Playoffs Commence in USA eBaseball™ Power League

Eight players to vie for title, berth in ePremier12 USA Finals
By Robert Tomlinson

After eight weeks of intense competition among the best World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS players in the United States and Puerto Rico, the quest to find a champion will come down to a three-week-long playoff.

Beginning August 11, the top eight players from the USA eBaseball™ Power League will compete in the playoffs, with one of the six spots in October’s ePremier12 USA Finals in North Carolina up for grabs.

The bracket-style playoffs will have a best-of-three quarterfinals and semifinals, while the finals, dubbed the Summit Series Championship, will be a best-of-five affair. The winner of the Summit Series Championship will earn a berth to the ePremier12 USA Finals.

The eight who made the playoffs had the top eight records in the regular season, which featured nine series of three games each against other opponents in the 18-team league. The player who had the top regular season record in the league, YG, has automatically earned a berth to the USA Finals.

Here’s a look at the eight players who have made the playoffs, how they got here, who to watch out for on their roster, and the Twitch or YouTube channels you can watch their playoff matchups live.

No. 1 Seed – YG, Green Revolution

The Green Revolution, owned by YG, won the regular season in the USA EPL with a stellar 21-6 record, winning the title by just one game over Zumikaku’s North Shore Honu and bfarrell10’s Philadelphia Bandits, thanks to a sweep of Serena’s Osaka Foxes in the final week of the regular season to end on a nine-game winning streak.

YG is one of the biggest names in the American Power Pros scene, having won the 2023 USA eBaseball Finals in Durham, North Carolina, back in November and finishing in fourth place in the WBSC eBaseball Series World Finals back in March. However, coming into the season, there were a couple of questions about how he would adjust to the stricter ruleset of the league, given his experience in standard online competitive play. Given how his season went, it appears he passed the test with flying colors.

As a team, YG scored 88 runs, tied for the fourth-best mark in the league, and gave up 44 runs, the third-best in the league.

Akira Myojin, a two-way star, leads the way for YG’s squad into the playoffs. He was one of their best batters all season, hitting .309/.343/.485 with three home runs and 13 RBIs on the season. On the mound, he was even better, notching a 1.26 ERA over 50 innings of work, striking out 25. Other players to watch on offense are outfielder Mitsuru Haitani (.237 with 5 HR and 11 RBI) and second baseman Hajime Saeki (.277 with 2 HR and 6 RBI). Pitchers Yuki Amezaki and Nanseki Suzaku has also been a great complement to Myojin on the mound, posting ERAs of 0.92 in 58.2 innings pitched and 0.51 in 53 innings, respectively.

They will take on the No. 8 seed iPumpPlastic in the quarterfinals, a team they faced off with in Week 7. In that series, they swept all three games (4-3, 2-1, 4-3), but each game was only decided by one run. It’s not an easy matchup for YG in the first round, but it will be an entertaining one.

No. 2 Seed – Zumikaku, North Shore Honu

Zumikaku and their North Shore Honu squad was the leader in the clubhouse all season for the regular season championship, having gotten out to a blazing 11-0 start, but in a back-and-forth series against SlimeFall’s Purple Hurricanes in the final week of the season, the Honu lost two of three games to lose out on the regular season title by one game to YG and finish with a record of 20-7.

However, while he came up short for the regular season berth to North Carolina, Zumikaku is no stranger to tournament domination. While he has not qualified for any in-person events since the launch of WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS, he has been a force to be reckoned with in the English community tournament circuit, having won the initial fan-run Discord Invitational at the game’s launch and won the Summit Series Championship in the previous, non-affiliated season of the eBaseball™ Power League.

Zumikaku’s offense is led by former EPL MVP Taro Takimoto, who is having a stellar season, with six home runs and 20 RBIs on the year, all while slashing .356/.402/.577 in 104 at-bats. Kazuki Ichijo is also another hitter to fear in the lineup, hitting .355 and tied for the team lead in RBI with 20.

On the mound, Ouma Aasa and his patented Excalibur forkball is the ace of their pitching staff with a 1.22 ERA in 59 innings, but Tsuyoshi Hagane had a lower ERA than Aasa’s this season, coming in at a microscopic 0.80 in 56 innings pitched.

They will face off with the No. 7 seed MCscales in the quarterfinals, who gave them one of their rare series losses on the season, as the Honu lost two of three (1-2 (10), 1-2 (10), 8-6). They will have to face off against a stingy pitching staff, but the offense will need to show up in key moments for them to have a chance.

