As if the wild, five-team race for the elusive second-half title with just a week left to play in the 2004 Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) regular season was not exciting enough, here are a few more battles among the league's elites in individual statistical categories that should keep the ultimate baseball fan more occupied than ever.
Leading the way is the home run race between Chang "Prince of the Forest" Tai-shan (
Becoming the first man to achieve back-to-back seasons with 20-or-more homers, Chang leads Peng by three home runs with 21 to his credit and four games left to play.
Though some may argue that Chang has all but won the home-run title, he would be the first to point out how streaky Peng can be.
In addition to the home-run title chase, the two batting artists are also involved in a fight for most base hits with Chang (123) holding a one-hit lead over Peng (122) as of Friday night.
The scale is tilting towards Chang, because the Sinon Bulls standout will face a weaker Macoto Cobras pitching staff next week, while Peng takes on a tough La New Bears squad that has not surrendered more than three runs in the past nine contests.
Another category that will go down the wire is total stolen bases.
Last season's runner-up Chi Jung-lin (
In the interest of boosting their top base stealer's chances for winning this category, teams have intentionally left the player off the starting lineup in the past so that they could pinch run the base stealer only after a player has gotten on base with a hit or a walk.
Chi would have the advantage here should his team choose to implement such a strategy, because he is an outfielder, as opposed to Cheng, whose stellar defense at shortstop would be sorely missed by the Bulls if he were left out of the starting lineup.
The struggle for the best ERA between Bulls fastball specialist Yang Jien-fu (
Yang, with his league-best mark of 1.65 and one more scheduled start for next week, could be this year's ERA king as long as he allows three earned runs or less in at least five innings of work.
For Lin, who trails Yang by .130 with a 1.78 mark for the year, the climb may be more difficult.
While he must do well in his own start against the Bulls next week, Yang will need his teammates to score some runs.
It would be a tremendous accomplishment for Lin if he can win the ERA title because the Cobras second-year sensation has already wrapped up the strikeout title by holding an insurmountable 196-to-153 lead over Yang.
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB