Chinese Professional Baseball League: Preview and Picks for Baseball Games

The Chinese Premium Baseball League is the only ongoing league in the world amid the coronavirus outbreak. The CPBL announced 11 April as the commencing date for the schedules, but chilly weather postponed the first and second games of the season. 

Thus, the authorities began with the third game that counted as the first match of the season between CTBC Brothers and Uni-Lions on 12 April 2020.

The games set in motion with teams, cheerleaders, and no audience in the stadium. With the time, the authorities provided relaxations to the fans, and the schedules turned from zero to 1000 people and then 2000 after a week

The CPBL is the lowest major league but at the time, when every other league is shut already, the love of baseball doesn’t need to go hungry. 

The League has five teams;

1. CTBC Brothers

2. Uni-Lions or Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions 

3. Rakuten Monkeys or Lamigo Monkeys and

4. Fubon Guardians

This season undergoes two halves with each team playing 60 games in each half and the winner of the first half gets the ticket to the postseason. 

120 Games in a season, and you might scratch to bet. And the prediction sticking true to its nature i.e. uncertainty, no one knows what happens next. The lineup is also a major factor in baseball, and that’s why we choose to predict the best team depending upon its performance.

Before that, let’s see how teams are doing.

CTBC Brothers

The Chinatrust Brothers have played 34 games so far in the season. Out of them, Brothers have won 19 with the second-highest winning percentage of .559. In the last five matches of the season, Brothers have scored 5 consecutive wins against Uni-President and Monkeys. 

Thus, it becomes the first team to perform 100% in the last five games.

Uni-Lions or Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions

Uni-Lions kicked off with a win in the first game of the season against CTBC Brothers. They have performed in 36 games by now and have scored 13 wins with zero draws. However, the Lions are sitting at the lowest among the 4, and running at the lowest winning percentage of .361. They had a disappointing performance in the last five schedules, facing four consecutive losses against Brothers and Guardians.

Rakuten Monkeys

Lamigo or Monkeys, the champions of the last three seasons of Taiwan Series, outperformed the other teams in this season too. Monkeys are sitting at the top with the winning percentage of .613 and 19 wins out of 31 matches and zero draws. Even if they have faced three losses in the last five games, the Monkeys are still leading the season.

Monkeys may have a hard time against CTBC Brothers as they both hold the same number of wins.

Fubon Guardians

Last but not the least, Guardians, owns the third position among all teams. They have performed in 31 matches, and have won 15 and lost 16 games with the winning percentage of .484. 

Fubon witnessed three wins and two losses, against Lions and Lamigos, in the last five games.

Prediction Based on Team’s Past Performance

A team’s win implies the wholesome efforts of a pitcher, catcher, batter, and fielders. Meanwhile, considering only the pitcher’s performance to provide a preview is as vague as the future’s prediction with logic. 

Thus, we are accounting the last month’s performance of the teams as a predictive model.

Brothers have gone through 17 matches in the last month. 

9 wins and 6 losses

6 Games with Monkeys - 2 wins, 4 losses 

5 Games with Fubon - 3 losses, 2 wins

6 Matches with Lions - 5 wins, and 1 loss

Fubon has performed in 15 games in the last month. 

9 wins and 6 losses.

6 Games with Uni-Lions - 2 losses, 4 wins

4 Games with Lamigo - 2 losses, 2 wins

5 Games with Brothers - 3 wins, 2 losses

Monkeys have gone through 16 games in a month. 

9 wins and 7 losses

6 Games with Brothers - 4 wins, 2 losses

4 Games with Fubon - 2 losses, 2 wins

6 Games with Uni-Lions - 3 wins, 3 losses

Uni-Lions performed in a total of 18 games in a month. 

6 wins and 12 losses

6 Games with Monkeys - 3 wins, 3 losses

6 Games with Fubon - 4 losses, 2 wins

6 Games with Brothers - 1 win, 5 losses

By considering wins and losses, we can say that Fubon and Brothers may have a neck to neck competition. Since Monkeys have a good record of performance in the past season, Fubon may get overpowered.

As we discussed before, there are a lot of factors that can turn the outcome. Thus, make sure that you consider your data and research too before betting.