This year’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) season officially ended earlier this week with the award ceremony in Taipei.
Lin Chih-sheng came away as the top winner on the day by claiming the coveted Most Valuable Player (MVP) honor to go along with his top-ranked shortstop distinction and the Taiwan Series MVP selection.
The veteran Lamigo Monkey slugger who became the first 30-30 man in league history (30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season) this season beat out EDA Rhinos home-run threat Luo Kuo-hui (league-best 39 homers) by a whopping 138-68 margin in total points for his first league MVP honor.
“It’s a tremendous honor to win [MVP], given the number of great players around the league. I would like to thank each and every one of my teammates and coaches for making it possible,” Lin said upon receiving the MVP trophy.
Lin was not the lone winner with multiple winnings, as Mike Loree of the Rhinos also pocketed five trophies, highlighted by the Triple Crown in pitching for his league-leading earned run average — ERA (3.26), most victories (16) and most strikeouts (144).
The former Lamigo standout, who returned to Taiwan at the start of this season after spending last season with the KT Wiz of South Korea’s KBO, also set a new standard for pitching excellence with one of the best outings by a hurler in recent years.
“Baseball is a team sport and I could not have done it without the support of the entire team,” Loree said after the ceremony.
Rounding out the rest of the individual awards were Brothers Baseball Club bullpen stars Guan Da-yuan and Chen Hung-wen, whose respective 19 holds and 24 saves landed them the Setup Man of the Year and the Closer of the Year honors.
The Rookie of the Year honor was given to Hsu Chi-hung of the Brothers Baseball Club for a terrific season at the plate with a .319 average with 13 homers and 56 RBIs.
The Most Improved Player of the Year went to the Monkeys’ Lin Po-yo, who took over the closer’s role for Manager of the Year winner Hung Yi-chung with a 13-save season after a campaign last year that netted the third-year righty an even 4-4 mark in 12 starts and seven relief appearances.
The Most Stolen Base honor went to Lamigo speedster Lin Chih-ping for the second straight year with 32 stolen bases to his credit, two more than fellow teammate Lin Chih-sheng’s 30.
Former big leaguer Hu Chin-lung also proved his worth by taking home the Top Hitter and Most Hits honors with a .383 average and 171 total hits.
The top-ranked players by position were EDA pitcher Loree, catcher Cheng Da-hung, and first baseman Lin Yi-chuan, Uni-President Lions second baseman Lin Chih-hsiang, Monkeys third baseman Lin Chih-ping and shortstop Lin Chih-sheng, Brothers Baseball Club outfielder Chang Cheng-wei, EDA outfielders Luo Kuo-hui and Chang Chien-ming and Monkeys designated hitter Lin Hung-yu.
The Gold Glove winners by position for this year were EDA pitcher Loree, Brothers Baseball Club catcher Chen Chia-chui, EDA first baseman Lin Yi-chuan, Lions second baseman Lin Chih-hsiang, Brothers Baseball Club shortstop Wang Sheng-wei, Lion outfielder Luo Kuo-lung, and Monkeys outfielders Chan Chih-yao and Yu Teh-lung.
The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 36 points from Tyrese Maxey and a triple-double from Joel Embiid, on Thursday beat the Houston Rockets 128-122 in an NBA overtime thriller. Cameroonian big man Embiid scored 32 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 10 assists, posting the ninth triple-double of his career to help the Sixers end the Rockets’ three-game winning streak. Rockets star Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Amen Thompson added 17, but Thompson was scoreless in the fourth quarter. Even so, the Rockets led by nine midway through the final frame, Maxey tying it at 115-115 with 40.1 seconds left. Durant missed a
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo on Friday said that he will probably be out for an extended period after hurting his right calf again after a similar injury caused him to miss eight games earlier this season. Antetokounmpo had his right calf wrapped in the first half of their 102-100 loss to the Denver Nuggets. He did not appear comfortable the rest of the night and left for good with 34 seconds remaining. “At the end, I could not move no more, so I had to stop playing,” Antetokounmpo said. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player said he expected to undergo an MRI
The chaotic scenes which tarnished Sunday’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final will forever overshadow a tournament that had until that point been a great success for hosts Morocco, on and off the pitch. Everything appeared set up for Walid Regragui’s Morocco side to cement their status as Africa’s preeminent footballing force as the continent’s top-ranked team made it to the final against Senegal in Rabat. Home advantage unquestionably brought extra pressure on the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-finalists, but it also perhaps played into their hands for the controversial penalty award at the end of normal time in the
RSS