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FuzzyRussianHat · 05-27-2025, 08:19 AM

West African Baseball joined the expansion wave in 2030, although they had seen a longer gap than competing world leagues. WAB’s lone expansion had come in 2009, moving from 20 teams to 24. The game’s popularity had only continued to grow in the region while more cities had built up a big league caliber infrastructure. By 2030, officials had identified six cities ready to join, growing WAB to 30 teams.

WAB hadn’t used divisions since its 1975 formation, but officials felt a change made sense with the new teams. Instead of the traditional 5x3 setup, both leagues opted for two uneven divisions along with interleague play. Both leagues would have an eight-team division along with a seven-team division.

Joining the Western League would be the Touba Twins, Bissau Bullets, and Daloa Danes. The Twins would be the second team in the league from Senegal and the Danes would be the third from the Ivory Coast. Bissau was the first for the nation of Guinea-Bissau.

Entering the Eastern League would be the Abuja Aliens, Bata Black Aces, and Jos Jaspers. The Aliens and Jaspers were both Nigerian teams, bringing the region’s largest country to seven pro teams. The Black Aces added a team to Equatorial Guinea. With that, 185 unique nations now have a major pro team, depending on how you specifically define and recognize certain countries.

The new divisions split the Western League into a North Division (Bamako, Banjul, Bissau, Cape Verde, Conakry, Dakar, Nouakchott, Touba) and a South Division (Abidjan, Accra, Bouake, Daloa, Freetown, Kumasi, Monrovia). The Eastern League would have the Interior Division (Abuja, Benin City, Ibadan, Jos, Kano, Niamey, Ouagadougou, Yaounde) and a Coastal Division (Bata, Cotonou, Douala, Lagos, Libreville, Lome, Port Harcourt).

The stepladder playoff format remained mostly the same with four teams still advancing from each league. However, advancing would be both division champs and both second place finishers, instead of using at-large wild cards. The two second place teams would meet in a best-of-three in the first round with the winner traveling to the weaker division champ in a round two best-of-three. The top seed still awaited in a HH-AA-H best-of-five LCS, followed by a HH-AAA-HH best-of-seven WAB Championship.

The other change WAB made beginning in 2030 was lowering the active roster down to only 23 players. Teams could still stash guys on their reverse roster, but this gave WAB teams among the smallest active roster size of any pro league.

05-27-2025, 08:19 AM	#2260
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,003	2030 WAB Expansion West African Baseball joined the expansion wave in 2030, although they had seen a longer gap than competing world leagues. WAB’s lone expansion had come in 2009, moving from 20 teams to 24. The game’s popularity had only continued to grow in the region while more cities had built up a big league caliber infrastructure. By 2030, officials had identified six cities ready to join, growing WAB to 30 teams. WAB hadn’t used divisions since its 1975 formation, but officials felt a change made sense with the new teams. Instead of the traditional 5x3 setup, both leagues opted for two uneven divisions along with interleague play. Both leagues would have an eight-team division along with a seven-team division. Joining the Western League would be the Touba Twins, Bissau Bullets, and Daloa Danes. The Twins would be the second team in the league from Senegal and the Danes would be the third from the Ivory Coast. Bissau was the first for the nation of Guinea-Bissau. Entering the Eastern League would be the Abuja Aliens, Bata Black Aces, and Jos Jaspers. The Aliens and Jaspers were both Nigerian teams, bringing the region’s largest country to seven pro teams. The Black Aces added a team to Equatorial Guinea. With that, 185 unique nations now have a major pro team, depending on how you specifically define and recognize certain countries. The new divisions split the Western League into a North Division (Bamako, Banjul, Bissau, Cape Verde, Conakry, Dakar, Nouakchott, Touba) and a South Division (Abidjan, Accra, Bouake, Daloa, Freetown, Kumasi, Monrovia). The Eastern League would have the Interior Division (Abuja, Benin City, Ibadan, Jos, Kano, Niamey, Ouagadougou, Yaounde) and a Coastal Division (Bata, Cotonou, Douala, Lagos, Libreville, Lome, Port Harcourt). The stepladder playoff format remained mostly the same with four teams still advancing from each league. However, advancing would be both division champs and both second place finishers, instead of using at-large wild cards. The two second place teams would meet in a best-of-three in the first round with the winner traveling to the weaker division champ in a round two best-of-three. The top seed still awaited in a HH-AA-H best-of-five LCS, followed by a HH-AAA-HH best-of-seven WAB Championship. The other change WAB made beginning in 2030 was lowering the active roster down to only 23 players. Teams could still stash guys on their reverse roster, but this gave WAB teams among the smallest active roster size of any pro league. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)