1993 Taiwan Series

The 1993 Taiwan Series was the third Taiwan Series. The Brother Elephants won the second of three straight titles, but it was the only time in that span there was a Taiwan Series as they won the title outright the other two years.

The Elephants, managed by Toshihide Yamane, had gone 26-23-1 in the first half and 28-22 to take the second half title. They had CPBL MVP Yi-Hsin Chen (20-7, 1.92), the ERA leader. Chen was one of four players named to the first Best Nine in CPBL annals, joined by 1B Kuang-Huei Wang (.328/.391/.493), SS Epy Guerrero Jr. (.293/.339/.418) and OF Chu-Ming Lee (.309/.392/.468). I-Tseng Lin (.248/.293/.316) had a league-high 41 steals but it took 62 tries, while Hector de la Cruz hit .257/.340/.441 and stole 21 bases. Chen had little support on the staff other than closer Al Jones (3-1, 18 Sv, 3.04) and late-season addition Dave Pavlas (2-0, 2.39).

The Lions won the first half (28-18-4) and were 26-22-2 in the second half under skipper Kuen-Chi Cheng. Despite the best overall record, only one player made the Best Nine - C Chi-Chen Tseng (.280/.392/.414). Min-Ching Luo hit .293/.393/.471 as their top offensive threat. José Nuñez (22-5, Sv, 2.42) led the league in wins while Chin-Hsing Kuo (8-5, 18 Sv, 2.39) tied for the save lead with Jones. Chang-Heng Hsieh (13-9, 2.68) and José Canó (6-4, 2.85) gave the team good pitching depth.

In game one, on October 16, the Elephants won a 1-0 pitching duel, getting the only run in the 9th. Yi-Hsin Chen got the win over Nuñez in a battle of 20-game winners while Pai-Heng Lin drove in the winner. The next day, the Elephants won again, this time by a 4-1 score, with Pavlas beating Hsieh and Jones saving it. I-Tseng Lin homered while Jung-Tai Sung homered. On October 19, the Lions got their first win, a 2-0 win for Canó as Chip Duncan lost. Wen-Sheng Lu drove in the winning run.

Game Four marked the third shutout as the Elephants won 2-0. Hsien-Chang Chen won the game, Nuñez falling to 0-2 after his 22-win regular season. Yi-Hsin Chen got the save. Yan-Cheng Chen drove in the winning run. On October 21, the Lions won a 6-3 contest to stay alive as Hsieh beat Pavlas and Chin-Hsing Kuo saved the win. Lin-Lien Wu drove in the winner. Francisco Laureano went deep for the Lions and Yan-Cheng Chen for the Elephants. On October 23, the Elephants put it away with another low-scoring game, 2-1. Jones got the win and Canó the loss with Yi-Hsin Chen saving his second to go with his win. I-Chung Hong drove in the winner and was named Taiwan Series MVP. The teams had combined for only 22 runs in 6 games.

Primary Source: Taiwan Baseball Wiki