Unlike the previous three Chinese Professional Baseball League All-Star games, where foreign players were excluded from participation, Taiwan's All-Star Game this year is open to all CPBL players regardless of their nationality, in recognition of the contribution that talented foreign players have made to the league.
Results from a month-long fan ballot will put Jonathan Hurst of the Brother Elephants on the mound for Team Red against Team White's second-year ace Yang Jien-fu (
Hurst will be joined by fellow Elephants Peng "Chia Chia" Cheng-ming (彭政閔) and Chen "the Golden Warrior" Chih-yuan (陳致遠) in the outfield, Fong Sheng-shien (馮勝賢) at second base, Tsai Fong-an (蔡豐安) at first base, and catcher Chen Rei-chang (陳瑞昌) behind the home plate, along with shortstop Cheng Chang-ming (鄭昌明) of the Chinatrust Whales, third baseman Shih Chih-wei (石志偉), outfielder Huang Long-yi (黃龍義), and designated hitter Tsai Hung-tseh (蔡泓澤) of the La New Bears.
The Bulls will send their entire infield, with the exception of first base.
Chang "the Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan (張泰山) will guard the third base line, while an acrobatic Cheng Jau-han (鄭兆行) and team captain Huang Chung-yi (黃忠義) occupy shortstop and second base respectively.
Yeh Jung-chang (
President Lions outfielder Huang Kang-ling (黃甘霖) and Chang Jia-hao (張家浩) of the Bulls will patrol the outfield for Team White, along with Tseng Hua-wei (曾華偉), while 15-year Lions veteran Luo Ming-ching (羅敏卿) is starting designated hitter.
Skippers from the teams in last season's Taiwan Series, Lin Yi-tseng (
Wrap Up
The Cobras wrapped up their three-game series against the Whales with a 3-0 shutout Thursday. Starter Kleber Ojima allowed six hits in as many innings, before lefty specialist Lin Ying-jeh (林英傑) finished the final three frames by allowing only one hit.
Offensively for the serpents, designated hitter Chiou Chang-rong's (
The Elephants' rally came up one run short in Hsinchuang on Thursday as the Bulls held off the defending champs 7-6.
After Jonathan Hurst yielded six runs (four earned) in the first inning, the Elephants found themselves playing catch up the rest of the way.
Bulls' catcher Yeh Jung-chang highlighted the six-run first with a bases-clearing inside-the-park home run.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in Monday’s final to become the first catcher to win the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The 28-year-old switch-hitter, who leads MLB with 38 homers this season, won US$1 million by capturing the special event for sluggers at Atlanta’s Truist Park ahead of yesterday’s MLB All-Star Game. “It means the world,” Raleigh said. “I could have hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can’t believe I won. It’s unbelievable.” Raleigh, who advanced from the first round by less than 25mm on a longest homer tiebreaker, had his father