Brothers win CPBL Taiwan Series, end 10-year championship drought by sweeping the Lions

Brothers win CPBL Taiwan Series, end 10-year championship drought by sweeping the Lions
01/12/2021
The CTBC Brothers defeated the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, 5-0, in Game 4 of the Taiwan Series 2021 to sweep the Lions and clinch its first Taiwan championship since 2010, ending a 10-year drought.

TAINAN, Taiwan -- The CTBC Brothers have won it all on their 7th trip to the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) Taiwan Series in the last 8 seasons. The Brothers swept the Lions tonight in Game 4 of the Taiwan Series 2021, ending their championship drought and brought the first Taiwan Series title to the new ownership since the franchise changed hands at the end of 2013.

By sweeping the Lions, the Brothers became the 6th team in CPBL history to win the championship title in sweeping fashion. This is also the 3rd time in Brothers franchise history to sweep the opponent in the Series (2002 vs. Chinatrust Whales and 2010 vs. Sinon Bulls); and it is also the 2nd time in Lions franchise history to be swept in Taiwan Series (2006 v. La New Bears).

Coming to Game 4 trailing the Series 3-0 and facing elimination, the Lions sent their mid-season draftee HU Chih-Wei (4-4, 4.74 ERA) to the mound, while the Brothers also countered with their late-season addition José Valdez (1-0, 2.45 ERA) in hoping to sweep the Lions.

The Brothers bats jumped on HU quickly in the top of the first inning and scored one run on one hit, one error, a sacrifice bunt and fly to take the lead. In the fourth, the Brothers scored another two runs to triple the lead, 3-0. The Brothers later collected another two runs on four hits in the seventh to lead the Lions 5-0.

Valdez was absolutely dominating tonight as he held the Lions hitless for first 5.1 innings until Lions outfielder SU Chih-Chieh belted a single for the first hit of the night in the bottom of the sixth. In all, Valdez only yielded two hits and held the Lions scoreless in his eight innings of works before Jose DePaula pitched the final frame of the 2021 CPBL season.

Valdez was named MVP of the game, and DePaula earned the award of Outstanding Player of the Series, while CHAN Tzu-Hsien (5H, 2HR, 0.417 BA) was named Series MVP. Lions LIN An Ko was named Outstanding Player of the Series for the Lions.

Game 4 became the first Taiwan Series game to be played in the month of December in CPBL history. With the season being halted due to COVID-19 for almost two months, the 2021 season also became the longest edition in CPBL history as it spanned over 264 days, dating from the 13th of March to the 1st of December.

The Chinese Professional Baseball League was inaugurated in 1990 and is an Associate Member of the World Baseball Softball Confederation.