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Three teams absolutely dominated the European Baseball Federation’s Northern Conference. At the all-star break, Stockholm was 73-30, Dublin was 71-32, defending conference champ Antwerp was 69-34, and everyone else below 60 wins. The good news for the Swordsmen was that no one in the East Division was particularly close. The Dinos and Airedales had to fight amongst each other for the West Division while also contending with Stockholm for the #1 seed.

The Swordsmen finished 110-52 for their first division title since their return to the Elite Tier in 2025. Stockholm was 17.5 games ahead of second place and had EBF’s best run differential at +255. Meanwhile, Dublin and Antwerp kept a dead even pace with each other, both finishing 39-20 in the second half. That gave the Dinos the division at 110-52 and left the Airedales as a 108-54 wild card.

The tiebreaker for the #1 seed went to Stockholm over Dublin, meaning the Dinos potentially had to face Antwerp in the second round. The Swordsmen and Dinos split their six game series, but Stockholm had the narrow runs edge at 38-36. Dublin’s playoff streak grew to six seasons and Antwerp’s to four, while it was back-to-back for the Swordsmen.

Antwerp was expected to be dangerous as they allowed 575 runs, the only EBF team below 600. They had a better run differential (+233) compared to Dublin (+188). The Dinos outperformed their expected win/loss by 10 games, thanks to a 29-10 record in one-run contests. The Airedales did win the season series 4-2 over Dublin.

It was a sharp 14 game drop to the next of the remaining three wild cards, but there was a very crowded field. Amsterdam had the best second half of any team in Europe at 40-19, which allowed them to narrowly grab the #4 seed at 94-68. The Anacondas had just gotten promoted for 2036 after a six-year stint in the European Second League. Although a historically strong franchise, this was their first playoff berth since 2024.

A glut was behind Amsterdam for the remaining two spots. Krakow, Oslo, and Leipzig each finished even at 92-70, setting up two tiebreaker games. Warsaw (90-72) also was right in the mix but just missed, while Liverpool and Hamburg were a bit more distant at 85-77. The Hammers, last year’s top seed, had their playoff streak snapped at three years while the Wildcats had theirs ended at five.

Leipzig was in position entering the final week, but had the misfortune of ending against Stockholm. They won the first game 3-0, but lost 3-2 and 4-1; the finale in 11 innings. Krakow hosted the Lumberjacks in the first tiebreaker game and won 4-3 in dramatic fashion. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Bakhtiar Grigorysn had a leadoff triple, then was knocked in on a walkoff RBI single by Heorhiy Vlasenko. The Canines were the 2035 champ, but had just missed the playoffs in the two years after.



The Lumberjacks had another shot, but had to travel to Norway. Oslo also pulled off a 4-3 victory, going ahead on Erland Fjeldberg’s two-run homer in the sixth. The Octopi secured their first playoff appearance since 2021. They had been mostly middle-tier since returning to the EBF Elite in 2032 after a four-year stint in E2L. It was a disappointing miss for Leipzig, but still a successful return as they had just gotten promoted back up after a six-year E2L run.



Birmingham was by far the worst in Europe at 56-106 and suffered relegation for the first time. Although the Bees had a postseason drought back to their 2018 championship, they had won 80+ games in their prior four seasons, so the sharp collapse was a surprise. Birmingham had been one of only ten teams to only play in the EBF Elite Tier without suffering relegation. Only Dublin, Rotterdam, Cologne, Warsaw, Milan, Madrid, Zurich, Munich, and Zagreb still hold that distinction.

Relegated from the East was Hanover at 61-101, who finished just behind Tallinn at 63-99. The Hitmen had been one of the most successful franchises that started in the European Second League. They got promoted in 2017 and were largely successful with a playoff streak from 2024-33 with three pennants and an EBF title.



