Baseball: The World's Game - Page 132

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-15-2025, 07:14 AM

The Sundaland Association was really a toss-up all season with 11 of the 14 teams having a legitimate path still into the playoffs entering September. 10 squads finished in the 80s win range. The top squad at the all-star break was last year’s top seed Kuala Lumpur at 56-38. They have a middling second half, but built up enough of a cushion to win the Malacca League at 91-71 for the top seed. The Leopards won their fifth straight ML title and earned a sixth straight playoff trip.

Their closest foes in the ML at the break was Batam at 51-42 and Johor Bahru at 51-44, while Singapore, Medan, and Penang were each a game or two below .500. By September, the Sharks had moved into the #2 spot at 75-63, sitting two ahead of the Blue Wings and three better than the Blue Raiders. Two weeks later, the margin had stayed roughly the same, although it was clearer that Kuala Lumpur wasn’t going to be caught.

Batam got hot to close the season, going 10-2 including a four-game sweep of the Leopards in their final series which included an absurd 31 inning game which lasted more than ten hours.

The Blue Wings and Sharks faced each other to close and split with JB winning the first two and Singapore the final two. With that, the Blue Raiders got the final playoff spot at 87-75. Singapore was one back at 86-76, while both Johor Bahru and Medan were 84-78 and Penang was 80-82. Batam ended a five-year playoff drought.

Four teams were separated by only three wins in the Java Sea League. At the all-star break, it was Depok first at 52-40, followed by Palembang at 50-42, reigning Austronesia Professional Baseball champ Semarang at 48-46, and Jakarta at 47-47. The Jaguars completely collapsed with a 24-44 second half for a 71-91 record. Meanwhile Surabaya, a lackluster 42-53 at the break, had the strongest finish at 43-24 which inserted the Sunbirds into the picture.

Entering September, the Panthers led at 75-63, a half game up on the Demons, two ahead of the Sliders, and seven over both the Sunbirds and Bandung. Two weeks later, Palembang at 81-69 still narrowly had first place. Depok was one game back with Semarang 2.5 away, Surabaya three back, and Bandung 5.5 away. The Panthers took three of four hosting Jakarta, but got swept at Semarang. The Demons got three of four over last place Makassar and two of three over Kuala Lumpur. Semarang had also grabbed three of four over Bandung.

With one series left to go, Palembang and Depok were tied for first at 85-73 and set to face off in a four-game series hosted by the Panthers. The Sliders were a half-game behind them both, while the Sunbirds had an outside shot 2.5 back. Semarang was to close hosting Pekanbaru in three games while Surabaya hosted Jakarta for three. The Sunbirds won two of three, while the Sliders lost two of three.

Palembang got a 2-0 and 5-4 win to start against Depok, the latter in 11 innings. Game three was a ten-inning, 4-2 win for the Demons, but the Panthers had a 10-3 rout in the finale to take first place outright at 88-74. Palembang ended a 16-year playoff drought back to their 2019-21 three-peat. Semarang and Depok were even at 86-76, while Surabaya was one short at 85-77 and Bandung was 80-82. That ended a six-year playoff streak for the Blackhawks.

In the one-game tiebreaker for second place, Semarang hosted and defeated Depok 5-1, keeping their repeat bid alive and earning a sixth straight playoff trip. Surabaya had the fewest runs allowed in the SA at 416, while Penang scored the most at 561.

Leading the Possums’ offense was 1B Tung Vo, who won Sundaland Association MVP with 20 first place votes. Semarang LF Wijaya Yama had the remaining eight first place nods and was the leader in home runs (52) and RBI (107). It was an impressive sophomore campaign for Vo, who had won Rookie of the Year in 2037. For 2038, the 24-year old Malaysian lefty led in OBP (.373), slugging (.627), OPS (1.000), wRC+ (208), and WAR (9.4). Vo added 165 hits, 94 runs, 20 doubles, 48 homers, 97 RBI, and a .302 average. He had been the #2 overall draft pick in 2036 for Penang.

Semarang’s Yuchi Jiang was Pitcher of the Year for the second time in three seasons. It was a competitive battle as he had 16 first place votes and 160 points compared to Kuala Lumpur’s John Gonzalez with 12 first place votes and 148 points. Gonzalez was the leader in WAR (8.0), and wins (19-5). It was Singapore’s Chi-Hsiang Ling with the best ERA (1.30) and Seamarang’s Roddy Patoc with the most Ks (343).

As for the winner Jiang, the only stat he led was quality starts with 30. The 33-year old lefty from China though was rock solid with a 1.66 ERA in 255.1 innings, 16-8 record, 300 strikeouts, 175 ERA+, 75 FIP-, and 6.5 WAR. Jiang has three years left on what was a historic $322 million contract, the richest active deal in all of APB.

In a rematch of the prior year’s Sundaland Association Championship, Kuala Lumpur got some revenge against Semarang. The Leopards had the one-game advantage, then got 7-0 and 4-1 wins to sweep the Sliders. In game one, John Gonzalez tossed a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts, while POTY Yuchi Jiang got rocked with seven runs (six earned) in four innings. KL earned fifth consecutive trip to the association finals.

Palembang had the game advantage and opened with a 2-1 win against Batam. The Blue Raiders got one back 9-4 in game two, but the Panthers clinched with a 5-4 result in game three in 11 innings. The leadoff man in the bottom of the 11^th Asri Pilus ended the game with a solo homer 409 feet to right-center. Palembang earned their first finals trip since their 2019-21 three-peat. The Leopards had won 4-2 in their regular season encounters.

Kuala Lumpur opened on 7-3 and 8-6 home victories. Palembang won the first game on their home turf 7-1, but this would be their only win. The Leopards took 7-0 and 2-1 road victories to claim the series in five games. Game four featured a two-hit, 11 strikeout shutout by Bo-Cheng Chan, who won series MVP based on that lone start. Gonzalez gave up one run in eight innings in the game five clincher. Kuala Lumpur won their fourth pennant, each coming in the 2030s (2031, 34, 35, 38).

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-15-2025, 07:57 PM

The 74^th Austronesia Championship was the first finals battle between the Filipino and Malaysian capitals. Kuala Lumpur was in their fourth finals of the decade and looking for their third title, having also won in 2031 and 2035. Manila hadn’t been to the finals since 1999 and their only ring was back in 1986, 51 years prior. The Manatees had home field and saw their bullpen step up big in game one after starter Stanley Hwang went down with an injury after one inning. They gave up only one run and three hits the rest of the way in 3-1 opening win.

Game two was even more of a pitcher’s duel with no runs scored through 13 innings. Finally in the bottom of the 14^th, Derrick Gustavo smacked a two-run homer to send the Manila fans home happy on a 2-0 win for the 2-0 series lead. The Leopards got the better of a game three pitcher’s duel back in Malaysia with a 2-1 score. Thipanraj Shahdan was the winning pitcher with one run and six hits allowed with 11 strikeouts over eight innings.

KL evened the series on a 3-1 score in the fourth contest, scoring their runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Manila opened up 5-0 after the third in game five, but the Leopards exploded with a six-run fourth inning. However, the Manatees went back ahead on a three-run sixth inning en route to a 8-6 victory; the first road winner of the series. This gave Manila the edge heading back to the Philippines. They would be unable to close out though in a game six marathon.

Manila had a solo run in the fourth and Kuala Lumpur one in the sixth. Game six stayed locked up at 1-1 deep into extras with hits few and far between. In the top of the 14^th, the Leopards loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, enabling a sacrifice fly by Fong Chin. A 1-2-3 bottom half gave KL the 2-1 road win to force the first game seven in the APB final since 2027.

Kuala Lumpur opened game seven with a two-run first inning. Manila eventually evened it up with solo homers in the fourth and seventh innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Julkarnain Hidayati had a leadoff homer to put the Manatees ahead. The 3B wasn’t someone you expected homers from with only 15 in his 490 game career to that point.

Manila got a walk and two hits after that for an extra insurance run which proved crucial. On the first pitch of the ninth, the Leopards’ Ahmad Amzar smacked a solo homer. However, the next three hitters were retired consecutively, allowing the Manatees to escape with the 4-3 win and their second APB title. Hidayati’s homer helped him seal series MVP. It was his only RBI of the series, but he led in hits going 9-25 with 5 runs. Every game of the series was decided by one or two runs.

In other playoff notables, KL’s John Gonzalez set the playoff record for innings with 40.2, posting a 1.11 ERA and 37 Ks in five starts. Manila reliever Cody Damaso set the record for appearances with 11, although he had a 3.50 ERA in his 18 innings. The Leopards also saw a new APB playoff record by 1B Kai Bravo, who drew 13 walks in the playoff run.

Other notes: Both Ronald Arias and Wei-Yin Wang passed what was the long-standing career record for runs scored of Junior Sanchez (1446) with Arias to 1553 and Wang to 1448. Both have a long way to catch Binh Tang’s 1915, although with Tang gone to MLB, his numbers are set unless he later returns to APB. Arias also became the 6^th to 600 career homers. Wang became the 3^rd to 1500 RBI behind only Tang and Wil Tabaldo.

In other milestones, Shen Chang was the 16^th to 500 homers and he became one of 75 with 2000 hits. James Yuwono became the 14^th to 2500 hits. Isa Amirudin and Ashraf Zeky were the 40^th and 41^st to 1000 runs scored, while Amirudin was the 50^th to 1000 RBI. For pitching notables, Fred Pasaya was the 43^rd to 3500 strikeouts and Hakimi Aziz was the 32^nd to 200 wins.

It was the final season for three-time Pitcher of the Year Kuan-Yang Kang, who had a 16-year run with Tainan. He finished with a 231-137 record, 2.16 ERA, 3402.1 innings, 5332 strikeouts, 141 ERA+, 57 FIP-, and 119.2 WAR. Kang retired 24^th in the world for strikeouts and 3^rd in APB history, while ranking 13^th in wins and 8^th in APB pitching WAR. He also has 11 Gold Gloves, the most in world history for a pitcher.

Chiayi’s Maysaroh Putro had only the 4^th four home run game in APB history, doing it against Taipei on July 18. Bryan Surdani had a 30-game hit streak for Manila in the summer, which was the 4^th-longest streak in APB history. 3B Chun-Jung Lai won his 7^th Silver Slugger.

Hsinchu’s Liu-Ching Chang set a bad record getting caught stealing 98 times, which was the most in a single-season in any world league, ever. Chang did at least have 64 successful steals and led with a .388 OBP. The Sweathogs’ pitching continued to be atrocious as their 4.13 team ERA, 1464 hits allowed, 755 runs, 663 earned runs, 9.12 H/9, and 1.332 WHIP were all either the 2^nd or 3^rd-worst for those stats in APB history. I suppose it was an improvement, since the dirt worst for each stat was set the prior year by the Sweathogs.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-16-2025, 07:36 AM

The rebuild was complete for Sydney, who had won their seven Australasia League pennants from 2018-29. The Snakes had dropped to .500 by 2032, then were well below for the next four years. Sydney was back at 80-82 in 2037, followed by a breakthrough in 2038 for their eighth pennant (2018, 19, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 38). It was an impressive haul for a franchise that had no titles in its first 58 seasons.

Sydney had control all season, holding the AL’s best record at the all-star break at 54-34; four ahead of Hobart and six ahead of Adelaide. The Snakes had the best second half as well for a 97-65 finish, leading the league in runs scored (740) and all of the Oceania Baseball Association in run differential (+161). The Tasmaniacs took second at 90-72 with the Aardvarks third at 89-73 and Perth fourth at 86-76. Last year’s AL winner Melbourne fell to seventh at 80-82. Gold Coast, the fifth place finisher at 83-79, allowed the fewest runs at 577.

Leading the way for Sydney was the unanimous Australasia League MVP Sam Erickson, winning in back-to-back seasons. The 26-year old Australian LF led in the triple slash (.368/.402/.679), OPS (1.080), wRC+ (214), hits (222), RBI (120), and total bases (410). Erickson also had 108 runs, 34 doubles, 46 homers, and 8.9 WAR. He was one homer short of a Triple Crown to Hobart’s Chaz Callihan, the runner-up. The Snakes secured Erickson for the long-haul days after the season ended with an eight-year, $184,300,000 extension.

Pitcher of the Year also had a unanimous and repeat winner in Melbourne’s Wyatt Ferullo with an explosive 452 strikeout season. It was 23^rd on the OBA single-season record board, but one of only 52 seasons in any world league with 450+ Ks. The 27-year old Australian righty also led in ERA (2.00), WHIP (0.84), K/BB (11.6), quality starts (35), FIP- (52), and WAR (12.97).

Ferullo had a 20-15 record and 173 ERA+ in 324 innings, missing the Triple Crown by four wins to Adelaide’s Dinis Ponces. His WAR was the 21^st-best single-season by an OBA pitcher and just fell short of 13, which had only happened 99 times in world history from a pitcher. Melbourne also locked Ferullo up with a seven-year, $244,100,000 extension signed in September, making him OBA’s highest-paid pitcher.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-16-2025, 08:20 PM

Honolulu also completed their own rebuild on their way to the 2038 Pacific League title. The Honu had stunk from 2033-36, but got to 82-80 in 2037 before making the leap up to 100-62 in 2038. They had an impressive 36-18 record in one-run games. Honolulu won its 16^th PL pennant, tied for the second-most pennants of any Oceania Baseball Association team with only Guam (17) ahead. The Honu’s titles came in 1962, 63, 81-84, 86, 88-90, 93, 95, 96, 2019, 28, and 38.

At the all-star break, Honolulu had a firm six game lead on Timor. The Tapirs finished second at 92-70, a new franchise best for them, although they remain the only squad without a pennant. The Honu led in scoring with 754 runs, while Guam allowed the fewest at 536. The Golden Eagles placed third at 90-72 while reigning OBA champ Tahiti was fourth at 87-75. It was a nice bounce-back for Guam, who stunk at 66 wins the prior year. Also notable was Guadalcanal, who plummeted to 70-92. They had won three titles in the 2030s with no losing seasons until now.

The Pacific League had a first-time MVP in Timor’s Tae-Jin Yun, who got 17/20 first place votes. The 30-year old North Korean was in his first year with the Tapirs, having gotten traded in spring training after three years with Adelaide. Prior to that, he played his first seven seasons in his home country with Hamhung. In his three years with the Aardvarks, he had a total of 3.3 WAR with 108 wRC+.

It was a breakout effort in 2038 as Yun led in slugging (.579), OPS (.919), and wRC+ (171). He had 176 hits, 88 runs, 24 doubles, 12 triples, 32 home runs, 100 RBI, .318 average, and 6.0 WAR. Timor gave him a four-year, $42 million in extension in late May once it was clear that Yun was worth keeping around.

Dirk Murray won his fourth Pitcher of the Year in unanimous fashion, although it was his first with Honolulu. The 35-year old Canadian had a respectable seven-year run in MLB with Sacramento before arriving and dominating for the Tropics from 2032-37. Murray signed as a free agent at $128 million over four years for the Honu and played a big role in their turnaround. Despite his success and the unanimous win, he wasn’t a league leader in any stat.

Murray had a 22-10 record, 2.54 ERA, 333.1 innings, 363 strikeouts, 136 ERA+, 82 FIP-, and 7.4 WAR. He was top five in all of the major stats, as the ERA winner Aaron Folkes (1.96) only had 206.2 innings. Timor’s Bret Poblano notably had the best WAR (8.0) and strikeouts (396) with a 2.79 ERA, but the pennant and name-brand for Murray went a long way. Poblano was a notable OBA debut at age 28 after the Nicaraguan had been a CABA/MLB journeyman. He also tossed a no-hitter against the Honu on May 30.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-17-2025, 07:03 AM

The 79^th Oceania Championship was the third finals encounter of Sydney and Honolulu. The Snakes won a seven-game classic in 2019 en route to a repeat, while their rematch in 2028 was a Sydney sweep. The series started in Hawaii, but the Snakes secured a 2-1 road win as Bryan Zeits just out-dueled Dirk Murray on the mound.

Game two was another Sydney road win, although it was tied at 4-4 after the sixth inning and stayed there until the 11^th. The Snakes unloaded in the top half with four runs on two homers, including Orland Fournier’s three-run bomb. The trend of road winners continued to Australia though with Honolulu taking game three 10-5. Dave Foggia was 3-5 with 2 homers and 4 RBI. It was another road win in game four with a 7-1 result for the Honu on a Murray complete game.

Sydney earned the first home win with a 7-3 score in game five, racing ahead on a four-run sixth inning. Back in Hawaii for game six, the Snakes took the game and series by 4-2 margins. Sydney is now an impressive 7-1 in the finals with rings in 2018-19, 22, 25, 28-29, and 38. Honolulu falls to 8-8 all-time in the championship. League MVP Sam Erickson was series MVP, going 8-25 with 1 homer and 2 RBI. He had a triple and a run in the clincher.

Other notes: 2038 was the final season for Trey Cruz, who only played 54 games thanks to a recurring strained hamstring and struggled when healthy for Samoa. He fell just short of passing Roe Kaupa as the OBA runs scored leader; his 1955 just missed Kaupa’s 1963. Cruz was already the leader in hits (3619), singles (2444), triples (396), stolen bases (1651), and caught stealing (781). His 120.06 WAR in OBA ranks behind only Jimmy Caliw (138.03) and Kaupa (127.87) for position players.

Cruz also played two of his 24 seasons in MLB, giving him final combined pro totals of 3069 games, 2072 runs, 3849 hits, 471 doubles, 415 triples, 351 home runs, 1614 RBI, 1701 steals, 811 caught stealing, .325/.354/.521 slash, 138 wRC+, and 123.7 WAR. On the world leaderboard, Cruz ranks 26^th in runs, 18^th in hits, 8^th in triples, 7^th in steals, and 26^th in caught stealing.

In other milestones, Hunter Dobbie was the 13^th to 600 homers. He and Cruz made it 24 in OBA with 1500 RBI. Dobbie and Liam Winmar both wrapped up their careers in 2038. Winmar finished with 628 career homers and Dobbie 623, which rank 11^th and 12^th on OBA’s all-time list.

Marika Wati was the 29^th to 2500 hits. Wati, Jody Riley, Levi Cole, and Jun Lopez-Torres grew the 400 homer club to 60 members. Clement Alu was the 38^th pitcher to 200 wins and the 55^th to 3000 strikeouts. Mathew Bellamy won his 10^th Silver Slugger at SS and Wati got his 7^th split between 1B and DH. Bellamy is one of 11 in OBA with 10+ Sluggers. Both 3B Glen Cortes and SS Aquila Tabucava won their 7^th consecutive Gold Glove.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-17-2025, 10:14 PM

The two-time defending Eurasian Professional Baseball champion Krasnodar won a third consecutive South Division title and earned the European League’s top seed. The Steamers had the best record at the all-star break at 58-36 and held on for the #1 spot at 98-64. Krasnodar was 35-13 in one-run games and outperformed their expected win/loss by eight games.

Behind them in the South was Rostov at 91-71, who under-performed their expected W/L by six. The Rhinos got the first wild card and ended what was EPB’s longest active playoff drought at 21 seasons. It was only Rostov’s third winning season of that run, as they had been lousy since their brief dynasty run in the mid 2010s.

St. Petersburg won the North Division at 94-68 to grow their playoff streak to four seasons. The Polar Bears had EPB’s best run differential (+186) and most runs scored (758). Last year’s top seed Moscow was a distant second at 86-76, but that was just enough for the Mules to get the second wild card.

Moscow’s playoff streak grew to a decade, edging out Samara (84-78) and Minsk (81-81). The Mules ended on a four-game winning streak, including a three-game sweep of St. Petersburg. The Steelers dropped their final two games to the Rhinos, missing the playoffs despite a league-best 537 runs allowed.

St. Petersburg LF Gavrilovich Somov repeated as European League MVP and earned the honor unanimously, an impressive feat for a guy still only 23-years old. Somov led in runs (116), home runs (60), RBI (129), total bases (397), OBP (.395), slugging (.694), OPS (1.089), wRC+ (202), and WAR (8.8). He added 188 hits, 23 doubles, and a .329 average. A native of the far-east Russian city Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Somov seems on his way already to an all-time career.

Minsk’s Talgat Suleimenov won Pitcher of the Year with 2/3 of the first place votes, while St. Petersburg’s Alexander Miranda had the remaining top nods. It was Miranda who had the ERA title at 2.37, while Rostov’s Magomed Aliyev led in strikeouts (314) and Moscow’s Vladimir Setko had the best WAR (7.3). The only stat Suleimenov led in was shutouts with five.

However, the 28-year old Uzbek lefty had the second-best ERA at 2.42. Suleimenov had a 16-9 record, 256.2 innings, 267 strikeouts, 147 ERA+, 78 FIP-, and 6.1 WAR. He was the #1 overall draft pick in 2033 by the Miners with more arbitration ahead.

Krasnodar was the top seed and had gone 7-2 against Moscow in the regular season, but the Mules provided a fierce fight in the first round of the playoffs. Moscow opened with a 4-2 road win in 11 innings, although the Steamers matched 3-1 in game two. Game three was a mad affair with 38 hits between them, ultimately a 13-12 victory for Krasnodar. The Steamers had the 2-1 series lead after the first three home games and now would need a win in the capital.

Moscow took game four 5-2 to extend the series, but Krasnodar escaped on a 5-1 game five victory thanks to eight innings with one run and five hits allowed by Maksim Astratenko. This kept the Steamers’ three-peat bid alive. The other side of the bracket was less dramatic as Rostov pulled off a stunning sweep of St. Petersburg with 3-1, 4-1, and 8-2 scores. The Rhinos hadn’t been in the European League Championship Series since their five straight trips from 2012-16. Although Krasnodar won the division by seven games over Rostov, their regular season series was a competitive 10-8.

Krasnodar opened with a 6-4 home win, but Rostov took the next night on the road 4-2. The series shifted and the Rhinos earned game three at home 7-6, holding on after a six-run second inning. The Steamers got their own 11-5 road victory to knot it back up. Rostov grabbed game five 4-1 thanks to Aleksandr Usov’s three-run bomb in the third inning, taking the 3-2 advantage as the series shifted back to Krasnodar for the remainder.

