The Asia Winter Baseball League is a professional baseball league hosted in Taiwan[1] with 2012 as its inaugural season. Making use of the warm and dry winter climate in West Taiwan, the short term league aims to offer young baseball players additional training experience and continued exposure in off-season games. It is the de facto successor to the now defunct Asia Series.
Current season, competition or edition: 2023 Asia Winter Baseball League | |
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 |
| No. of teams | 4~6 |
| Country |  Dominican Republic  Japan  South Korea  Taiwan European Union United States |
| Continent | Asia |
| Most recent champion(s) | Japan (NPB East in 2018) |
| Most titles | Japan (5 titles) |
| Tournament format | Short-League |
| Official website | https://awb.cpbl.com.tw/en |
Seasons edit
2012 edit
Season 2012 was played between Japan, Taiwan Red, Taiwan White, and the Dominican Republic, with Japan winning the championship.
2013 edit
Season 2013 was played between the teams of Nippon Professional Baseball League, Korea Baseball Organization, Chinese Professional Baseball League of Taiwan, and the Dominican Republic.[2] Japan won the league phase but lost the playoff final to South Korea.
2015 edit
Season 2015 was played between the teams of Nippon Professional Baseball League, Korea Baseball Organization, Chinese Professional Baseball League of Taiwan, the Chinese Taipei National Training Team, and the Team Europe. This was the first time since the Asia Winter Baseball League was founded that Team Europe was invited. Team Europe consisted of total 30 players from different countries (12 Italians, 8 Dutch, 3 German, 2 French, 1 Czech, 1 Belgian, 1 Croat, 1 Hispanic and 1 Romanian). The Chinese Taipei National Training Team won the championship with team Japan as runner-up.
2016 edit
Season 2016 was played between the 2 teams of Nippon Professional Baseball League (East Japan/West Japan), Korea Baseball Organization Team, Chinese Professional Baseball League Team of Taiwan, Chinese Taipei National Training Team, and the Team Europe. The final was played between the 2 Japanese teams. The West Japan team consisting of players from Nippon Professional Baseball League teams from West Japan won the championship.
2017 edit
Season 2017 was played between the 2 teams of Nippon Professional Baseball League (East Japan/West Japan), Korea Baseball Organization Team, Chinese Professional Baseball League Team of Taiwan, the Japan Amateur Baseball Association All Star Team, and the WBSC All Star team managed by WBSC consisting of Team Europe players augmented with additional U.S. players. Experiencing player shortages due to injuries and early departures of team members, WBSC team took on amateur baseball players from Japan and Taiwan as replacements. The East Japan team consisting of players from Nippon Professional Baseball League teams from East Japan won the championship.
2018 edit
Season 2018 was played by 5 teams, 2 teams of Nippon Professional Baseball League (East Japan/West Japan), one Korea Baseball Organization Team, one Chinese Professional Baseball League of Taiwan team, the Japan Amateur Baseball Association All Star Team. 40 regular season games were played November 24 - December 13, 2018. Each team was playing 16 games, top four teams played three more games in playoffs December 14–16, 2018. All games were played at either Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium or Douliu Baseball Stadium
NPB West missed the Playoffs. KBO finished in fourth place, JABA team in third place, CPBL in second place, NPB East winners.
