The 2017 CPBL (Professional baseball league) season is upon us once again. With the opening day start on the 25th March.
For those of you that are interested in Taiwan professional baseball (CPBL) I wrote I little quick guide to 2017 CPBL season. Which include the coverage of all the 2017 foreign players and the MLB/ NPB/ KBO connections to CPBL this season.
This Saturday’s opening day match up is between Fubon Guardians and Chinatrust Brothers. This will be the 1st season for Fubon Guardians as they took over EDA Rhinos at the end of 2016 season.
Fubon Financial Holdings being one of the largest corporation in Taiwan. Would be interesting to see what this marketing powerhouse can bring to the table in the 2017 season.
Anyway, here’ a little shameless plug on the website. I am more than happy to start a CPBL thread here in the future. So we can talk about Taiwan baseball.
If you have any questions regarding to CPBL feel free to ask, more than happy to answer those to the best of my knowledge.
The fact that Fubon Guardians announced they would not be maintaining a home stadium and instead would go back to dividing seats in half, giving the guest team seats on the third base side, is already very disappointing. If the corporation has a lot of money, they aren’t giving it to the team.
Yeah, I guess being a brand new team they are testing the water / trying to fully capitalised on the infield revenues by filling it up. I do agree it is quite disappointing they’re going to that path. Hopefully it is only for this year.
I am quite impressed with their press conference on the 2017 uniforms, probably one of the best presented/ organised CPBL press conference.
That maybe so, but their uniform design is a bit drab.
I mean look at Lamigo Monkeys’ new logo and home/away uniforms:
It took them a couple of years, but they finally ditched the red and went with La New Bears’ gold. Haven’t seen a local uniform that actually looks good in a while (not since Mocoto Cobras)
Oh yeah, I am loving that new uniform from Lamigo! The more I look at it the more I like it! Also Lions is a good direction moving away from the traditional green.
I’ve been wanting to find a way to connect more to Taiwan - CPBL seem a good medium! I’ve a passing interest in baseball/MLB but being an Aussie, baseball hasn’t been that much of a thing.
I do get the game though and do enjoy it, so now, what team should I be supporting??
If you live close to one of the teams’ home stadiums, then it’s best to go with that team. If you don’t live in Taiwan, then it’s best to choose Lamigo Monkies because their stadium is only a few metro stops away from the TPE airport.
If you are into a underdog team (owned by a small company with limited budget), that devotes all its efforts into building a home team experience, turning a flawed stadium into a modern, fun packed playground, then the Lamigo Monkeys would be a good fit.
If you are into a New York Yankees type super rich team with the biggest players, then Chinatrust Brothers is your team. The predecessor of the Brothers was the Brother Elephants, and it was by far the most popular team. After the Brother corporation sold the team to the Chinatrust bank, the team is now both rich and popular.
The Uni Lions is a team with a lot of tradition. It is the only surviving founding team after Brother Elephants became the Chinatrust Brothers. The team is based in Tainan but they move plenty of their home games to other cities. Their home stadium is the oldest stadium currently in use, built in 1931 by the Japanese. The Lions was the most dominant team in the 2000s, but has been struggling to rebuild their team. This year they have a brand new uniform and a star rookie shortstop.
Fubon Gaurdians is the reigning champion. It was still called Eda Rhinos last year, and they had a terrible first half of 2016 season, so their owner declared he is selling the team to Fubon Bank. The team then went on to win the championship. It’s a great story, and they are on a good start to repeat last year, by having a terrible first half of the 2017 season. The Rhinos have some terrific hitters, especially former Dodger Hu Chin-lung, and reigning HR title holder 3 years in a row, Kao Kuoh-ui.
@hansioux thanks for the info. I live in Zhonghe so I guess the Fubon Guardians should be my default team, being in New Taipei?
@cpblstats I don’t think I’m well versed in baseball enough to know, but I guess I would wanna see big hits (or at least attempts) since that seem exciting for someone like me? Haha. As above, I live in Zhonghe!
Baseball is a game of intellect as much as athletic ability. It’s incredibly situational, so although big hits like home runs are great, sometimes swinging for the fences is not smart in many situations. For me, i like to see a pitcher impose his will on hitters and have great defense behind him that he can trust. Situational hitting is also important. And knowing stats and scouting reports for each player is fun. If you like stats, it’s a game for you. If you want all action, it might not be fun for you.
And it’s a game of specialization as well more and more. You have guys that are specialist pitchers, the most common is the closer who comes in at the last inning in most cases to get the last 3 outs in close games. There are even some lefty specialist that comes in for 1 out, for example, if you have a batter that his not great against a lefty pitcher and a lefty pitcher who is good at pitching to a lefty batter. He may just come in to get him out for one out.
Or you have great pinch hitters, guys who may not be great defenders and sometimes not even great everyday hitters but excel in a certain situation come in for one at bat because he, like you said you enjoy specialize in just swinging for the fences and hitting home runs. So you can expect he either hits a home run or strikes out because his job is to swing the hardest he can to get a home run.
And you have stats like, some guys like night games, and some guys like day games. Or even some player hit or play better when their team is down and is known to be a rally starter to help their team come from behind. Some players hit better away, some players like to pitch at home.
Some pitchers are strikeout pitchers, some actually want you to hit the ball to get outs because they can make you make bad contact to get outs. Like using the sinker, a fastball that drops at the very end so you hit it into the ground a lot for outs. Chien Ming Wang, was one of the best sinker ball pitchers in the MLB history.
Lamigo Monkeys isn’t that far away either. You can even get there via mass transportation.
I would suggest you try both, then decide which style/stadium you enjoy better.
Xinzhuang stadium isn’t the best stadium around. I wonder which team will get Taipei city when the domed stadium gets completed. I’m assuming it would be Chinatrust Brothers. If so you would get another choice to choose from within 2 to 3 years.
I’m still mostly watching MLB games, but I’m hoping to get into the CPBL as well as it’s easier to watch. I think it’s hard because I don’t know the players well, besides big names. I know almost every single player in to some extent in the MLB and many prospects. But I guess I would have to start by watching. I think someone told me this, but I live near Daan, which is the closest ball part to me?
The occasional MLB player doing career rehab, or past his prime, will come here. But, it just doesn’t have the spirit of MLB or Japanese baseball. Too many scandals from what Ive heard.
I wonder if a football league could get started here. China has one. Korea and Japan, too. Seems quite popular. OR, maybe the TWese just do not like sport.
If you’re in Taipei. Then probably Taoyuan (Monkeys) or Xinzhuang stadium (Mostly Guardians) would be your best choice.
In regards to the MLB connections. Here’s a list of all the players in 2017 CPBL that made it to the MLB. I didn’t list the players that went through the minor league system as that will be way too many to be named.
[quote=“JB_IN_TW, post:17, topic:159029, full:true”]
I find it hard as there are only 4 teams.
The occasional MLB player doing career rehab, or past his prime, will come here. But, it just doesn’t have the spirit of MLB or Japanese baseball. Too many scandals from what Ive heard. [/quote]
The league itself is in a rebuilding process due to that string of game-fixing incidents from the 90s to 2009. At its peak, Taiwan have a total of 11 active professional baseball teams.
They have recently announced the prerequisite for league expansion. With bunch of new policy/ structure in place. Hopefully we’ll be one step closer to seeing #5 and #6 team in Taiwan.