A game six pitching duel had a walkoff RBI double by Vadim Volkov for a 2-1 Krasnodar win. Fans expected a dramatic finale, but the Steamers exploded for a shocking 16-2 mauling to close the series and earn a third straight European League pennant. Krasnodar had five titles now, having also won the EL crown in 2017-18. In the final game, DH Aleksey Andreev was 5-5 with a homer, double, 5 RBI, and 3 runs. He earned series MVP, going 14-30 overall with 4 dingers, 8 runs, and 10 RBI.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-18-2025, 08:17 AM

It was the sixth straight year that the Asian League’s two wild cards came out of the East Division, but never before had the power been so lopsided between East and West. The top four records came out of the AL, although only three of those teams could advance to the postseason. Irkutsk dominated the field with a 65-27 record at the all-star break. Vladivostok was a strong contender behind them, but couldn’t erase the Ice Cats’ big cushion.

Irkutsk earned the division and top seed at 105-57, extending their playoff streak to six seasons with their second division title of the run. They had the AL’s best run differential at +181 and allowed the fewest runs in all of Eurasian Professional Baseball at 514. The Shibas at 101-61 easily earned repeat wild cards, while reigning AL champ Novosibirsk was next at 96-66. The Nitros easily got the second wild card to grow their playoff streak to a decade. Khabarovsk was in the mix, but a weak end to the season left them out at 88-74.

The West was very competitive down the stretch, although it looked like it wouldn’t be most of the year. At the all-star break, Astana was miles ahead at 54-41 with everyone else multiple games below .500. Chelyabinsk (46-49), Ufa (44-48), and Yekaterinburg (44-50) seemingly were cooked, but they each ended up right there at the end. The Setters were 30-38 in the back-end and 2-8 in their last ten games, including getting swept in four games by the Fiends.

The Yaks had the best record post break of the group at 41-28, while Ufa was 39-31 and Chelyabinsk 36-31. Yekaterinburg got a four-game sweep of Perm, then took two of three over the Cadets to close the season. They ended up tied with Astana after 162 games at 84-78. Ufa was expected to make it a three-way tie, but a stunning 5-4 home loss to 50-win Omsk in the finale ended their season at 83-79. The Fiends were the top scoring team in the AL at 702. Chelyabinsk meanwhile was two behind at 82-80.

In the one-game tiebreaker, Yekaterinburg defeated Astana 4-3 to complete their impressive comeback, wining their second West Division title in three years. For Astana, it was considered one of the all-time collapses considering they had a 9.5 game lead entering August, while the Yaks were as far back as 12 games in mid-August.

Ufa DH Konstantin Antonov won his third Asian League MVP, having previously done it back in 2032-33. He won unanimously as he set the single-season EPB record for total bases with 440, passing Aleksandr Belov’s 435 from three years prior. Antonov’s 66 home runs were tied for the second-best in EPB behind Ilkin Hasnov’s 71 in 1986. His 141 RBI also tied for the second-best, four away from Yuri Demyan’s 145 from 2030.

Antonov was also the league leader in runs (112), OBP (.402), slugging (.731), OPS (1.133), wRC+ (215), and WAR (10.0). The slugging was also the second-best qualifying season in EPB and the OPS ranked fourth. The 30-year old Belarusian lefty also had 206 hits, 32 doubles, and a .342 average. Drafted second by the Fiends in the 2027 EPB Draft, Antonov signed a seven-year, $159,300,000 extension back in August 2037. His career .987 OPS is the second-best of any EPB batter with 3000+ plate appearances.

In his second season, Vladivostok’s Edik Timonov won Pitcher of the Year with 17 first place votes and 147 points. Novosibirsk’s Sudhar Naseer had 3 first place votes and 98 points, while Irkutsk’s Dinar Mahalov had 4 and 71. Mahalov notably led in WAR (8.8) and strikeouts (340) and Naseer had the best FIP at 2.22. It was Astana’s Ionut Collar who won the ERA title at 2.22.

Timonov meanwhile had the most wins and best winning percentage with his 21-4 mark for the Shibas. The 22-year old righty had a 2.36 ERA over 237.2 innings, 253 strikeouts, 151 ERA+, 65 FIP-, and 7.6 WAR. He had won Rookie of the Year the prior campaign with a third place in POTY voting. Vladivostok was certainly pleased with this scouting discovery, who has a 10/10 fastball with 99-101 mph velocity.

Despite Irkutsk being the top seed, they were upset 3-1 in the first round by Novosibirsk. The Nitros opened with 5-0 and 7-1 road wins, including a one-hitter with 12 Ks by Nikita Melnikov in the opener and a two-hit complete game by Gazi Aksu the next night. The Ice Cats won game three 6-2 to extend the series, but would have to get a road win to stay alive.

They nearly succeeded, but it was Novosibirsk clinching in game four with a 5-4, ten inning contest. Dingmao Li got a one-out single in the bottom of the tenth and stole second, getting knocked in with two outs on Timofei Kolarov’s RBI walkoff single. The Nitros kept their repeat bid alive, earning a sixth trip to the Asian League Championship Series of the 2030s.

As a division champ, Yekaterinburg at 85 wins had home field over 101-win Vladivostok. The Yaks won the opener 4-2, but the Shibas matched 2-0 in game two. Yekaterinburg claimed game three 4-1 to reclaim the advantage as they shifted east for the rest of the series. Vladivostok grabbed game four 4-2, but the Yaks cruised 9-3 in game five to advance to their second ALCS in three years.

Again despite having the worst record of the playoff teams, the division title gave Yekaterinburg hosting honors for the ALCS. They opened with a 4-0 win on a combined four-hitter with 17 strikeouts, while taking advantage of an injury to Novosibirsk ace Sudhar Naseer. The Nitros secured game two by a 4-1 margin to even the series as it shifted to Novosibirsk.

The Yaks got the better of a pitcher’s duel in a 2-1 road win, but the Nitros got the next two at home 3-0 and 5-2. Game six back in Yekaterinburg was tied 2-2 after the second inning and stayed there until the 11^th. The Nitros scored two between a sacrifice fly and a bases loaded walk. The Yaks had a leadoff homer in the bottom half and a one-out single, but the latter man was stranded.

With the 4-3 victory, Novosibirsk ended the series in six games for their third Asian League title in four years. It was only their fourth pennant overall with a 1988 win joining the 2035, 37, and 38 triumphs. In a losing effort, Yaks LF Andrey Golovin was ALCS MVP going 9-23 with 2 homers and 4 RBI.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-18-2025, 08:56 PM

The 84^th Eurasian Professional Baseball Championship was the first finals rematch since Ufa versus Moscow in 2015-16. Krasnodar had defeated Novosibirsk 4-2 the prior year and were shooting for the three-peat, which had only been done previously by Minsk from 2000-02. The Nitros had also lost in 2035 to Moscow and 1988 to the Miners. Novosibirsk was the only remaining original team in EPB that hadn’t won it all yet.

The Nitros opened with a dominant 7-0 road win, getting a three-hitter from Denis Kropotkin with 12 strikeouts. They had set the tone immediately with four runs in the top of the first inning. Game two was a 15-inning marathon with the breakthrough in the top of the 15^th on a two RBI Ostap Tkachuk triple. With the 3-1 win, Novosibirsk had the 2-0 series lead before stepping on their home diamond.

Krasnodar continued the trend of road winners with 4-2 and 5-2 scores to even the series at two apiece. Game five went ten innings with Jabir Abdul ending it on a walkoff homer on the inning’s first pitch in a 2-1 Novosibirsk victory. The Nitros needed one more road win, but wouldn’t get it in game six with Dmitry Slonimsky’s complete game pushing the Steamers to a 7-1 win.

In game seven, it was a gem by Nikita Melnikov that pushed Novosibirsk to their first title. He tossed 8.2 innings with 3 hits, an unearned run, and 11 strikeouts. The Nitros got five scattered runs for the 5-1 final, becoming the 26^th unique franchise to claim the EPB crown. Thus, Krasnodar’s three-peat was denied, showing how incredibly difficult a feat it is to achieve.

RF Jabir Abdul was 2-3 with 2 RBI and a run in the finale and was named series MVP. Overall, he was 9-30 with 2 homers and 6 RBI, getting the ring in his 11^th season for the Nitros. Abdul now has 67 career playoff runs, second behind Yuri Demyan’s 69. Although he took the L in game two, Melnikov was big with a 1.02 ERA and 15 Ks in 17.2 innings, as was Denis Kroptokin with a 0.54 ERA in 16.2 innings with 19 Ks. The latter was also a decade-long member of the squad, while the 36-year old Melnikov was a free agent pickup in 2036.

Three players for Krasnodar notably set playoff records in 2038. Aleksey Andreev set the new high-mark for hits (31), while Azamat Kurbanow had new records for at-bats (80) and singles (22). Kurbanow also had 27 hits, the fourth-most. The Steamers’ Joas Bomans also set a bad record as he struck out 34 times.

Other notes: 38-year old Dmitri Khodakovsky had 32 homers, 98 RBI, and 2.2 WAR in his sixth season for Moscow and 17^th in EPB. This got him to 1767 RBI, passing Ivan Mushailov’s 1755 to become EPB’s all-time RBI leader. Khodakovsky has 688 homers, 5^th on the all-time list with Konrad Mazur’s #1 at 740.

He also became the 6^th to reach 1500 runs scored and is 147 from Timofei Averkin’s record 1689. Khodakovsky made his name with Samara, but is set for a seventh season in 2039 with the Mules. He also had 2908 hits, giving him a shot to become only the 5^th member of the 3000 hit club. Averkin holds that record with 3365.

In other batting milestones, Erik Farkas was the 14^th to 1500 RBI. Yuri Demyan became the 31^st to 500 homers. Vladimir Pyatrenka had a 32-game hitting streak for Samara in the spring, falling one game short of Wolfgang Lind’s record from 2006. Ramil Kasimov was the 63^rd pitcher to 3500 strikeouts and the 64^th to 200 wins. 3B Olzhas Vorsul won his 9^th consecutive Gold Glove.

It was the final season for Farkas, who ended with 2723 hits, 1378 runs, 382 doubles, 640 homers, 1547 RBI, .284/.331/.532 slash, 147 wRC+, and 76.3 WAR. On EPB’s leaderboard, he retires 8^th in homers, 12^th in RBI, 15^th in hits, and 13^th in runs; although he is only 60^th in WAR among position players.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-19-2025, 09:16 AM

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.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-19-2025, 07:24 PM

Budapest (65-38) and Seville (64-39) had the Southern Conference’s top records at the all-star break and both held on for division titles. The Bombers finished 102-60 for the top seed, a third straight East Division crown, growing their playoff streak to six seasons. Budapest’s 879 runs led the conference, while the Stingrays’ 681 were the fewest. At 100-62, Seville’s playoff streak grew to three seasons, but the West Division title was their first division crown since 2008.

Reigning European Baseball Federation champ Madrid had been the West champ the prior two years and ended up the first wild card at 96-66, ending the season on a seven-game win streak. The Conquistadors actually had the best run differential in the SC at +162. The #2 wild card was 93-69 Naples in their second year since getting promoted back to the EBF Elite. The Nobles hadn’t made the playoffs since 2027.

Marseille ended on a four-game winning streak and had the best record post-break at 39-20. That allowed the Musketeers to get to 91-71, tying with Thessaloniki for the final two wild cards. The first teams out were Zaragoza (89-73), Valencia (86-76), Chisinau (86-76), Malta (85-77), and Skopje (85-77). This ended an 11-year playoff drought for Marseille, while the Tritons got repeat wild cards.

Thessaloniki had a .522 team slugging, which was a conference record and the third-best in EBF history. Their 293 home runs were also the third-best in EBF history. Varna’s 281 homers notably were the third-best in conference history and Malta’s 142 triples set a new conference high.

The weakest record went to Tirana at 61-101, a shocking collapse since they were a wild card the prior year. The Trojans were three games behind Athens and five from Zagreb in the East. It was the second relegation for the Albanian capital, who spent 2011-13 in the European Second League. They had been mostly mid-lower tier since then among the EBF Elite with only two playoff berths, but they lasted 25 seasons.

Luxembourg was the worst in the West at 64-98, while Munich (68-94) and Barcelona (69-93) narrowly escaped their first-ever demotion. This was the third drop for the Lancers, who lasted four years in their return. The Mavericks meanwhile had a 5.23 ERA, 920 runs allowed, and 839 earned runs; each the second-worst in conference history.

Southern Conference MVP went to Thessaloniki LF Angel Gospodinov with 33 first place votes and 633 points. Zaragoza LF Sebastian Granados was second with 19 first place votes and 563 points. Granados notably led in homers (63), slugging (.828), OPS (1.269), and WAR (11.0), but did lose a month to a strained groin. His slugging was the fourth-best single-season in EBF and the OPS was second-best. He also ranked as the 16^th-best qualifying slugging and 20^th OPS in any world league.

Despite that, Gospodinov beat him out by leading in hits (232), total bases (453), and batting average (.395). The 25-year old Bulgarian lefty had 126 runs, 27 doubles, 19 triples, 52 homers, 135 RBI, 1.197 OPS, 207 wRC+, and 8.4 WAR. Gospodinov’s batting average was the seventh-best in EBF history, his OPS was 13^th, and total bases were 12^th. In April, the Tritons locked him up to an eight-year, $186,900,000 extension.

Skopje’s Apostolos Anaximenes was the unanimous Pitcher of the Year in his EBF Elite debut. The 28-year old Greek righty had won three POTYs in E2L, finally getting his shot after the Stags’ promotion for 2038. Anaximenes led in ERA (2.00), FIP- (55), and WAR (7.9). In 211.1 innings, he struck out 256 with a 17-5 record and 216 ERA+. In March, Skopje gave him a seven-year, $155,400,000 extension as they hope to stick in the top tier.

Naples crushed Thessaloniki on 12-1 and 13-4 wins in the first round. Reigning champ Madrid also swept Marseille, but in competitive 7-6 and 5-4 bouts. Both second round matchups would need all five games. The Conquistadors opened with a 5-3 win over their Spanish rival Seville. The Stingrays bounced back on 9-4 and 7-3 wins, but Madrid took game four 3-1. In the finale, the Conquistadors had a five-run sixth inning that pushed them to the 6-3 road upset of Seville.

Top seed Budapest seemed poised for a sweep early with 5-3 and 1-0 wins over Naples. Game two was scoreless until the 12^th inning, clinched on a RBI double walkoff by Francois Malherbe. The Nobles showed impressive grit with 4-1 and 8-4 wins, forcing game five. A mammoth seven-run fourth inning powered Naples to an 11-6 upset. 3B Giancarlo Marchesi had a grand slam in the fourth and a three-run homer in the first, going 4-5 on the day with 8 RBI.

Naples was the Second League champ only two years prior and now was in the Southern Conference Championship for the first time since their 2022 pennant. Madrid opened with a 2-1 home win, but the Nobles took a lopsided 7-2 result in game two. Naples claimed the lead as the series shifted to Italy with a 3-2 score in game three.

The hot-streak continued for the Nobles with a 5-3 win in game four and a 8-3 clincher in game five, dethroning the defending champ Conquistadors. Naples became four-time conference champs (1957, 1998, 2022, 2038). Marchesi was also MVP of the conference finals, going 8-19 with 1 HR, 3 runs, and 5 RBI. It’s the first time since the Nobles’ last trip that an Italian squad made the European Championship.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-20-2025, 08:15 AM

The 89^th European Championship had back-to-back trips for Antwerp, who fell to Madrid the prior year. The Airedales were shooting for their second title, having beaten Barcelona in 2015. It was Naples’ first trip since 2022 as they also hoped for their second ring. The Nobles’ lone title came in 1998 over Berlin. There also hadn’t been an Italian champ since that 1998 triumph. The series began on a clear 47 degree night in Belgium.

Game one went extra innings as Andres Gronkjaer’s solo homer in the top of the ninth for Naples evened it at 2-2. The Nobles got three runs in the tenth, while Antwerp got one back in the bottom half. The Airedales got two runners in scoring position for home run leader Bohuslav Vlasko, but he struck out and left them stranded for a 5-3 Naples win.

With a five-run seventh inning, Naples jumped out to a 6-3 lead in game two. In the bottom of the ninth, Antwerp scored twice thanks to two singles, an error, and wild pitch. Vlasko redeemed himself then with a two-run walkoff homer for a 7-6 Airedales victory. As the series shifted to Italy, Antwerp got their own 6-3 road win to reclaim the advantage.

In a game four pitcher’s duel, the Airedales took it 2-1 with the winning run in the top of the ninth. Pinch hitter Dietmar Bruderle led off the inning with a triple and after a rain delay, scored on a sacrifice fly. Antwerp jumped to a 5-0 lead after the third in game five and held on for a 7-4 victory, clinching the series on the road in five games.

Finals MVP was 2B Christopher Rioux, who was 8-22 with 1 homer and 4 RBI. The 38-year old Frenchman was the roster’s elder and longest-tenured player, having come to Antwerp in a 2024 trade with Rotterdam at age 24. Rioux had been steady over 2063 games with .758 OPS, 111 wRC+, and 42.6 WAR, providing solid defense at second and leadership as team captain. After 15 seasons, the beloved Rioux finally hoisted the trophy proudly with his long-time squad.

Other notes: EBF’s 47^th perfect game and the first since 2032 happened on June 11. Chisinau’s Aleksandar Kerimov did it with 13 strikeouts facing Athens. Tbilisi’s Valentyn Hacek hit for the cycle in both July and September, becoming the 6^th EBF player to do it twice in a season.

Liverpool had an impressive offense, setting a new EBF team record for hits at 1777 and team on-base percentage at .352. They had the 2^nd-best batting average (.308) and triples (145) in EBF and the 3^rd-most stolen bases in the Northern Conference (462). Despite that and a conference-best 916 runs, the Phantoms finished 85-77 with poor pitching, allowing 827 runs with a 4.73 ERA.

Attila Sebek became the 24^th member of the 600 home run club. The 500 homer club grew to 58 with Cristian Popa, Matt Gomez, and Adam Nebowski joining in 2038. Stainslav Sahakayan, Robert Frohlich, and Jacinto Calvillo made it 40 sluggers with 1500 RBI. 33 now had 1500 runs with the addition of Gomez, Henri L’Ecuyer, Kamil Bufka, and Uwe Lichtenberg. Gomez and Lichtenberg were also the 51^st and 52^nd to 2500 hits.

Jovan Cavric and Damien Stevens were the 46^th and 47^th pitchers to 200 wins. Danila Filinov was the 66^th to 3000 strikeouts. 1B Waldemar Riemers won his 11^th consecutive Gold Glove. He’s only the 3^rd EBF player to win 11+ Gold Gloves, joining the legendary SS Harvey Coyle (13) and RF Jacob Ronnberg (11). Two-way SP/CF Konstantin Farakos won his 7^th Silver Slugger as a pitcher.

Promotion/Relegation: Below are the teams moving up and down the European baseball pyramid after the 2038 season.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-20-2025, 07:55 PM

The defending Copa Sudamerica winner Valencia and Bogota battled much of the season for the Bolivar League’s top seed. At the all-star break, the 66-32 Velocity had a half-game up on the Bats. They kept an even pace with each other and pulled away from the field. Both finished at 105-57 with Bogota winning two of three in their regular season encounter in June, giving the #1 seed to the Bats.

Bogota ended a seven-year playoff drought back to their 2030 Cup win. Since 2008, they’ve only made the playoffs or won the Colombia-Ecuador Division twice. Valencia earned its fifth playoff trip in six years and their third Venezuela Division title of the run. The Velocity allowed the fewest runs in all of Beisbol Sudamerica at 556.

The third division winner was La Paz at 98-64 atop the Peru-Bolivia Division with the Pump Jacks matching Valencia/Bogota’s pace in the second half. Although it was their fourth playoff trip in a decade, La Paz hadn’t been a division champ since 2005. Lima was second at 92-70, ultimately falling one game short in the wild card race. Trujillo and Arequipa, playoff teams the prior year, fell to 85-77 and 74-88, respectively.

The two leaders in the wild card race came from the Colombia-Ecuador Division with Barranquilla (96-66) and Quito (94-68) edging out Ciudad Guayana (93-69), Lima (92-70), and Bucaramanga (87-75). The Blues ended a four-year playoff streak and the Thunderbolts got their fifth berth in six years.

Ciudad Guayana was right there, but they were swept in their final series hosting lackluster Maracaibo, missing the cut at 93-69. The Giants had been a finalist with 100+ wins the prior two years and did lead in 2038 with 881 runs scored. Their offense only struck out 917 times, a new league record. Caracas also had a shot until ending the season on a ten-game losing streak with a 5-18 record in September.

Bogota RF Savino Muniz was the undisputed Bolivar League MVP in his seventh year starting for the Bats. The 29-year old Colombian led in slugging (.739), OPS (1.142), and wRC+ (197). Muniz had 205 hits, 124 runs, 38 doubles, 10 triples, 57 home runs, 143 RBI, and 9.0 WAR. Second place was Quito 1B Patton Tadeo, who led in batting average (.380), RBI (156), and WAR (9.1), but only had 43 homers.

The Bats also had Pitcher of the Year Adrian Villalobos, who had 30 first place votes and 257 points. Ciudad Guayana’s Rafael Menendez had eight first place votes, La Paz’s Cosimo Masci had three, and Trujillo’s Sercinio Etnel got one. It was Menendez who led by far in WAR (8.2) and had the most strikeouts (307) and wins (20-5). However, Villalobos lapped the field for ERA at 2.33 with Menendez a distant second at 2.84 (although Menendez had the 2.45/2.84 edge in FIP).

The 32-year old Villalobos had a 14-8 record, 228.1 innings, 223 strikeouts, 22 quality starts, 183 ERA+ and 71 FIP-. His control had been shaky at points, thus dropping in and out of the rotation to that point despite being a first round draft pick back in 2027. Although he debuted in 2030, the Colombian lefty had only accrued around five years of service time.

Also notable was Valencia’s Wilkin Casillas winning his third Reliever of the Year, having previously done it in 2036 and 2034. He was seventh among all pitchers with 5.3 WAR and had a 2.06 ERA, 35 saves, 87.1 innings, and 177 strikeouts. In nine seasons for the Velocity, Casillas already has an impressive 33.8 WAR over 670.2 innings with 277 saves, 1.96 ERA, and 1265 strikeouts.

