2008 CPBL

The 2008 Chinese Professional Baseball League season marked a second straight Taiwan Series title for the Uni-President Lions. The season, like so many in CPBL history, was plagued by game-throwing scandals. It was the 6th such incident in 7 years. The dMedia T-Rex, an expansion team, only lasted one season due to such a scandal and the China Trust Whales folded as well due to the same scandal, dropping the league from six teams to four.

On a more positive note, Wei-Lun Pan threw a no-hitter and was an error shy of the first perfect game in the league's 19 seasons. Chin-Feng Chen set a record with 13 total bases in one game, on July 13.

Standings

1. Uni-President Lions, 34-16 first half; 33-17 second half
2. La New Bears, 27-19-3 first half; 33-16-1 second half
3. Brother Elephants, 24-22-3 first half; 28-19-1 second half
4. Chinatrust Whales, 20-30 first half; 19-31 second half
5. dMedia T-Rex, 21-28-1 first half; 16-32 second half
6. Sinon Bulls, 19-30-1 first half; 18-32 second half

Awards

The MVP was Mike Johnson, who took a break to pitch for Canada in the 2008 Olympics. Johnson had won 20 games, 7 more than runner-up Lou Pote and was second in the CPBL with a 2.45 ERA. He also ranked 4th in strikeouts. Yu-Cheng Liao led in ERA (2.31) and won Most Improved Player honors, while Chi-Wei Lin of the Sinon Bulls was named Rookie of the Year.

Gold Gloves

• P - Ryokan Kobayashi, Elephants
• C - Yi-Feng Kuo, Elephants
• 1B - Cheng-Min Peng, Elephants
• 2B - Hung-Sen Chu, Elephants
• SS - Sheng-Wei Wang, Elephants
• 3B - Chih-Wei Shih, Bears
• OF - Long-Yi Huang, Bears
• OF - Cheng-Wei Huang, Elephants
• OF - Fu-Hao Liu, Lions

Best Ten

• P - Mike Johnson, Bears
• C - Yi-Feng Kuo, Elephants
• 1B - Cheng-Min Peng, Elephants
• 2B - Sen Yang, Lions
• SS - Chih-Sheng Lin, Bears
• 3B - Tilson Brito, Lions
• OF - Long-Yi Huang, Bears
• OF - Wu-Hsiung Pan, Lions
• OF - Ssu-Chi Chou, T-Rex
• DH - Chin-Feng Chen, Bears

Offensive Leaders

• Average: Cheng-Min Peng, Elephants .391
• Home Runs: Tilson Brito, Lions 24
• RBI: Tilson Brito, Lions 102
• Stolen Bases: Sheng-Wei Wang, Elephants 24

Pitching Leaders

• ERA: Yu-Cheng Liao, Elephants 2.31
• Wins: Mike Johnson, Bears 20
• Saves: Jermaine Van Buren, Bears 20
• Strikeouts: Fu-Te Ni, Whales 132

Source: Taiwan Baseball Blog