1990 Taiwan Series

The 1990 Taiwan Series was the first Taiwan Series. It featured the Wei Chuan Dragons versus the Mercuries Tigers.

The Dragons had gone 25-20 in the first half of the 1990 CPBL and won the second half at 27-14-4. Their manager was Huan-Hsun Song. Matt Huff (.337/.409/.613, 16 HR) was their top hitter and I-Tseng Lin (.331/.378/.426) led the league with 34 steals. They relied heavily on three hurlers: ERA king Joe Strong (16-7, 1.92), win leader and strikeout co-leader Ping-Yang Huang (20-8, 2.23, 177 K) and Longo Garcia (10-9, 2.63).

The Tigers were 29-13-3 and won the first half and 18-25-2 in the second half. Hsin-Chang Lin was their skipper. Luis Iglesias (.292/.386/.543) led in homers (18) and RBI (58). Shih-Ming Huang (.331/.380/.500) also hit very well but missed the Series due to injury. Hung-Chin Tu (10-8, 2.48), Ming-Shan Kang (9-5, 2.27) and Wu-Hsiung Huang (6-6, 2.00) were their best pitchers.

In game one, on October 20, the Dragons won, 2-1, in front of 16,000 fans. Strong got the first win, Tu the first loss and Iglesias hit the first home run. Cheng-Chin Hong drove in the winner. The next day, the Tigers came back to win 3-2, with Kang beating Garcia. In game 3, October 23, the Dragons prevailed, 5-1, with Ping-Yang Huang beating Yi-Chuan Liu and Huff homering. On the 24th, the Dragons romped to a 10-0 win with Strong doing the pitching. Wu-Hsiung Huang took the loss. Chiung-Lung Huang drove in the winner and Tsao-Li Sun homered.

On October 25, the Tigers staved off elimination briefly with a 2-1 win in 12 innings, the first extra-inning Series game. Tu got the win and Ping-Yang Huang the loss. Cheng-Chung Chen drove in the winner and Jose Moreno homered for the Tigers. On the 27th, the Dragons clinched with a 2-0 win, Ping-Yang Huang coming back to get the win over Kang. Hong drove in the game-winner again and was named Taiwan Series MVP.

Sources include Taiwan Baseball Wiki