TAICHUNG, Taiwan -- The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) opened its 2022 season on Saturday as the 2021 Taiwan Series winner CTBC Brothers took on their fall classic opponent Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.
With 14,208 fans in the stadium, the evening game started one hour later than scheduled due to some drizzle following scattered showers in the afternoon.
CTBC sent Teddy Stankiewizc, who played for
the Lions in 2020 and 2021, to the mound to meet his former teammates as he
retired all six batters he faced on the night. For the Lions, starter Chih-Wei
Hu loaded the bases after getting the first two outs but escaped from the
inning with a key strikeout to keep the Brothers off the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the second inning, the game was put on hold after two outs as the rain started to strengthen. However, a lighting failure that occurred during the pause ultimately resulted in the umpires to suspend play, making it the second opening game to be suspended in CPBL history (Lions @ Bulls in 2005).
With the CPBL season officially opened despite the suspended game, all three major professional baseball leagues in Asia (CPBL, KBO and NPB) have all started their 2022 season. CPBL also announced the return of its All-Star Game for the first time since 2019. The summer classic games had been cancelled in both 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19.
CPBL will also honor the Class 2021 inductees of the Taiwan Baseball Hall of Fame at the All-Star Game for the first time in its history. The Class 2021 inductees are current Fubon Guardians general manager and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic bronze medallist Hua-Wei Lin, who also managed Chinese Taipei at WBSC World Cups and is the WBSC Asia Secretary General (Baseball), former Mercuries Tigers manager and first Taiwan-born player to play in Minor League Baseball Shin-Min Tan, former Uni-President Lions manager Chia-Shiang Lin and the founder of Mei-Ho Senior High & Baseball Team Pang-Shing Hsu.
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