Following the game-fixing scandal and off-field controversies during the offseason that led to the permanent banning of more than 25 players and coaches from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), the 2010 season is set to open at the Taipei Municipal Baseball Stadium in Tienmu this afternoon with the Uni-President Lions taking on the Brother Elephants.
A rematch of last year’s Taiwan Series, in which the Lions needed seven games to edge past their archrivals from the north for their third straight title, today’s game represents the league’s first test of the fans’ acceptance of what has happened in Taiwan’s national sport and their faith in the game as a whole.
President Ma Ying-jeou is scheduled to toss out the ceremonial first pitch. His endorsement will hopefully win back some of the support that was lost during one of the darkest offseasons in the league’s 20-year history.
US NEWCOMER
Taking the mound for the home Lions will be staff ace Pan “Du Du” Wei-luen, while the Elephants will send US newcomer Jim Magrane to start the season after most of its starting rotation was dismissed as a result of the game-fixing scandal.
Leading the potent attack for the Lions will be Pan Wu-hsiung and Kao Guo-ching, who, with .367 and .354 averages respectively and more than 110 combined RBIs last season, will test the shaky Elephants pitching right from the get-go.
BANNED FOR LIFE
To counter their relatively weak pitching, the Elephants will begin the new era without iconic hitter Chen “the Golden Warrior” Chih-yuan (banned for life for involvement in the game-fixing scandal) by having Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min champion a lineup featuring sluggers Chou Si-chi and Chen Guan-ren, the former looking to make it two solid seasons in a row with his new club and the latter coming off an injury-shortened season last year.
The Elephants will also try to improve on their team speed with leadoff man Wang Sheng-wei looking to make it two straight seasons with 40-plus stolen bases after he led the league in most stolen bags with 42 last year.
“This is a brand new beginning for us with all the problems we’ve had during the offseason that will basically put a new team on the field, so I don’t expect too much from our players,” rookie Elephants skipper Chen Rei-chen said in a recent interview.
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Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
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