No. 3 Seed – bfarrell10, Philadelphia Bandits

The final 20-win team in the playoffs, with a 20-7 record, bfarrell10’s Philadelphia Bandits were in contention for the regular season title right down to their final game of the season, where they would’ve been champions based on the tiebreaker with YG if they beat iPumpPlastic in their 27th game to sweep that series.

Alas, they lost that game 3-0 and dropped to the third seed, based on their +39 run differential being lower than Zumikaku’s +61, where they face a tough road to make the Summit Series Championship. However, given their offensive prowess, they have the talent to outslug anyone to win.

As a team, bfarrell’s squad leads the entire league in home runs with 34, led by the duo of designated hitter Yutaro Hino (.284/.327/.611, 8 HR, 18 RBI) and infielder Choji Bando (.263/.277/.525, 7 HR, 13 RBI). Pitching-wise, they have quite a few good pitchers at their disposal, with mid-season pickup Alan Raven (0.31 ERA post-trade) and Takafumi Kurama (1.65 ERA in 49 IP) leading the way, with Reibu-kai (0.43 ERA in 41.2 IP) an option to start, relieve, and also take swings at the dish (.246 with 5 HR and 13 RBI). However, their run prevention put them near the middle of the pack overall, with 57 runs given up during the regular season, good for eighth in the league, but tied for last among all playoff participants.

The quarterfinals matchup for bfarrell will be a matchup of two of the top three offenses in the league, as the Bandits take on PenguinPouch’s Sodabeer Sunrise, who scored a whopping 126 runs in the regular season, 11 more than Zumikaku’s squad, who finished second. It’ll be a slugfest in this highly anticipated matchup, and whoever can keep these high-octane offenses at bay will make it to the semifinals.

No. 4 Seed – Compass, Space City Comets

Compass’ Space City Comets were a solid team throughout the year, navigating through a tough schedule that featured four of the eight playoff teams in the league (bfarrell10, YG, iPumpPlastic, and SirBaconBitz) to finish with a 19-6 record. However, they sit at the fourth seed thanks in part to losing two of three to YG and two of three to JonsCopyright, who were a stingy team in their own right despite not making the playoffs.

However, Compass is also familiar with the competitive setting in Power Pros, having finished as a semifinalist in the USA eBaseball Finals in 2023, which could give them an advantage in the Summit Series Playoffs.

The Space City Comets are a fairly balanced team in terms of offense and pitching, but have increased their firepower on offense with some recently developed techniques in the batting cages which could help out their contact-focused offense. Haruto Raigou and his team-leading 10 RBIs and Motsuhide Saburi, one of the best-hitting second baseman statistically, will be players to watch on offense, while Taiji Simon is the ace of their staff with a 0.68 ERA in 53 innings.

They will face off in the quarterfinals with SirBaconBitz’s North Pole No Sox, a rematch of their regular season finale, in which Compass won two of three (2-1, 6-1, 0-2). If their offense, which can be inconsistent at times given their contact focus, can get going, the Comets could make a deep run to potentially make a return to North Carolina.

No. 5 Seed – SirBaconBitz, North Pole No Sox

SirBaconBitz brings one of the stingiest defensive teams – and stingiest offensive teams – into the Summit Series Playoffs as the No. 5 seed.

Finishing the season at 18-7, SirBaconBitz’s North Pole No Sox have been a team built around pitching and defense, as they have only given up 36 runs this season, the lowest mark in the league. However, offensively, they are hitting .215 for the season as a team and have the lowest amount of runs scored among playoff teams (62).

While this strategy’s gotten them some key series wins – in particular a two-out-of-three against iPumpPlastic in Week 6 (2-4 (10), 2-0, 1-0) – their regular season record against teams that made the playoffs is a paltry 5-7. While that could spell impending doom for their playoff chances, they have solid pitching options that give them a chance in any game.

Their pitching staff is led by a three-headed monster of Haruto Aoba, the base version of Mamoru Ikari, and Daisuke Suzumoto, who each come into the playoffs with ERAs hovering around 1.00, with Aoba is at a sparkling 0.43 in 43 innings. Offensively, they’ll need big games from shortstop Seiryo Ohgoe (.280, 1 HR, 9 RBI) and first baseman Hanma Kirigane (.243, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 6 SB) to carry them to the next round.

Facing off against Compass in the quarterfinals, who they lost two-of-three to in the final week of the season, will be a tough test for SirBaconBitz. But if their pitching staff can perform well, they could be a dark horse candidate to move on to the semifinals.

No. 6 Seed – PenguinPouch, Sodabeer Sunrise

One of the basic tenets of baseball is that you need to score more runs than the other team to win, and for PenguinPouch, they are one player that certainly has the capability to outscore anyone at any given time.