In the first round of the playoffs, Quito opened with a 4-0 road upset over Barranquilla with a five-hit shutout by Luis Molina. The Blues rebounded though with 4-2 and 8-5 wins to prevail over their divisional rival. Bogota opened with a 6-3 win in the divisional series against Barranquilla. In game two, the Blues had a three-run ninth inning to force extras, but the Bats got the walkoff in the tenth on a sacrifice fly.

Barranquilla wouldn’t go down without a fight, winning at home 4-3 and 4-0 to force a fifth game back in the Colombia capital. Herbert Neuendorf’s two-run homer in the seventh was the final nail in a 3-1 upset win by the Blues, stunning the top-seeded Bogota. Barranquilla earned their first trip to the Bolivar League Championship Series since 2032. A 2009 expansion team, the Blues have been to the BLCS seven times since 2024.

Valencia opened their defense of the Cup with a 5-0 home win over La Paz, but the Pump Jacks answered with a surprise 5-3 road win. The Velocity matched 8-2 as they shifted to Bolivia, but La Paz countered on a 6-2 home win. The finale back in Venezuela was a back-and-forth affair with Valencia taking a 7-5 lead after a three-run seventh inning, including Ace Venavidez’ two-run homer.

La Paz’s Nando Arambulo drew a leadoff double in the top of the ninth followed by a David Hora walk, but the next two hitters struck out. Down to their last out, Jason Chambi got a two RBI double to tie the game at 7-7 to force extras. In the top of the tenth, Arambulo got a two-out triple and ended up scoring on a wild pitch. In the bottom half, Valencia’s first two batters singled, but one was caught stealing and the next two were sent down on strikes.

With that, the Pump Jacks prevailed 8-7 for the big upset, earning their first trip to the BLCS since 2005 while hoping for their first pennant since 1999. La Paz swept Barranquilla in their season series and had home field advantage, but the Blues came out with a 3-2 road upset to open. The Pump Jacks matched with a 5-0 result on a 14-strikeout, five-hit shutout by Paulo Fialho.

A late RBI single in the eighth edged Barranquilla to a 8-7 home win in game three. Game four was a pitcher’s duel with no scoring through 11 innings and only seven hits per team. La Paz scored the lone run in the 12^th with Vitorio Jimenez getting a leadoff double and getting knocked in by Daniel Alarcon’s RBI single. The Blues rebounded for a 5-3 score in game five with both teams getting 12 hits. Barranquilla had the 3-2 series lead, but would have to get at least one more win in Bolivia to advance.

La Paz massacred Barranquilla 12-0 in game six, but the Blues put it out of their minds in game seven. Rookie Henrique Simos, who had only 45 career regular season innings to his name, tossed seven shutout innings for Barranquilla followed by a two-inning save for closer Eusebio Molina in a 3-0 Blues triumph.

Molina had nine shutout innings of relief in the series. SS Eliazar Baeza, primarily known for his glove and not bat, was series MVP going 9-22 with 1 homer and 4 RBI. Barranquilla became four-time Bolivar League champs with the 2038 pennant joining their 2025-27 three-peat. They were the first Colombian team to win the title since Bogota in 2030.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-21-2025, 07:27 AM

Rio de Janeiro was seven games ahead of anyone else in the Southern Cone League at the all-star break with a 64-33 record. Fortaleza tried to give them a run with the Foxes’ 41-24 record in the back-end, but the Redbirds claimed the top seed and Southeast Division at 101-61. Fortaleza finished at 98-64 atop the North Division, which ended an 11-year playoff and division title drought for the Foxes.

Rio led the league in run differential (+202) and runs scored (771) en route to a third straight playoff trip and second division title in the run. Sao Paulo was a very distant second at 85-77, ending their playoff streak at four years. The Padres have had only winning seasons since 2021, but this was their fifth playoff miss of that streak.

Recife finished five back on Fortaleza in the North at 93-69, which was good for the first wild card. The Retrievers ended a three-year playoff drought and allowed the league’s fewest runs at 561. Salvador was a distant third at 86-76, which fell four short of the second wild card. Defending league champ Brasilia was middling at 82-80 for only their third playoff miss of the 2030s.

In the South Central Division, Valparaiso and Salta battled back-and-forth The Silver Hawks took the lead by going 13-1 to end August, but a Voodoo sweep to start September evened them up at 80-63. They both finished the regular season at 90-72 which guaranteed a spot for both, as the non-division champ would get the second wild card. As BSA doesn’t give division champs seeding preference, they were guaranteed to be the #4 and #5 seeds

Still, winning the division title was important and the tiebreaker gave home field for the first round playoff series. Valparaiso won the tiebreaker game 6-2 to repeat as champs, while Salta’s playoff streak grew to five seasons. Notable was also Santiago’s drop to 74-88; the first losing season for the Saints since 2008. The division did also see a turnaround by Mendoza, as their 81-81 was a far cry from the 64 and 51 wins they had the prior two years.

Salta’s Sol Rubio won Southern Cone League MVP for the second time in three years. He pulled it off despite not leading in a major stat, getting 28 first place votes. Rio de Janiero’s Simon Veronese had 11 and Sao Paulo’s Arbert Calderon had one. Many had Veronese as the favorite on the top seed, leading in WAR (8.3), average (.363), RBI (124) and OPS (1.099) with 50 homers.

Rubio was by no means bad, although the popularity of “Bruiser” certainly helped. The 28-year old Argentinian third baseman had 209 hits, 114 runs, 29 doubles, 11 triples, 40 homers, 100 RBI, .345/.375/.627 slash, 167 wRC+, and 7.8 WAR. After the prior season, the 6’6’’ Rubio signed an eight-year, $144,300,000 extension to stick with the Silver Hawks.

Rio’s Nereus Rebellin repeated as Pitcher of the Year and was the unanimous winner, although he didn’t lead the traditional big stats. Recife’s Rudy Maldonado had the best ERA at 2.10, although Rebellin was a close second at 2.16. Salvador’s Miguel Lebrija had the most wins (23) and Belem’s Onofre Cruz led with 312 strikeouts.

Rebellin was the WARlord though at 9.4 and led in WHIP (0.92), complete games (16), shutouts (6), FIP- (49), and FIP (1.93). The 27-year old Brazilian lefty had an 18-5 record and 287 strikeouts with a 179 ERA+ over 233 innings. Rebellin had been the #3 draft pick in 2033 by the Redbirds. Since his 2035 rotator cuff tear, he has been reliably one of the league’s top arms.

Valparaiso swept Salta on 3-1 and 7-2 wins in the first round. The Voodoo kept the momentum going into the divisional series, upsetting top seed Rio de Janeiro 4-3 in the opener. The game went 11 innings with Zacarias Ramos hitting the RBI double that put Valparaiso ahead. The Voodoo then stunned the Redbirds 3-1 in game two, taking the advance back home to Chile.

Game three also went 11 innings and again Ramos was the hero. This time, he led off the bottom of the 11^th and socked a homer to left, giving Valparaiso the 4-3 win and a stunning sweep over top seed Rio. The Voodoo became the first of the six expansion teams from 2029 to advance to their league final, an impressive feat in only the squad’s tenth season.

On the other side, Fortaleza got 8-4 and 3-2 wins to open over their divisional rival Recife. The Retrievers grabbed game three 8-3 at home, but the Foxes cruised to a 13-4 victory to seal the series in four games. Fortaleza earned its first trip to the Southern Cone Championship since the 2025 pennant win. They also had an impressive 52-29 record at home, but it didn’t help them as Valparaiso opened the series with 5-4 and 3-1 road wins.

Notably in game one, pinch hitter Lukas Hintersteiner had a two-run go-ahead homer in the ninth. In game two, the Voodoo used four hits to plate two runs in the ninth. Valparaiso then took game three 6-5 at home, putting them in position to run the table. Fortaleza avoided the sweep with a 7-4 win in game four, ending what was a 13-game win streak for the Voodoo going back to the end of the regular season.

In game five, Hintersteiner was again a key pinch hitter with a one-out double in the eighth. Dries Uyl brought him in on a RBI single to put the score at 3-2, which was the final tally. Valparaiso took their first title in five games with an all-time dominant postseason run from the #4 seed. They became the 34^th different franchise to earn a trip to Copa Sudamerica. LF Rob Granadoz was series MVP going 12-20 with 1 HR and 4 RBI.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-21-2025, 06:24 PM

The 108^th Copa Sudamerica had two of the newer franchises in Beisbol Sudamerica. Barranquilla was one of the 2009 expansion teams and made three straight appearances in 2025-27, winning the Cup in 2025 and 2027. Valparaiso was a 2029 expansion team and the first of that group to get this far. Both made it to the finals from the #4 seed, albeit with different paths. Each of the Blues’ series had gone the distance, while the Voodoo had two sweeps and a 4-1 win. Barranquilla won the regular season inter-league series 2-1 and had home field advantage.

The Blues opened with a 3-1 victory, as Curtis Hernandez allowed only one run in seven innings despite scattering ten hits, followed by Eusebio Molina’s ninth playoff save. Game two was 1-1 after the third inning and stayed there until the tenth. The wheels fell off from the Blues as Valparaiso had four runs on three hits and two walks. The 5-1 final evened the series as it shifted south to Chile and ultimately it didn’t return to Colombia.

The Voodoo took game three 4-2 and went up 7-0 midway through game four. Barranquilla got one back in the seventh and had a six-run ninth inning, forcing extras at 7-7. Valparaiso avoided the collapse in the end, winning 8-7 in the 13^th. Jonathan Torres got on via an error, then stole both second and third in the next at-bat. Dries Uyl knocked him in on an RBI walkoff single.

Barranquilla’s spirit was crushed after that loss as Valparaiso rolled to an 8-0 blowout in the game five clincher, getting a 12 strikeout, four-hit shutout by Paco Duron. The Voodoo went 13-2 across an impressive playoff run, becoming the 29^th franchise to win the cup and the first from Chile since Santiago in 2033. 2B Orlando Becerra went 10-20 to win series MVP.

A few playoff records were set, including Valparaiso reliever Nazar Salguero recording six wins, which tied Marco Vera’s record from two years prior. He had a 2.18 ERA and 2 saves in 10 appearances with 20.2 innings and 30 strikeouts. Barranquilla closer Eusebio Molina set the record for appearances (13) by a pitcher. Four Blues played in all 20 of their games, a new record. Librado Fernandez meanwhile set a bad playoff record with 30 strikeouts.

Other notes: Arequipa 1B Paco Amorim continued to rise up the leaderboards with a relatively down year by his high standard, although the 38-year old still had .981 OPS, 169 wRC+, 5.0 WAR, and 28 homers. Amorim became the 2^nd in BSA to score 2000 runs, the 5^th to 3500 hits, the 7^th to 750 homers, the 4^th to 2000 RBI, the 7^th to 550 doubles, and the 4^th position player to 150 WAR. Amorim now sits at 3536 hits, 2070 runs, 765 homers, 2000 RBI, 1665 walks, 1.116 OPS, 185 wRC+, and 151.8 WAR in 20 seasons with the Arrows.

He is within striking distance of Niccolo Coelho’s runs record of 2133. If Amorim keeps a solid pace, he could reach the hits and RBI records in 2-3 seasons, but the others would be harder to catch. The five-time MVP will be a free agent for the first time after a storied tenure with the Arrows.

Amorim is already BSA’s walks leader and ranks 15^th on the world leaderboard. He’s up to 47^th on the WARboard for all players ever in world history. Amorim is also 28^th in runs, 63^rd in hits, and 75^th in RBI for all players. If he were to retire today, he would have a better career OBP and OPS than all other Hall of Famers in world history with his .359/.451/.665 slash and 1.116 OPS.

In other hitting milestones, Bryce Guerra was the 25^th to 600 home runs and Irwin Contreras was the 74^th to 500. Guerra was also the 44^th to reach 1500 RBI. Pete Zelaya was the 96^th to 2500 hits. In pitching notables, Cristovao Santiago was the 75^th to 200 wins and Gabriel Jimenez was the 45^th to 300 saves. 1B Rafael Setiantoro won his 8^th Gold Glove.

BSA’s 53^rd perfect game came on March 25, the second day of the regular season. Maracaibo’s Alajandro Rossello did it with 10 strikeouts over 105 pitches facing Cali. Quito’s Patton Tadeo had a 33-game hitting streak, which was tied for the 12^th-longest in BSA history.

Maracay was a miserable 43-119, which was the 2^nd-worst record in BSA history. Only 2022 Barquisimeto at 35-127 was worse. Valencia’s pitching allowed 199 walks with a 1.21 BB/9; both the 3^rd-best in BSA history. The Velocity’s Ronaldo Garcia set a bad single-season record, getting caught stealing 93 times (although he did succeed 66 times). This would’ve been a world record for getting caught if not for APB’s Liu-Ching Chang failing 98 times this year.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-22-2025, 08:00 AM

The Japan League’s top action came out of the Capital Division for much of the season. At the all-star break, Yokohama had the JL’s best record at 70-34 with reigning East Asian Baseball champ Saitama one back at 69-34. They remained ahead of the rest of the field with the Yellow Jackets pulling away late for the top seed at 107-55. Saitama at 102-60 was easily the first wild card with both squads earning repeat playoff trips. It was Yokohama’s first division title since 2017.

Sapporo atop the North Division got the #2 seed at 102-60. The Swordsmen won a third straight division title and got a fourth playoff spot in a row. Hamamatsu earned the Central Division for the sixth successive season at 100-62. The Chickenhawks led in run differential (+240) and runs scored (868), the latter being the third-most runs in a JL season ever. Their .288 team batting average was second-best in Japanese history and their .332 OBP was third.

The weakest division winner was Fukuoka at 91-71, who under-performed their expected win/loss by 11 with a 20-34 record in one-run games. Regardless, the Frogs made it a West Division three-peat, topping 85-77 Hiroshima by six games. Three teams fought for the second wild card with the Capital Division’s third place squad Kawasaki narrowly taking it.

The Killer Whales at 92-70 had the best second half of any team at 39-19 and allowed the fewest runs in EAB at 497. Their division title and 100+ win season streak snapped at five, but the playoff streak grew to eight seasons. Sendai and Osaka, both second in their divisions, were both one back at 91-71. The Orange Sox were 8-2 to end the year, but couldn’t quite take the spot. Although the seeding changed, the 2038 playoff field in Japan was the same as the prior year.

Hamamatsu CF Issei Sakamoto won Japan League MVP and was nearly unanimous with teammate 1B Mitsuru Ishida poaching only one first place vote from him. The 27-year old righty was a huge free agent signing for the Chickenhawks after previously playing with Yokohama and Ulsan. They had given him a huge eight-year, $255,500,000 deal hoping he’d bounce back after missing a month the prior year to an elbow injury.

Sakamoto led the league in runs (137), hits (233), triples (29), total bases (390), stolen bases (90), batting average (.366), and WAR (12.1). He added 24 doubles, 25 home runs, 110 RBI, 1.014 OPS, and 190 wRC+. The runs were tied for the 8^th-best single season in EAB history and it was one of only 17 seasons by an EAB position player with 12+ WAR. Sakamoto also had a 4.6 zone rating and 1.017 EFF, providing positive defense in center along with his bat.

Saitama’s Kunihiko Ozawa won Pitcher of the Year with 34 first place votes, while three other pitchers split the remaining six top votes. Amazingly Sendai’s Atsuo Sugaya was sixth in voting despite leading in strikeouts (379) and WAR (8.1). It was Kawasaki’s Kiyohiro Yoshioka who won the ERA title at 1.73, although he had fewer innings than the other contenders.

In his fourth season for the Sting, Ozawa was the leader in wins (22-7) and quality starts (26). The 26-year old righty had a 2.43 ERA over 244.2 innings, 322 strikeouts, 147 ERA+, 72 FIP-, and 6.8 WAR. Ozawa had been the #15 pick in the 2034 EAB Draft by the Saitama and had already given them four strong seasons. He was signed after the 2036 campaign to a six-year, $93,200,000 extension.

As a division champ, Fukuoka had home field and the one-game bonus despite being 11 wins worse than Saitama in the wild card round. The Sting had also swept them in six games in the regular season, so many expected the defending champs to roll. Saitama opened the series with a 7-5 road win, but the Frogs responded with a 7-6 win. In game three, Fukuoka scored seven between innings 6-7 en route to a 8-5 win, completing the 3-1 upset over the defending champ.

Kawasaki opened with a 7-6 road win in ten innings over Hamamatsu in a dramatic affair. The Killer Whales went ahead with four runs in the eighth inning, but the Chickenhawks got one back in the ninth to tie. Kawasaki scored twice in the top of the tenth inning. Hamamatsu got one back with a solo homer on the first pitch of the bottom half and got the next batter to second, but he was ultimately stranded.

Hamamatsu was down 5-1 in game two, but they got two in the eighth and three in the ninth for a walkoff 6-5 win. The dramatic final swing was a three-run homer by Mitsuru Ishida which narrowly cleared the left field fence at 339 feet. Hamamatsu then held on 4-3 in game three, giving them the series as they started with the one-game bonus as a division champ.

Sapporo rolled to a 6-2 win over Hamamatsu to start the divisional series. They needed a sacrifice fly in game two in the ninth to force extras at 6-6. With two outs in the bottom of the 14^th, Ji-Uk Ryu’s solo homer gave the Swordfish the 7-6 walkoff win. The series shifted to Hamamatsu and the Chickenhawks unleashed in a 13-4 result in game three.

Game four went extras with a Takayasu Nakatani two-run homer proving decisive in a ten-inning, 7-5 win for Sapporo. With the 3-1 series win, the Swordfish earned their first trip to the Japan League Championship Series since their 2026 title. Hamamatsu has had back-to-back divisional round exits since their historic three-peat and the legendary 126-36 season and Grand Champion run in 2036.

Top seed Yokohama opened with a 3-1 win over Fukuoka, but the Frogs surprised them with a 2-0 upset in game two. Fukuoka then claimed game three at home 7-2 to put the Yellow Jackets on the brink. However, Yokohama’s 3-2 result in game four got extended the series back to their home diamond.

Starter Yozo Harada was injured in the fifth inning, but ultimately four pitchers combined in a three-hit shutout by the Yellow Jackets. Three runs in the eighth gave them the extra padding in a 4-0 win, giving the Yellow Jackets their first JLCS appearance since their 2016 pennant. They had home field advantage over Sapporo and had won the season series 4-2.

Yokohama’s pitching was excellent initially with 6-1 and 4-0 home wins to open the series. Sapporo reversed the trend extremely as the series shifted north, winning the next three by 11-7, 8-2, and 14-3 margins. Game six was back to being competitive with a tied 2-2 score from innings 7-11. In the 12^th, Sapporo’s Rikuto Utada singled on the first pitch, then was knocked in by Michinori Maeda’s RBI double. Yokohama got a one-out single in the bottom half, but their other batters all struck out looking.

The 3-2 Sapporo road win gave them the series in six games, ending their 11 year title drought. The Swordfish have been Japan’s best team overall with the most pennants (17) and JLCS trips (31). They had previous titles in 1922, 32, 33, 44, 45, 47, 49, 50, 51, 56, 81, 83, 97, 98, 2024, 26, and 38). CF Rikuto Utada was series MVP, going 10-24 with 3 homers and 7 RBI. Ji-U Ryu notably was 10-27 with 4 homers and 10 RBI.

FuzzyRussianHat · 12-22-2025, 06:45 PM

The Korea League was extremely top heavy as Goyang, Gwangju, and Ulsan each won 110+ games in a fierce fight for the top seed. They each absolutely rolled to division titles with the defending KL champ Green Sox getting their fourth straight crown in the North. They extended their playoff streak to 12 seasons with 10 division titles. The Swallows won a third straight Southeast Division and grew the playoff streak to four. The Grays got their sixth Southwest Division crown in a row.

At the all-star break, Goyang narrowly was the best of the three at 72-31, followed by the Swallows at 72-32 and Grays at 69-35. All three remained strong in the second half, but the Green Sox narrowly kept the edge at 112-50 while the others were 110-52. Goyang had the best run differential in East Asia Baseball at +277 with the most runs scored (867) and their pitching staff had 1709 strikeouts and a 10.45 K/9, both single-season KL records.

Gwangju and Ulsan had split their six regular season games, but the margin of victory was 30-21 in favor of the Grays thanks to a 10-0 drubbing in their first meeting. This gave Gwangju the #2 seed and a bye, forcing the Swallows to play someone in the wild card round. Although it was fully expected that Ulsan would advance and set up a divisional round showdown with the Grays.

The only competitive division was the Central with Yongin (101-61) holding on over Suwon (97-65). The Gold Sox were 14-3 in extra-inning games, helping them win eight games more than their expected win/loss. Yongin ended an eight-year playoff drought and won their first division title since 2010. The Snappers got the first wild card, giving them eight playoff trips in the last ten years.

A 38-21 record after the all-star break gave Gimhae the narrow edge for the second wild card at 94-68, holding off Seongnam (93-69) and Pyongyang (87-75). The Spiders were right with Yongin and Suwon in the division at the break, but a 1-9 run in early August sank them despite allowing the KL’s fewest runs at 555. The Golden Angels earned their first-ever playoff trip since joining with the 2030 expansion. Also worth a notice was Busan at 80-82, which was their first losing record since 2019. They’ve missed the playoffs back-to-back following their record 17-year postseason streak.

Suwon’s Ye-Seung Lee was the unanimous Korea League MVP and became a two-time winner, having also done it in 2034. The 32-year old 1B led in home runs (64), RBI (139), total bases (434), slugging (.713), OPS (1.078), wRC+ (210), and WAR (10.4). In his tenth year as a full-timer for the Snappers, Lee had 201 hits, 124 runs, 31 doubles, and a .330 average. Lee is signed through 2042 on a $269 million deal, although he does have an opt out option next year.

