With an expected sellout crowd looking to cheer on the home team, the Lamigo Monkeys are to host the Chinatrust Brothers in Game 1 of this year’s Taiwan Series at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium this afternoon.
A well-rested Primates squad, headed by skipper Hung Yi-chung, will be looking to claim their second title in three years after dominating the rest of the league in a strong first half that netted them a 39-2-19 record and a league-best 66-3-51 record for the entire season to earn home-field advantage against the second-half champs.
“Even though I’ll be playing in my fifth [Taiwan Series], I am just as nervous and anxious as anyone,” Hung said at yesterday’s pre-game press conference in Taipei.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
He is entering his fifth Taiwan Series as a manager after winning in two of his previous four attempts.
While the Primates might have the edge in terms of head-to-head competition against the Brothers, who lost 17 of their 20 first-half matches, the men in the golden uniforms have risen to the challenge lately, holding a slight 10-1-9 record versus the Monkeys in the second half to make it a much closer title series than the statistics might suggest.
“There is no doubt that [the Chinatrust Brothers] were a much different and better team in the second half,” Hung said last week after the Brothers secured the second-half title on the final day of the regular season.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
And with a trio of starters led by 11-game winner and the league’s ERA leader Cheng Kai-wen and including lefty Chris Cody, winner of a complete-game shutout over the Uni-President Lions in their regular season finale, the Brothers starting rotation could pose a serious test for Hung’s lineup, who are known more for their offensive production rather than their pitching.
Even though the Monkeys will get their chance to swing the bat, with sluggers Lin “Chubby Kid” Hung-yu and Lin Chih-sheng looking to drive in some runs, the surprise factor might be the Chinatrust offense, who feature Peng “Chia Chia” Cheng-min and Chang Cheng-wei, with the former expected to deliver clutch hits with his big-game experience and the latter looking to get on base from his leadoff spot to make use of his speed around the bases.
Also, the relief pitching should favor the Primates, whose bullpen is second-to-none with Chen Yu-hsun’s league-best 30 holds leading the way and ace closer Miguel Mejia on mop-up duty with 35 saves to his credit. Mejia will be out to show his former club how poor a decision it was not to extend his contract after spending a mediocre season with the Brothers in a starter’s role.
To counter the Monkeys’ bullpen, the Brothers will likely rely on their starters to go at least six innings to minimize their exposure in relief pitching, while looking to blow it open against the Lamigo starters early to lessen the burden on their bullpen.
“We’ll be okay if each and every one of us do our job,” Brothers manager Hsieh Chang-han said at the press conference.
He is to send Cody to the mound to take on the Monkeys’ Mitch Talbot in a showdown between a pair of hired guns in the all-important opener, where the winners have gone on to take the series in nine of the past 10 Fall Classics.
Taiwan suffered its first defeat of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12, losing to defending champion Japan 3-1 at the Taipei Dome last night. Japan’s victory put Taiwan’s score at two wins and one loss in WBSC Premier12 championship Group B play. In the top of the first inning, a sacrifice fly from Japanese batter Shota Morishita allowed Masayuki Kuwahara to score a run on Taiwan’s starter Chen Po-ching (陳柏清). Taiwan’s attempt to catch up in the bottom of the first ended to no avail and an uneventful second inning saw the score
Taiwan last night defeated Cuba 2-0 in their World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 Group B game at the Taipei Dome and finished the group second. At the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, South Korea yesterday defeated Australia 5-2, while Japan last night won 11-3 against the Dominican Republic. On Sunday, Taiwan scored two three-run homers in an 11-3 blowout win over Australia at the Taipei Dome to advance to the Super Round. Fresh off a defeat at the hands of defending Premier12 champions and Group B winners Japan the previous day, Taiwan’s offense came out slugging against Australia from the
Taiwan scored two three-run homers in an 11-3 blowout win over Australia at the Taipei Dome last night to advance to the Super Round of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 tournament. Fresh off a defeat at the hands of defending Premier12 champion and Group B winner Japan the previous day, Taiwan’s offense came out slugging against Australia from the off. After taking a walk to first base, Taiwan’s Chen Chieh- hsien (陳傑憲) then stole second before Tseng Song-en (曾頌恩) drew a walk to first in the top of the first inning. Chen then
OFFENSE SHINES: First baseman Pan Chie-kai hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as all 10 batters Taiwan used contributed at least one hit toward their team total of 14 One day after their first shutout loss at the WBSC Premier12, Taiwan yesterday bounced back with a commanding 8-2 victory over the US, keeping their hopes for a spot in tomorrow’s final alive. The win in the Super Round marked Taiwan’s first triumph over the US at a top-tier international baseball tournament since 2003. Their previous win over the US was at the 2003 Baseball World Cup, with only one win in the previous 10 matchups since 1999. Yesterday’s game was tightly contested through the first six innings, with the margin never exceeding two runs. However, the tide turned in the top of
RSS