Until COVID-19 threw a wrench in the works two years ago, Chinese Taipei had been a regular participant in Baseball Week since 2000. So it came as no great surprise that the Asian team was the second country to be confirmed for the upcoming edition. What can we expect this summer from the current number five in the world rankings?
Unlike virtually the rest of the world, the Taiwanese did not learn baseball from American baseball missionaries; instead, the sport was introduced to the then-Japanese colony by the ruling authorities at the end of the nineteenth century. Although the sport was initially reserved for Japanese aristocrats, a team consisting exclusively of Taiwanese players emerged in the 1920s, and their success made the sport popular among the local population as well, a popularity that has endured to this day.
WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
The days when the current Chinese Taipei team and their Japanese mentors relied solely on small ball tactics and stolen bases are a thing of the past. These days, this team is also capable of delivering some serious power hits. They demonstrated this, for example, at the last World Baseball Classic, where they were placed in the same pool as the Netherlands (and Italy). Although the Asian team finished in last place based on runs allowed—they also scored the most runs in Pool A, by the way—they showed what they were capable of in their head-to-head matchup with the Dutch national team. Thanks in part to a grand slam by Yu Chang, they handed Hensley Meulens’s team a decisive defeat: 9-5.
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It seems unlikely that we’ll see that tormentor in action in Haarlem this coming July. Chang is now playing for the Tampa Bay Rays’ AAA team, where he’s off to an excellent start to the season, so it seems unlikely that he’ll be able to fly over to Europe in a month and a half.
WORLD-CLASS
In their last appearance in Haarlem, six years ago, Chinese Taipei defeated the Kingdom Team (7-5) in the semifinals—just as they did last year at the WBC—after which the Japanese proved too strong in an all-Asian final (0-5). That second-place finish did mark the team’s highest-ever finish, after they had previously placed third in 2008.
On its own continent, Chinese Taipei, along with Japan and South Korea, forms a dominant trio. Although the Japanese have won four of the last five editions of the Asian Championship, Chinese Taipei is the only one of the three to have reached the final every time during that same period. However, it has only come out on top once. They claimed their most recent continental title in 2019. In addition, various youth teams have also achieved success in recent years. For example, both the Under-18 and Under-23 teams won medals—silver and bronze, respectively—at the most recent World Championships in their age categories.
So whether Chinese Taipei fields a talented college team or an experienced squad from their Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), it seems certain that the days when they were invariably considered the underdogs—just like their small-ball tactics—are well and truly behind them.