Ulsan’s Jin-Yu Jun made history as a six-time Pitcher of the Year winner, a feat previously only met by Yu-Geon Moon, Toshikuni Naikai, and Aiya Kodama. Jun had won in 2026, 27, and 29 with the Swallows, then took the honor in 2032 and 34 with Kobe. Ulsan gave him a record-setting $385 million extension in March 2029, but traded him to the Blaze by October due to financial woes. He returned to Ulsan last year, won the ERA title and was second in POTY voting. For 2038, he got 30 first place votes, while Changwon’s Wan Ahn got nine and Goyang’s Sang-Soo Lee had one.

Many were shocked that Jun won it so firmly considering Ahn earned his second Triple Crown in three seasons and only the 22^nd by an EAB pitcher. Ahn beat out Jun by a mere fraction for the ERA title at 1.938 versus 1.939. On a middling Crabs squad, Ahn also had the most wins at 24-6 and strikeouts at 351. Jun had him narrowly beat for WAR (10.1 to 9.9) and FIP (1.85 to 1.97). It was Lee who actually led in both WAR (10.7) and FIP (1.68).

Jun had 341 strikeouts over 246 innings with a 22-5 record and led in WHIP (0.77) and K/BB (10.0). He also had a 206 ERA+ and 46 FIP- at age 35 against the strong field. Jun became the 22^nd EAB ace with 4000 career strikeouts and the 6th with 120+ WAR. Now at 120.31, Jun is two strong years or one amazing year from passing Jae-Hoon Seon’s 132.37 as the EAB leader in pitching WAR. His return deal with Ulsan was $121 million over five years.

Pyongyang’s Eun-Jae Chong was Reliever of the Year and also notable as the only the second ROTY winner in the KL with a sub-one ERA in the 21^st Century. His 6.9 WAR was sixth among all KL pitchers as the 31-year old had a 0.60 ERA, 34 saves, and 173 strikeouts in 89.2 innings. Chong’s WAR is the fourth-best by a Reliever of the Year winner in EAB.

Yongin had home field and the one-game bonus against Suwon in the first round and narrowly avoided collapse in an 8-7 game one win. The Snappers successfully rallied in a 6-3 second contest, but the Gold Sox rolled to 7-1 in game three to advance. In the clincher, 23-year old Kunio Ogawa had a three-hit complete game with six strikeouts.

Ulsan was the heavy favorite on the other side with Gimhae and won the opener 8-4. The Golden Angels surprised them 5-3 in game two and forced extras in game three. Myung Lee’s RBI single in the tenth ended the series with a 2-1 final. This set up the highly anticipated Ulsan/Gwangju showdown in the divisional round. With both teams 110-52, it is almost certainly the most wins between two teams playing in the playoffs outside of the championship or LCS.

The Swallows started with a 2-0 road win as POTY Jin-Yu Jun tossed 8.2 scoreless innings with 6 hits and 10 Ks. Gwangju rallied in game two with a Seong-Heon Ryou two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 3-3. In the tenth, Yun-Jae Pin got a one-out and single and stole his way to third to set up the walkoff sacrifice fly.

The series shifted to Ulsan for a 5-3 Swallows win on Si-Won Joon’s complete game. Game four was then a stunning 11-2 rout for Ulsan to clinch the series and their second trip to the Korea League Championship Series in three years. The Swallows were looking to end a 22-year playoff drought. Despite a six-year playoff streak, the Grays have only gotten to the KLCS once in that stretch with no titles to show for it.

The other side looked like it might be short after Goyang mauled Yongin 16-0 in the opener. Six of their 20 hits in game went deep with Sung-Hoon Ma smacking three. Impressively, the Gold Sox battled back with a 4-2 road win in game two, forcing the Green Sox to take a game on the road. Goyang did just that with a tight 6-5 score in game three, followed by an 8-1 blowout to seal it.

Goyang was going for the repeat and were in the KLCS for the sixth time of their 12-year playoff streak. Although the Green Sox were two games better in the regular season, Ulsan had won the season series 4-2. Goyang opened strong with 4-1 and 8-5 wins on their home diamond. The series shifted and Ulsan took game three 7-5, capped off with a three-run Jun-Hu Ryuk walkoff homer. That would ultimately be the only real moment of the series for the Swallows.

Game four was a 2-0 Goyang road win with a two-hit, 11 strikeout shutout by Sun-Ho Yim. Russ Peng’s complete game was strong on the other side with 11 Ks and 8 hits, but two runs allowed in the eighth was enough for the L. The Green Sox got the better of great pitching again to seal the series with a 3-1 win in game five. Sang-Soo Lee gave up one run and three hits over 7.2 innings, then Ji-Hoon Park retired the next four for the save. Lee had a 0.57 ERA and 14 strikeouts over his two victories on the mound.

Series MVP was given to 37-year old 1B Han Yi, the three-time league MVP in his first season with Goyang. The veteran joined in search of the elusive ring which he hadn’t gotten in his earlier stints between Gwangju, Jeju, Cheongju, and Yongin. Yi was 7-18 with 3 homers and 9 RBI in the series. The Green Sox became eight-time Korean champs (1991, 2008, 11, 12, 28, 30, 37, 38). They’re the first repeat KL winner since Busan in 2023-24.

FuzzyRussianHat · Yesterday, 07:18 AM

The 118^th East Asian Championship was the first finals battle between Goyang and Sapporo. The Green Sox were making a repeat appearance and shooting for their third title, having won in 2012 and 2028. With their 17^th trip, no one had been to the finals more than the Swordfish, although their last appearance and win was 2026. Sapporo was hoping for a ninth title, second in EAB only to Pyongyang’s ten.

Sapporo had home field advantage and Tsunemori Tokuda had an all-timer start in game one with a one-hit shutout, striking out eight with three walks, en route to a 4-0 Sapporo win. The Swordfish then took game two by a 5-3 margin, giving them the early edge before shifting to South Korea. A three-run fifth inning made the difference in a 3-2 game three victory for Goyang. The Green Sox outraced Sapporo 10-7 in game four to even the series.

In game five, the Swordfish entered the ninth inning ahead 5-3. Goyang made the dramatic comeback, first with Tokuyuki Yama****a’s two-run homer to tie it. One pitch later, Jae-Hyeon Shin sent a solo shot 407 feet for the 6-5 walkoff win. The Green Sox now had the 3-2 series lead, but would still need to get one win in Japan.

The prior defeat seemed to drain Sapporo of energy. In game six, Goyang rookie Je-Ju Jun was an unexpected star. He had only 11.1 career regular season innings entering the day and one playoff relief appearance in 2038. Jun got the start for game six and tossed a shutout, scattering seven hits with one walk and five strikeout over 125 pitches. The Green Sox took the contest 4-0 to become three-time East Asian Baseball champs.

Three-time Gold Glove catcher Seiji Nakajima was series MVP, going 9-19 with 1 homer and 2 RBI. It was the second title for manager Si-Wan Kang, the skipper since 2025 who also led Goyang to the 2028 title. The five-time Manager of the Year winner had reached legendary status and was 12^th on EAB’s wins list at 1399-870, but had the best winning percentage (.617) of anyone in the top 15. Kang had taken the Green Sox from a sporadic contender to a regular fixture of the Korea League playoff picture.

Other notes: EAB’s 49^th, 50^th, and 51^st perfect games came in 2038. Despite the low number over 118 seasons, this was the 3^rd time that a season had three perfectos, joining 2028 and 1935. The first came on March 26 by Saitama’s Jin-Ya Kim with 9 Ks against Kobe. The next was August 5 with Kawasaki’s Haruhiro Morikawa fanning 15 against Kitakyushu. The third was September 11 as Pyongyang’s Jun-O Han struck out 12.

Hamamatsu’s Mitsuru Ishida set EAB playoff records (20 plate appearances required) for OBP (.600), slugging (1.281), and OPS (1.881). In seven games, he was 18-32 with 12 runs, 6 homers, 10 RBI, 3 doubles, and 1 triple. Gwangju’s Wan-Kyun Kim set a bad single-season record, getting caught stealing 77 times. However, he still successfully stole a league-best 122 bags, which was the 8^th-best single-season in EAB history.

Han Yi became only the 15^th member of EAB’s 700 home run club. Yi and Ju-An Youm became the 27^th and 28^th to join the 3000 hit club. Jae-Hyeon Shin and Geon-Ho Whang were the 39^th and 40^th to 1500 runs scored with Whang also becoming the 56^th with 1500 RBI. C Do-Hyun Lee won his 8^th Silver Slugger.

In pitching, Si-Won Joon was the 8^th to 4500 strikeouts. Byung-Cheol Ban was the 17^th to 250 career wins and the 23^rd with 4000 Ks. In-Goo Sun and Oniji Yamamoto were the 54^th and 55^th aces with 3500 strikeouts. Chae-Bong Min was the 38^th closer to 300 saves. Kunikazu Ube was the 79^th with 200 wins. Goyang broke their own all-time season attendance record in EAB with 3,210,050 tickets sold. Ulsan had a 3,087,549 attendance for the 3^rd-best in Korea League history, while Saitama’s 2,930,925 were the 3^rd-best in Japan.

FuzzyRussianHat · Yesterday, 08:26 PM

At the all-star break in the Mexican League, Leon had the best record at 61-36, followed by Toluca at 58-38, both Torreon and Hermosillo at 58-39, and Queretaro at 57-39. It ended up a four-team face for the top seed with the Terriers dropping from that race with a merely decent second half. The Lions had a good finish, but the other three teams were better to pass or match Leon. The strongest though was the defending champ Tomahawks with a 46-19 run post-break.

That pushed Torreon to the #1 seed and North Division crown at 104-58. The Tomahawks’ +222 run differential was the best in Mexico as they grew their playoff streak to eight seasons with their sixth division crown of the run. Hermosillo was second in the division at 99-63 and got the first wild card, growing their own postseason streak to five seasons.

Toluca got the #2 seed at 100-62 atop the South Division, followed by Leon at 99-63 atop the Central. Both earned their third consecutive division title with the Lions’ playoff streak extending to 14 seasons, tied for the second-longest in Central American Baseball Association history. Leon was the top scoring team in Mexico at 837 runs. Queretaro was second in the Central at 93-69, earning repeat wild cards.

The final spot went to 90-72 Tijuana after an utter collapse by Ecatepec. The Explosion were 88-64 after a six-game winning streak, but lost 10 straight to close the season at 88-74. The Toros earned a sixth straight playoff trip, all wild cards, sending the exact same six teams to the playoffs from the prior year. Juarez was the closest at 84-78 and did allow the fewest runs in CABA at 555, but a losing record in the back-end sunk them.

For the third time in four years, Tijuana 1B Alton Reinoso was Mexican League MVP. He got 37 of the 40 first place votes with the remaining three to Toluca’s Leonardo Santos. Santos notably led with 71 homers, 148 RBI, and 136 runs; missing CABA’s single-season homer record by only two. Reinoso meanwhile led in OBP (.428), slugging (.766), OPS (1.193), wRC+ (216), and WAR (10.2).

The 30-year old Nicaraguan also had 205 hits, 129 runs, 30 doubles, 60 homers, 146 RBI, and a .346 average. It was a bold statement in a contract year for Reinoso, who is due free agency after eight seasons starting for the Toros. He had signed an eight-year extension back in May 2032, but used his opt-out to leave early.

Hermosillo’s Kian Baromeo became a four-time Pitcher of the Year winner, having also done it in 2032, 35, and 36. He had 28 first place votes, while the remaining 12 were split between Culiacan’s Jimmie Morales (7), Queretaro’s Aneurys Duran (3), and Toulca’s Mateo Cruz (2). Morales notably won the ERA title at 1.92, but Baromeo was a close second at 2.10.

Baromeo led in strikeouts (345), WHIP (0.74), FIP- (45), and WAR (9.6); each career highs. He tossed 226.2 innings with a 17-7 record, 9 saves, and 188 ERA+. In late March, the Hyenas made sure to lock up their ace long-term, as the 30-year old Curacaoan lefty inked a seven-year, $251,500,000 extension. In a decade for Hermosillo, Baromeo has a 2.36 ERA over 1836.1 innings, 133-67 record, 2589 strikeouts, and 64.0 WAR.

In the first round, the higher seed only has to win once and the lower seed twice. Hermosillo got their 6-4 win to advance over Queretaro. Tijuana upset Leon 9-4, but the Lions took the rematch 3-2 to continue. Leon stunned Toluca with a 11-2 rout to open the second round. The Tortugas bounced back though with 8-6, 9-2, and 5-4 wins.

In game four, both teams scored twice in the eighth and twice again in the ninth inning. Leonardo Santos’ RBI double was the walkoff winner, sending Toluca to their second Mexican League Championship Series in three years. The Tortugas were still fairly new as one of the 2025 expansion teams.

On the other end of the bracket, Torreon earned 9-4 and 10-6 wins to open facing Hermosillo. The Hyenas stayed alive with a 4-1 result in game three, followed by a 15-innning war in game four. The score was 3-3 after regulation and stayed there until the 14^th, which had both teams scoring twice. The Tomahawks got a walkoff RBI sacrifice fly in the 15^th to win the game 6-5 and the series in four games.

Torreon earned a fourth consecutive trip to the MLCS as they looked for the repeat. They would have been going for fourth straight if not for Toluca, who beat them in 2036 for the Tortugas’ first pennant. The Tomahawks had home field advantage, but they had split their six regular season games. Torreon opened with a 5-3 home win, but Toluca snagged a 7-1 road victory the next night.

Toluca took the lead with a 2-0 home win in game three, getting a two-hit, eight-strikeout shutout from Mateo Cruz. Torreon countered with a 4-2 road win in game four, taking the lead in the ninth on Ernesto Escandel’s massive two-run, 433 foot bomb. Pitching put the Tortugas back on top with a 5-1 result in game five. Kal Jones tossed a complete game with 11 strikeouts and six hits allowed.

The pitching edge again favored Toluca as they took the game six clincher at Torreon with a 6-2 margin, earning their second Mexican League crown in three years. RF Leonardo Henriquez was series MVP, going 11-23 with 6 RBI. He had a double and single with two runs in the finale. None of the other five expansion teams from 2025 had a single title; the Tortugas now had two.

FuzzyRussianHat · Today, 08:47 AM

The defending Central American Baseball Association champ Havana improved on their record-setting offense from the prior year. The Hurricanes were a dominant 48-16 after the all-star break and cruised to the Caribbean League’s top seed at 113-49. They had CABA’s best run differential at +301 and set a new CABA record for runs scored with 958. The Hurricanes also allowed the second-fewest runs in the CL at 657.

The prior year, Havana’s 947 runs had tied 2033 Santo Domingo for the most in a CABA campaign. The Hurricanes’ .306 average, .351 OBP, and 1752 hits did fall just short of their 2037 squad for the top spot. Havana earned a third straight West Division title and it was the second-best record in franchise history; only the 1913 squad was better at 115-47.

Puerto Rico had a .303 average and 1719 hits, both the third-best in CABA history. The Pelicans actually were two games ahead of Havana at the all-star break, but were merely decent on the back-end. Puerto Rico still cruised to the #2 seed and repeat East Division titles at 101-61.

The next best teams shared the West with Havana with Haiti (97-65) and Jamaica (96-66) almost quietly having fine seasons for wild cards. The Jazz earned their sixth berth in seven years and the Herons got their sixth of the decade. Curacao at 88-74 in the East narrowly nabbed the final wild card for their third berth in franchise history (2030, 34, 38).

The Central had no major standouts with three teams battling for the top spot. Salvador had a nice lead at the all-star break at 57-41 over Costa Rica (51-46), and Honduras (50-48). However, a 30-35 mark post break erased the Stallions’ gains. Honduras took two of three against Salvador in the final regular season series, tying them at 87-75. The Rays split a four-game homestand with Guatemala to close, also placing them at 87-75. All three were one behind Curacao in the wild card race, meaning only the division winner could advance.

Honduras won 5-1 at Costa Rica in the first tiebreaker game to eliminate the Rays, who were the defending division champ and 2036 CABA champ. The Horsemen then hosted and defeated Salvador for their 49^th division title, 12 more than the next best in CABA. Honduras’ miss in 2036 was their only time outside of the postseason since 2023. The Horseman have 67 postseason berths in their history, the most of any franchise in all of pro baseball. The Stallions saw a five-year streak snapped.

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Jamaica RF Amadeo Garcia was the unanimous MVP in the Caribbean League, earning the honor back-to-back years and for the fourth time in five seasons. It was also his third Triple Crown, having also done that in 2034 and 2035. He joins CABA legends Prometheo Garcia (5), Kiko Velazquez (4), and Donald Gonzalez (4) on the list of guys to wear the Triple Crown thrice.

The 25-year old Guatemalan lefty dominated the leaderboard with the top mark in runs (130), hits (247), home runs (61), RBI (158), total bases (472), triple slash (.400/.454/.764), OPS (1.218), wRC+ (225), and WAR (12.1). It was rounded up and he technically missed repeat .400 seasons at .3997, but it was good for the 5^th-best in CABA history.

Garcia’s OPS was the 7^th-best qualifying season in CABA, while the hits ranked 5^th. He also joined Franklin Madrid as the only players in CABA with four seasons of 150+ RBI. Garcia has been the leader in OPS, slugging, and batting average in his last four healthy seasons, having missed all of 2036 to a broken bone in his elbow. The Jazz have him under contract through 2041.

The legendary Israel Montague remained truly timeless with an unprecedented 11^th Pitcher of the Year award win at age 41 in his Haiti debut. He joined his long-time contemporary Richard Wright and Eurasian Professional Baseball legend Matvey Ivanov as the only pitchers in any world league with 11 POTY awards. Montague had won nine times in his primary run with Guatemala, plus one during his 2034-37 stint with Leon.

The Panamanian lefty had still been good recently, but age and injury and seemingly knocked him from the upper echelon. He signed a two-year, $46,800,000 deal with Haiti for 2038 and had some of that old excellent. His control and stuff remained stellar even with his velocity now down to the 93-95 mph range after being 98-100 mph in his prime. His circle change was still a 10/10 and no one perhaps ever was better at changing speeds.

Montague got 36 first place votes, while three other pitchers split the remaining four. It was Havana’s Melido Cervantes with the best ERA (2.84) although he just met the innings threshold. Santo Domingo’s Bruno Padilla led in Ks (282). For Montague, he was the WARlord at 7.4 and led in FIP- (54) and K/BB (12.0). He had a 3.14 ERA over 218 innings, 16-10 record, 263 strikeouts, and 138 ERA+.

During the season, Montague passed Ulices Montero’s 5849 to become CABA’s all-time strikeouts king at 5934. Montague is #7 on the all-time world leaderboard, where Montero remains ahead of him with 6796 counting his MLB stats. Montague is firmly CABA’s wins leader at 346-120, but Montero’s combined 398 is the world record. Montague’s season tied him for 8^th on the wins chart for all of baseball history.

Montague is also now at 159.11 WAR, just behind Montero (165.65) for the record among CABA pitchers and Prometheo Garcia (166.79) for all players. Among all players ever, Montague ranks 30^th in WAR and 7^th among pitchers (excluding two-way guys).

In the first round, Haiti got their one needed win 3-2 to advance over Jamaica. Curacao dominated Honduras 8-2, but the Horsemen had their mulligan and won 9-4 the next night to oust the Chaos. Honduras surprised Puerto Rico with a 2-1 road upset to open the second round. The Horsemen then smashed the Pelicans 12-3, putting them on the verge of a road sweep.

Puerto Rico stayed alive with a 10-4 win in game three, but Honduras grabbed game four 8-5 to upset the Pelicans. The Horsemen had two homers in the ninth inning to go ahead by three. Even in a year where they barely made the playoffs, Honduras found a way to their 51^st Caribbean League Championship Series appearance and fourth of the decade. No team in the world has played in more sub-league finales.

Top seed Havana felt good early with 2-1 and 11-3 wins against Haiti. The Herons wouldn’t die though with 6-4 and 6-3 scores to force game five. A five-run fifth inning was enough for Haiti to shock Havana 5-4 in the finale, dethroning the reigning champ and their record-breaking offense. The Herons earned their fourth CLCS trip of the 2030s, although this ended a four-year drought.

Honduras and Haiti hadn’t been strangers in recent memory in the CLCS, although this wasn’t the year folks expected that rivalry to pop up again. It is the eighth time since 2000 that they battled for the pennant, most recently with the Horsemen’s 2033 pennant. That year, they had rallied from a 3-0 hole. The Herons’ last pennant in 2031 came against Honduras and ended with a six-run ninth inning rally to walkoff in game seven.

They had split the season series at 3-3 and although Haiti had eight more wins, Honduras had home field due to being a division champ. They used that to great success with 6-3 and 4-2 wins to start off. The Horsemen then nabbed a 10-5 road win, but the Herons weren’t going down that easy. Haiti took 9-6 and 9-3 wins at home, forcing play back to Tegucigalpa.

These teams weren’t strangers to drama and game six was an all-timer. Honduras scored twice in the second, followed by Haiti going ahead with three in the seventh. The Horsemen got one back in the bottom half and the score stayed locked at 3-3 for more than a full-game’s worth of innings. A seven hour contest went 19 innings with Haiti’s Ricardo Larios finally breaking the deadlock on a solo homer. The 4-3 win now had the Herons on the cusp of returning the favor from 2033, when Honduras had erased a 3-0 hole en route to a pennant.

The Horsemen ultimately avoided the full collapse. They scored first in the second inning, but Haiti went ahead with two in the fourth. A four-hit inning plated three runs for a 4-2 Honduras lead after five. Haiti got one back on a sixth-inning homer, but this would be their final baserunner of the game. The Horsemen bullpen shut the door and escaped with a 4-3 win in game seven and the series.

C Juan Alvarez was series MVP in his second year with the squad. Known generally as a good defensive catcher with a weak bat, he was 11-23 with 2 homers, 8 RBI, and 8 runs. In game seven, he had the first hit and run of their three-run fifth inning and an RBI single in the second.

Honduras now has 23 Caribbean titles (1919, 20, 22, 24, 26, 39, 40, 41, 53, 58, 59, 63, 91, 93, 2003, 04, 11, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 38). They stand alone with the most sub-league titles of any team in the world, having previously been tied with EPB’s Minsk Miners.

