In the Premier12 last November, the Taiwanese team, mainly made up of players from the Chinese Professional baseball (CPBL), defeated Samurai Japan 4-0 in the finals, achieving their long-awaited first victory in a major international tournament, creating a huge fever in Taiwan. Then, in the WBC qualifiers in February this year, the Taiwanese team, made up mainly of young players, changed their lineup from the Premier12 except for captain Chen Chiet-Hsien (Uni-President The Lions), who volunteered to participate, and although they struggled, they lived up to the expectations of the local fans and won the right to participate in the main tournament, continuing baseball fever into the new season.

This year's Taiwanese professional baseball, which began on March 29th, has been off to a good start for the past month. In addition to the positive mood caused by the good results in the international tournaments mentioned above, each team has strengthened the entertainment element by "reinforcing" big-name overseas cheerleaders and holding event days, and as of the end of 78 games (May 6th), the average attendance per game is 9,881, maintaining a pace approaching 10,000. With the Taipei Dome in operation and a six-team system for the first time in 16 years, the annual attendance has reached the 2 million mark for the first time, and the average per game is also exceeding last season's record high of 7,684 people.

The CPBL officially introduced the pitch clock last season, and perhaps because players have gotten used to it and are now enforcing it more strictly, the average game time so far this season has been 2 hours and 52 minutes, more than 15 minutes shorter than last year's 3 hours and 8 minutes, which has been well received by fans. The CPBL also changed the rules so that teams can freely choose from four start times for games on holidays: 14:05, 15:05, 16:05, and 17:05. It is quite possible that these rule changes, which aim to make the spectator experience more comfortable, have also contributed to the increase in attendance.

Currently, if we look only at the number of spectators by stadium, the Taipei Dome, which is not a "regular batting stadium," has the overwhelming majority, but the average number of spectators per game is down about 10% compared to the previous year.In fact, there has been a notable increase in the number of games held at the home stadiums of each team, which can be said to be a positive trend from a long-term perspective.

This corner brings you information about Taiwan's professional baseball from the field. In the first half of our special opening feature, we'll look back over the past month since the start of the season and introduce some hot topics.

The opening game, which drew a record 40,000 fans, ended with a landslide victory for Unification.

On March 29, the opening game between Unification The Lions and the Citic Brothers was held at the Taipei Dome. It has become a tradition in Taiwanese professional baseball for the teams that participated in the Taiwan Series the previous year to play the opening game before the other teams. In the past, it was also customary to hold the game at the home ground of the previous year's champion. However, the Citic Sinc brothers, led by coach Keiichi Hirano, who are aiming for a consecutive championship, chose the Taipei Dome as their opening venue, just as Ajisen The Dragons did last year.

In addition to the well-known and passionate fans of the CITIC brothers, many Unification fans also came to the visitors' area in the left stand, and the event attracted a record crowd of 40,000 fans for the opening game.

Brock Dykeson, who has 43 wins in the CPBL for Unification, and Jose DePaula, who has 66 wins for the CITIC brothers, both foreigners pitcher in their sixth season in Taiwan, were the starters mound.

bases loaded sweep In the top of the 6th inning, with the Unification leading 1-0 and one out bases loaded, Pan Jie Kai, a member of the Premier 12 team, hit a two-run double over the head of the advancing defense infield, scoring DePaula and adding one more run. In the top of the 7th inning, Lin Anke, a representative of the Premier 12, hit a solo HR to the right field bleachers, the first in the CPBL in 2025, and Unification won the game 8-0. Unification starter Dykeson, who was selected for his first season pitcher and went 5 2/3 innings runs without a loss closer, won the MVP award.

Unified, with stable pitching and batting, is leading the way

Here's a look at how they fared so far in the last season. As of May 6, they are in first place with a 17-9 record and are Unification after losing to the late champions of the Taiwan Series last season, the Chushin brothers. Although there are ups and downs, such as four consecutive wins to start the season, they have lost four games in a row, but the team is led by the captain of the Taiwan national team, Chen Jie-hsien, and "once you get the momentum, you can't stop." His slugging streak is still alive and well this season, and his HR and team OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) rank first in the league. The pitcher squad is also stable, with a starter of foreigners including new signings and former NPB player C.C. Mercedes, and the bullpen has become an indispensable force as a member of the winning pattern of 36-year-old "Old Rookie" Masaki Takashio, who was the first foreigner to be selected in the draft in June last year after the draft system was revised.

In second place, two games behind, is last year's Taiwanese champions, Ajizen The Dragons. The number one Taiwanese player in the CPBL, pitcher Xu Young-hee, finally made his debut on April 15. He has a 1.15 ERA but has started three games and lost two win, but his vaunted pitcher has been largely consistent through starters and relief this season, and his team ERA 2.26 is by far the best. The batting lineup, which was on a tear last season, has bolstered the league's leading left-handed hitter this offseason, with Chen Zihao from the Zhongxin brothers and Zhu Yuxian from the Rakuten Monkeys. Chen Zihao is still not at his best, and Zhu Yuxian has been out for a while, but Guo Tianxin and Liu Jihong have returned to form this season, and the team batting average of .266 is also the top.

