hits record with 230, edging Hasbalah Kadoor’s 229 from 1997. Rabee also had 28 triples, one short of the league record. While Masharipov missed the Triple Crown, his Baku teammate and Pitcher of the Year Agshin Jumayev grabbed it for back-to-back seasons. He won his fourth POTY (2025, 27, 29, 30) with his strongest effort yet, leading with a 25-2 record, 1.91 ERA, 273.2 innings, 457 strikeouts, 29 quality starts, 203 ERA+, 45 FIP-, and 12.5 WAR. The 29-year old Tajik lefty had the second-most strikeouts in ABF history behind Sa’id Farahani’s 471 from 1994. Jumayev’s WAR was the fourth-best by an ABF pitcher and he was only the fourth to win 25+ games, which hadn’t been done since 2000. Jumayev was the fourth in ABF history to win Pitcher of the Year 4+ times. Baku swept Mashhad 2-0 and Tabriz edged Isfahan 2-1 in round one. The Blackbirds then kept their repeat bid intact with a 2-1 round two win against the Tiger Sharks. The Mercury beat the Imperials 2-1 in the loser’s bracket, but was ousted 2-1 by Tabriz. The Tiger Sharks earned another shot at Baku and had their first West League Championship Series appearance since beating the Blackbirds in 2023 en route to the ABF title. Baku got long-waited revenge, rolling to a sweep for their fourth pennant in nine years and seventh overall (2010, 12, 13, 22, 24, 29, 30). In the 46^th Asian Baseball Federation Championship, Baku staked a claim for the top team in league history. The showdown had a 113-win team against a 110-win one, but the Blackbirds earned a dominant 4-1 win over Lahore. With the repeat, Baku was now four-time ABF champs (2012, 2024, 29, 30). Finals MVP was RF Mustafa Sarir in his seventh year with Baku, In 13 playoff starts, the 28-year old Pakistani switch hitter had 19 hits, 8 runs, 4 doubles, 6 home runs, 11 RBI, and 1.260 OPS. Pitcher of the Year Agshin Jumayev was also notable, setting an ABF playoff record for pitching WAR at 2.03. Jumayev tied the strikeouts record of 65 set the prior season by Sahrokh Morteza. Over 38.2 innings, Jumayev had a 2-1 record, 3.03 ERA and only one walk. The 2030 Baku squad was tied for the second-winningest team in ABF history to win it all. The Blackbirds were behind only 2017 Tehran, who earned their own repeat that year at 116-46. Multan also took the title at 113-49 back in 2003. It was the eighth repeat in ABF Championship history with Baku etching their place among the federation’s all-time dynasties. Other notes: Dushanbe’s Roni Vieri hit 71 doubles, becoming only the seventh in pro baseball history with a 70+ double season. He was one back on Gokhan Karatas for the ABF record and two behind Kerlos Sharaf’s world record of 73 from the 2028 Arab League Baseball season. In bad records, Multan had the worst record in East League history at 44-118. It was the second-worst in ABF history with only 1986 Shiraz worse at 38-124. The 2030 Suns were also bad at 57-105, setting all-time ABF worsts for team ERA (5.14), runs allowed (882) and earned runs (821). Shiraz allowed 1628 hits, second-worst behind their own 1634 from the prior year. Dushanbe notably had bad pitching in the DH-less EL with 1517 hits allowed and a 9.41 H/9; both the second-worst in East League history. In milestones, Ismail Akbar became the 7^th member of the 600 home run club. H.A. Rahman was the 15^th batter to reach 2500 hits. Elnur Hasanov was the 16^th pitcher to earn 200 wins and Hasan Yousefi was the 34^th to reach 3000 strikeouts. C Ali Mahdian won his 11^th Gold Glove and CF Anatoly Memmedov won his 9^th, both position records. 3B Hakam Mocuk won his 11^th Silver Slugger. Two-way player Safdar Kahlwan won his 8^th Silver Slugger as a pitcher. __________________ 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)