BASEBALL/Lions win CPBL playoff, will face Brothers in Taiwan Series

Taipei, Oct. 15 (CNA) The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions defeated the Rakuten Monkeys 8-5 in the opening round of the playoffs Monday to advance to the championship series of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), where they will play the CTBC Brothers.

With a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, the Lions, playing in front of a home crowd of 7,214 at Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium, got on the board early, scoring three runs in the first inning and another in the second.

The Lions followed up with another three runs in the fourth inning and one in the sixth, while their starting pitcher, Venezuelan right-hander Mario Sanchez, held the Taoyuan-based Monkeys scoreless through six innings.

Sanchez ran into trouble in the top of the seventh, however, allowing three runs on five hits before being taken out for reliever Hector Perez, who gave up another two runs before retiring the side.

Trailing 8-5 in the top of the ninth, the Monkeys appeared poised to mount a comeback. But with the bases loaded and only one out, the Lions brought on closer Chen Yun-wen (陳韻文), who struck out the final two Monkeys batters to bring the game and series to a close.

With the win, the Lions advanced to the six-team CPBL's championship series, the Taiwan Series, where they will face off against the Taichung-based CTBC Brothers beginning on Saturday.

Under CPBL playoff rules that took effect in 2022, the team with the best record in the first half of the regular season, the second half of the season, and a wild card are eligible for the playoffs.

The wild card team (the team out of the remaining four teams with the best full season record) plays a best-of-five series against the half-season winner with the lower winning percentage.

The half-season winner -- in this case the Lions -- is also awarded one win to start the playoff series.

In cases where the same team has the best record in the first and second halves of the season, the teams with the second and third-best regular season records play in the playoffs, with the second-best team awarded one win to start the series.

In contrast, the CPBL's finals are played as a simple best-of-seven series, with the higher-seeded team designated as the home team for games 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7.