2023 CPBL Playoff Series

The 2023 CPBL Playoff Series featured the Rakuten Monkeys against the Uni-President Lions.

Teams

Uni-President Lions

The Lions led the first half of the 2023 CPBL season at 34-24-2 but slumped to 28-31-1 in the second half under manager Yueh-Ping Lin. They had two solid foreign starters in Brock Dykxhoorn (10-7, 2.83) and Keyvius Sampson (8-5, 3.31). Their local ace Rui-Yang Ku Lin also broke out as he was 5-2 with a 1.80 ERA. Their offense relied on the "outfield ghost trio" - An-Ko Lin (15 HR, .793 OPS), Chieh-Hsien Chen (.315/.413/.397) and Chih-Chieh Su (.300/.391/.447). Two veterans - Yi-Chuan Lin (.306/.357/.387) and Yung-Chi Chen (.336/.392/.458) - also provided stable batting. Their weakness was the bullpen, the only reliable reliever Yun-Wen Chen (16 SV, 1.62) getting injured and missing the series while Hsuan-Ta Liu, Yu-Cheng Liu and Chi-Feng Lee both struggled in October. Hao-Chun Chiu (14 HLD, 2.64) was their closer, and starter Randall Delgado would be moved to the bullpen.

Rakuten Monkeys

The Monkeys' rotation was weak (they didn't had a 10-win starter), their bullpen was terrible (they changed their closer 4 times in October), and their fielders were also good at making errors (they had more errors then CTBC and Wei-Chuan combined). The only thing that helped them advanced to the playoff was batting, and they did it very, very well. The Monkeys had the best lineup in the league as they had batting title winner Chia-Jung Liang (.338/.400/.507) and RBI leader Chien-Fu Liao (.313/.388/.522 with 22 homers). Two former MVP winners, Yu-Hsien Chu (.276/.355/.449) and Li Lin (.338/.397/.496), extended their elite batting, and Chin Cheng (.290/.368/.338) collected 127 hits while performing solid defense. Speedy outfielder Chen-Wei Chen led the league again with 22 steals, and DH Hung-Yu Lin (.293/.353/.389) also blasted 11 homers. Their ace was Pedro Fernandez (4-1, 2.09) who joined the team in September, and local ace Tzu-Peng Huang (9-10, 3.59) was also solid. Their bullpen was led by freezer Chih-Hsuan Wang (11 HLD, 1.29) and Hung-Cheng Lai (18 HLD, 1.78), but they was unable to find a regular closer as Bradin Hagens struggled for the entire season.

Games

Game 1

October 28 at Tainan Baseball Field (7,132)

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

Monkeys: Pedro Fernandez W (1-0) - Jake Dahlberg (SV, 1)

Lions: Brock Dykxhoorn L (0-1) - Hsuan-Ta Liu - Chih-Wei Hu

Home Runs Chih-Chieh Su (1)

Canadian Dykxhoorn started for the Lions in Game 1, and he shut out Rakuten for 4 innings with 6 strikeouts. The Lions were also silent in the first three innings, then Chih-Chieh Su blasted a solo shot in the 4th inning to give the Lions the lead. However, the Lions also lost their best hitter, An-Ko Lin, in the same inning when he was hit by a foul ball on his right knee while batting; his season was likely ended. Yu-Hsien Chu tried to get back the lead in the next inning, and he hit a leadoff double off Dykxhoorn. The next batter, C Hung-Chun Yen bunted, but it was a little high and 3B Yung-Chi Chen made an incredible diving catch and turned it into a double play.

The Monkeys finally roared back in the 6th inning. Chin Cheng singled first, but Chia-Jung Liang then hit a soft grounder. It should have been a double play, but young infielder Chung-Ting Chen couldn't catch the ball well so Liang was safe. This error was fatal as Chien-Fu Liao then tied the game with a double. The Monkeys maintained their stride, and Chun-Hsiu Chen's single sent back Liao for the lead. Chen even advanced to third base by Chieh-Hsien Chen's throwing error. Dykxhoorn then retired Cheng-Fei Lin and Chu to escape the jam. In the 7th inning, Chen-Wei Chen used his speed to givee the Monkeys another insurance run. He hit an infield single first, then advanced to third base on Li Lin's grounder, then Chin Cheng's clutch hit drove in their third run. Liu replaced Dykxhoorn, then he struck out Liao to hold the 3-1 score. The Monkeys also made an error in the 8th inning and Chieh-Kai Pan advanced to second base. Chih-Cheng Chiu then made it a one-run game with a Texas Leaguer. Since the Monkeys didn't have a reliable closer, they decided to let Fernandez complete the game. However, he walked Su and Yung-Chi Chen's hit sent the tying run into scoring position. Jake Dahlberg replaced Fernandez, and he struck out Yi-Chuan Lin and retired the next two batters to help the Monkeys tie the series (the Lions were staked to a 1-0 lead prior to the Series beginning).

