1991 Taiwan Series

The 1991 Taiwan Series was the second Taiwan Series.

The defending champion Wei Chuan Dragons had won the 1991 CPBL first-half title at 26-17-2 then fell to 20-19-6 in the second half. They boasted six of the nine Best Nine picks: 2B Shi-Xing Ro (.307/.398/.482), SS Jim Aylward (.305/.357/.456, a league-high 59 RBI), 3B Chien-Lin Kuo (.272/.343/.329), OF I-Tseng Lin (.292/.342/.368, a league-best 31 SB), OF Tsao-Li Sun (.271/.321/.349) and P Ping-Yang Huang (13-9, a league-leading 1.89 ERA). Joe Strong (15-10, 2.68) tied for the win lead and Longo Garcia (7-9, 2.66) was a solid third starter. They were managed by Sheng-Ming Hsu.

The Uni-President Lions had gone 21-20-4 in the first half but jumped to 25-14-6 in the second half. Managed by Kuen-Chi Cheng, they only had one Best Nine pick in C Chi-Chen Tseng (.312/.384/.426). Milt Harper (.300/.404/.507) was their other top producer. The pitching staff featured save leader Tony Metoyer (4-5, 20 Sv, 2.26), strikeout leader Enrique Burgos (7-9, 2.68, 138 K), Chin-Hsing Kuo (11-5, 2.91) and Chang-Heng Hsieh (11-9, 2.89).

The Series opened November 2 with a 5-2 Dragons win, Huang beating Fu-Ming Tu. Chien-Lin Kuo drove in the winner, while Matt Huff homered for the victors and Harper for the losers. The next day, the Lions stormed back with a 11-5 win, aided by five Dragons errors. Burgos won and Strong lost. For the losers, Tsao-Li Sun and Chin-Mao Chen homered. Jung-Tai Sung drove in the winner. Wei Chuan came back in game 3 on November 5, Garcia beating Hsieh while Strong saved it. An-Hsi Li drove in the winning run.

On November 6, the Lions won a 3-2 affair that went 14 innings, which would be a Taiwan Series record until 2009. Metoyer got the win and Huang the loss. Pai-Sheng Cheng drove in the winner. Ro homered for Wei Chuan while Juan Castillo hit a tying home run in the 9th for the Lions. On November 7, the Lions won a 4-2 game to go ahead, Kuo beating Strong. Yao-Hua Deng?Teng? drove in the winner. After a day off, Wei Chuan tied it in game 6 with a 2-0 win, Huang getting the victory for the second time. Burgos lost. Yan-Cheng Chen had the game-winning RBI. On November 10, the Lions won the first game 7 in Series history, 13-5. Metoyer got the win while Huang fell to 2-2 on the Series. Series MVP Min-Ching Lo and Castillo homered for the Lions while I-Tseng Lin and Tsao-Li Sun went deep for the Dragons.

Sources include Taiwan Baseball Wiki