Leading the way for Stockholm was the unanimous Northern Conference MVP Harvey Smith, his third MVP in four years. The 27-year old English third baseman had 167 RBI, tied for the second-best single season in EBF history. He also led in total bases (431), slugging (.703), and WAR (10.3). Smith added 60 home runs, 218 hits, 127 runs, 25 doubles, .356 average, 1.090 OPS, and 180 wRC+. He was to play in the Swedish capital long-term, signing an eight-year, $216,100,000 extension after his 2037 MVP.

Smith just missed out on the homers lead to Antwerp’s Bohuslav Vlasko with 66. Vlasko was third in MVP voting while Amsterdam’s Branko Hrovat was second with a .4049 batting average and 247 hits. The average was the third-best single-season in EBF history and the 36^th-best qualifying season in world history. The 247 hits were also fourth-best in EBF.

The Swordsmen dominated the pitching awards also with Pitcher of the Year Gianluigi Beglia and Reliever of the Year Mihail Bivol. Neglia had 45 first place votes for POTY and teammate Daniel Lundin had two, although Lundin was fifth in points. Oslo’s Simon Hamzic was second in voting and had five first place votes.

It was actually Warsaw’s Toby James who led in both ERA (2.58) and wins (23-2), but his 4.0 WAR and 147 strikeouts suggested he was over-rated. Still, it was a remarkable effort for a 40-year old lefty whose velocity was peaking in the low 90s. Lundin was the leader in Ks (302) and WAR (7.2).

Neglia only led in shutouts (3), but he missed the ERA title by one point at 2.59. The 24-year old Italian lefty had a 20-5 record, 218.2 innings, 208 strikeouts, 167 ERA+, 68 FIP-, and 6.8 WAR. ROTY winner Bivol meanwhile had 37 saves, a 1.86 ERA, 110 Ks, and 3.0 WAR in his Stockholm debut. The 33-year old Moldovan had twice been Reliever of the Year in E2L.



Antwerp swept Oslo in the first round, although both wins needed walkoffs. Game one was 2-1 with a Vlasko solo homer ending it in the ninth. The next night was a 3-2 final in 11 innings on an RBI single. On the other side, Amsterdam opened with a 6-5 win over Krakow, but the Canines countered by the same margin in game two. The Anacondas took game three 5-2 to move onto round two against Stockholm.

The Swordsmen had won the season series 5-1, but Amsterdam stunned them with 11-4 and 2-1 road wins in Sweden. Stockholm regained its footing on a 3-2 walkoff win in game three with a solo homer by MVP Harvey Smith. The Swordsmen then prevailed 3-1 and 7-2 to escape the upset to the Anacondas. This was Stockholm’s first Northern Conference Championship trip since 2025 with their last pennant way back in 1982.

Dublin and Antwerp was highly anticipated on the other side of the bracket. Antwerp opened with a 7-4 upset in Ireland and took the Dinos to extras in game two. Greg Milne’s two-run homer in the tenth gave Dublin the 3-1 walkoff win. The Airedales were back on top with 7-3 and 3-2 wins to follow, keeping their conference title repeat bid intact. It is only the second time in the last six years that the Dinos missed the conference championship.

Stockholm and Antwerp had split their six regular season games, so it was expected to be tight. Game one lived up to the billing with 11 innings, as an RBI triple in the top half pushed the Airedales to a 8-7 victory. The Swordsmen bounced back 3-2 in game two, evening the series as it shifted to Belgium for the next three. Antwerp got the better of a 1-0 pitching duel in game three, which saw a four-hitter by Nikolay Borysenko. A leadoff double and a later sacrifice fly in the eighth was the only blemish in Daniel Lundin’s complete game loss.

Antwerp got eight innings with one run allowed in game four by Hugo Moldovan for a 3-1 win in game four. In game five, an eighth-inning sac fly was the clincher in a 3-2 finale, giving the Airedales the series in five games. With the repeat, Antwerp has three pennants, having also won it all in 2015. LF Wilmer Hottinen was series MVP, going 9-21 with 1 homer, 3 RBI, and 4 runs.