Game 2

October 29 at Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium (13,532)

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

Monkeys: Tzu-Peng Huang W (1-0) - Chih-Hsuan Wang (HLD, 1) - Kuan-Yu Chen (HLD, 1) - Jake Dahlberg (SV, 2)

Lions: Keyvius Sampson L (0-1) - Randall Delgado - Hao-Chun Chiu

Home Runs Chieh-Kai Pan (1)

The Lions had a chance to take the lead in the 2nd inning when Yi-Chuan Lin was walked by submariner Tzu-Peng Huang and Chieh-Kai Pan hit a single. However, Chin Cheng's cannon throw nailed Lin at home plate after Chung-Yu Chen hit a fly ball to right field. Lions starter Sampson also walked the leadoff batter, Chien-Fu Liao, in the second inning, then Yu-Hsien Chu's comebacker hit Sampson right on his head. Sampson was knocked down on the mound and he was carried out of the stadium. Randall Delgado - who was supposed to be the next game's starter - relieved Sampson, but he seemed not completely warmed up. Cheng-Fei Lin, Yu-Hsien Chu and Hung-Chun Yen hit doubles in three consecutive at-bats, and drove in 3 runs. The Monkeys only scored in this inning, but it was enough for last year's ERA title winner Huang. He shut down the Lions for four innings, then Chieh-Kai Pan crushed a solo shot in the 5th inning. Huang still struck out Yung-Chuan Huang and Chung-Yu Chen to end this inning.

The Lions' best chance was in the 6th inning. Chih-Cheng Chiu hit a leadoff single, Chih-Chieh Su and Yung-Chi Chen then both singled and Chu scored the second run. Freezer Chih-Hsuan Wang replaced Huang, but Li Lin was unable to catch Yi-Chuan Lin's grounder, and the bases were loaded. Facing Pan, who hit a homer in the prior inning, sidearm pitcher Wang forced him to hit a flyball to center field, then use his nasty slider to strike out Chung-Yu Chen to escape the jam. Southpaw Kuan-Yu Chen became the first left-handed pitcher to strike out the side in a CPBL playoff series when he did so in the 7th inning, and Dahlberg replaced him in the 8th inning trying to close the door. He struck out Yi-Chuan Lin in the 9th inning, then retired Pan and Chung-Yu Chen to give Rakuten another win. They were only one win shy from advancing to the Taiwan Series for the second consecutive year.

Game 3

October 30 at Tainan Baseball Field (5,065)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rakuten Monkeys	1	2	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	7	14	0
Uni-President Lions	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	1

Monkeys: Jen-Ho Tseng W (1-0) - Chih-Hsuan Wang - Kuan-Yu Chen - Bradin Hagens - Hung-Wen Chen

Lions: Rui-Yang Ku Lin L (0-1) - Chih-Wei Hu - Hsuan-Ta Liu - Cheng-Feng Chiang - Chao-En Lin

Home Runs Hung-Chun Yen (1), Chien-Fu Liao (1)

Delgado was unable to pitch this game, but the Lions still had local ace Rui-Yang Ku Lin, whose ERA was an incredible 1.80 in regular season. However, the Monkeys greeted Ku Lin with Li Lin's leadoff double, and Chin Cheng's clutch hit gave the Monkeys the lead. Cheng-Fei Lin open the second with a single, but Yu-Hsien Chu then hit a soft grounder. It could have been a double play, but rookie Yung-Chuan Huang - who was the youngest player ever to start in a playoff series - couldn't take out the ball from his glove so Lin was safe at second. That was a déjà vu for Lions as the first game because Hung-Chun Yen then blasted a home run off Ku Lin. The CPBL RBI leader - Chien-Fu Liao - collected a solo shot off Ku Lin in the third inning, and his work was done after he struck out Yu-Hsien Chu to end this inning. Chih-Wei Hu replaced him in the 4th inning, but the Monkeys kept up their attack. Chen-Wei Chen hit a single, and the three-time CPBL swipes leader soon stole second base. Chin Cheng drove in his second run with a double, and Chia-Jung Liang's single sent home Cheng.

Former MLB pitcher Jen-Ho Tseng blanked the Lions for five innings, and Chieh-Hsien Chen finally started the Lions' rally with a leadoff single. Chin-Lung Hu hit a line drive to center field, but CF Chen-Wei Chen robbed the hit with a diving catch. Chieh-Kai Pan then hit a soft ground ball to third base and Liang couldn't catch it clearly so Pan advanced to first base. In this clutch moment, An-Ko Lin pinch-hit for C Chung-Yu Chen and hit a double to give the Lions their only run in this game. Dai-An Lin pinch-run for him because of his knee injury, but Chih-Hsuan Wang saved the Monkeys again with a high fastball, striking out Chung-Ting Chen. Hsuan-Ta Liu replaced Hu in the 8th inning, and he walked Yen and Chen-Wei Chen. Li Lin bunted, and Chin Cheng collected his third RBI with a sacrifice fly. With a 6-run lead, two former CPBL saves leaders, Hagens and Hung-Wen Chen, both pitched a shutout inning, and the Monkeys advanced to the Taiwan Series again. They would face the Wei-Chuan Dragons.

Sources: Official CPBL site