12-15-2025, 07:14 AM	#2621
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 APB Sundaland Association The Sundaland Association was really a toss-up all season with 11 of the 14 teams having a legitimate path still into the playoffs entering September. 10 squads finished in the 80s win range. The top squad at the all-star break was last year’s top seed Kuala Lumpur at 56-38. They have a middling second half, but built up enough of a cushion to win the Malacca League at 91-71 for the top seed. The Leopards won their fifth straight ML title and earned a sixth straight playoff trip. Their closest foes in the ML at the break was Batam at 51-42 and Johor Bahru at 51-44, while Singapore, Medan, and Penang were each a game or two below .500. By September, the Sharks had moved into the #2 spot at 75-63, sitting two ahead of the Blue Wings and three better than the Blue Raiders. Two weeks later, the margin had stayed roughly the same, although it was clearer that Kuala Lumpur wasn’t going to be caught. Batam got hot to close the season, going 10-2 including a four-game sweep of the Leopards in their final series which included an absurd 31 inning game which lasted more than ten hours. The Blue Wings and Sharks faced each other to close and split with JB winning the first two and Singapore the final two. With that, the Blue Raiders got the final playoff spot at 87-75. Singapore was one back at 86-76, while both Johor Bahru and Medan were 84-78 and Penang was 80-82. Batam ended a five-year playoff drought. Four teams were separated by only three wins in the Java Sea League. At the all-star break, it was Depok first at 52-40, followed by Palembang at 50-42, reigning Austronesia Professional Baseball champ Semarang at 48-46, and Jakarta at 47-47. The Jaguars completely collapsed with a 24-44 second half for a 71-91 record. Meanwhile Surabaya, a lackluster 42-53 at the break, had the strongest finish at 43-24 which inserted the Sunbirds into the picture. Entering September, the Panthers led at 75-63, a half game up on the Demons, two ahead of the Sliders, and seven over both the Sunbirds and Bandung. Two weeks later, Palembang at 81-69 still narrowly had first place. Depok was one game back with Semarang 2.5 away, Surabaya three back, and Bandung 5.5 away. The Panthers took three of four hosting Jakarta, but got swept at Semarang. The Demons got three of four over last place Makassar and two of three over Kuala Lumpur. Semarang had also grabbed three of four over Bandung. With one series left to go, Palembang and Depok were tied for first at 85-73 and set to face off in a four-game series hosted by the Panthers. The Sliders were a half-game behind them both, while the Sunbirds had an outside shot 2.5 back. Semarang was to close hosting Pekanbaru in three games while Surabaya hosted Jakarta for three. The Sunbirds won two of three, while the Sliders lost two of three. Palembang got a 2-0 and 5-4 win to start against Depok, the latter in 11 innings. Game three was a ten-inning, 4-2 win for the Demons, but the Panthers had a 10-3 rout in the finale to take first place outright at 88-74. Palembang ended a 16-year playoff drought back to their 2019-21 three-peat. Semarang and Depok were even at 86-76, while Surabaya was one short at 85-77 and Bandung was 80-82. That ended a six-year playoff streak for the Blackhawks. In the one-game tiebreaker for second place, Semarang hosted and defeated Depok 5-1, keeping their repeat bid alive and earning a sixth straight playoff trip. Surabaya had the fewest runs allowed in the SA at 416, while Penang scored the most at 561. Leading the Possums’ offense was 1B Tung Vo, who won Sundaland Association MVP with 20 first place votes. Semarang LF Wijaya Yama had the remaining eight first place nods and was the leader in home runs (52) and RBI (107). It was an impressive sophomore campaign for Vo, who had won Rookie of the Year in 2037. For 2038, the 24-year old Malaysian lefty led in OBP (.373), slugging (.627), OPS (1.000), wRC+ (208), and WAR (9.4). Vo added 165 hits, 94 runs, 20 doubles, 48 homers, 97 RBI, and a .302 average. He had been the #2 overall draft pick in 2036 for Penang. Semarang’s Yuchi Jiang was Pitcher of the Year for the second time in three seasons. It was a competitive battle as he had 16 first place votes and 160 points compared to Kuala Lumpur’s John Gonzalez with 12 first place votes and 148 points. Gonzalez was the leader in WAR (8.0), and wins (19-5). It was Singapore’s Chi-Hsiang Ling with the best ERA (1.30) and Seamarang’s Roddy Patoc with the most Ks (343). As for the winner Jiang, the only stat he led was quality starts with 30. The 33-year old lefty from China though was rock solid with a 1.66 ERA in 255.1 innings, 16-8 record, 300 strikeouts, 175 ERA+, 75 FIP-, and 6.5 WAR. Jiang has three years left on what was a historic $322 million contract, the richest active deal in all of APB. In a rematch of the prior year’s Sundaland Association Championship, Kuala Lumpur got some revenge against Semarang. The Leopards had the one-game advantage, then got 7-0 and 4-1 wins to sweep the Sliders. In game one, John Gonzalez tossed a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts, while POTY Yuchi Jiang got rocked with seven runs (six earned) in four innings. KL earned fifth consecutive trip to the association finals. Palembang had the game advantage and opened with a 2-1 win against Batam. The Blue Raiders got one back 9-4 in game two, but the Panthers clinched with a 5-4 result in game three in 11 innings. The leadoff man in the bottom of the 11^th Asri Pilus ended the game with a solo homer 409 feet to right-center. Palembang earned their first finals trip since their 2019-21 three-peat. The Leopards had won 4-2 in their regular season encounters. Kuala Lumpur opened on 7-3 and 8-6 home victories. Palembang won the first game on their home turf 7-1, but this would be their only win. The Leopards took 7-0 and 2-1 road victories to claim the series in five games. Game four featured a two-hit, 11 strikeout shutout by Bo-Cheng Chan, who won series MVP based on that lone start. Gonzalez gave up one run in eight innings in the game five clincher. Kuala Lumpur won their fourth pennant, each coming in the 2030s (2031, 34, 35, 38). __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-15-2025, 07:57 PM	#2622
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 Austronesia Championship The 74^th Austronesia Championship was the first finals battle between the Filipino and Malaysian capitals. Kuala Lumpur was in their fourth finals of the decade and looking for their third title, having also won in 2031 and 2035. Manila hadn’t been to the finals since 1999 and their only ring was back in 1986, 51 years prior. The Manatees had home field and saw their bullpen step up big in game one after starter Stanley Hwang went down with an injury after one inning. They gave up only one run and three hits the rest of the way in 3-1 opening win. Game two was even more of a pitcher’s duel with no runs scored through 13 innings. Finally in the bottom of the 14^th, Derrick Gustavo smacked a two-run homer to send the Manila fans home happy on a 2-0 win for the 2-0 series lead. The Leopards got the better of a game three pitcher’s duel back in Malaysia with a 2-1 score. Thipanraj Shahdan was the winning pitcher with one run and six hits allowed with 11 strikeouts over eight innings. KL evened the series on a 3-1 score in the fourth contest, scoring their runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Manila opened up 5-0 after the third in game five, but the Leopards exploded with a six-run fourth inning. However, the Manatees went back ahead on a three-run sixth inning en route to a 8-6 victory; the first road winner of the series. This gave Manila the edge heading back to the Philippines. They would be unable to close out though in a game six marathon. Manila had a solo run in the fourth and Kuala Lumpur one in the sixth. Game six stayed locked up at 1-1 deep into extras with hits few and far between. In the top of the 14^th, the Leopards loaded the bases on two singles and a walk, enabling a sacrifice fly by Fong Chin. A 1-2-3 bottom half gave KL the 2-1 road win to force the first game seven in the APB final since 2027. Kuala Lumpur opened game seven with a two-run first inning. Manila eventually evened it up with solo homers in the fourth and seventh innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Julkarnain Hidayati had a leadoff homer to put the Manatees ahead. The 3B wasn’t someone you expected homers from with only 15 in his 490 game career to that point. Manila got a walk and two hits after that for an extra insurance run which proved crucial. On the first pitch of the ninth, the Leopards’ Ahmad Amzar smacked a solo homer. However, the next three hitters were retired consecutively, allowing the Manatees to escape with the 4-3 win and their second APB title. Hidayati’s homer helped him seal series MVP. It was his only RBI of the series, but he led in hits going 9-25 with 5 runs. Every game of the series was decided by one or two runs. In other playoff notables, KL’s John Gonzalez set the playoff record for innings with 40.2, posting a 1.11 ERA and 37 Ks in five starts. Manila reliever Cody Damaso set the record for appearances with 11, although he had a 3.50 ERA in his 18 innings. The Leopards also saw a new APB playoff record by 1B Kai Bravo, who drew 13 walks in the playoff run. Other notes: Both Ronald Arias and Wei-Yin Wang passed what was the long-standing career record for runs scored of Junior Sanchez (1446) with Arias to 1553 and Wang to 1448. Both have a long way to catch Binh Tang’s 1915, although with Tang gone to MLB, his numbers are set unless he later returns to APB. Arias also became the 6^th to 600 career homers. Wang became the 3^rd to 1500 RBI behind only Tang and Wil Tabaldo. In other milestones, Shen Chang was the 16^th to 500 homers and he became one of 75 with 2000 hits. James Yuwono became the 14^th to 2500 hits. Isa Amirudin and Ashraf Zeky were the 40^th and 41^st to 1000 runs scored, while Amirudin was the 50^th to 1000 RBI. For pitching notables, Fred Pasaya was the 43^rd to 3500 strikeouts and Hakimi Aziz was the 32^nd to 200 wins. It was the final season for three-time Pitcher of the Year Kuan-Yang Kang, who had a 16-year run with Tainan. He finished with a 231-137 record, 2.16 ERA, 3402.1 innings, 5332 strikeouts, 141 ERA+, 57 FIP-, and 119.2 WAR. Kang retired 24^th in the world for strikeouts and 3^rd in APB history, while ranking 13^th in wins and 8^th in APB pitching WAR. He also has 11 Gold Gloves, the most in world history for a pitcher. Chiayi’s Maysaroh Putro had only the 4^th four home run game in APB history, doing it against Taipei on July 18. Bryan Surdani had a 30-game hit streak for Manila in the summer, which was the 4^th-longest streak in APB history. 3B Chun-Jung Lai won his 7^th Silver Slugger. Hsinchu’s Liu-Ching Chang set a bad record getting caught stealing 98 times, which was the most in a single-season in any world league, ever. Chang did at least have 64 successful steals and led with a .388 OBP. The Sweathogs’ pitching continued to be atrocious as their 4.13 team ERA, 1464 hits allowed, 755 runs, 663 earned runs, 9.12 H/9, and 1.332 WHIP were all either the 2^nd or 3^rd-worst for those stats in APB history. I suppose it was an improvement, since the dirt worst for each stat was set the prior year by the Sweathogs. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-16-2025, 07:36 AM	#2623
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 OBA Australasia League The rebuild was complete for Sydney, who had won their seven Australasia League pennants from 2018-29. The Snakes had dropped to .500 by 2032, then were well below for the next four years. Sydney was back at 80-82 in 2037, followed by a breakthrough in 2038 for their eighth pennant (2018, 19, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 38). It was an impressive haul for a franchise that had no titles in its first 58 seasons. Sydney had control all season, holding the AL’s best record at the all-star break at 54-34; four ahead of Hobart and six ahead of Adelaide. The Snakes had the best second half as well for a 97-65 finish, leading the league in runs scored (740) and all of the Oceania Baseball Association in run differential (+161). The Tasmaniacs took second at 90-72 with the Aardvarks third at 89-73 and Perth fourth at 86-76. Last year’s AL winner Melbourne fell to seventh at 80-82. Gold Coast, the fifth place finisher at 83-79, allowed the fewest runs at 577. Leading the way for Sydney was the unanimous Australasia League MVP Sam Erickson, winning in back-to-back seasons. The 26-year old Australian LF led in the triple slash (.368/.402/.679), OPS (1.080), wRC+ (214), hits (222), RBI (120), and total bases (410). Erickson also had 108 runs, 34 doubles, 46 homers, and 8.9 WAR. He was one homer short of a Triple Crown to Hobart’s Chaz Callihan, the runner-up. The Snakes secured Erickson for the long-haul days after the season ended with an eight-year, $184,300,000 extension. Pitcher of the Year also had a unanimous and repeat winner in Melbourne’s Wyatt Ferullo with an explosive 452 strikeout season. It was 23^rd on the OBA single-season record board, but one of only 52 seasons in any world league with 450+ Ks. The 27-year old Australian righty also led in ERA (2.00), WHIP (0.84), K/BB (11.6), quality starts (35), FIP- (52), and WAR (12.97). Ferullo had a 20-15 record and 173 ERA+ in 324 innings, missing the Triple Crown by four wins to Adelaide’s Dinis Ponces. His WAR was the 21^st-best single-season by an OBA pitcher and just fell short of 13, which had only happened 99 times in world history from a pitcher. Melbourne also locked Ferullo up with a seven-year, $244,100,000 extension signed in September, making him OBA’s highest-paid pitcher. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-16-2025, 08:20 PM	#2624
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 OBA Pacific League Honolulu also completed their own rebuild on their way to the 2038 Pacific League title. The Honu had stunk from 2033-36, but got to 82-80 in 2037 before making the leap up to 100-62 in 2038. They had an impressive 36-18 record in one-run games. Honolulu won its 16^th PL pennant, tied for the second-most pennants of any Oceania Baseball Association team with only Guam (17) ahead. The Honu’s titles came in 1962, 63, 81-84, 86, 88-90, 93, 95, 96, 2019, 28, and 38. At the all-star break, Honolulu had a firm six game lead on Timor. The Tapirs finished second at 92-70, a new franchise best for them, although they remain the only squad without a pennant. The Honu led in scoring with 754 runs, while Guam allowed the fewest at 536. The Golden Eagles placed third at 90-72 while reigning OBA champ Tahiti was fourth at 87-75. It was a nice bounce-back for Guam, who stunk at 66 wins the prior year. Also notable was Guadalcanal, who plummeted to 70-92. They had won three titles in the 2030s with no losing seasons until now. The Pacific League had a first-time MVP in Timor’s Tae-Jin Yun, who got 17/20 first place votes. The 30-year old North Korean was in his first year with the Tapirs, having gotten traded in spring training after three years with Adelaide. Prior to that, he played his first seven seasons in his home country with Hamhung. In his three years with the Aardvarks, he had a total of 3.3 WAR with 108 wRC+. It was a breakout effort in 2038 as Yun led in slugging (.579), OPS (.919), and wRC+ (171). He had 176 hits, 88 runs, 24 doubles, 12 triples, 32 home runs, 100 RBI, .318 average, and 6.0 WAR. Timor gave him a four-year, $42 million in extension in late May once it was clear that Yun was worth keeping around. Dirk Murray won his fourth Pitcher of the Year in unanimous fashion, although it was his first with Honolulu. The 35-year old Canadian had a respectable seven-year run in MLB with Sacramento before arriving and dominating for the Tropics from 2032-37. Murray signed as a free agent at $128 million over four years for the Honu and played a big role in their turnaround. Despite his success and the unanimous win, he wasn’t a league leader in any stat. Murray had a 22-10 record, 2.54 ERA, 333.1 innings, 363 strikeouts, 136 ERA+, 82 FIP-, and 7.4 WAR. He was top five in all of the major stats, as the ERA winner Aaron Folkes (1.96) only had 206.2 innings. Timor’s Bret Poblano notably had the best WAR (8.0) and strikeouts (396) with a 2.79 ERA, but the pennant and name-brand for Murray went a long way. Poblano was a notable OBA debut at age 28 after the Nicaraguan had been a CABA/MLB journeyman. He also tossed a no-hitter against the Honu on May 30. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-17-2025, 07:03 AM	#2625
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 Oceania Championship The 79^th Oceania Championship was the third finals encounter of Sydney and Honolulu. The Snakes won a seven-game classic in 2019 en route to a repeat, while their rematch in 2028 was a Sydney sweep. The series started in Hawaii, but the Snakes secured a 2-1 road win as Bryan Zeits just out-dueled Dirk Murray on the mound. Game two was another Sydney road win, although it was tied at 4-4 after the sixth inning and stayed there until the 11^th. The Snakes unloaded in the top half with four runs on two homers, including Orland Fournier’s three-run bomb. The trend of road winners continued to Australia though with Honolulu taking game three 10-5. Dave Foggia was 3-5 with 2 homers and 4 RBI. It was another road win in game four with a 7-1 result for the Honu on a Murray complete game. Sydney earned the first home win with a 7-3 score in game five, racing ahead on a four-run sixth inning. Back in Hawaii for game six, the Snakes took the game and series by 4-2 margins. Sydney is now an impressive 7-1 in the finals with rings in 2018-19, 22, 25, 28-29, and 38. Honolulu falls to 8-8 all-time in the championship. League MVP Sam Erickson was series MVP, going 8-25 with 1 homer and 2 RBI. He had a triple and a run in the clincher. Other notes: 2038 was the final season for Trey Cruz, who only played 54 games thanks to a recurring strained hamstring and struggled when healthy for Samoa. He fell just short of passing Roe Kaupa as the OBA runs scored leader; his 1955 just missed Kaupa’s 1963. Cruz was already the leader in hits (3619), singles (2444), triples (396), stolen bases (1651), and caught stealing (781). His 120.06 WAR in OBA ranks behind only Jimmy Caliw (138.03) and Kaupa (127.87) for position players. Cruz also played two of his 24 seasons in MLB, giving him final combined pro totals of 3069 games, 2072 runs, 3849 hits, 471 doubles, 415 triples, 351 home runs, 1614 RBI, 1701 steals, 811 caught stealing, .325/.354/.521 slash, 138 wRC+, and 123.7 WAR. On the world leaderboard, Cruz ranks 26^th in runs, 18^th in hits, 8^th in triples, 7^th in steals, and 26^th in caught stealing. In other milestones, Hunter Dobbie was the 13^th to 600 homers. He and Cruz made it 24 in OBA with 1500 RBI. Dobbie and Liam Winmar both wrapped up their careers in 2038. Winmar finished with 628 career homers and Dobbie 623, which rank 11^th and 12^th on OBA’s all-time list. Marika Wati was the 29^th to 2500 hits. Wati, Jody Riley, Levi Cole, and Jun Lopez-Torres grew the 400 homer club to 60 members. Clement Alu was the 38^th pitcher to 200 wins and the 55^th to 3000 strikeouts. Mathew Bellamy won his 10^th Silver Slugger at SS and Wati got his 7^th split between 1B and DH. Bellamy is one of 11 in OBA with 10+ Sluggers. Both 3B Glen Cortes and SS Aquila Tabucava won their 7^th consecutive Gold Glove. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-17-2025, 10:14 PM	#2626
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 EPB European League The two-time defending Eurasian Professional Baseball champion Krasnodar won a third consecutive South Division title and earned the European League’s top seed. The Steamers had the best record at the all-star break at 58-36 and held on for the #1 spot at 98-64. Krasnodar was 35-13 in one-run games and outperformed their expected win/loss by eight games. Behind them in the South was Rostov at 91-71, who under-performed their expected W/L by six. The Rhinos got the first wild card and ended what was EPB’s longest active playoff drought at 21 seasons. It was only Rostov’s third winning season of that run, as they had been lousy since their brief dynasty run in the mid 2010s. St. Petersburg won the North Division at 94-68 to grow their playoff streak to four seasons. The Polar Bears had EPB’s best run differential (+186) and most runs scored (758). Last year’s top seed Moscow was a distant second at 86-76, but that was just enough for the Mules to get the second wild card. Moscow’s playoff streak grew to a decade, edging out Samara (84-78) and Minsk (81-81). The Mules ended on a four-game winning streak, including a three-game sweep of St. Petersburg. The Steelers dropped their final two games to the Rhinos, missing the playoffs despite a league-best 537 runs allowed. St. Petersburg LF Gavrilovich Somov repeated as European League MVP and earned the honor unanimously, an impressive feat for a guy still only 23-years old. Somov led in runs (116), home runs (60), RBI (129), total bases (397), OBP (.395), slugging (.694), OPS (1.089), wRC+ (202), and WAR (8.8). He added 188 hits, 23 doubles, and a .329 average. A native of the far-east Russian city Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Somov seems on his way already to an all-time career. Minsk’s Talgat Suleimenov won Pitcher of the Year with 2/3 of the first place votes, while St. Petersburg’s Alexander Miranda had the remaining top nods. It was Miranda who had the ERA title at 2.37, while Rostov’s Magomed Aliyev led in strikeouts (314) and Moscow’s Vladimir Setko had the best WAR (7.3). The only stat Suleimenov led in was shutouts with five. However, the 28-year old Uzbek lefty had the second-best ERA at 2.42. Suleimenov had a 16-9 record, 256.2 innings, 267 strikeouts, 147 ERA+, 78 FIP-, and 6.1 WAR. He was the #1 overall draft pick in 2033 by the Miners with more arbitration ahead. Krasnodar was the top seed and had gone 7-2 against Moscow in the regular season, but the Mules provided a fierce fight in the first round of the playoffs. Moscow opened with a 4-2 road win in 11 innings, although the Steamers matched 3-1 in game two. Game three was a mad affair with 38 hits between them, ultimately a 13-12 victory for Krasnodar. The Steamers had the 2-1 series lead after the first three home games and now would need a win in the capital. Moscow took game four 5-2 to extend the series, but Krasnodar escaped on a 5-1 game five victory thanks to eight innings with one run and five hits allowed by Maksim Astratenko. This kept the Steamers’ three-peat bid alive. The other side of the bracket was less dramatic as Rostov pulled off a stunning sweep of St. Petersburg with 3-1, 4-1, and 8-2 scores. The Rhinos hadn’t been in the European League Championship Series since their five straight trips from 2012-16. Although Krasnodar won the division by seven games over Rostov, their regular season series was a competitive 10-8. Krasnodar opened with a 6-4 home win, but Rostov took the next night on the road 4-2. The series shifted and the Rhinos earned game three at home 7-6, holding on after a six-run second inning. The Steamers got their own 11-5 road victory to knot it back up. Rostov grabbed game five 4-1 thanks to Aleksandr Usov’s three-run bomb in the third inning, taking the 3-2 advantage as the series shifted back to Krasnodar for the remainder. A game six pitching duel had a walkoff RBI double by Vadim Volkov for a 2-1 Krasnodar win. Fans expected a dramatic finale, but the Steamers exploded for a shocking 16-2 mauling to close the series and earn a third straight European League pennant. Krasnodar had five titles now, having also won the EL crown in 2017-18. In the final game, DH Aleksey Andreev was 5-5 with a homer, double, 5 RBI, and 3 runs. He earned series MVP, going 14-30 overall with 4 dingers, 8 runs, and 10 RBI. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-18-2025, 08:17 AM	#2627
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 EPB Asian League It was the sixth straight year that the Asian League’s two wild cards came out of the East Division, but never before had the power been so lopsided between East and West. The top four records came out of the AL, although only three of those teams could advance to the postseason. Irkutsk dominated the field with a 65-27 record at the all-star break. Vladivostok was a strong contender behind them, but couldn’t erase the Ice Cats’ big cushion. Irkutsk earned the division and top seed at 105-57, extending their playoff streak to six seasons with their second division title of the run. They had the AL’s best run differential at +181 and allowed the fewest runs in all of Eurasian Professional Baseball at 514. The Shibas at 101-61 easily earned repeat wild cards, while reigning AL champ Novosibirsk was next at 96-66. The Nitros easily got the second wild card to grow their playoff streak to a decade. Khabarovsk was in the mix, but a weak end to the season left them out at 88-74. The West was very competitive down the stretch, although it looked like it wouldn’t be most of the year. At the all-star break, Astana was miles ahead at 54-41 with everyone else multiple games below .500. Chelyabinsk (46-49), Ufa (44-48), and Yekaterinburg (44-50) seemingly were cooked, but they each ended up right there at the end. The Setters were 30-38 in the back-end and 2-8 in their last ten games, including getting swept in four games by the Fiends. The Yaks had the best record post break of the group at 41-28, while Ufa was 39-31 and Chelyabinsk 36-31. Yekaterinburg got a four-game sweep of Perm, then took two of three over the Cadets to close the season. They ended up tied with Astana after 162 games at 84-78. Ufa was expected to make it a three-way tie, but a stunning 5-4 home loss to 50-win Omsk in the finale ended their season at 83-79. The Fiends were the top scoring team in the AL at 702. Chelyabinsk meanwhile was two behind at 82-80. In the one-game tiebreaker, Yekaterinburg defeated Astana 4-3 to complete their impressive comeback, wining their second West Division title in three years. For Astana, it was considered one of the all-time collapses considering they had a 9.5 game lead entering August, while the Yaks were as far back as 12 games in mid-August. Ufa DH Konstantin Antonov won his third Asian League MVP, having previously done it back in 2032-33. He won unanimously as he set the single-season EPB record for total bases with 440, passing Aleksandr Belov’s 435 from three years prior. Antonov’s 66 home runs were tied for the second-best in EPB behind Ilkin Hasnov’s 71 in 1986. His 141 RBI also tied for the second-best, four away from Yuri Demyan’s 145 from 2030. Antonov was also the league leader in runs (112), OBP (.402), slugging (.731), OPS (1.133), wRC+ (215), and WAR (10.0). The slugging was also the second-best qualifying season in EPB and the OPS ranked fourth. The 30-year old Belarusian lefty also had 206 hits, 32 doubles, and a .342 average. Drafted second by the Fiends in the 2027 EPB Draft, Antonov signed a seven-year, $159,300,000 extension back in August 2037. His career .987 OPS is the second-best of any EPB batter with 3000+ plate appearances. In his second season, Vladivostok’s Edik Timonov won Pitcher of the Year with 17 first place votes and 147 points. Novosibirsk’s Sudhar Naseer had 3 first place votes and 98 points, while Irkutsk’s Dinar Mahalov had 4 and 71. Mahalov notably led in WAR (8.8) and strikeouts (340) and Naseer had the best FIP at 2.22. It was Astana’s Ionut Collar who won the ERA title at 2.22. Timonov meanwhile had the most wins and best winning percentage with his 21-4 mark for the Shibas. The 22-year old righty had a 2.36 ERA over 237.2 innings, 253 strikeouts, 151 ERA+, 65 FIP-, and 7.6 WAR. He had won Rookie of the Year the prior campaign with a third place in POTY voting. Vladivostok was certainly pleased with this scouting discovery, who has a 10/10 fastball with 99-101 mph velocity. Despite Irkutsk being the top seed, they were upset 3-1 in the first round by Novosibirsk. The Nitros opened with 5-0 and 7-1 road wins, including a one-hitter with 12 Ks by Nikita Melnikov in the opener and a two-hit complete game by Gazi Aksu the next night. The Ice Cats won game three 6-2 to extend the series, but would have to get a road win to stay alive. They nearly succeeded, but it was Novosibirsk clinching in game four with a 5-4, ten inning contest. Dingmao Li got a one-out single in the bottom of the tenth and stole second, getting knocked in with two outs on Timofei Kolarov’s RBI walkoff single. The Nitros kept their repeat bid alive, earning a sixth trip to the Asian League Championship Series of the 2030s. As a division champ, Yekaterinburg at 85 wins had home field over 101-win Vladivostok. The Yaks won the opener 4-2, but the Shibas matched 2-0 in game two. Yekaterinburg claimed game three 4-1 to reclaim the advantage as they shifted east for the rest of the series. Vladivostok grabbed game four 4-2, but the Yaks cruised 9-3 in game five to advance to their second ALCS in three years. Again despite having the worst record of the playoff teams, the division title gave Yekaterinburg hosting honors for the ALCS. They opened with a 4-0 win on a combined four-hitter with 17 strikeouts, while taking advantage of an injury to Novosibirsk ace Sudhar Naseer. The Nitros secured game two by a 4-1 margin to even the series as it shifted to Novosibirsk. The Yaks got the better of a pitcher’s duel in a 2-1 road win, but the Nitros got the next two at home 3-0 and 5-2. Game six back in Yekaterinburg was tied 2-2 after the second inning and stayed there until the 11^th. The Nitros scored two between a sacrifice fly and a bases loaded walk. The Yaks had a leadoff homer in the bottom half and a one-out single, but the latter man was stranded. With the 4-3 victory, Novosibirsk ended the series in six games for their third Asian League title in four years. It was only their fourth pennant overall with a 1988 win joining the 2035, 37, and 38 triumphs. In a losing effort, Yaks LF Andrey Golovin was ALCS MVP going 9-23 with 2 homers and 4 RBI. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-18-2025, 08:56 PM	#2628
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 EPB Championship The 84^th Eurasian Professional Baseball Championship was the first finals rematch since Ufa versus Moscow in 2015-16. Krasnodar had defeated Novosibirsk 4-2 the prior year and were shooting for the three-peat, which had only been done previously by Minsk from 2000-02. The Nitros had also lost in 2035 to Moscow and 1988 to the Miners. Novosibirsk was the only remaining original team in EPB that hadn’t won it all yet. The Nitros opened with a dominant 7-0 road win, getting a three-hitter from Denis Kropotkin with 12 strikeouts. They had set the tone immediately with four runs in the top of the first inning. Game two was a 15-inning marathon with the breakthrough in the top of the 15^th on a two RBI Ostap Tkachuk triple. With the 3-1 win, Novosibirsk had the 2-0 series lead before stepping on their home diamond. Krasnodar continued the trend of road winners with 4-2 and 5-2 scores to even the series at two apiece. Game five went ten innings with Jabir Abdul ending it on a walkoff homer on the inning’s first pitch in a 2-1 Novosibirsk victory. The Nitros needed one more road win, but wouldn’t get it in game six with Dmitry Slonimsky’s complete game pushing the Steamers to a 7-1 win. In game seven, it was a gem by Nikita Melnikov that pushed Novosibirsk to their first title. He tossed 8.2 innings with 3 hits, an unearned run, and 11 strikeouts. The Nitros got five scattered runs for the 5-1 final, becoming the 26^th unique franchise to claim the EPB crown. Thus, Krasnodar’s three-peat was denied, showing how incredibly difficult a feat it is to achieve. RF Jabir Abdul was 2-3 with 2 RBI and a run in the finale and was named series MVP. Overall, he was 9-30 with 2 homers and 6 RBI, getting the ring in his 11^th season for the Nitros. Abdul now has 67 career playoff runs, second behind Yuri Demyan’s 69. Although he took the L in game two, Melnikov was big with a 1.02 ERA and 15 Ks in 17.2 innings, as was Denis Kroptokin with a 0.54 ERA in 16.2 innings with 19 Ks. The latter was also a decade-long member of the squad, while the 36-year old Melnikov was a free agent pickup in 2036. Three players for Krasnodar notably set playoff records in 2038. Aleksey Andreev set the new high-mark for hits (31), while Azamat Kurbanow had new records for at-bats (80) and singles (22). Kurbanow also had 27 hits, the fourth-most. The Steamers’ Joas Bomans also set a bad record as he struck out 34 times. Other notes: 38-year old Dmitri Khodakovsky had 32 homers, 98 RBI, and 2.2 WAR in his sixth season for Moscow and 17^th in EPB. This got him to 1767 RBI, passing Ivan Mushailov’s 1755 to become EPB’s all-time RBI leader. Khodakovsky has 688 homers, 5^th on the all-time list with Konrad Mazur’s #1 at 740. He also became the 6^th to reach 1500 runs scored and is 147 from Timofei Averkin’s record 1689. Khodakovsky made his name with Samara, but is set for a seventh season in 2039 with the Mules. He also had 2908 hits, giving him a shot to become only the 5^th member of the 3000 hit club. Averkin holds that record with 3365. In other batting milestones, Erik Farkas was the 14^th to 1500 RBI. Yuri Demyan became the 31^st to 500 homers. Vladimir Pyatrenka had a 32-game hitting streak for Samara in the spring, falling one game short of Wolfgang Lind’s record from 2006. Ramil Kasimov was the 63^rd pitcher to 3500 strikeouts and the 64^th to 200 wins. 3B Olzhas Vorsul won his 9^th consecutive Gold Glove. It was the final season for Farkas, who ended with 2723 hits, 1378 runs, 382 doubles, 640 homers, 1547 RBI, .284/.331/.532 slash, 147 wRC+, and 76.3 WAR. On EPB’s leaderboard, he retires 8^th in homers, 12^th in RBI, 15^th in hits, and 13^th in runs; although he is only 60^th in WAR among position players. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-19-2025, 09:16 AM	#2629
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 EBF Northern Conference 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. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-19-2025, 07:24 PM	#2630
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 EBF Southern Conference Budapest (65-38) and Seville (64-39) had the Southern Conference’s top records at the all-star break and both held on for division titles. The Bombers finished 102-60 for the top seed, a third straight East Division crown, growing their playoff streak to six seasons. Budapest’s 879 runs led the conference, while the Stingrays’ 681 were the fewest. At 100-62, Seville’s playoff streak grew to three seasons, but the West Division title was their first division crown since 2008. Reigning European Baseball Federation champ Madrid had been the West champ the prior two years and ended up the first wild card at 96-66, ending the season on a seven-game win streak. The Conquistadors actually had the best run differential in the SC at +162. The #2 wild card was 93-69 Naples in their second year since getting promoted back to the EBF Elite. The Nobles hadn’t made the playoffs since 2027. Marseille ended on a four-game winning streak and had the best record post-break at 39-20. That allowed the Musketeers to get to 91-71, tying with Thessaloniki for the final two wild cards. The first teams out were Zaragoza (89-73), Valencia (86-76), Chisinau (86-76), Malta (85-77), and Skopje (85-77). This ended an 11-year playoff drought for Marseille, while the Tritons got repeat wild cards. Thessaloniki had a .522 team slugging, which was a conference record and the third-best in EBF history. Their 293 home runs were also the third-best in EBF history. Varna’s 281 homers notably were the third-best in conference history and Malta’s 142 triples set a new conference high. The weakest record went to Tirana at 61-101, a shocking collapse since they were a wild card the prior year. The Trojans were three games behind Athens and five from Zagreb in the East. It was the second relegation for the Albanian capital, who spent 2011-13 in the European Second League. They had been mostly mid-lower tier since then among the EBF Elite with only two playoff berths, but they lasted 25 seasons. Luxembourg was the worst in the West at 64-98, while Munich (68-94) and Barcelona (69-93) narrowly escaped their first-ever demotion. This was the third drop for the Lancers, who lasted four years in their return. The Mavericks meanwhile had a 5.23 ERA, 920 runs allowed, and 839 earned runs; each the second-worst in conference history. Southern Conference MVP went to Thessaloniki LF Angel Gospodinov with 33 first place votes and 633 points. Zaragoza LF Sebastian Granados was second with 19 first place votes and 563 points. Granados notably led in homers (63), slugging (.828), OPS (1.269), and WAR (11.0), but did lose a month to a strained groin. His slugging was the fourth-best single-season in EBF and the OPS was second-best. He also ranked as the 16^th-best qualifying slugging and 20^th OPS in any world league. Despite that, Gospodinov beat him out by leading in hits (232), total bases (453), and batting average (.395). The 25-year old Bulgarian lefty had 126 runs, 27 doubles, 19 triples, 52 homers, 135 RBI, 1.197 OPS, 207 wRC+, and 8.4 WAR. Gospodinov’s batting average was the seventh-best in EBF history, his OPS was 13^th, and total bases were 12^th. In April, the Tritons locked him up to an eight-year, $186,900,000 extension. Skopje’s Apostolos Anaximenes was the unanimous Pitcher of the Year in his EBF Elite debut. The 28-year old Greek righty had won three POTYs in E2L, finally getting his shot after the Stags’ promotion for 2038. Anaximenes led in ERA (2.00), FIP- (55), and WAR (7.9). In 211.1 innings, he struck out 256 with a 17-5 record and 216 ERA+. In March, Skopje gave him a seven-year, $155,400,000 extension as they hope to stick in the top tier. Naples crushed Thessaloniki on 12-1 and 13-4 wins in the first round. Reigning champ Madrid also swept Marseille, but in competitive 7-6 and 5-4 bouts. Both second round matchups would need all five games. The Conquistadors opened with a 5-3 win over their Spanish rival Seville. The Stingrays bounced back on 9-4 and 7-3 wins, but Madrid took game four 3-1. In the finale, the Conquistadors had a five-run sixth inning that pushed them to the 6-3 road upset of Seville. Top seed Budapest seemed poised for a sweep early with 5-3 and 1-0 wins over Naples. Game two was scoreless until the 12^th inning, clinched on a RBI double walkoff by Francois Malherbe. The Nobles showed impressive grit with 4-1 and 8-4 wins, forcing game five. A mammoth seven-run fourth inning powered Naples to an 11-6 upset. 3B Giancarlo Marchesi had a grand slam in the fourth and a three-run homer in the first, going 4-5 on the day with 8 RBI. Naples was the Second League champ only two years prior and now was in the Southern Conference Championship for the first time since their 2022 pennant. Madrid opened with a 2-1 home win, but the Nobles took a lopsided 7-2 result in game two. Naples claimed the lead as the series shifted to Italy with a 3-2 score in game three. The hot-streak continued for the Nobles with a 5-3 win in game four and a 8-3 clincher in game five, dethroning the defending champ Conquistadors. Naples became four-time conference champs (1957, 1998, 2022, 2038). Marchesi was also MVP of the conference finals, going 8-19 with 1 HR, 3 runs, and 5 RBI. It’s the first time since the Nobles’ last trip that an Italian squad made the European Championship. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-20-2025, 08:15 AM	#2631
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 European Championship The 89^th European Championship had back-to-back trips for Antwerp, who fell to Madrid the prior year. The Airedales were shooting for their second title, having beaten Barcelona in 2015. It was Naples’ first trip since 2022 as they also hoped for their second ring. The Nobles’ lone title came in 1998 over Berlin. There also hadn’t been an Italian champ since that 1998 triumph. The series began on a clear 47 degree night in Belgium. Game one went extra innings as Andres Gronkjaer’s solo homer in the top of the ninth for Naples evened it at 2-2. The Nobles got three runs in the tenth, while Antwerp got one back in the bottom half. The Airedales got two runners in scoring position for home run leader Bohuslav Vlasko, but he struck out and left them stranded for a 5-3 Naples win. With a five-run seventh inning, Naples jumped out to a 6-3 lead in game two. In the bottom of the ninth, Antwerp scored twice thanks to two singles, an error, and wild pitch. Vlasko redeemed himself then with a two-run walkoff homer for a 7-6 Airedales victory. As the series shifted to Italy, Antwerp got their own 6-3 road win to reclaim the advantage. In a game four pitcher’s duel, the Airedales took it 2-1 with the winning run in the top of the ninth. Pinch hitter Dietmar Bruderle led off the inning with a triple and after a rain delay, scored on a sacrifice fly. Antwerp jumped to a 5-0 lead after the third in game five and held on for a 7-4 victory, clinching the series on the road in five games. Finals MVP was 2B Christopher Rioux, who was 8-22 with 1 homer and 4 RBI. The 38-year old Frenchman was the roster’s elder and longest-tenured player, having come to Antwerp in a 2024 trade with Rotterdam at age 24. Rioux had been steady over 2063 games with .758 OPS, 111 wRC+, and 42.6 WAR, providing solid defense at second and leadership as team captain. After 15 seasons, the beloved Rioux finally hoisted the trophy proudly with his long-time squad. Other notes: EBF’s 47^th perfect game and the first since 2032 happened on June 11. Chisinau’s Aleksandar Kerimov did it with 13 strikeouts facing Athens. Tbilisi’s Valentyn Hacek hit for the cycle in both July and September, becoming the 6^th EBF player to do it twice in a season. Liverpool had an impressive offense, setting a new EBF team record for hits at 1777 and team on-base percentage at .352. They had the 2^nd-best batting average (.308) and triples (145) in EBF and the 3^rd-most stolen bases in the Northern Conference (462). Despite that and a conference-best 916 runs, the Phantoms finished 85-77 with poor pitching, allowing 827 runs with a 4.73 ERA. Attila Sebek became the 24^th member of the 600 home run club. The 500 homer club grew to 58 with Cristian Popa, Matt Gomez, and Adam Nebowski joining in 2038. Stainslav Sahakayan, Robert Frohlich, and Jacinto Calvillo made it 40 sluggers with 1500 RBI. 33 now had 1500 runs with the addition of Gomez, Henri L’Ecuyer, Kamil Bufka, and Uwe Lichtenberg. Gomez and Lichtenberg were also the 51^st and 52^nd to 2500 hits. Jovan Cavric and Damien Stevens were the 46^th and 47^th pitchers to 200 wins. Danila Filinov was the 66^th to 3000 strikeouts. 1B Waldemar Riemers won his 11^th consecutive Gold Glove. He’s only the 3^rd EBF player to win 11+ Gold Gloves, joining the legendary SS Harvey Coyle (13) and RF Jacob Ronnberg (11). Two-way SP/CF Konstantin Farakos won his 7^th Silver Slugger as a pitcher. Promotion/Relegation: Below are the teams moving up and down the European baseball pyramid after the 2038 season. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-20-2025, 07:55 PM	#2632
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 BSA Bolivar League The defending Copa Sudamerica winner Valencia and Bogota battled much of the season for the Bolivar League’s top seed. At the all-star break, the 66-32 Velocity had a half-game up on the Bats. They kept an even pace with each other and pulled away from the field. Both finished at 105-57 with Bogota winning two of three in their regular season encounter in June, giving the #1 seed to the Bats. Bogota ended a seven-year playoff drought back to their 2030 Cup win. Since 2008, they’ve only made the playoffs or won the Colombia-Ecuador Division twice. Valencia earned its fifth playoff trip in six years and their third Venezuela Division title of the run. The Velocity allowed the fewest runs in all of Beisbol Sudamerica at 556. The third division winner was La Paz at 98-64 atop the Peru-Bolivia Division with the Pump Jacks matching Valencia/Bogota’s pace in the second half. Although it was their fourth playoff trip in a decade, La Paz hadn’t been a division champ since 2005. Lima was second at 92-70, ultimately falling one game short in the wild card race. Trujillo and Arequipa, playoff teams the prior year, fell to 85-77 and 74-88, respectively. The two leaders in the wild card race came from the Colombia-Ecuador Division with Barranquilla (96-66) and Quito (94-68) edging out Ciudad Guayana (93-69), Lima (92-70), and Bucaramanga (87-75). The Blues ended a four-year playoff streak and the Thunderbolts got their fifth berth in six years. Ciudad Guayana was right there, but they were swept in their final series hosting lackluster Maracaibo, missing the cut at 93-69. The Giants had been a finalist with 100+ wins the prior two years and did lead in 2038 with 881 runs scored. Their offense only struck out 917 times, a new league record. Caracas also had a shot until ending the season on a ten-game losing streak with a 5-18 record in September. Bogota RF Savino Muniz was the undisputed Bolivar League MVP in his seventh year starting for the Bats. The 29-year old Colombian led in slugging (.739), OPS (1.142), and wRC+ (197). Muniz had 205 hits, 124 runs, 38 doubles, 10 triples, 57 home runs, 143 RBI, and 9.0 WAR. Second place was Quito 1B Patton Tadeo, who led in batting average (.380), RBI (156), and WAR (9.1), but only had 43 homers. The Bats also had Pitcher of the Year Adrian Villalobos, who had 30 first place votes and 257 points. Ciudad Guayana’s Rafael Menendez had eight first place votes, La Paz’s Cosimo Masci had three, and Trujillo’s Sercinio Etnel got one. It was Menendez who led by far in WAR (8.2) and had the most strikeouts (307) and wins (20-5). However, Villalobos lapped the field for ERA at 2.33 with Menendez a distant second at 2.84 (although Menendez had the 2.45/2.84 edge in FIP). The 32-year old Villalobos had a 14-8 record, 228.1 innings, 223 strikeouts, 22 quality starts, 183 ERA+ and 71 FIP-. His control had been shaky at points, thus dropping in and out of the rotation to that point despite being a first round draft pick back in 2027. Although he debuted in 2030, the Colombian lefty had only accrued around five years of service time. Also notable was Valencia’s Wilkin Casillas winning his third Reliever of the Year, having previously done it in 2036 and 2034. He was seventh among all pitchers with 5.3 WAR and had a 2.06 ERA, 35 saves, 87.1 innings, and 177 strikeouts. In nine seasons for the Velocity, Casillas already has an impressive 33.8 WAR over 670.2 innings with 277 saves, 1.96 ERA, and 1265 strikeouts. In the first round of the playoffs, Quito opened with a 4-0 road upset over Barranquilla with a five-hit shutout by Luis Molina. The Blues rebounded though with 4-2 and 8-5 wins to prevail over their divisional rival. Bogota opened with a 6-3 win in the divisional series against Barranquilla. In game two, the Blues had a three-run ninth inning to force extras, but the Bats got the walkoff in the tenth on a sacrifice fly. Barranquilla wouldn’t go down without a fight, winning at home 4-3 and 4-0 to force a fifth game back in the Colombia capital. Herbert Neuendorf’s two-run homer in the seventh was the final nail in a 3-1 upset win by the Blues, stunning the top-seeded Bogota. Barranquilla earned their first trip to the Bolivar League Championship Series since 2032. A 2009 expansion team, the Blues have been to the BLCS seven times since 2024. Valencia opened their defense of the Cup with a 5-0 home win over La Paz, but the Pump Jacks answered with a surprise 5-3 road win. The Velocity matched 8-2 as they shifted to Bolivia, but La Paz countered on a 6-2 home win. The finale back in Venezuela was a back-and-forth affair with Valencia taking a 7-5 lead after a three-run seventh inning, including Ace Venavidez’ two-run homer. La Paz’s Nando Arambulo drew a leadoff double in the top of the ninth followed by a David Hora walk, but the next two hitters struck out. Down to their last out, Jason Chambi got a two RBI double to tie the game at 7-7 to force extras. In the top of the tenth, Arambulo got a two-out triple and ended up scoring on a wild pitch. In the bottom half, Valencia’s first two batters singled, but one was caught stealing and the next two were sent down on strikes. With that, the Pump Jacks prevailed 8-7 for the big upset, earning their first trip to the BLCS since 2005 while hoping for their first pennant since 1999. La Paz swept Barranquilla in their season series and had home field advantage, but the Blues came out with a 3-2 road upset to open. The Pump Jacks matched with a 5-0 result on a 14-strikeout, five-hit shutout by Paulo Fialho. A late RBI single in the eighth edged Barranquilla to a 8-7 home win in game three. Game four was a pitcher’s duel with no scoring through 11 innings and only seven hits per team. La Paz scored the lone run in the 12^th with Vitorio Jimenez getting a leadoff double and getting knocked in by Daniel Alarcon’s RBI single. The Blues rebounded for a 5-3 score in game five with both teams getting 12 hits. Barranquilla had the 3-2 series lead, but would have to get at least one more win in Bolivia to advance. La Paz massacred Barranquilla 12-0 in game six, but the Blues put it out of their minds in game seven. Rookie Henrique Simos, who had only 45 career regular season innings to his name, tossed seven shutout innings for Barranquilla followed by a two-inning save for closer Eusebio Molina in a 3-0 Blues triumph. Molina had nine shutout innings of relief in the series. SS Eliazar Baeza, primarily known for his glove and not bat, was series MVP going 9-22 with 1 homer and 4 RBI. Barranquilla became four-time Bolivar League champs with the 2038 pennant joining their 2025-27 three-peat. They were the first Colombian team to win the title since Bogota in 2030. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-21-2025, 07:27 AM	#2633
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 BSA Southern Cone League Rio de Janeiro was seven games ahead of anyone else in the Southern Cone League at the all-star break with a 64-33 record. Fortaleza tried to give them a run with the Foxes’ 41-24 record in the back-end, but the Redbirds claimed the top seed and Southeast Division at 101-61. Fortaleza finished at 98-64 atop the North Division, which ended an 11-year playoff and division title drought for the Foxes. Rio led the league in run differential (+202) and runs scored (771) en route to a third straight playoff trip and second division title in the run. Sao Paulo was a very distant second at 85-77, ending their playoff streak at four years. The Padres have had only winning seasons since 2021, but this was their fifth playoff miss of that streak. Recife finished five back on Fortaleza in the North at 93-69, which was good for the first wild card. The Retrievers ended a three-year playoff drought and allowed the league’s fewest runs at 561. Salvador was a distant third at 86-76, which fell four short of the second wild card. Defending league champ Brasilia was middling at 82-80 for only their third playoff miss of the 2030s. In the South Central Division, Valparaiso and Salta battled back-and-forth The Silver Hawks took the lead by going 13-1 to end August, but a Voodoo sweep to start September evened them up at 80-63. They both finished the regular season at 90-72 which guaranteed a spot for both, as the non-division champ would get the second wild card. As BSA doesn’t give division champs seeding preference, they were guaranteed to be the #4 and #5 seeds Still, winning the division title was important and the tiebreaker gave home field for the first round playoff series. Valparaiso won the tiebreaker game 6-2 to repeat as champs, while Salta’s playoff streak grew to five seasons. Notable was also Santiago’s drop to 74-88; the first losing season for the Saints since 2008. The division did also see a turnaround by Mendoza, as their 81-81 was a far cry from the 64 and 51 wins they had the prior two years. Salta’s Sol Rubio won Southern Cone League MVP for the second time in three years. He pulled it off despite not leading in a major stat, getting 28 first place votes. Rio de Janiero’s Simon Veronese had 11 and Sao Paulo’s Arbert Calderon had one. Many had Veronese as the favorite on the top seed, leading in WAR (8.3), average (.363), RBI (124) and OPS (1.099) with 50 homers. Rubio was by no means bad, although the popularity of “Bruiser” certainly helped. The 28-year old Argentinian third baseman had 209 hits, 114 runs, 29 doubles, 11 triples, 40 homers, 100 RBI, .345/.375/.627 slash, 167 wRC+, and 7.8 WAR. After the prior season, the 6’6’’ Rubio signed an eight-year, $144,300,000 extension to stick with the Silver Hawks. Rio’s Nereus Rebellin repeated as Pitcher of the Year and was the unanimous winner, although he didn’t lead the traditional big stats. Recife’s Rudy Maldonado had the best ERA at 2.10, although Rebellin was a close second at 2.16. Salvador’s Miguel Lebrija had the most wins (23) and Belem’s Onofre Cruz led with 312 strikeouts. Rebellin was the WARlord though at 9.4 and led in WHIP (0.92), complete games (16), shutouts (6), FIP- (49), and FIP (1.93). The 27-year old Brazilian lefty had an 18-5 record and 287 strikeouts with a 179 ERA+ over 233 innings. Rebellin had been the #3 draft pick in 2033 by the Redbirds. Since his 2035 rotator cuff tear, he has been reliably one of the league’s top arms. Valparaiso swept Salta on 3-1 and 7-2 wins in the first round. The Voodoo kept the momentum going into the divisional series, upsetting top seed Rio de Janeiro 4-3 in the opener. The game went 11 innings with Zacarias Ramos hitting the RBI double that put Valparaiso ahead. The Voodoo then stunned the Redbirds 3-1 in game two, taking the advance back home to Chile. Game three also went 11 innings and again Ramos was the hero. This time, he led off the bottom of the 11^th and socked a homer to left, giving Valparaiso the 4-3 win and a stunning sweep over top seed Rio. The Voodoo became the first of the six expansion teams from 2029 to advance to their league final, an impressive feat in only the squad’s tenth season. On the other side, Fortaleza got 8-4 and 3-2 wins to open over their divisional rival Recife. The Retrievers grabbed game three 8-3 at home, but the Foxes cruised to a 13-4 victory to seal the series in four games. Fortaleza earned its first trip to the Southern Cone Championship since the 2025 pennant win. They also had an impressive 52-29 record at home, but it didn’t help them as Valparaiso opened the series with 5-4 and 3-1 road wins. Notably in game one, pinch hitter Lukas Hintersteiner had a two-run go-ahead homer in the ninth. In game two, the Voodoo used four hits to plate two runs in the ninth. Valparaiso then took game three 6-5 at home, putting them in position to run the table. Fortaleza avoided the sweep with a 7-4 win in game four, ending what was a 13-game win streak for the Voodoo going back to the end of the regular season. In game five, Hintersteiner was again a key pinch hitter with a one-out double in the eighth. Dries Uyl brought him in on a RBI single to put the score at 3-2, which was the final tally. Valparaiso took their first title in five games with an all-time dominant postseason run from the #4 seed. They became the 34^th different franchise to earn a trip to Copa Sudamerica. LF Rob Granadoz was series MVP going 12-20 with 1 HR and 4 RBI. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-21-2025, 06:24 PM	#2634
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 Copa Sudamerica The 108^th Copa Sudamerica had two of the newer franchises in Beisbol Sudamerica. Barranquilla was one of the 2009 expansion teams and made three straight appearances in 2025-27, winning the Cup in 2025 and 2027. Valparaiso was a 2029 expansion team and the first of that group to get this far. Both made it to the finals from the #4 seed, albeit with different paths. Each of the Blues’ series had gone the distance, while the Voodoo had two sweeps and a 4-1 win. Barranquilla won the regular season inter-league series 2-1 and had home field advantage. The Blues opened with a 3-1 victory, as Curtis Hernandez allowed only one run in seven innings despite scattering ten hits, followed by Eusebio Molina’s ninth playoff save. Game two was 1-1 after the third inning and stayed there until the tenth. The wheels fell off from the Blues as Valparaiso had four runs on three hits and two walks. The 5-1 final evened the series as it shifted south to Chile and ultimately it didn’t return to Colombia. The Voodoo took game three 4-2 and went up 7-0 midway through game four. Barranquilla got one back in the seventh and had a six-run ninth inning, forcing extras at 7-7. Valparaiso avoided the collapse in the end, winning 8-7 in the 13^th. Jonathan Torres got on via an error, then stole both second and third in the next at-bat. Dries Uyl knocked him in on an RBI walkoff single. Barranquilla’s spirit was crushed after that loss as Valparaiso rolled to an 8-0 blowout in the game five clincher, getting a 12 strikeout, four-hit shutout by Paco Duron. The Voodoo went 13-2 across an impressive playoff run, becoming the 29^th franchise to win the cup and the first from Chile since Santiago in 2033. 2B Orlando Becerra went 10-20 to win series MVP. A few playoff records were set, including Valparaiso reliever Nazar Salguero recording six wins, which tied Marco Vera’s record from two years prior. He had a 2.18 ERA and 2 saves in 10 appearances with 20.2 innings and 30 strikeouts. Barranquilla closer Eusebio Molina set the record for appearances (13) by a pitcher. Four Blues played in all 20 of their games, a new record. Librado Fernandez meanwhile set a bad playoff record with 30 strikeouts. Other notes: Arequipa 1B Paco Amorim continued to rise up the leaderboards with a relatively down year by his high standard, although the 38-year old still had .981 OPS, 169 wRC+, 5.0 WAR, and 28 homers. Amorim became the 2^nd in BSA to score 2000 runs, the 5^th to 3500 hits, the 7^th to 750 homers, the 4^th to 2000 RBI, the 7^th to 550 doubles, and the 4^th position player to 150 WAR. Amorim now sits at 3536 hits, 2070 runs, 765 homers, 2000 RBI, 1665 walks, 1.116 OPS, 185 wRC+, and 151.8 WAR in 20 seasons with the Arrows. He is within striking distance of Niccolo Coelho’s runs record of 2133. If Amorim keeps a solid pace, he could reach the hits and RBI records in 2-3 seasons, but the others would be harder to catch. The five-time MVP will be a free agent for the first time after a storied tenure with the Arrows. Amorim is already BSA’s walks leader and ranks 15^th on the world leaderboard. He’s up to 47^th on the WARboard for all players ever in world history. Amorim is also 28^th in runs, 63^rd in hits, and 75^th in RBI for all players. If he were to retire today, he would have a better career OBP and OPS than all other Hall of Famers in world history with his .359/.451/.665 slash and 1.116 OPS. In other hitting milestones, Bryce Guerra was the 25^th to 600 home runs and Irwin Contreras was the 74^th to 500. Guerra was also the 44^th to reach 1500 RBI. Pete Zelaya was the 96^th to 2500 hits. In pitching notables, Cristovao Santiago was the 75^th to 200 wins and Gabriel Jimenez was the 45^th to 300 saves. 1B Rafael Setiantoro won his 8^th Gold Glove. BSA’s 53^rd perfect game came on March 25, the second day of the regular season. Maracaibo’s Alajandro Rossello did it with 10 strikeouts over 105 pitches facing Cali. Quito’s Patton Tadeo had a 33-game hitting streak, which was tied for the 12^th-longest in BSA history. Maracay was a miserable 43-119, which was the 2^nd-worst record in BSA history. Only 2022 Barquisimeto at 35-127 was worse. Valencia’s pitching allowed 199 walks with a 1.21 BB/9; both the 3^rd-best in BSA history. The Velocity’s Ronaldo Garcia set a bad single-season record, getting caught stealing 93 times (although he did succeed 66 times). This would’ve been a world record for getting caught if not for APB’s Liu-Ching Chang failing 98 times this year. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-22-2025, 08:00 AM	#2635
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 EAB Japan League The Japan League’s top action came out of the Capital Division for much of the season. At the all-star break, Yokohama had the JL’s best record at 70-34 with reigning East Asian Baseball champ Saitama one back at 69-34. They remained ahead of the rest of the field with the Yellow Jackets pulling away late for the top seed at 107-55. Saitama at 102-60 was easily the first wild card with both squads earning repeat playoff trips. It was Yokohama’s first division title since 2017. Sapporo atop the North Division got the #2 seed at 102-60. The Swordsmen won a third straight division title and got a fourth playoff spot in a row. Hamamatsu earned the Central Division for the sixth successive season at 100-62. The Chickenhawks led in run differential (+240) and runs scored (868), the latter being the third-most runs in a JL season ever. Their .288 team batting average was second-best in Japanese history and their .332 OBP was third. The weakest division winner was Fukuoka at 91-71, who under-performed their expected win/loss by 11 with a 20-34 record in one-run games. Regardless, the Frogs made it a West Division three-peat, topping 85-77 Hiroshima by six games. Three teams fought for the second wild card with the Capital Division’s third place squad Kawasaki narrowly taking it. The Killer Whales at 92-70 had the best second half of any team at 39-19 and allowed the fewest runs in EAB at 497. Their division title and 100+ win season streak snapped at five, but the playoff streak grew to eight seasons. Sendai and Osaka, both second in their divisions, were both one back at 91-71. The Orange Sox were 8-2 to end the year, but couldn’t quite take the spot. Although the seeding changed, the 2038 playoff field in Japan was the same as the prior year. Hamamatsu CF Issei Sakamoto won Japan League MVP and was nearly unanimous with teammate 1B Mitsuru Ishida poaching only one first place vote from him. The 27-year old righty was a huge free agent signing for the Chickenhawks after previously playing with Yokohama and Ulsan. They had given him a huge eight-year, $255,500,000 deal hoping he’d bounce back after missing a month the prior year to an elbow injury. Sakamoto led the league in runs (137), hits (233), triples (29), total bases (390), stolen bases (90), batting average (.366), and WAR (12.1). He added 24 doubles, 25 home runs, 110 RBI, 1.014 OPS, and 190 wRC+. The runs were tied for the 8^th-best single season in EAB history and it was one of only 17 seasons by an EAB position player with 12+ WAR. Sakamoto also had a 4.6 zone rating and 1.017 EFF, providing positive defense in center along with his bat. Saitama’s Kunihiko Ozawa won Pitcher of the Year with 34 first place votes, while three other pitchers split the remaining six top votes. Amazingly Sendai’s Atsuo Sugaya was sixth in voting despite leading in strikeouts (379) and WAR (8.1). It was Kawasaki’s Kiyohiro Yoshioka who won the ERA title at 1.73, although he had fewer innings than the other contenders. In his fourth season for the Sting, Ozawa was the leader in wins (22-7) and quality starts (26). The 26-year old righty had a 2.43 ERA over 244.2 innings, 322 strikeouts, 147 ERA+, 72 FIP-, and 6.8 WAR. Ozawa had been the #15 pick in the 2034 EAB Draft by the Saitama and had already given them four strong seasons. He was signed after the 2036 campaign to a six-year, $93,200,000 extension. As a division champ, Fukuoka had home field and the one-game bonus despite being 11 wins worse than Saitama in the wild card round. The Sting had also swept them in six games in the regular season, so many expected the defending champs to roll. Saitama opened the series with a 7-5 road win, but the Frogs responded with a 7-6 win. In game three, Fukuoka scored seven between innings 6-7 en route to a 8-5 win, completing the 3-1 upset over the defending champ. Kawasaki opened with a 7-6 road win in ten innings over Hamamatsu in a dramatic affair. The Killer Whales went ahead with four runs in the eighth inning, but the Chickenhawks got one back in the ninth to tie. Kawasaki scored twice in the top of the tenth inning. Hamamatsu got one back with a solo homer on the first pitch of the bottom half and got the next batter to second, but he was ultimately stranded. Hamamatsu was down 5-1 in game two, but they got two in the eighth and three in the ninth for a walkoff 6-5 win. The dramatic final swing was a three-run homer by Mitsuru Ishida which narrowly cleared the left field fence at 339 feet. Hamamatsu then held on 4-3 in game three, giving them the series as they started with the one-game bonus as a division champ. Sapporo rolled to a 6-2 win over Hamamatsu to start the divisional series. They needed a sacrifice fly in game two in the ninth to force extras at 6-6. With two outs in the bottom of the 14^th, Ji-Uk Ryu’s solo homer gave the Swordfish the 7-6 walkoff win. The series shifted to Hamamatsu and the Chickenhawks unleashed in a 13-4 result in game three. Game four went extras with a Takayasu Nakatani two-run homer proving decisive in a ten-inning, 7-5 win for Sapporo. With the 3-1 series win, the Swordfish earned their first trip to the Japan League Championship Series since their 2026 title. Hamamatsu has had back-to-back divisional round exits since their historic three-peat and the legendary 126-36 season and Grand Champion run in 2036. Top seed Yokohama opened with a 3-1 win over Fukuoka, but the Frogs surprised them with a 2-0 upset in game two. Fukuoka then claimed game three at home 7-2 to put the Yellow Jackets on the brink. However, Yokohama’s 3-2 result in game four got extended the series back to their home diamond. Starter Yozo Harada was injured in the fifth inning, but ultimately four pitchers combined in a three-hit shutout by the Yellow Jackets. Three runs in the eighth gave them the extra padding in a 4-0 win, giving the Yellow Jackets their first JLCS appearance since their 2016 pennant. They had home field advantage over Sapporo and had won the season series 4-2. Yokohama’s pitching was excellent initially with 6-1 and 4-0 home wins to open the series. Sapporo reversed the trend extremely as the series shifted north, winning the next three by 11-7, 8-2, and 14-3 margins. Game six was back to being competitive with a tied 2-2 score from innings 7-11. In the 12^th, Sapporo’s Rikuto Utada singled on the first pitch, then was knocked in by Michinori Maeda’s RBI double. Yokohama got a one-out single in the bottom half, but their other batters all struck out looking. The 3-2 Sapporo road win gave them the series in six games, ending their 11 year title drought. The Swordfish have been Japan’s best team overall with the most pennants (17) and JLCS trips (31). They had previous titles in 1922, 32, 33, 44, 45, 47, 49, 50, 51, 56, 81, 83, 97, 98, 2024, 26, and 38). CF Rikuto Utada was series MVP, going 10-24 with 3 homers and 7 RBI. Ji-U Ryu notably was 10-27 with 4 homers and 10 RBI. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