In third place, 3.5 games behind, are last year's champions, Keiichi Hirano's Chushin brothers. After a 1-3 start to the season in the opening four games, the team regained the top spot with 10 wins in 12 games, including seven in a row, thanks to the tenacity of the pitcher team. However, they have yet to keep up with the pace, losing five straight games by one goal and losing five in a row.

pitcher While there are many injuries in the squad, the injury to Premier12 Venezuelan international Mario Sanchez, who was transferred from Unification and was considered an ace candidate, hurts. In addition bullpen, the closer duo of Wu Junwei, who played more than 50 games last season, are still not ready to pitch, and while WBC qualifier Lu Yanqing has also withdrew due to a hip injury, rookies Chen Guanying and Bo Lichen have been selected, and Premier12 representative Huang En-chi has served as closer to fill the void. Coach Hirano had pointed out the aging of key players as an issue before the start of the season, and there is a lot of pressure on the team because it is a popular team, but this season will be a season in which they aim to win back-to-back titles while nurturing young players.

The Rakuten Monkees, led by coach Kenji Koku, have had a tough start to the season with four consecutive losses and a series of departures from key fielder, but they have recovered to 12-12, winning eight of their last 10 games and four games behind the leaders. The Premier12 international, who led the league in batting average, RBI and HR until his departure, will soon return to the first team and will be aiming to enter Class A from here. "We are desperate for one game at a time," says Coach Furukubo, but despite the team's difficult situation last year, he did not collapse and picked up a win to finish third in the post season winning percentage of the year.

And in fifth place with a 13-14 record, 4.5 games behind, is Taisteel The Hawks, who are in their second year in the Army. In a practice game in spring camp, WBC qualifier representative Chen Wenjie suffered a serious injury that despaired of despair this season, and on April 18, WBC qualifier representative Wu Nen-wa also withdrew from the lineup due to a physical injury, and at one point, last season's "Double Crown Champion" main gun, Stephen Moya, also withdrew due to a physical tear, but Moya returned on April 27 and led the team with a huge explosion of six HRs in seven games, including two consecutive 2HRs in two consecutive games, becoming the seventh player in history to lead the team. Wang Baiyu has also improved his form.

In the pitcher lineup, foreign starters such as Braidine Hagens, who has not lost since joining Taisteel last season, and Kazumasa Yoshida, who has been converted to a starter, are energized, and ERA are fighting tenaciously with a 2.86 ERA, which is second in the league. In the relief lineup, 20-year-old Zhang Cheng-eun, who joined the club as a infielder but switched to pitcher midway through last season, is a set-upper, change-up who was selected as a league-leading 7 hold and closer is a weapon, 23-year-old Hayashi Shixiang is a league-leading 8 saves and no runs, and Hisanori Yokota pitcher The coach's ability to develop is also attracting attention.

And with 7 wins and 19 losses, they are 10 games off the top of the standings and sink to the bottom of the standings with the Fubon Guardians. Although the team won the opening game for the third year in a row, it continued to struggle with concerns that several of its main pitchers could not make it in time for the start of the season, and the team OPS and ERA were both at the bottom of the league. In particular, they have struggled with just one win in their last nine games. On April 13, former major leaguer Zhang was sidelined with a shoulder injury while sliding head-on while trying to touch up, and although he was "in tears," he did not need surgery and was soon able to resume training, which is a blessing in disguise. Dai Peifeng, who had a breakout season last season and wore a mask when he won the Premier12, has been hitting well this season and is struggling to rank second in the league in OPS.

The issue of relying too much on foreign starters; proposals from the field to revise the foreign player quota

Since the start of the season, one issue that has been frequently discussed throughout the league is the league's high reliance on foreign pitcher as starter. All eight of the scheduled starters for the four games, including the opening game on March 29th and the three games on the following day, are foreign pitcher. After a travel day, on April 2nd, Taiwan Steel fielded Premier 12 representative Chen Bo-Ching in the All Japan game, and in the match between Chinatrust Brothers and Fubon (Xinzhuang), a "former NPB showdown" between Chinatrust Brothers' Cheng Kai-Wen and Fubon's Zhang Yi was realized. However, as of May 6th, of the 13 pitchers who have reached the required innings pitched, only two are Taiwanese pitcher: Huang Tze-Peng (Rakuten) and Zhang Yi (Fubong), both of whom are Premier 12 representatives.

According to a summary by the Liberty Times, a major Taiwanese newspaper, out of the 152 starter in the 76 games from the start of this season through May 5th, 100 were foreign pitcher (including Brian Woodall of the Aichi Steelers, who played for nine years and is no longer eligible for the foreign player quota). This ratio of 65.7% is significantly higher than the ratio of foreign pitcher in the NPB, where it is said that foreign pitchers make up about 20% of the starting pitchers, and in the KBO (Korea Professional baseball), where it is said that they make up about 40%.

In the midst of this, voices are being raised not only from the media and fans, but also from players on the field, such as manager Hirano of the Chinatrust Brothers and manager Hung Yi-Chung of the Tai Steel League, that the rules regarding the three slots for foreign players on the first team should be changed in order to develop Taiwanese starter, with some saying that "one of the three slots should be hitter" or "four slots, with two hitter and two pitcher."

*Information current as of May 6th

Text by Hide Komada