Sinon Bulls' narrow 2-1 victory over the President Lions in Tainan on Wednesday not only gave them the second-half title, but more importantly the best overall record (53-6-42) for the year, earning the defending champs a first-round bye in the postseason play.
Game 1 of the playoffs series between the Macoto Cobras and the Lions is scheduled for 6pm tonight at Tienmu.
Because of a brand-new postseason playing format that includes a wildcard team (defined as the team with the best overall record, but did not win either half of the regular season) for the first time in league history, this year's postseason will begin with the Cobras (first-half champs) playing a best-of-five series against the Lions (wildcard) before the winners take on the Bulls in the best-of-seven Taiwan Series.
PHOTO: SINON BULLS
The second-half title did not come so easily for the Bulls as they fought off tough competition from the Lions, the Cobras and the La New Bears, all of which remained in the title hunt until the very last week of play.
Winning five of their final seven contests, three of which had been decided by a single run, the Bulls somehow managed to get the job done without having to resort to any one particular individual.
It was staff ace Lenin Picota whose nine innings of shutout ball put his team in position to beat the Cobras 1-0 in extra innings on Oct. 9.
Then came shortstop Chang Jia-hao's game-winning single on Oct. 11, which capped a four-run ninth to help the Bulls edge past the Brother Elephants with a nail-biting 6-5 triumph.
To top them all, it was outfielder Tseng Hua-wei's two-run triple on Wednesday night that silenced a hos-tile Tainan crowd, as the Bulls held on for the 2-1 title-clinching win.
"I don't know what it is, but our guys somehow find a way to win. It may be legging out a grounder for an infield single, or stretching a long single into a double, or coming up with a key strikeout late in a game, somehow, we all got the job done," Manager Liu Rong-hua said it best.
His Bulls will have a week to rest and prepare before next weekend's Taiwan Series, a well-deserved break given the bumpy ride that they had taken to make it this far.
Upcoming Games
The Cobras will host a three-game set at Tienmu this weekend in the best-of-five series versus the Lions before they move back to Tainan for Games 4 and 5 of the series (if necessary).
All eyes will be on the Cobras' local pitching trio -- consisting of lefty ace Lin Ying-jeh (the strikeout leader in regular season), rookie sensation Lin En-yu (ERA leader in the regular season) and Hsu Chu-jien (eleven-game winner with one of the nastiest sliders in the league) -- as they come face to face with a Lions offense that ranked dead last among the three playoffs teams in total run production (409) during the regular season, in what could be a very short series.
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