NBP resumed their “spring training” a couple of days ago, and today it all again comes to a screeching halt.
Two players of the Tokyo Giants, Sakamoto Hayato, and Ohshiro Takumi, have just been confirmed to have COVID-19 today, and their scheduled spring training game with the Seibu Lions tonight is canceled. The NBP is contemplating about what to do with the rest of the games.
There is a Taiwanese player on the Giant’s roster, outfielder Yoh Daikan.
Boron homers in two straight games.
Daikan homers two games in a row also. This may be the golden year for Taiwanese sluggers in Japan.
I mentioned how Tsai Chi-zhe (蔡齊哲) of the Brothers was having a great year. So far he has pitched 25.2 innings, with a WHIP of 1.01 and an ERA of 1.75.
Absolutely one of the top RPs in the league.
Wu Jun-wei is still awesome as well. 18.1 innings, 1.42 WHIP and 3.44 ERA.
He is throwing 149 and really giving his all out there.
Remember the time…
del
What about this one?
We should choose an aboriginal dance to do before games, much like other Polynesian countries like the Haka (NZ), Sipi Tau (Tonga), and Siva Tau (Samoa).
When the 2020 season opened, most of the celebrational dugout dances seem to be inspired by the Africam coffin dance.
Prior to that, most dugout dances were inspired hy Korean pop music.
I used to suggest that teams use Aboriginal songs from their area as their cheering songs, if they can get the blessing. But no team ever tried to implement this.
The truth is the Taiwan society as a whole doesn’t seem to consider Aboriginal music or dance as “cool”. Even if we remove possible cultural appropriation criticisms from the picture, which shouldn’t be an issue since over 80% of the players are of Aboriginal descend, very few Aboriginal cheers, chants, dances became a part of the game in Taiwan.
OK, I’m fairly certain this is an aboriginal dance.
3:14:21
I think I am geo-blocked here in Taiwan
Tzu-wei Lin became the first Taiwanese to catch for an MLB game. Might be the first Asian player to do so, not sure about that one. However, he played both the short stop and the catcher in one inning, that hasn’t happened in a long time, and definitely the first Asian player to pull that off.
Despite having only caught one high school game as a catcher in Lin’s entire baseball career, he did really well. His framing probably earned the pitcher two strike calls. The pitcher at the time was Red Sox catcher Kevin Plawecki.
Things got weird in the CPBL. CPBL divides the season into two halves, and the champion from each half gets to play in the Taiwan Series.
That’s the simplified version and was how the league done things for awhile. However, teams discovered quickly that they can just concentrate on winning a half season, and then let their stars rest up for the other half. What ended up happening was often the team with most wins for the entire season wasn’t in the postseason because it failed to secure a half season title.
The league tried to address this with several iterations of wildcard rules. Currently, the postseason rules are as followed:
If a team won both half seasons, it is guaranteed a place in the Taiwan Series and is given an advantage by being awarded with 1 win in TS automatically. The teams with 2nd and 3rd most wins for the entire season plays a 3 out of 5 challenger series.
If the team with the best season record failed to secure either half season titles, it will play the challenger series with the half-season champion team with the worst full season record.
After a seemingly unstoppable early season winning streak ended for the Rukuten Monkeys, the bullpen pretty much dissolved and the team lost the first half season title to the Chinatrust Brothers by 3 games.
Things went down hill from there in the second half, and the Monkeys now sit squarely at the last place of the half season.
For a while the Monkeys tried to gain a ticket in to the postseason through rule 2, by maintaining the best record for the full season. That is now an impossible task as they are now 6.5 games out from that position.
So they have to try to get there through rule 1. Meaning the Chinatrust Brothers has to hold the title for both half seasons, and the Monkeys can play the challenger series as the team with the team with the 2nd or 3rd best season record.
The Monkeys are now in a even bigger pickle because the Brothers have been losing as well and are 2 games out from the second half season title. For the bottom half season, the Brothers are currently in 3rd place behind the Guardians and the Lions.
There are only 7 games left before the postseason. 2 between the Guardians and the Lions, 2 between the Brothers and the Monkeys, 1 between the Guardians the the Brothers, 1 between the Monkeys and the Gaurdians, and 1 between the Brothers and the Lions.
The Brothers to win every game to take the second half season title. The Monkeys needs that to happen to keep their postseason chances alive. There are 2 games between the Brothers and the Monkeys this weekend. Now, that’s some serious drama.
The Monkeys will have to lose to win. If they win they actually lose.
It’s pretty messed up, and frankly not the first time this kind of thing happened in the CPBL. The half seasons deserve a place in history and nowhere else.
Trick or treat. Batter thought home run, ran the bases celebrating, outfielder had ball in glove.
Great trick, but no runner’s on base, so kinda wasted.
Here is another shot of the dance; hope you can see it. I’d like to know if it’s an aboriginal dance (0:48).
Last year was a major disappointment, but oh boy he is killing it now. Although he’s struggled as of late, he’s OPSing around 1.000, including a jack this morning. He’s been a cleanup hitter.
This was a hilarious comment.
The major difference is Wang’s increased ability to pick out splitters. Back in Taiwan he was know for his plate discipline as well as hitting over .400. However, since the splitter is a lost art in Taiwan, Wang had a difficult time refraining from swing at those in Japan. His injuries certainly from all the collisions and HBP certainly didn’t help matters.
Now, Wang’s OBP is .408, his ability to earn walks after getting 2 consecutive strikes at the start of his PA is pretty amazing. He would usually see more than 8 pitches per PA.
It forces the pitchers to eventually go back to their fastball, and that’s when Wang snipes them.