12-22-2025, 06:45 PM	#2636
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 EAB Korea League The Korea League was extremely top heavy as Goyang, Gwangju, and Ulsan each won 110+ games in a fierce fight for the top seed. They each absolutely rolled to division titles with the defending KL champ Green Sox getting their fourth straight crown in the North. They extended their playoff streak to 12 seasons with 10 division titles. The Swallows won a third straight Southeast Division and grew the playoff streak to four. The Grays got their sixth Southwest Division crown in a row. At the all-star break, Goyang narrowly was the best of the three at 72-31, followed by the Swallows at 72-32 and Grays at 69-35. All three remained strong in the second half, but the Green Sox narrowly kept the edge at 112-50 while the others were 110-52. Goyang had the best run differential in East Asia Baseball at +277 with the most runs scored (867) and their pitching staff had 1709 strikeouts and a 10.45 K/9, both single-season KL records. Gwangju and Ulsan had split their six regular season games, but the margin of victory was 30-21 in favor of the Grays thanks to a 10-0 drubbing in their first meeting. This gave Gwangju the #2 seed and a bye, forcing the Swallows to play someone in the wild card round. Although it was fully expected that Ulsan would advance and set up a divisional round showdown with the Grays. The only competitive division was the Central with Yongin (101-61) holding on over Suwon (97-65). The Gold Sox were 14-3 in extra-inning games, helping them win eight games more than their expected win/loss. Yongin ended an eight-year playoff drought and won their first division title since 2010. The Snappers got the first wild card, giving them eight playoff trips in the last ten years. A 38-21 record after the all-star break gave Gimhae the narrow edge for the second wild card at 94-68, holding off Seongnam (93-69) and Pyongyang (87-75). The Spiders were right with Yongin and Suwon in the division at the break, but a 1-9 run in early August sank them despite allowing the KL’s fewest runs at 555. The Golden Angels earned their first-ever playoff trip since joining with the 2030 expansion. Also worth a notice was Busan at 80-82, which was their first losing record since 2019. They’ve missed the playoffs back-to-back following their record 17-year postseason streak. Suwon’s Ye-Seung Lee was the unanimous Korea League MVP and became a two-time winner, having also done it in 2034. The 32-year old 1B led in home runs (64), RBI (139), total bases (434), slugging (.713), OPS (1.078), wRC+ (210), and WAR (10.4). In his tenth year as a full-timer for the Snappers, Lee had 201 hits, 124 runs, 31 doubles, and a .330 average. Lee is signed through 2042 on a $269 million deal, although he does have an opt out option next year. Ulsan’s Jin-Yu Jun made history as a six-time Pitcher of the Year winner, a feat previously only met by Yu-Geon Moon, Toshikuni Naikai, and Aiya Kodama. Jun had won in 2026, 27, and 29 with the Swallows, then took the honor in 2032 and 34 with Kobe. Ulsan gave him a record-setting $385 million extension in March 2029, but traded him to the Blaze by October due to financial woes. He returned to Ulsan last year, won the ERA title and was second in POTY voting. For 2038, he got 30 first place votes, while Changwon’s Wan Ahn got nine and Goyang’s Sang-Soo Lee had one. Many were shocked that Jun won it so firmly considering Ahn earned his second Triple Crown in three seasons and only the 22^nd by an EAB pitcher. Ahn beat out Jun by a mere fraction for the ERA title at 1.938 versus 1.939. On a middling Crabs squad, Ahn also had the most wins at 24-6 and strikeouts at 351. Jun had him narrowly beat for WAR (10.1 to 9.9) and FIP (1.85 to 1.97). It was Lee who actually led in both WAR (10.7) and FIP (1.68). Jun had 341 strikeouts over 246 innings with a 22-5 record and led in WHIP (0.77) and K/BB (10.0). He also had a 206 ERA+ and 46 FIP- at age 35 against the strong field. Jun became the 22^nd EAB ace with 4000 career strikeouts and the 6th with 120+ WAR. Now at 120.31, Jun is two strong years or one amazing year from passing Jae-Hoon Seon’s 132.37 as the EAB leader in pitching WAR. His return deal with Ulsan was $121 million over five years. Pyongyang’s Eun-Jae Chong was Reliever of the Year and also notable as the only the second ROTY winner in the KL with a sub-one ERA in the 21^st Century. His 6.9 WAR was sixth among all KL pitchers as the 31-year old had a 0.60 ERA, 34 saves, and 173 strikeouts in 89.2 innings. Chong’s WAR is the fourth-best by a Reliever of the Year winner in EAB. Yongin had home field and the one-game bonus against Suwon in the first round and narrowly avoided collapse in an 8-7 game one win. The Snappers successfully rallied in a 6-3 second contest, but the Gold Sox rolled to 7-1 in game three to advance. In the clincher, 23-year old Kunio Ogawa had a three-hit complete game with six strikeouts. Ulsan was the heavy favorite on the other side with Gimhae and won the opener 8-4. The Golden Angels surprised them 5-3 in game two and forced extras in game three. Myung Lee’s RBI single in the tenth ended the series with a 2-1 final. This set up the highly anticipated Ulsan/Gwangju showdown in the divisional round. With both teams 110-52, it is almost certainly the most wins between two teams playing in the playoffs outside of the championship or LCS. The Swallows started with a 2-0 road win as POTY Jin-Yu Jun tossed 8.2 scoreless innings with 6 hits and 10 Ks. Gwangju rallied in game two with a Seong-Heon Ryou two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at 3-3. In the tenth, Yun-Jae Pin got a one-out and single and stole his way to third to set up the walkoff sacrifice fly. The series shifted to Ulsan for a 5-3 Swallows win on Si-Won Joon’s complete game. Game four was then a stunning 11-2 rout for Ulsan to clinch the series and their second trip to the Korea League Championship Series in three years. The Swallows were looking to end a 22-year playoff drought. Despite a six-year playoff streak, the Grays have only gotten to the KLCS once in that stretch with no titles to show for it. The other side looked like it might be short after Goyang mauled Yongin 16-0 in the opener. Six of their 20 hits in game went deep with Sung-Hoon Ma smacking three. Impressively, the Gold Sox battled back with a 4-2 road win in game two, forcing the Green Sox to take a game on the road. Goyang did just that with a tight 6-5 score in game three, followed by an 8-1 blowout to seal it. Goyang was going for the repeat and were in the KLCS for the sixth time of their 12-year playoff streak. Although the Green Sox were two games better in the regular season, Ulsan had won the season series 4-2. Goyang opened strong with 4-1 and 8-5 wins on their home diamond. The series shifted and Ulsan took game three 7-5, capped off with a three-run Jun-Hu Ryuk walkoff homer. That would ultimately be the only real moment of the series for the Swallows. Game four was a 2-0 Goyang road win with a two-hit, 11 strikeout shutout by Sun-Ho Yim. Russ Peng’s complete game was strong on the other side with 11 Ks and 8 hits, but two runs allowed in the eighth was enough for the L. The Green Sox got the better of great pitching again to seal the series with a 3-1 win in game five. Sang-Soo Lee gave up one run and three hits over 7.2 innings, then Ji-Hoon Park retired the next four for the save. Lee had a 0.57 ERA and 14 strikeouts over his two victories on the mound. Series MVP was given to 37-year old 1B Han Yi, the three-time league MVP in his first season with Goyang. The veteran joined in search of the elusive ring which he hadn’t gotten in his earlier stints between Gwangju, Jeju, Cheongju, and Yongin. Yi was 7-18 with 3 homers and 9 RBI in the series. The Green Sox became eight-time Korean champs (1991, 2008, 11, 12, 28, 30, 37, 38). They’re the first repeat KL winner since Busan in 2023-24. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