2019 edit
The CPBL Expansion team Wei Chuan Dragons have expressed their willingness to send a team. source: CPBL Stats
Previous Results edit
| Edition | Year | Host City | Champions | Score | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | No. of Teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2012 | Taichung |
 NPB |
5-2 |  CPBL White |
CPBL Red |
 Dominican Republic NT |
4 | |||
| 2 | 2013 | Taichung |
 KBO |
6-2 | NPB |
CPBL |
Dominican Republic NT |
4 | |||
| 3 | 2015 | Taichung |
Chinese Taipei NT |
4-2 | NPB |
KBO |
CPBL |
5 | |||
| 4 | 2016 | Taichung |
NPB West |
6-1 | NPB East |
Chinese Taipei NT |
KBO |
6 | |||
| 5 | 2017 | Taichung |
NPB East |
4-1 | KBO |
Japanese Amateur Baseball Association |
CPBL |
6 | |||
| 6 | 2018 | Douliu |
NPB East |
1-0 | CPBL |
Japanese Amateur Baseball Association |
KBO |
5 | |||
| 7 | 2019 | Taichung |
Japanese Amateur Baseball Association |
4-2 | NPB Red |
Wei Chuan Dragons |
CPBL |
6 | |||
| 8 | 2023 | Douliu |
TSG Hawks |
7-1 | NPB Red |
CPBL |
Japanese Amateur Baseball Association |
6 |
All-time Table (Excluding playoffs) edit
| Pos. | Team | P | W | L | T | F | A | Diff | Win% | NPB% | Best finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan
|
233 | 133 | 79 | 21 | 1286 | 912 | +374 | .571 | .627 | |
| NPB
|
57 | 43 | 11 | 3 | 378 | 189 | +189 | .754 | .796 | Champions (2012) | |
| NPB Red
|
15 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 91 | 60 | +31 | .600 | .750 | Runners up (2019) | |
| Japan Amateur Baseball Association
|
48 | 27 | 14 | 7 | 266 | 158 | +108 | .562 | .659 | Champions (2019) | |
| NPB East
|
49 | 27 | 19 | 3 | 227 | 197 | +30 | .551 | .587 | Champions (2017, 2018) | |
| NPB West
|
49 | 22 | 23 | 4 | 246 | 227 | +19 | .449 | .489 | Champions (2016) | |
| NPB White
|
15 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 78 | 81 | -3 | .333 | .357 | Fifth place (2019) | |
| 2 | South Korea
|
100 | 45 | 42 | 13 | 488 | 532 | -44 | .450 | .517 | |
| KBO
|
100 | 45 | 42 | 13 | 488 | 532 | -44 | .450 | .517 | Champions (2013) | |
| 3 | Taiwan
|
186 | 83 | 89 | 14 | 952 | 944 | +8 | .446 | .483 | |
| CPBL Red
|
21 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 100 | 93 | +7 | .571 | .571 | Third place (2012) | |
| Wei Chuan Dragons
|
15 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 77 | 76 | +1 | .467 | .538 | Third place (2019) | |
| Chinese Taipei NT
|
31 | 14 | 12 | 5 | 169 | 160 | +9 | .452 | .538 | Champions (2015) | |
| CPBL White
|
19 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 87 | 84 | +3 | .421 | .421 | Runners Up (2012) | |
| CPBL
|
199 | 42 | 51 | 7 | 519 | 531 | -12 | .420 | .452 | Runners Up (2018) | |
| 4 | Rest of World | 48 | 9 | 33 | 6 | 214 | 404 | -190 | .188 | .214 | |
 WBSC All Stars
|
17 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 62 | 127 | -65 | .235 | .267 | Sixth place (2017) | |
| Team Europe
|
31 | 5 | 22 | 4 | 152 | 277 | -125 | .161 | .185 | Fifth place (2015) | |
| 5 | Dominican Republic
|
41 | 7 | 34 | 0 | 138 | 286 | -148 | .171 | .171 | |
| Dominican Republic NT
|
41 | 7 | 34 | 0 | 138 | 286 | -148 | .171 | .171 | Fourth place (2012, 2013) |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "Winter baseball league a fine start, but more can be done". China Post. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
- ^ "Team Info". CPBL. Archived from the original on 29 November 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
3. 2018 Schedule and info from CPBL in Chinese Retrieved October 20, 2018 4. Roster of the AWB 2018 NPB teams by Yakyu Database Retrieved October 20, 2018 5. 2018 AWB Rosters Retrieved November 20, 2018 6. Day One of 2018 at CPBL website Retrieved November 24, 2018