The Chinese Professional Baseball League postseason chase is beginning to enter the home stretch, with just three weeks left in the regular season.

In one of the most important series remaining this season, the Rakuten Monkeys played the CTBC Brothers in a three-game set as the Brothers looked to close the gap atop the standings.

In a rematch of last year’s Taiwan Series, the Monkeys and Brothers split their first two games and met Sunday in the rubber match, with the Brothers trailing by just one game in the standings.

The Brothers wasted no time getting on the board in the first. After the first two hitters reached, Song-En Tseng delivered an RBI single for an early 1-0 lead. After a double play scored another run, Kun-Yu Chiang delivered an RBI single to make it 3-0. Two batters later, Yu-Chieh Kao delivered an RBI double to extend the lead to 4-0. One batter later, Cheng-Jui Sung blooped a two-run double off the glove of Rakuten second baseman He-Chieh Hsu. Shr-Lun Chang followed with an RBI single before being thrown out at third while attempting to advance on an error in left field.

After an offensive explosion in the first inning, the Brothers led 7-0 before Rakuten had a chance to step to the plate. The seven runs were all Brothers starter José De Paula would need. The Monkeys scored two in the first but would get no closer than a five-run deficit. The Brothers cruised to a 9-3 win on the strength of the seven-run first inning.

De Paula went six innings, allowing three runs on 10 hits to earn the win.

The victory put the Brothers into a virtual tie with Rakuten. After finishing last in the first half at 20-37-2, they have responded in the second half.

The Fubon Guardians entered the weekend narrowly holding the final wild-card spot over the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions. They traveled to Kaohsiung to take on the last-place TSG Hawks. It was a weekend to forget for the Guardians. After dropping the first two games of the weekend, they looked to avoid a sweep Sunday.

After the Hawks took an early 4-0 lead through the first three innings, the Guardians struck back for two runs on a throwing error in the fifth to make it 4-2. It remained 4-2 until the seventh, when the Hawks exploded.

After Sotaro Nagata’s RBI single made it 5-2, an infield single and a safety squeeze made it 7-2. Po-Hsuan Wang’s two-run single made it 9-2 and put the game virtually out of reach.

The Guardians scored one in the eighth but went down quietly in the ninth as the TSG Hawks won 9-3 to sweep the series.

After trailing the Guardians by 5 1/2 games in the wild-card race heading into the series, the Hawks revitalized their playoff hopes with the sweep.

The sweep by the Hawks was big news for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions. They entered the weekend trailing the Fubon Guardians by just half a game, with a golden opportunity to move into a playoff spot.

In a weekend set with the Wei Chuan Dragons, the Lions took Game 1 on Friday with a 3-2 win. After a rainout Saturday, the teams played Sunday. A win for the Lions would have given them a two-game lead over the Guardians for the final wild-card spot.

MVP candidate Jordan Balazovic took the hill for the Lions in a pivotal game. The game remained scoreless until the fourth, when the Lions broke through. A wild pitch, RBI single, RBI groundout and sacrifice fly put the Lions up 4-0.

That was all Balazovic would need. He threw seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits and striking out seven. No Dragons hitter reached second base during his seven innings. The performance dropped his ERA to 1.45.

The score remained 4-0 until the top of the eighth. Cheng-Ling Li stepped up with a runner on and delivered a two-run homer to make it 6-0.

Later in the inning, Chih-Cheng Chiu came through with a three-run double to turn it into a blowout at 9-0.

In the ninth, Pei-Wei Lin crushed a three-run homer to put the exclamation mark on a dominant performance and make it 12-0.

The Dragons scored one in the ninth, but that was it. The Lions won 12-1 and took a two-game lead over the Guardians for the third and final playoff spot.

After falling to the Monkeys on Wednesday, the Lions currently lead the Fubon Guardians for the third and final playoff spot by 1 1/2 games and trail the Monkeys by just one game for the top spot in the second half.

What lies ahead this week

The Lions will finish the week with two huge series that could go a long way toward determining their playoff hopes.

Thursday and Friday, the Lions will play the CTBC Brothers at the Taipei Dome. The Lions trail the Brothers by just half a game, and a sweep would move them past the Brothers for second place in the second half as they look to chase down Rakuten for the top spot.

Saturday and Sunday, the Lions will host the Fubon Guardians for a massive two-game set in Tainan. A sweep would suddenly put the Lions up by 3 1/2 games and create some breathing room in their quest for the postseason.

Second half standings

Rakuten Monkeys 25-19

CTBC Brothers 26-21

Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions 25-21

Wei Chuan Dragons 22-23

Fubon Guardians 19-26

TSG Hawks 19-26