Make-up week will continue over the next two weeks with the Uni-President Lions and the Brother Elephants, tied for the second place in the standings, making a big push for the second-half title behind the top-ranked Lamigo Monkeys.
In what is set to go down as one of the most heated second-half title races yet, with a lone game separating the three teams in the standings as of yesterday afternoon, players will give their all on the field as they look to help their teams finish strong in the seven or eight remaining games in the regular season.
Making the biggest push for the top spot are the Lions, who have won nine of their past dozen games up to yesterday afternoon, with a resurging offense that has averaged 5.9 runs per contest backing up a stingy pitching staff that have allowed just 2.9 runs per game over the same span.
Also picking up key wins over the past two weeks have been the Elephants, who have won five of their past seven to remain in contention for the title. Yet, rather than blowing out their opponents like the Lions have done, the Elephants are winning games with finesse, with three of their past five wins decided by three runs or less. Their inability to score runs, coupled with a starting rotation that is at least two starters short of skipper Hsieh Chang-hen’s ideal number, may have cuffed their hands down the stretch as they face tough battles ahead.
Chen Hung-wen’s dominant 3-0 shutout win over the Monkeys on Tuesday and Miguel Mejia’s quality start on Wednesday gave Hsieh some much-needed assurance as he looks to rest an overworked bullpen that saw setup man Hiroki Sanada sitting out just two games in the past two weeks.
As tough as the Lions and the Elephants have been, the second-half title is still within reach for the Monkeys, who manager Hung Yi-chung has done an excellent job of turning around from a disappointing team in the first half — in which they came last — to title contenders.
In addition to a solid performance last month from starter Mike Loree, who was 2-1 with four quality starts in the month, the Primates have gotten key wins from Lin Bo-yo and Cheng Chen-hao to account for the demotion of Tseng Jau-hao to the minors with a 1-2 record last month.
Offensively for the league-leaders, the bulk of the run production has come from the trio of Kuo Yen-wen, Sandy Madera and Lin Hung-yu, who have driven in 11 runs in their past five games to humble the opposing side.
Regardless of how each of the three teams finish the season, the final two weeks of play promise to be an exciting ending to an eventful season that featured the arrival and departure of former major leaguer Manny Ramirez in a well-noted revival of the league, which boasted record-high attendance.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set