Yesterday, 07:18 AM	#2637
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 East Asian Championship The 118^th East Asian Championship was the first finals battle between Goyang and Sapporo. The Green Sox were making a repeat appearance and shooting for their third title, having won in 2012 and 2028. With their 17^th trip, no one had been to the finals more than the Swordfish, although their last appearance and win was 2026. Sapporo was hoping for a ninth title, second in EAB only to Pyongyang’s ten. Sapporo had home field advantage and Tsunemori Tokuda had an all-timer start in game one with a one-hit shutout, striking out eight with three walks, en route to a 4-0 Sapporo win. The Swordfish then took game two by a 5-3 margin, giving them the early edge before shifting to South Korea. A three-run fifth inning made the difference in a 3-2 game three victory for Goyang. The Green Sox outraced Sapporo 10-7 in game four to even the series. In game five, the Swordfish entered the ninth inning ahead 5-3. Goyang made the dramatic comeback, first with Tokuyuki Yama****a’s two-run homer to tie it. One pitch later, Jae-Hyeon Shin sent a solo shot 407 feet for the 6-5 walkoff win. The Green Sox now had the 3-2 series lead, but would still need to get one win in Japan. The prior defeat seemed to drain Sapporo of energy. In game six, Goyang rookie Je-Ju Jun was an unexpected star. He had only 11.1 career regular season innings entering the day and one playoff relief appearance in 2038. Jun got the start for game six and tossed a shutout, scattering seven hits with one walk and five strikeout over 125 pitches. The Green Sox took the contest 4-0 to become three-time East Asian Baseball champs. Three-time Gold Glove catcher Seiji Nakajima was series MVP, going 9-19 with 1 homer and 2 RBI. It was the second title for manager Si-Wan Kang, the skipper since 2025 who also led Goyang to the 2028 title. The five-time Manager of the Year winner had reached legendary status and was 12^th on EAB’s wins list at 1399-870, but had the best winning percentage (.617) of anyone in the top 15. Kang had taken the Green Sox from a sporadic contender to a regular fixture of the Korea League playoff picture. Other notes: EAB’s 49^th, 50^th, and 51^st perfect games came in 2038. Despite the low number over 118 seasons, this was the 3^rd time that a season had three perfectos, joining 2028 and 1935. The first came on March 26 by Saitama’s Jin-Ya Kim with 9 Ks against Kobe. The next was August 5 with Kawasaki’s Haruhiro Morikawa fanning 15 against Kitakyushu. The third was September 11 as Pyongyang’s Jun-O Han struck out 12. Hamamatsu’s Mitsuru Ishida set EAB playoff records (20 plate appearances required) for OBP (.600), slugging (1.281), and OPS (1.881). In seven games, he was 18-32 with 12 runs, 6 homers, 10 RBI, 3 doubles, and 1 triple. Gwangju’s Wan-Kyun Kim set a bad single-season record, getting caught stealing 77 times. However, he still successfully stole a league-best 122 bags, which was the 8^th-best single-season in EAB history. Han Yi became only the 15^th member of EAB’s 700 home run club. Yi and Ju-An Youm became the 27^th and 28^th to join the 3000 hit club. Jae-Hyeon Shin and Geon-Ho Whang were the 39^th and 40^th to 1500 runs scored with Whang also becoming the 56^th with 1500 RBI. C Do-Hyun Lee won his 8^th Silver Slugger. In pitching, Si-Won Joon was the 8^th to 4500 strikeouts. Byung-Cheol Ban was the 17^th to 250 career wins and the 23^rd with 4000 Ks. In-Goo Sun and Oniji Yamamoto were the 54^th and 55^th aces with 3500 strikeouts. Chae-Bong Min was the 38^th closer to 300 saves. Kunikazu Ube was the 79^th with 200 wins. Goyang broke their own all-time season attendance record in EAB with 3,210,050 tickets sold. Ulsan had a 3,087,549 attendance for the 3^rd-best in Korea League history, while Saitama’s 2,930,925 were the 3^rd-best in Japan. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

