In the second half of the Chinese Professional Baseball League season, the standings have looked dramatically different from those in the first half.
After a strong first half in which they went 34-26 and finished second, the Fubon Guardians have struggled in the second half. They sit in last place at 6-10. After scoring the second-most runs in the CPBL and averaging 4.0 runs per game in the first half, they’re averaging just 2.88 runs per game in the second half while allowing a whopping 7.0 runs per game. At minus-25, they have the league’s worst run differential in the second half and are the only team that has been outscored by its opponents.
After finishing the first half in solid position, the Guardians currently hold the final wild-card spot in the overall standings at 40-36, just a half-game ahead of the TSG Hawks.
This weekend, the Guardians and Hawks are playing a pivotal three-game series, with only a half-game separating them in the wild-card race. On Friday, the Guardians’ offense finally broke out. After taking a 5-2 lead through seven innings, they surrendered it when Steven Moya hit a grand slam during a four-run seventh inning to give the Hawks a 6-5 advantage.
The Guardians responded with the type of inning they had been searching for. With one out in the seventh, Fubon’s best player, Yu Chang, delivered a game-tying RBI double. The floodgates opened after that. Tzu-En Tung followed with an RBI single before scoring from second base on a wild pitch, and Nian-Hao Wang added another RBI single to make it 9-6. The Guardians held on for a 9-6 victory in the crucial series opener.
The nine runs were nearly as many as Fubon had scored over its previous five games combined (10). The win moved the Guardians back ahead of the Hawks in the overall standings. If neither team wins the second-half title, both should remain in contention for the final wild-card spot. The Guardians hope the comeback victory over the Hawks can get their season back on track.
The Rakuten Monkeys have been the surprise team of the second half after finishing fifth with a 24-34-2 record in the first half. They are tied for first at 10-6.
One of the biggest additions for Rakuten has been former minor league and Nippon Professional Baseball outfielder Adam Walker, who wasted no time making an impact. In his debut on July 24, after being hit by a pitch in the first inning, Walker came to the plate with one runner on and two outs in the third against one of Fubon’s top starters, Tung-Ming Li, and deposited the first pitch into the left-field seats. He became just the 14th player in CPBL history to homer in his first official at-bat.