Asia Series

The Asia Series was an international club baseball competition, contested by the champions of all four of the professional leagues that are associated with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), Korea Baseball Organization League (KBO League), and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) along with the CEB European Champion Cup holder and the host city,[1] to bring the number of teams up to six.

Asia Series
Most recent season or competition:
2013 Asia Series
FormerlyKonami Cup
SportBaseball
Inaugural season2005
No. of teams6
Country Australia (2011–2013)
 China (2005–2008, 2012)
 Europe (2013)
 Japan
 South Korea
 Taiwan
Most titles Canberra Cavalry
Chiba Lotte Marines
Chunichi Dragons
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
Saitama Seibu Lions
Samsung Lions
Yomiuri Giants
(1 each)
Related
competitions
ABL
CBL
CPBL
CEB European Cup (CEB)
KBO League (KBO)
NPB

The competition was co-sponsored by NPB Association and Konami from 2005 to 2007 and was therefore known as the Konami Cup. Furthermore, the participation was limited to the East Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China). The tournament was stopped between 2009 and 2010 due to financing issues. It was re-introduced in 2011 and has been hosted by Taiwan and South Korea, unlike the previous, which were held in Japan.

Following the 2013 edition, the Asia Series was discontinued due to the scheduling issues.

Background

The Asia Series began in 2005 as a tournament among the champions of NPB, KBO League and CPBL and an All-Star team from China Baseball League (CBL), which was called China Stars. Konami co-sponsored the competition until 2007, when the 2008 season became the first Asia Series. Additionally, it was the first time that the champion of CBL was appointed for the tournament, instead of an All-Star line-up.

The withdrawal of Konami raised in the following years financing issues. The 2009 season was reduced to a single-game championship between the champions of NPB and KBO League and held at the Nagasaki Stadium. The Yomiuri Giants won against the Kia Tigers by 9–4.[2]

A potential 2010 season was then cancelled due to a conflict with the 2010 Asian Games[3] and replaced by another sets of Club Championship. The KBO League champion SK Wyverns first split the two-game championship with CPBL champion Brother Elephants at the Taichung Stadium, before being defeated in a single-game championship by the NPB champion Chiba Lotte Marines at the Tokyo Dome with 3–0.[4]

The subject of re-introducing the event for 2011 was discussed in a November 2010 meeting between the heads of the NPB, KBO, CPBL, and ABL. The CPBL offered to host the event in November 2011. The ABL, whose season runs from November through February, added a bye week in its schedule to allow the champion of the season before to participate in the Asia Series.

In 2013, Fortitudo Baseball Bologna of the Italian Baseball League competed as the first representative of Europe to participate in the tournament, qualifying as the 2013 CEB European Cup champion. Due to the CBL's hiatus that year, the tournament remained at six teams.

The 2014 and 2015 seasons were cancelled due to scheduling issues.[5]

Format

Each of the teams participated in a round-robin series, playing each other team once. The two teams with the best win-loss percentage faced each other in the final, with the team finishing higher considered the "home team", meaning that they had the advantage of batting last. If teams were tied a series of tiebreakers were used to decide which teams qualified for the final and in what order, firstly using the head-to-head win-loss records amongst tied teams, and if necessary the ranking based on the lowest team run average.[6] All games have the designated hitter rule in effect, though not all participating teams would have it in their regular league.

Participants

Country 2005 2006 2007 2008 2011 2012 2013
 Japan (NPB)
 South Korea (KBO)
 Taiwan (CPBL)
 China (CBL)
 Australia (ABL)
 Europe (CEB)

Finals results

Konami Cup

2005–2007
Season Host City Champions Score Runners-up MVP No. of Teams
2005
Details

Tokyo

Chiba Lotte Marines
5–3
Samsung Lions
Benny Agbayani
Chiba Lotte Marines
4
2006
Details

Tokyo

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
1–0
La New Bears
Yu Darvish
Hok. Nippon-Ham Fighters
4
2007
Details

Tokyo

Chunichi Dragons
6–5
SK Wyverns
Hirokazu Ibata
Chunichi Dragons
4

Asia Series

2008, 2011–2013
Season Host City Champions Score Runners-up MVP No. of Teams
2008
Details

Tokyo

Saitama Seibu Lions
1–0
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions
Tomoaki Satoh
Saitama Seibu Lions
4
2011
Details

Taichung

Samsung Lions
5–3
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Won-Sam Jang
Samsung Lions
4
2012
Details

Busan

Yomiuri Giants
6–3
Lamigo Monkeys
Hayato Sakamoto
Yomiuri Giants
6
2013
Details

Taichung

Canberra Cavalry
14–4
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions
Jack Murphy
Canberra Cavalry
6

Series records

By country

Country Champions Runners-up Years Won Years Finalist
 Japan (NPB) 51 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012 2011
 South Korea (KBO) 12 2011 2005, 2007
 Australia (ABL) 10 2013
 Taiwan (CPBL) 04 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013

By club

Club Champions Runners-up Participated Years
Won
Years
Finalist
Games
Won
Games
Lost
Games
Pct.
Samsung Lions 115 2011 2005 97.563
Chiba Lotte Marines 101 2005 401.000
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 101 2006 401.000
Yomiuri Giants 101 2012 301.000
Chunichi Dragons 101 2007 31.750
Saitama Seibu Lions 101 2008 31.750
Canberra Cavalry 101 2013 31.750
Lamigo Monkeys1 022 2006, 2012 43.571
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions 024 2008, 2013 68.429
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 011 2011 31.750
SK Wyverns 012 2007 52.714
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 001 21.667
Lotte Giants 001 11.500
EDA Rhinos2 002 14.200
China Stars 004 011.000
Perth Heat 002 05.000
Fortitudo Baseball Bologna 001 02.000
Tianjin Lions 001 03.000
  • 1: Participated in 2006 under its old name La New Bears
  • 2: Participated in 2005 under its old name Sinon Bulls

See also

References

  1. http://www.ibaf.org/en/news/2013/10/02/bologna-italy-to-play-in-asia-series/76f72236-3fde-4c85-a372-7428c5a8c19e
  2. History of Asia Series – Cancellation of 2009 Asia Series and Follow-Up Archived November 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. (Traditional Chinese/English). Retrieved on November 24, 2011.
  3. Yoon Chul. Asia Series Likely Off Due to Schedule Conflict. Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine The Korea Times; January 28, 2010. Retrieved on November 24, 2011.
  4. History of Asia Series – Cancellation of 2010 Asia Series and Follow-Up Archived November 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. (Traditional Chinese/English). Retrieved on November 24, 2011.
  5. Elborough, Brad (8 October 2014). "Perth Heat's Asian expedition off after annual series cancelled". Brisbane Times.
  6. "Asia Series 2011 opens November 25" (Press release). International Baseball Federation. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
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