myworldofbaseball

In the NPB, the KBO and the CPBL free agency is not as prevalent among their domestic market. The biggest free agents are the foreign players and the Asian teams are quickly scooping up their quota of signing foreign players. In the CPBL (China Professional Baseball League) each team is allowed three foreign players (with the exception of the expansion team Dragons, who can sign five foreign players, with four playing on the CPBL team). The expansion team Wei Chua Dragons signed five foreign players to contracts, giving each team at least three foreign players (four for the Dragons) to play on their first team.

If a team signs more than three foreign players (or four for the Dragons), only three can appear on the CPBL roster. The extra players will play on the equivalent of the minor league team. For the most part, the CPBL sign starting pitchers to fill their foreign roster spots. In myworld’s opinion, this reliance on foreign pitchers stagnates the growth of their domestic pitchers. Myworld would like to see them go the KBO route, three foreign players, but a maximum of two pitchers or two position players.

Below are the names of the foreign players signed by each of the five teams. This does not prevent these teams from signing more players. You can go to CBPLstats.com for the list.

Uni Lions

Tim Melville, Brock Dykxhoorn, Teddy Stankiewicz and Felix Doubront

China Trust Brothers

Mitch Lively, Jose De Paula and Onelki Garcia

Rakuten Monkeys

Ryan Bollinger, Aaron Wilkerson (pitcher) and Dillon Overton,

Fubon Guardians

Henry Sosa, Mike Loree, Manny Banuelos and Hector Noesi

Wei Chun Dragons

Jake Brigham, Drew Gagon, Junichi Tazawa, Rosell Herrera and Bryan Woodall

The China Trust Brothers Jose DePaula won the MVP in the China Professional Baseball League (CPBL). DePaula won the Triple Crown of pitching, finishing first in wins (16), first in ERA (3.20) and first in whiffs (192). The 32 year old left hander also worked 174.1 innings.

Other award winners in the CPBL included the Lions Lin An-Ko, who was voted the rookie of the year. He hit .310 and won the homerun crown with 32, resulting in a .590 slugging percentage. The 23 year old Lions outfielder also led the CPBL in RBIs, falling one short of 100.

The most improved player was Lions relief pitcher Cheng Chun-Jen. In 63 appearances he had a 4.18 ERA in an offensive dominated league.

The China Professional Baseball League have announced their top ten award and gold glovers for 2020. Below is the list of those players, courtesy of CPBLstats.

Best Ten

Pitcher - Jose DePaula (China Trust Brothers)
Catcher - Liau Chien-Fu (Rakuten Monkeys)
First Base - Hsu Chi-Hung (Brothers)
Second Base - Wu Tung-Jung (Brothers)
Third Base - Wang Wei-Chen (Brothers)
Shortstop - Lee Tsung-Hsien (Fubon Guardians)
Outfield - Lin An-Ko (Uni Lions)
Outfield - Chen Chieh-Hsien (Lions)
Outfield - Su Chih-Chieh (Lions)
DH - Chou Szu-Chi (Brothers)

The Brothers filled most of the infield spots while the Lions took all the outfield spots.

Gold Gloves

Pitcher - Ryan Carpenter (Monkeys)
Catcher - Chen Chia-Chu (Brothers)
First Base - Hsu Chi-Hung (Brothers)
Second Base - Lin Ching-Kai (Lions)
Third Base - Wang Wei-Chen (Brothers)
Shortstop - Chiang Kun-Yu (Brothers)
Outfield - Su Chih-Chieh (Lions)
Outfield - Chan Tzu-Hsien (Brothers)
Outfield - Chen Tzu-Hao (Brothers)

The Guardians did not believe in defense.

Down three games to one the Uni President Lions were able to come back to win the last three games to take the CPBL championship game final 7-4. It is their first championship in seven years. Cuban Ariel Miranda got the start for the China Trust Brothers while Teddy Stankiewicz got the call for the Lions.

The Lions built a picket fence with runs in the first three innings to take an early 3-0 lead. Chen Chieh-hsien drove in a run in the first inning with a double, Lin Yo-le drove in a run in the second with a single and a ground out drove in the third run in the third inning.

The Brothers had a feast in the third inning, exploding for four runs to take a 4-3 lead. That is where the game stood until the seventh inning.

A wild pitch by Miranda allowed the tying run to score. After an RBI single by Wu Chieh-Jui gave the Lions a 5-4 lead Chen Chieh-hsien struck again with a big two run homer to seal the deal.

Canadian pitcher Brock Dykxhoorn, who pitched nine innings of shutout ball in game five closed out the last two innings of the game with more shutout ball to close out the game. Looking at the celebration at the end it appears the streamers that are normally shot out after a championship win were limited to the field. One of the more interesting experiences for myworld was being strangled by streamers as they parachuted into the stands.

Eventually more can be found on the series at CPBLstats.com, including some video. CPBL stats also identified the player who hit what was eventually the go ahead single.

The starting pitchers were the same as game two when Jose DePaula went eight innings over Tim Melville in a Brothers 9-1 win. This time Tim Melville worked eight innings and the Lion hitters supported him for a 12-1 slaughter to even the series at three apiece. The big inning was an eight run eighth off the Brothers bullpen that put the game away.

The Lions struck first off DePaula, getting two runs early in the first inning on a clutch two out two run double by designated hitter Pan Wu-hsiung. In the third the Brothers scored their only run on a double by Yueh Tung-hua and a bunt by Chen Chia-chu, that hit Chen as he ran to first, allowing the ball to roll into the outfield and Yueh to score. It was the only time the Brothers would find the plate.

