Another week of action in the books in Asia this past week.
In Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), Orix Buffaloes first baseman, Yuma Tongu, continued his monster start of the season with his 5th home run to lead NPB and upped his OPS to 1.205, to lead both leagues. He is the early-season front-runner for Pacific League MVP as he continues to mash in 2025.
Tatsuya Imai continued his brilliance in 2025 with eight shutout innings, allowing just three hits to drop his ERA to a minuscule 0.75. He has firmly established himself as one of the premier starting pitchers in NPB and a candidate to make the Samurai Japan roster at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
Patrick Wisdom continued his dominance at the plate this past week in the KBO. He’s up to 7 HR and an OPS of 1.069. Both lead the KBO. He completed the week with a 2 HR game, including a tape measure shot. The former MLB hitter should be in the mix for the MVP, and he is showing why he was highly coveted by KBO teams.
Starting pitcher Yonny Chirinos, who pitched in MLB in 2024, has been one of the elite pitchers in the KBO for the LG Twins. He has a 1.80 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 25 innings. He’s been a big reason they’ve been absolutely on fire to start the season at 15-3. Several former minor leaguers and MLB pitchers have made the jump to Korea to revive their careers, and Chirinos could be the latest to do it.
In the CPBL, Taiwanese outfielder An-Ko Lin hit his CPBL-leading 4th HR and has a CPBL-leading 1.160 OPS. In a league that has not seen much power in 2025, he has shown himself to be the class of the CPBL. He will look to earn a spot on Taiwan’s 2026 WBC roster.
Former MLB and KBO pitcher Drew Gagnon is off to a great start in 2025. Through 2 starts, he has yet to allow a run and struck out 11 in 12 innings for the Wei Chuan Dragons.
The Baseball Champions League Americas wrapped up this past Sunday with the Diablos Rojos del México, the champions of México in 2024, taking home the crown in dominant fashion with a 6-1 win in the final over the Leñadores de Las Tunas, the champions of Cuba. They entered as the heavy favorites and showed why. They never trailed in the tournament and were never in danger of losing a game. The tournament showed the gap between the top league in México and all other summer leagues in the Americas. In the 2023 tournament, the champions of México, Yucatán, had a disappointing showing, but that wasn’t in the cards this time. In a league that continues to grow, LMB teams are likely to dominate this tournament in the near future, with other leagues looking to get better.
The BCL should see more teams added to the edition in the Americas but they really need the tournaments in Europe and Asia to get off the ground to take this tournament to a new level. Potential for the champions league is significant if they can get the top teams from Taiwan/South Korea and Taiwan involved.