Yesterday, 08:26 PM	#2638
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 CABA Mexican League At the all-star break in the Mexican League, Leon had the best record at 61-36, followed by Toluca at 58-38, both Torreon and Hermosillo at 58-39, and Queretaro at 57-39. It ended up a four-team face for the top seed with the Terriers dropping from that race with a merely decent second half. The Lions had a good finish, but the other three teams were better to pass or match Leon. The strongest though was the defending champ Tomahawks with a 46-19 run post-break. That pushed Torreon to the #1 seed and North Division crown at 104-58. The Tomahawks’ +222 run differential was the best in Mexico as they grew their playoff streak to eight seasons with their sixth division crown of the run. Hermosillo was second in the division at 99-63 and got the first wild card, growing their own postseason streak to five seasons. Toluca got the #2 seed at 100-62 atop the South Division, followed by Leon at 99-63 atop the Central. Both earned their third consecutive division title with the Lions’ playoff streak extending to 14 seasons, tied for the second-longest in Central American Baseball Association history. Leon was the top scoring team in Mexico at 837 runs. Queretaro was second in the Central at 93-69, earning repeat wild cards. The final spot went to 90-72 Tijuana after an utter collapse by Ecatepec. The Explosion were 88-64 after a six-game winning streak, but lost 10 straight to close the season at 88-74. The Toros earned a sixth straight playoff trip, all wild cards, sending the exact same six teams to the playoffs from the prior year. Juarez was the closest at 84-78 and did allow the fewest runs in CABA at 555, but a losing record in the back-end sunk them. For the third time in four years, Tijuana 1B Alton Reinoso was Mexican League MVP. He got 37 of the 40 first place votes with the remaining three to Toluca’s Leonardo Santos. Santos notably led with 71 homers, 148 RBI, and 136 runs; missing CABA’s single-season homer record by only two. Reinoso meanwhile led in OBP (.428), slugging (.766), OPS (1.193), wRC+ (216), and WAR (10.2). The 30-year old Nicaraguan also had 205 hits, 129 runs, 30 doubles, 60 homers, 146 RBI, and a .346 average. It was a bold statement in a contract year for Reinoso, who is due free agency after eight seasons starting for the Toros. He had signed an eight-year extension back in May 2032, but used his opt-out to leave early. Hermosillo’s Kian Baromeo became a four-time Pitcher of the Year winner, having also done it in 2032, 35, and 36. He had 28 first place votes, while the remaining 12 were split between Culiacan’s Jimmie Morales (7), Queretaro’s Aneurys Duran (3), and Toulca’s Mateo Cruz (2). Morales notably won the ERA title at 1.92, but Baromeo was a close second at 2.10. Baromeo led in strikeouts (345), WHIP (0.74), FIP- (45), and WAR (9.6); each career highs. He tossed 226.2 innings with a 17-7 record, 9 saves, and 188 ERA+. In late March, the Hyenas made sure to lock up their ace long-term, as the 30-year old Curacaoan lefty inked a seven-year, $251,500,000 extension. In a decade for Hermosillo, Baromeo has a 2.36 ERA over 1836.1 innings, 133-67 record, 2589 strikeouts, and 64.0 WAR. In the first round, the higher seed only has to win once and the lower seed twice. Hermosillo got their 6-4 win to advance over Queretaro. Tijuana upset Leon 9-4, but the Lions took the rematch 3-2 to continue. Leon stunned Toluca with a 11-2 rout to open the second round. The Tortugas bounced back though with 8-6, 9-2, and 5-4 wins. In game four, both teams scored twice in the eighth and twice again in the ninth inning. Leonardo Santos’ RBI double was the walkoff winner, sending Toluca to their second Mexican League Championship Series in three years. The Tortugas were still fairly new as one of the 2025 expansion teams. On the other end of the bracket, Torreon earned 9-4 and 10-6 wins to open facing Hermosillo. The Hyenas stayed alive with a 4-1 result in game three, followed by a 15-innning war in game four. The score was 3-3 after regulation and stayed there until the 14^th, which had both teams scoring twice. The Tomahawks got a walkoff RBI sacrifice fly in the 15^th to win the game 6-5 and the series in four games. Torreon earned a fourth consecutive trip to the MLCS as they looked for the repeat. They would have been going for fourth straight if not for Toluca, who beat them in 2036 for the Tortugas’ first pennant. The Tomahawks had home field advantage, but they had split their six regular season games. Torreon opened with a 5-3 home win, but Toluca snagged a 7-1 road victory the next night. Toluca took the lead with a 2-0 home win in game three, getting a two-hit, eight-strikeout shutout from Mateo Cruz. Torreon countered with a 4-2 road win in game four, taking the lead in the ninth on Ernesto Escandel’s massive two-run, 433 foot bomb. Pitching put the Tortugas back on top with a 5-1 result in game five. Kal Jones tossed a complete game with 11 strikeouts and six hits allowed. The pitching edge again favored Toluca as they took the game six clincher at Torreon with a 6-2 margin, earning their second Mexican League crown in three years. RF Leonardo Henriquez was series MVP, going 11-23 with 6 RBI. He had a double and single with two runs in the finale. None of the other five expansion teams from 2025 had a single title; the Tortugas now had two. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)

Today, 08:47 AM	#2639
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 3,016	2038 CABA Caribbean League The defending Central American Baseball Association champ Havana improved on their record-setting offense from the prior year. The Hurricanes were a dominant 48-16 after the all-star break and cruised to the Caribbean League’s top seed at 113-49. They had CABA’s best run differential at +301 and set a new CABA record for runs scored with 958. The Hurricanes also allowed the second-fewest runs in the CL at 657. The prior year, Havana’s 947 runs had tied 2033 Santo Domingo for the most in a CABA campaign. The Hurricanes’ .306 average, .351 OBP, and 1752 hits did fall just short of their 2037 squad for the top spot. Havana earned a third straight West Division title and it was the second-best record in franchise history; only the 1913 squad was better at 115-47. Puerto Rico had a .303 average and 1719 hits, both the third-best in CABA history. The Pelicans actually were two games ahead of Havana at the all-star break, but were merely decent on the back-end. Puerto Rico still cruised to the #2 seed and repeat East Division titles at 101-61. The next best teams shared the West with Havana with Haiti (97-65) and Jamaica (96-66) almost quietly having fine seasons for wild cards. The Jazz earned their sixth berth in seven years and the Herons got their sixth of the decade. Curacao at 88-74 in the East narrowly nabbed the final wild card for their third berth in franchise history (2030, 34, 38). The Central had no major standouts with three teams battling for the top spot. Salvador had a nice lead at the all-star break at 57-41 over Costa Rica (51-46), and Honduras (50-48). However, a 30-35 mark post break erased the Stallions’ gains. Honduras took two of three against Salvador in the final regular season series, tying them at 87-75. The Rays split a four-game homestand with Guatemala to close, also placing them at 87-75. All three were one behind Curacao in the wild card race, meaning only the division winner could advance. Honduras won 5-1 at Costa Rica in the first tiebreaker game to eliminate the Rays, who were the defending division champ and 2036 CABA champ. The Horsemen then hosted and defeated Salvador for their 49^th division title, 12 more than the next best in CABA. Honduras’ miss in 2036 was their only time outside of the postseason since 2023. The Horseman have 67 postseason berths in their history, the most of any franchise in all of pro baseball. The Stallions saw a five-year streak snapped. https://i.imgur.com/x1pbjFE.jpeg Jamaica RF Amadeo Garcia was the unanimous MVP in the Caribbean League, earning the honor back-to-back years and for the fourth time in five seasons. It was also his third Triple Crown, having also done that in 2034 and 2035. He joins CABA legends Prometheo Garcia (5), Kiko Velazquez (4), and Donald Gonzalez (4) on the list of guys to wear the Triple Crown thrice. The 25-year old Guatemalan lefty dominated the leaderboard with the top mark in runs (130), hits (247), home runs (61), RBI (158), total bases (472), triple slash (.400/.454/.764), OPS (1.218), wRC+ (225), and WAR (12.1). It was rounded up and he technically missed repeat .400 seasons at .3997, but it was good for the 5^th-best in CABA history. Garcia’s OPS was the 7^th-best qualifying season in CABA, while the hits ranked 5^th. He also joined Franklin Madrid as the only players in CABA with four seasons of 150+ RBI. Garcia has been the leader in OPS, slugging, and batting average in his last four healthy seasons, having missed all of 2036 to a broken bone in his elbow. The Jazz have him under contract through 2041. The legendary Israel Montague remained truly timeless with an unprecedented 11^th Pitcher of the Year award win at age 41 in his Haiti debut. He joined his long-time contemporary Richard Wright and Eurasian Professional Baseball legend Matvey Ivanov as the only pitchers in any world league with 11 POTY awards. Montague had won nine times in his primary run with Guatemala, plus one during his 2034-37 stint with Leon. The Panamanian lefty had still been good recently, but age and injury and seemingly knocked him from the upper echelon. He signed a two-year, $46,800,000 deal with Haiti for 2038 and had some of that old excellent. His control and stuff remained stellar even with his velocity now down to the 93-95 mph range after being 98-100 mph in his prime. His circle change was still a 10/10 and no one perhaps ever was better at changing speeds. Montague got 36 first place votes, while three other pitchers split the remaining four. It was Havana’s Melido Cervantes with the best ERA (2.84) although he just met the innings threshold. Santo Domingo’s Bruno Padilla led in Ks (282). For Montague, he was the WARlord at 7.4 and led in FIP- (54) and K/BB (12.0). He had a 3.14 ERA over 218 innings, 16-10 record, 263 strikeouts, and 138 ERA+. During the season, Montague passed Ulices Montero’s 5849 to become CABA’s all-time strikeouts king at 5934. Montague is #7 on the all-time world leaderboard, where Montero remains ahead of him with 6796 counting his MLB stats. Montague is firmly CABA’s wins leader at 346-120, but Montero’s combined 398 is the world record. Montague’s season tied him for 8^th on the wins chart for all of baseball history. Montague is also now at 159.11 WAR, just behind Montero (165.65) for the record among CABA pitchers and Prometheo Garcia (166.79) for all players. Among all players ever, Montague ranks 30^th in WAR and 7^th among pitchers (excluding two-way guys). In the first round, Haiti got their one needed win 3-2 to advance over Jamaica. Curacao dominated Honduras 8-2, but the Horsemen had their mulligan and won 9-4 the next night to oust the Chaos. Honduras surprised Puerto Rico with a 2-1 road upset to open the second round. The Horsemen then smashed the Pelicans 12-3, putting them on the verge of a road sweep. Puerto Rico stayed alive with a 10-4 win in game three, but Honduras grabbed game four 8-5 to upset the Pelicans. The Horsemen had two homers in the ninth inning to go ahead by three. Even in a year where they barely made the playoffs, Honduras found a way to their 51^st Caribbean League Championship Series appearance and fourth of the decade. No team in the world has played in more sub-league finales. Top seed Havana felt good early with 2-1 and 11-3 wins against Haiti. The Herons wouldn’t die though with 6-4 and 6-3 scores to force game five. A five-run fifth inning was enough for Haiti to shock Havana 5-4 in the finale, dethroning the reigning champ and their record-breaking offense. The Herons earned their fourth CLCS trip of the 2030s, although this ended a four-year drought. Honduras and Haiti hadn’t been strangers in recent memory in the CLCS, although this wasn’t the year folks expected that rivalry to pop up again. It is the eighth time since 2000 that they battled for the pennant, most recently with the Horsemen’s 2033 pennant. That year, they had rallied from a 3-0 hole. The Herons’ last pennant in 2031 came against Honduras and ended with a six-run ninth inning rally to walkoff in game seven. They had split the season series at 3-3 and although Haiti had eight more wins, Honduras had home field due to being a division champ. They used that to great success with 6-3 and 4-2 wins to start off. The Horsemen then nabbed a 10-5 road win, but the Herons weren’t going down that easy. Haiti took 9-6 and 9-3 wins at home, forcing play back to Tegucigalpa. These teams weren’t strangers to drama and game six was an all-timer. Honduras scored twice in the second, followed by Haiti going ahead with three in the seventh. The Horsemen got one back in the bottom half and the score stayed locked at 3-3 for more than a full-game’s worth of innings. A seven hour contest went 19 innings with Haiti’s Ricardo Larios finally breaking the deadlock on a solo homer. The 4-3 win now had the Herons on the cusp of returning the favor from 2033, when Honduras had erased a 3-0 hole en route to a pennant. The Horsemen ultimately avoided the full collapse. They scored first in the second inning, but Haiti went ahead with two in the fourth. A four-hit inning plated three runs for a 4-2 Honduras lead after five. Haiti got one back on a sixth-inning homer, but this would be their final baserunner of the game. The Horsemen bullpen shut the door and escaped with a 4-3 win in game seven and the series. C Juan Alvarez was series MVP in his second year with the squad. Known generally as a good defensive catcher with a weak bat, he was 11-23 with 2 homers, 8 RBI, and 8 runs. In game seven, he had the first hit and run of their three-run fifth inning and an RBI single in the second. Honduras now has 23 Caribbean titles (1919, 20, 22, 24, 26, 39, 40, 41, 53, 58, 59, 63, 91, 93, 2003, 04, 11, 28, 29, 32, 33, 34, 38). They stand alone with the most sub-league titles of any team in the world, having previously been tied with EPB’s Minsk Miners. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)