Eight of PenguinPouch’s 17 wins on the regular season came by the seven-run mercy rule, including a 10-0 win in two innings in the final regular season week against MCscales’ Crow Hoppers. However, while the Sodabeer Sunrise’s 126 runs scored was far and away the best mark in the league, their offense could run hot and cold at random times – they were swept by Zumikaku in Week 2 when their offense barely showed up, and lost two of three to 11-16 HaHaHealy in Week 7, only scoring five and seven runs, respectively, across all the games in their series.

However, the amount of firepower in their lineup is unquestioned, led by midseason pickup first baseman Kazushige Kiyomoto, who is making a case for League MVP after hitting over .481 with a league-tying eight homers in 52 at-bats since he was acquired from JonsCopyright. Pitching-wise, they will need to keep the runs allowed to a minimum, as they are fifth in that category among playoff teams (50 runs allowed). However, their top pitcher, Red, is one of the toughest pitchers to face in the league (1.96 ERA in 41.1 IP), while DJB-78 had a solid season on the mound, racking up a few wins with a 1.09 ERA in 41.1 innings.

Facing off against bfarrell10’s Philadelphia Bandits in the quarterfinals, PenguinPouch’s pitching staff will have to be on their A-game, but expect a lot of fireworks when this team is at the plate.

No. 7 Seed – MCscales, Crow Hoppers

MCscales was one of the biggest underdog stories of the regular season, making it into the playoffs as the seventh seed. Finishing with a 17-10 record, losing the tiebreaker to PenguinPouch for the sixth seed, they got into the playoffs because of one word: consistency.

His team, the Crow Hoppers, took seven series wins out of nine on the regular season, but only swept one series, which was against SlimeFall’s Purple Hurricanes in Week 6. However, given they scored only 63 runs and gave up 57 on the regular season for a miniscule plus-six run differential, there is a lot going against the Crow Hoppers going in.

This was a team that didn’t win big too often – only seven of their wins were by three or more runs, and four wins came in extra innings. However, if there was a team that personified grit, this was it because there were a lot of close games with this squad. One of their wins nearly was a tie, as MCscales won 1-0 in the last possible inning, the 15th inning, in their third game against the Tabby Cats in Week 4.

MCscales’ offense is led by Getto Takarazuka and Eiji Furunaga, two of the three players on the roster with an OPS over .600 in the regular season. Pitching-wise, the afro version of Mamoru Ikari (1.53 ERA in 53 IP) is always a tough customer to play against, and Octavia (0.34 ERA in 26.1 IP) and her knuckleball is always a solid option in relief in the late innings.

Facing off against the No. 2 seed Zumikaku in the first round is no easy task, but they were able to take two of three from them in the regular season. Will they string together enough runs to pull off the upset and go on a Cinderella run in the Summit Series Playoffs? Only time will tell.

No. 8 Seed – iPumpPlastic, Lost City Monarchs

iPumpPlastic, one of the more decorated PlayStation Power Pros players in the U.S., had to win just one game against rival bfarrell10 to make it into the playoffs and knock out BigSid and the White Comets, who had a strong finish and nearly made it in. With a 3-0 win in Game 3 of their final week series, they became the last team to clinch the playoffs.

The Monarchs started on a tear, winning 12 games by the middle of Week 5. However, losing two of three to the Crow Hoppers and North Pole No Sox, and being swept by the Green Revolution nearly knocked them out of the playoffs before their last-second win over the Bandits.

Keying that playoff-clinching win was their ace, Arashi Kiba, one of the toughest pitchers to play against in the EPL, and a candidate for Pitcher of the Year. He finished the season with an ERA south of 0.80 and a WHIP of 0.54 in 59 innings to anchor the rotation, and he and Harrison Onishi make up a nasty 1-2 punch in their rotation.

And when the offense is rolling, it can roll, however making contact has been tough for the team so far this season. Despite that, Meiru Naito’s six homers lead the team, while Iwao Saga and Fumito Deita are names to watch on offense.

Facing off in a rematch of one of the best series of the season against YG in the semifinals will be a tempting time to get revenge for their Week 6 sweep. This team has the potential to make a run, but the question is whether iPump’s team’s bats can meet the ball enough to do so?

If you’d like to watch the playoff matchups, each individual player will be streaming the games on their own Twitch channels and/or YouTube channels. The Summit Series Championship will be broadcast at twitch.tv/dishnet34 the week of August 25-31, with play-by-play commentary by Robert Tomlinson.

Robert Tomlinson is the commissioner of the USA eBaseball™ Power League and an esports broadcaster for WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS.

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