2018 Taiwan Series

The 2018 Taiwan Series featured the defending champion Lamigo Monkeys defeating the Uni-President Lions.

Teams

Lamigo Monkeys

The Monkeys were guided by I-Chung Hong. They were 38-22 in the first half of the 2018 CPBL and 35-25 in the second half to win both halves; that allowed them to start the Series with a 1-0 lead. They had the best offense, scoring 750 runs, with a team average of .320, and also led in ERA (4.23) and fewest runs allowed (623). Despite that, they did not dominate the CPBL leaderboards. 1B Chun-Hsiu Chen (.375/.439/.602, 31 2B, 17 HR, 78 R, 77 RBI) led in average and tied for 4th in homers with OF Po-Jung Wang (.351/.446/.547, 32 2B, 17 HR, 84 RBI, 99 R), who was 4th in average and 2nd in RBI a year after a Triple Crown. DH Chien-Fu Liao hit .387/.462/.575 but fell short of qualifying for the batting title. Bruce Kern (13-3, 3.28) was second in wins and 3rd in ERA and Michael Nix had a 8-4, 3.72 record. Yu-Hsun Chen (3-6, 30 Sv, 3.16) repeated as save leader while Tzu-Peng Huang (5-3, 2.48) was the top reliever.

Uni-President Lions

Managed by Kan-Lin Huang, the Lions were 35-25 in the first half but 29-30-1 in the second half. They outscored opponents 684-659. They beat the Fubon Guardians 3 games to 1 in the playoffs. LF Chieh-Hsien Chen (.356/.428/.495) was 3rd in the league in average, 3B Fu-Lin Kuo (.284/.349/.496, 84 R) was third with 19 homers, LF Chih-Chieh Su (.307/.398/.537) tied for 5th with 17 HR and 2B Chieh-Jui Wu (.336/.395/.462) was 5th in average. On the mound, Josh Roenicke (12-10, 3.17) led in ERA and was 3rd in wins while Tzu-Chien Shih (11-5, 3.86) was 4th in wins. Yun-Wen Chen (3-1, 19 Sv, 3.72) was second in saves. Rookie reliever Chun-Yen Huang was 1-2 with two saves and a 2.89 ERA.

Games

• October 27: Monkeys 15, Lions 6. The Monkeys set a Taiwan Series record with 10-run second inning en route to the rout. CF Wang had 4 hits, 1B Chun-Hsiu Chen 3 hits, DH Hung-Yu Lin 3 runs, 2B Yen-Wen Kuo 3 RBI and C Shih-Hao Liu 3 hits and 4 RBI from the #9 slot in the rout; Liu was game MVP. RF Yin-Lun Lan, Wang, Lin and Liu all went deep. Cheng-Che Wu got the win while Ryan Verdugo was pounded for 7 hits and 8 runs in 1 1/3 IP in a loss just 3 weeks after throwing the CPBL's first perfect game. RF Su had two doubles and three runs in a losing cause.
• October 28: Lions 4, Monkeys 2. Roenicke, Andy Van Hekken (W) and Yun-Wen Chen (Sv) shut down the potent Lamigo attack as the Lions take game 2. Nix shuts out the Lions for 6 innings (4 H, 5 BB, 8 K) but they come back against the bullpen. The big hit is a 2-run pinch-hit single from Chia-Yi Mai in the 8th to put the Lions up 3-2; it earns Mai game MVP honors. Tzu-Pei Huang takes the loss.
• October 30: Lions 10, Monkeys 4. The Monkeys jumped on Chen-Yen Chiang for three in the first but six relievers held them to one run over the next eight, Tzu-Chien Shih getting the win. The Lions came back with four in the bottom of the first against Zeke Spruill and kept it up to tie the Series at two. 3B Fu-Lin Kuo scored three runs while 2B Yen-Ting Pan drove in three. For Lamigo, LF Yu-Hsien Chu was 2 for 2 with two walks while Wang doubled and homered.
• November 1: Monkeys 11, Lions 2. I-Cheng Wang strikes out ten and walks none in seven innings, allowing two runs, to break Lamigo's skid. RF Lan goes 4 for 5 with 2 runs while C Hung-Yu Lin goes 4 for 6 with 2 runs and 3 RBI. Verdugo is again hit hard in a loss (8 H, 4 R in 3 1/3 IP).
• November 3: Monkeys 10, Lions 3. The Lions kept it close going into the 7th-inning stretch, down only 4-3, but things fell apart in the bottom of the 7th as they allowed six runs. C Hung-Yu Lin homered, scored twice and drove in three while Chu drove in four and hit a three-run homer. Nix got the win over Roenicke. LF Chieh-Hsieh Chen went 4 for 5 in a losing cause.

Chun-Hsiu Chen was named Taiwan Series MVP; he hit .500. He was the first player to win consecutive Series MVP since Luther Hackman in 2008-2009.