Baseball leagues around the world have started in the last 10 days. While MLB gets the attention around the world, leagues in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have begun and started with a bang.
Opening weekend in NPB – Nippon Professional Baseball got going last weekend in Japan, and on opening night in Tokyo, the Yomiuri Giants erased a 5-0 deficit in the eighth inning and beat the Yakult Swallows in 10 innings with a 6-5 win. Former Major League Baseball player Trey Cabbage homered in his first game to help ignite the comeback. He went on to homer in his first two games to make an immediate first impression in Japan.
On opening night in the Pacific League, arguably the best starter in NPB, Hiroya Miyagi, carried a perfect game into the eighth inning for Orix and went eight innings, allowing one run and two hits in Orix’s walk-off 3-2 win over Rakuten.
In one of the early statements in NPB, the Chiba Lotte Marines swept the defending Pacific League champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in Fukuoka with a 20-10 score across the three games. It is the first time the Hawks have lost three straight to open a season since 1988. It showed that the Marines are potentially a force to be reckoned with in 2025.
Reliever Tayron Guerrero, who has spent time in MLB, had a breakout performance for the Marines on opening weekend. He touched 100 mph and did not allow a hit in his two innings with five strikeouts. He showed he could be among the elite relievers in NPB in 2025.
Another storyline from the opening weekend in NPB was the performance of top prospects. Rui Muneyama, Misho Nishikawa and Seiya Watanabe, all selected in this past NPB Draft, started off well. Watanabe went 5-for-11 for the offensively starved Seibu Lions to make the immediate impact they desperately needed.
LG Twins start KBO season on fire – The LG Twins have started the KBO season at 7-0. They are the only team in the KBO with fewer than three losses. They’ve outscored opponents 55-13 and thrown two shutouts, establishing themselves as the clear-cut team to beat by absolutely crushing the opposition.
Twins third baseman Bo-gyeong Moon, after having his breakout season in 2024 with 22 homers and an OPS of .879, has taken another step in 2025. He has already hit four homers in 30 plate appearances and has an OPS of 1.417. He is showing why he’s one of the best hitters in the KBO and a potential MVP candidate in 2025 and a name to watch to make Korea’s roster for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Patrick Wisdom, a former MLB player, has made the move to the KBO in 2025 and he has not disappointed. He has homered in three straight games and has four overall with an OPS north of 1.300. Expect to see him put on an absolutely show in 2025 in the very offensive heavy KBO.
CPBL start season off with record crowd at Taipei Dome – The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions and CTBC Brothers opened up the 2025 CPBL season at the Taipei Dome in Taiwan with a record crowd of 40,000 people in attendance for a season opener, beating the previous by nearly 12,000. The raucous crowd witnessed the Lions win 8-0 in dominant fashion.
On day two, former MLB pitcher Humberto Castellanos made his debut in the CPBL for the CTBC Brothers against the Fubon Guardians. He absolutely dominated the Guardians. He went six innings and struck out nine, allowing no runs. In a league that has continued to get better, 2025 may be the most talented the CPBL has ever had on the mound with Castellanos among the very best. He showed how good he can be in his debut in a matchup against former big leaguer, Roenis Elias.
Leagues all around Europe will get underway in the next week and a half, and México’s Liga Mexicana de Beisbol will be underway in two weeks, but so far in the US and Asia, the baseball has been very entertaining with a great rest of the season left to play.
