The Rakuten Monkeys closed out the Chinese Professional Baseball League Taiwan Series in five games, taking the title from the CTBC Brothers with a 9-7 win in 11 innings on Oct. 27 at Taoyuan Baseball Stadium in Taoyuan.
The Rakuten Monkeys dominated the series, winning four out of five games and outscoring the CTBC Brothers 17-11.
Rakuten Monkeys designated hitter Lin Hung-Yu made the difference with a game-winning two-run home run in the 11th inning of game five against CTBC Brothers against reliever Hao Chun-Cheng. Lin went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and a walk.
2025 CPBL Taiwan Series G5
Rakuten Monkeys veteran 林泓育 (Lin Hung-Yu) crushes a clutch go-ahead 2-run homer in the top of the 11th inning. pic.twitter.com/hLsetwL64H
— CPBL STATS (Taiwan Dark Lemon) 🪬🔮 (@GOCPBL) October 27, 2025
Lin, 39, has had an accomplished career with the Rakuten Monkeys and has won six Taiwan Series since debuting with them in 2010. He also won the CPBL MVP award in 2011. In 16 seasons, he’s hit 216 home runs with 1,104 RBIs and a slash line of .323/.381/.502 in 5,807 at-bats.
This series began on Oct. 18 with a 3-0 shutout win for the Rakuten Monkeys, and they followed up with a close 2-1 victory in game two on Oct. 19, taking a 2-0 lead. The CTBC Brothers responded in game three with a 2-0 shutout to cut their series deficit to 2-1 on October 21.
There was bad weather that caused a few games to get postponed, and game four didn’t get played until October 26. The Rakuten Monkeys got back on track with a 3-1 win and a commanding 3-1 series lead.
It was the eighth Taiwan Series victory for the Rakuten Monkeys and their 14th playoff appearance since they were founded in 2002. The CTBC Brothers have won 10 Taiwan Series and have made the playoffs 17 times since the team began play in 1989.
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The Taiwan Series MVP was the Rakuten Monkeys right-handed pitcher Pedro Fernandez. Fernandez, 31, is a native of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, and made two starts in the series, allowing one run in 13 innings. In Game two, he pitched seven scoreless innings with five strikeouts and three hits allowed. In Game four, he fired six innings of one-run ball with a series high 10 strikeouts.
Fernandez had an outstanding season in the CPBL, pitching 170 innings, striking out 168 batters, and posting an ERA of 2.02. Fernandez has also pitched in LIDOM for the Àguilas Cibaeñas and in the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol for the Algodoneros de Unión Laguna and Tigres de Quintana Roo.
This was the 36th Taiwan Series, and the CTBC Brothers are now tied with Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions for the most Taiwan Series Championships with 10.
Illustration courtesy of the CPBL
