2020 Taiwan Series

The 2020 Taiwan Series featured the Chinatrust Brothers against the Uni-President Lions. Unlike other finals in the baseball world (like the World Series), the Taiwan Series was able to play to a fairly large (78% capacity) crowd as COVID-19 was well under control, with over 200 days with no locally transmitted cases. The Lions won their 10th title, but first in 7 years. Veteran outfielder Wu-Hsiung Pan won the Taiwan Series MVP.

Teams

Uni-President Lions

The Lions were 26-34 in the first half of the 2020 CPBL but 32-27-1 to win the second half. They were managed by Yueh-Ping Lin. They were led by their outfielders, all of whom made the Best Ten. Rookie sensation An-Ko Lin (.310/.395/.590) led the league in homers (32) and RBI (99), Chieh-Hsien Chen (.359/.419/.461, 99 R, 21 SB) won the batting title and Chih-Chieh Su (.313/.394/.594) led with 104 runs and was second with 28 homers and 98 RBI. The top two starting pitchers did not qualify for the ERA title: Tim Melville (4-3, 2.93) and Teddy Stankiewicz (6-0, 3.81). Yun-Wen Chen (5-2, 23 Sv, 2.09) tied for the save lead.

Chinatrust Brothers

Under skipper Chang-Jung Chiu, the Brothers had gone 37-23 to win the first half and nearly won the second half at 32-28. José De Paula (16-9, 3.20, 192 K) won the pitching Triple Crown and Ariel Miranda (10-8, 3.80) tied for 3rd in wins and 3rd in ERA. C.C. Lee (1-4, 23 Sv, 3.86) tied for the save lead and was joined in the bullpen by Chun-Wei Wu (3-3, 3.08) and Kai-Wen Cheng (1-3, 2 Sv, 3.11). 39-year-old DH Ssu-Chi Chou hit .324/.386/.589, 1B Chi-Hung Hsu batted .332/.389/.556 and OF Chi-Hao Chang (.298/.373/.564) tied for 3rd with 27 homers.

Games

Game 1

October 31 at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium (15,600)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Uni-President Lions	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	4	8	0
CTBC Brothers	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	8	0

Lions: Brock Dykxhoorn - Cheng-Feng Chiang (H, 1) - Chun-Jen Cheng (H, 1) - Chun-Yen Huang (W, 1-0) - Yun-Wen Chen (S, 1)

Brothers: Esmil Rogers- Kai-Wen Cheng (L, 0-1) - Chun-Wei Wu

Home Runs Wu-Hsiung Pan (1)

The Brothers' Esmil Rogers and Brock Dykxhoorn traded goose eggs for five. It was 1-1 entering the 10th when Wu-Hsiung Pan smacked a 3-run homer, the first pinch-hit extra-inning homer in Series history, taking Kai-Wen Cheng deep for the winning blow.

Game 2

November 1 at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium (15,600)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Uni-President Lions	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	5	0
CTBC Brothers	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	4	X	9	12	0

Lions: Tim Melville (L, 0-1) - Hsuan-Ta Liu- Wei-Lun Pan

Brothers: Jose De Paula (W, 1-0) - C.C. Lee

Home Runs Wei-Ta Su (1), Tung-Hua Yueh (1), Cheng-Hua Yueh (1)

De Paula allowed only four hits and one run in eight innings to beat Melville and tie the Series. Wei-Ta Su hit a pinch-hit three-run shot for the Brothers. Tung-Hua Yueh and Cheng-Hua Yueh become the first pair of brothers to homer in a Taiwan Series game.

Game 3

November 3 at Tainan Baseball Field (7,126)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
CTBC Brothers	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	5	11	0
Uni-President Lions	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	1

Brothers: Ariel Miranda (W, 1-0)

Lions: Teddy Stankiewicz - Yu-Kang Fu (H, 1) - Chun-Yen Huang (L, 0-1) - Yun-Wen Chen

Home Runs Chi-Hung Hsu (1)

Miranda goes the distance, fanning nine and allowing only three hits. Stankiewicz kept it even through 7, but the Brothers scored three in the 9th off Yun-Wen Chen then added one more for insurance. SS Kun-Yu Chiang went 4 for 4 with some defensive plays to earn game MVP ahead of Miranda.

Game 4

November 4 at Tainan Baseball Field (7,800)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
CTBC Brothers	0	0	0	3	3	1	0	0	3	6	8	1
Uni-President Lions	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	3	9	1

Brothers: En-Si Huang (W, 1-0) - Chun-Wei Wu - Kai-Wen Cheng - C.C. Lee

Lions: Chen-Yen Chiang (L, 0-1) - Hsuan-Ta Liu - Ching-Ming Wang - Cheng-Feng Chiang - Chun-Jen Cheng

Home Runs Tzu-Hsien Chan (1), An-Ko Lin (1), Fu-Lin Kuo (1)

En-Si Huang throws five shutout innings for the victory over Chen-Yen Chiang. LF Tzu-Hsien Chan (the game MVP) homers, reaches base in four of five plate appearances and drives in three.

Game 5

November 5 at Tainan Baseball Field (7,800)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
CTBC Brothers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2
Uni-President Lions	0	2	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	6	9	0

Lions: Brock Dykxhoorn (W, 1-0)

Brothers: Esmil Rogers (L, 0-1) - Bo-Hao Chen - Shih-Ying Peng - Chi-Che Tsai - Che-Yuan Wu

The Lions stay alive as Game MVP Dykxhoorn throws a three-hit shutout, fanning nine and walking one to beat Rogers (6 R, 4 ER, 7 H in 4 1/3 IP).

Game 6

November 7 at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium (15,600)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Uni-President Lions	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	8	0	12	12	1
CTBC Brothers	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	1

Lions: Tim Melville (W, 1-1) - Yu-Kang Fu - Wei-Lun Pan

Brothers: Jose De Paula (L, 1-1) - Chun-Wei Wu - Chi-Che Tsai - Bo-Hao Chen - Che-Yuan Wu - Shih-Ying Peng

Home Runs Yung-Chi Chen (1)

The Lions tie it with another big win, though it is still close (4-1) entering the 8th. Game MVP Melville allows one unearned run in seven while De Paula is not as effective in Game 2. LF Chih-Hsien Chen has 3 hits and DH Wu-Hsiung Pan drives in 3.

Game 7

November 8 at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium (15,600)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Uni-President Lions	1	1	1	0	0	0	4	0	0	7	10	0
CTBC Brothers	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	11	0

Lions: Teddy Stankiewicz (W, 1-0) - Chun-Yen Huang (H, 1) - Brock Dykxhoorn (S, 1)

Brothers: Ariel Miranda (L, 0-1) - En-Si Huang - Esmil Rogers - C.C. Lee

Home Runs Chieh-Hsien Chen (1)

LF Chih-Hsien Chen again shone, doubling, homering and driving in three while taking Game MVP. Dykxhoorn came out of the bullpen with two shutout innings to save the game for Stankiewicz. LF Tzu-Hsien Chan has 3 hits in a losing cause, while the decision goes to Miranda.

Source: Official CPBL site