2014 Taiwan Series

The 2014 Taiwan Series was a matchup of fresh faces, the two teams that did not play in the 2013 Taiwan Series. The Lamigo Monkeys won their second title, beating the Chinatrust Brothers in five games. De-Long Yu was named Taiwan Series MVP.

Teams

Lamigo Monkeys

The Monkeys were managed by I-Chung Hong. They cruised to a 39-19-2 first half but fell to 27-32-1 in the second half. Hung-Yu Lin (.313/.372/.488) was second in the 2014 CPBL with 16 homers, Yin-Lun Lan hit .339/.377/.462, Chih-Sheng Lin (.279/.348/.442) was second with 73 RBI and Chih-Ping Lin (.275/.336/.326) led with 31 steals. Ken Ray (9-5, 2.17) would have led in ERA had he qualified, while Roy Merritt had a 6-4, 2.82 record and Miguel Mejia (5-1, 1.24) led the league with 35 saves.

Chinatrust Brothers

The Brothers were guided by Chang-Heng Hsieh. They were only 19-40-1 in the first half but won the second half in a close race (31-26-3). Cheng-Wei Chang (.320/.375/.403) was third in average. Jim Negrych hit .366/.406/.478 in 49 games and Chih-Hao Chang (.262/.312/.431) added 20 steals. Chris Cody (7-2, 2.38), Kai-Wen Cheng (11-3, 2.48) and Hung-Wen Chen (7-8, Sv, 2.67) led the staff; Cheng led in ERA and tied for the most wins.

Games

• October 18: Monkeys 3, Brothers 0. Mitch Talbot blanked Chinatrust for 7 innings and Yu-Hsun Chen and Mejia completed the shutout. CF Chih-Yao Chan scored one and drove in two from the leadoff slot to win game MVP honors. Cody (2 R in 5 IP) took the loss.
• October 19: Monkeys 7, Brothers 6. The Monkeys, behind Yi-Cheng Wang, fell behind early, down 4-0 in the second (though 3 runs were unearned). They rallied off Kai-Wen Cheng, though, tagging him for 6 hits and 4 runs in 3 2/3 IP to knock him out. In the 5th, SS De-Long Yu drove in the winner off Yu-Ching Lin and Yu would be named game MVP. In the 9th, Brothers CF Chih-Hao Chang was caught overrunning first base for a crucial out. Mejia got the save in relief of Wang while Yu-Ching Lin took the loss. DH Hung-Yu Lin went 3 for 5 with a homer for Lamigo.
• October 21: Monkeys 8, Brothers 2. Lamigo moved within a game of the title as former minor leaguer Po-Yu Lin (1 R in 5 2/3 IP) easily outdueled former Pirate and Yankee Romulo Sanchez (5 R in 2 2/3 IP). RF Yin-Lun Lan (4 for 5, 4 R) and SS De-Long Yu (4 for 5, 3 RBI) excelled from the 7th and 8th spots of the batting order; Lan had the game-winning RBI and was named game MVP.
• October 22: Brothers 3, Monkeys 1. Yu-Ching Lin and two relievers combined to scatter nine hits to keep Chinatrust alive. 37-year-old Ming-Chieh Hsu (a rookie in CPBL after years in Japan) took the loss. 1B Chih-Sheng Lin homered off game MVP Yu-Ching Lin in the top of the first for the lone Lamigo run. C Chia-Chu Chen went 2 for 3 with two RBI, including the game-winner.
• October 23: Monkeys 8, Brothers 3. Game 1 star Talbot turned in a poor outing with 3 walks, one hit and 3 unearned runs in 2/3 of an inning for the Monkeys but Chao-Hao Tseng (game MVP) tossed 4 1/3 shutout innings of relief and three other relievers also turned in scoreless outings; Mejia fanned four in a two-inning save. Lamigo scored four runs off rookie starter Chung-Cheng Chiang in the 5th and tacked on four more against Hung-Wen Chen in the 9th to put it away. 3B Chih-Ping Lin drove in three, 2B Yen-Wen Kuo had three hits and the game-winning RBI and C Hao-Jan Huang was 3 for 4 with two runs.