TAICHUNG, Taiwan | Baseball returned to Taiwan on Saturday, 1 April, taking off where the extravaganza of the World Baseball Classic 2023 left off less than a month ago as over 18,000 fans packed Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, home of the CTBC Brothers as well as a venue of the World Baseball Classic in both 2013 and 2023, to open the 34th season of the Chinese Professional Baseball League.
CTBC Brothers and Baseball Federation of Asia President Jefferey Koo Jr. presented the championship rings to his manager, coaches and players during the pre-game ceremony to celebrate Brothers’ back-to-back title run in 2022. Taichung Mayor Shiou-Yen Lu also welcomed fans to Taichung and expressed her wish for the Brothers to achieve a threepeat by the end of the 2023 season.
The Brothers sent their ace Jose DePaula to open the season for the defending champions. De Paula led the league with 14 wins and 158 strikeouts in 2022, his 1.02 WHIP was also the best in the league. Rakuten Monkeys’ sent their newly acquired southpaw Brandon Waddell to the mound. Waddell spent his 2022 season with KBO Doosan Bears before pitching for the Twins, Orioles and Cardinals major league clubs in 2021.
The Brothers took an early lead by scoring the first run of the season in the third inning, but Monkeys veteran catcher Chien-Fu Liao responded with a three-run home run in the seventh over De Paula for the Monkeys to take the lead for good. The Monkeys defeated the Brothers, 4-1, to open the 2023 season.
On Sunday, 2 April, CTBC Brothers held the uniform number retirement ceremony for legendary Elephants/Brothers player Cheng-Min “Cha-Cha” Peng. A native of Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, Peng was selected by Brother Elephants in the 1st round of the 2001 draft. He spent all his 19-year professional career with the Elephants/Brothers franchise while winning the batting title five times and led the team to four Taiwan Series titles. Peng was voted to the All-Star Game for all 19 seasons while leading the votes for 15 straight seasons starting from 2005. Peng leads the league in all-time runs scored, walks and on-base percentage.
In addition to his decorated professional career numbers, Peng was also a frequent member of the Chinese Taipei team starting with the WBSC Junior World Championship in 1993. He later appeared in Baseball World Cups, Asian Baseball Championships, Intercontinental Cups, Asian Games (2002, 2010), World Baseball Classics (2006, 2009, 2013) and Summer Olympics (2004, 2008) among various tournaments.
Peng retired in 2019 and became the Brothers’ deputy general manager and minor league director. He also served as batting coach for Chinese Taipei in the WBSC Premier12 2019 and World Baseball Classic 2023. In 2022 Peng was invited by the New York Mets to throw a ceremonial pitch at the annual Taiwan Heritage Day, becoming the first CPBL representative in the 17-year history of the event.