Chen Yung-chi blasted a pitch into the left field bleachers for a two run homer in the fifth. After Depaula left, working seven innings, the Lions assaulted the Brothers bullpen for eight runs to put the game away. More relievers came into the game (5) than outs by Lions hitters.

Brock Dykxhoorn threw a complete game three hit shutout and the Uni-President Lions white washed the China Trust Brothers 6-0. The Brothers still lead the series three games to two. Brock walked just one and struck out 9 in his dominant 126 pitch performance. Two of the three hits he gave up, and half the baserunners he allowed were in the third inning.

Esmil Rogers got the start for the Brothers. He struggled, victimized for six runs in less than five innings of work. A couple errors in the four run fifth notched two of the six runs being unearned.

Lin Yo-Le and Pan Chieh-Kai were the big bats for the Lions, each driving in two runs with doubles. Lin hit his in the second inning to score the only runs in that inning and Kai delivered his hit in the four run fifth, resulting in Rogers being given the hook.

There was another sell out crowd of 7,800 who witnessed the event, about 78 percent of seating capacity.

The Brothers pounded the Lions in game four 6-3 to take a three games to one lead in the championship series. A sellout crowd of 7,800 fans witnessed the contest. Two Taiwan pitchers faced off in game three after foreign pitchers were asked to start the first two games. Huang En-Sih fared better than Chiang Chen-Yen with five innings of shutout ball.

The Brothers struck first in the fourth inning gifted by two walks and an error to load the bases. A sacrifice fly and two run single by Yueh Cheng-Yua gave the Brothers an early 3-0 lead. Yueh had homered in the game yesterday in the Brothers victory.

The Brothers virtually put the game away in the fifth inning on a three run homer by Chan Tzu-Hsien to make it 6-0. The Lions closed the gap with a solo homerun by Kuo Fu-Lin in the eighth and a two run blast by Lin An-Ko in the ninth to make it 6-3, but better late than never did not apply to the Lions late game heroics. C.C. Lee struck out the final batter to give the Brothers the victory.

Ariel Miranda went 9 innings and Wang Wei-Chen hit the go ahead RBI double in the ninth inning to lead the China Trust Brothers to a 5-1 win over the Uni-President Lions. Hsu Chih-Hung got the big hit in the ninth with a three run homerun to put the game away.

Miranda only gave up three hits, two of them to Chen Chieh-Hsien. A triple by Lin An-Ko in the second inning and sacrifice fly drove in the only run for the Lions. Miranda walked one and struck out three.

Lions starter Teddy Stankiewicz also pitched a good game. In his previous three starts against the Brothers he was 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He worked seven innings, allowing his first run. He did allow a few more baserunners than Miranda, giving up seven hits. The bullpen, specifically Huang Chun-Yen and closer Chen Yun-Wen could not quiet the Brothers bats, spitting out four runs in the ninth inning.

The Brothers now have a 2-1 Series lead. Attendance was listed at 7,126, which would be just short of a sell out.

The Yueh brothers combined for two early homeruns in the second inning to lead the China Trust Brothers to a lopsided 9-1 win over the Uni President Lions. Older brother Yueh Tung-hua socked a two run blast over the right field wall to give the Brothers an early 2-1 lead. Younger brother Yueh Cheng-hua matched his older brother by depositing a pitch over the right field wall for a two run homer to finish the scoring in the second inning and giving the Brothers a 5-1 lead.

Brothers starter Jose DePaula went 8 innings and gave up just the one run in the first inning to get the win and earn MVP honors for the game. Three of the four hits he gave up in the first three innings. At one point he retired 16 hitters in a row, the last five hitters on strikeouts. Other than the second inning Tim Melville was not bad, but you cannot erase the second inning. Six of the eight hits he gave up were in the first two innings, but he allowed just two hits in the final four innings he worked.

The Brothers put the game away in the eighth inning with four runs, three of them scoring on a pinch hit 3-run homer from Su Wei-da. It is the second pinch hit 3-run homer of the series.

It was another sell out crowd of 15,600, which is 78 percent of capacity.

The first game of the Taiwan Series had lots of drama. The Lions won the opener over the China Trust Brothers 4-2 led by a pinch hit 3-run homerun by 39 year old veteran Pan Wu-Hsiung in the top of the tenth inning. It was the first pinch hit homerun in extra innings in a championship game in the CPBL. Pan is a lifer for the Lions, drafted by thems in 2005 and earning the Rookie of the Year award in 2007. The Lions later put runners on first and third with one out but a double play ground out prevented further damage from being done.

The Brothers rallied back in the bottom of the 10th off Lions closer Chen Yun-wen. Two singles and a hit batsman loaded the bases with one out. Chen was able to strike out the next batter for the second out but Su Wei-ta bounced a single into right field to score a run and put the tying run at second. Chen came back and struck out designated hitter Chang Chih-hao for the final out of the game.

The two foreign pitchers, Esmil Rogers for the China Trust Brothers and Brock Dykxhoorn for the Lions were stingy with giving up runs. Brock went six innings giving up just one run. Esmil lasted for eight innings and only gave up the one run. In the top of the sixth Su Chih-chieh slapped an RBI single into right field to score the one run off Rogers, but the runner from second was thrown out at home trying to score.

There was the maximum 15,600 at the game, with 78 percent seating capacity allowed.