1999 Taiwan Series

The 1999 Taiwan Series was the third straight (and final) Taiwan Series won by the Wei Chuan Dragons. They upset the Chinatrust Whales (making their Series debut) in 5 games.

The Whales had finished first in the 1999 CPBL regular season at 60-29-2. Lai-Fa Lee was the manager. They had four players named to the Best Nine in P Kevin Henthorne (15-5, 2.48), C Kuang-Hao Wang (.310/.380/.438), SS Franklin Parra (.302/.356/.463, 34 SB) and OF Lien-Hung Chen (.331/.438/.498). Alex Cabrera (.325/.382/.579) and Chi-Feng Hung (.333/.408/.579, the batting titlist) also hit very well. Supporting Henthorne on the staff were Chien-Fu Kuo Lee (15-5, 2.89), Genji Kaku (9-5, 2.34), Carlos Mirabal (2-1, 13 Sv, 1.87) and Calvin Jones (2-2, 11 Sv, 2.32). Mirabal led the league in ERA while Kuo Lee and Henthorne tied for the win lead.

The Dragons were third in the regular season for manager Sheng-Ming Hsu at 49-39-4. They only had one player make the Best Nine, 3B Tai-Shan Chang (.321/.388/.532), who led with 70 RBI. Carlos Sievers hit .295/.389/.449 in 22 games. Gab Ozuna (10-5, 2.69) was the top starter and Matt Turner (3-0, 15 Sv, 1.93) the top reliever.

In game 1, on November 3, the Dragons won a 5-0 shutout as the Whales had just five hits while making four errors. Mike Iglesias, after an 0-3 regular season, beat win leader Henthorne. Sievers drove in the winner but was suspended for the remainder of the Series (along with Kuang-Hao Wang of the Whales and Bernie Tatis of the Dragons) over a 5th-inning brawl. On November 4, the Dragons won 5-2 as Ozuna beat Kaku. Cheng-Chin Hong drove in the game-winning run.

On November 6, Wei Chuan kept rolling as Deok-chil Kim took a 3-2 decision over Kuo Lee. Javier Cruz saved it. Chiung-Lung Huang (who would be named Taiwan Series MVP) drove in the winner while Lien-Hung Chen homered in a losing cause. Game 4 was the only one won by the Whales, a 6-0 victory as the Dragons had only 3 hits and made 3 errors. Chi-Hsien Ho got the win over Saul Valenzuela while Parra homered. On November 9, the Whales led 4-3 going into the bottom of the 9th but the Dragons scored twice to lock it up. Oscar Rivera got the win and Mirabal took the loss. Chin-Mao Chen drove in the winning run. Shu-Mu Chueh homered for the Whales, who got all 3 home runs in the Series while falling in five games. They made 10 errors overall, which hurt a lot.

Primary Source: Taiwan Baseball Wiki