The Republic of China (Taiwan) has won their first professional world title in baseball this past Sunday.
The nation that plays under a different flag and national team name as Chinese Taipei has conquered the baseball world once again, but this time at the senior world level stage.
The baseball world’s second most important event happened this November across five cities: Taipei in Taiwan, Guadalajara (Jalisco) and Tepic (Nayarit) in Mexico, and Nagoya and Tokyo in Japan.
Group A opened first in the Americas and saw the excitement for the top two places go to the last day.
While Venezuela was already through and Puerto Rico was already eliminated, the Netherlands, the USA, Mexico, and Panama were all 2-2 and various tiebreakers allowed each nation a chance to finish top two and head to Asia.
Panama did their job earlier that night to go 3-2, but needed Mexico to defeat the USA as did Mexico themselves.
The Mexican fans came out in full force, hoping to defeat the Americans like they did a year ago in the USA city of Phoenix.
But, this time, the USA conquered Mexico in Guadalajara, 12-2! USA and Venezuela were through and would be taking flights to Asia.
Next was Group B, which started later as the final rounds would also be in Asia.
Group B was less thrilling in terms of standings, but more thrilling in terms of level of play and overall atmosphere.
The brand new Taipei Dome served as the main stadium for the big games and saw high attendances with ruckus noise. The Taiwanese fans are known for extreme devotion to baseball with cheerleaders and other unique traditions.
Group B also featured many of the top players in the world, such as those in the KBO, Nippon League, and CPBL.
Therefore, it was no surprise when Japan, Chinese Taipei, and South Korea finished in the top 3, but it was a surprise that they finished in this respective order. Japan won all 5 games, and Chinese Taipei had upset South Korea in their opening game in route to a 4-1 Group B record.
This meant that Group B’s top 2 teams were decided before the last night.
Now, it was off to Tokyo for the round-robin Super Round!
For the Americans and Venezuelans, it was a good showing to get to this point. While the two nations, along with the Dominican Republic, feature the most Major League Baseball (MLB) players, contract issues often limit MLB talent in the Premier12 unlike the more important World Baseball Classic (WBC) that awards baseball’s title of world champions.
Consequently, this affected these three nations the most, as well as other top nations from the Americas like Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Nevertheless, both nations were determined for gold.
The first game of the Super Round saw Venezuela win 2-0 over Chinese Taipei. Then, the USA went through the top of the 5th up 1-0 against Japan.
But all downhill from there as the Japanese scored 9 unanswered runs to win.
The Asian nations dominated the next night with Chinese Taipei winning 8-2 over the USA and Japan winning in a thrilling come from behind 9-6 victory over Venezuela.
Technically, all nations still had a chance to qualify for the Gold Medal Final, but most expected Japan’s 5-year undefeated streak across the Premier12, Olympics, and the World Baseball Classic to continue in their national stadium.
The experts were correct. While the USA were able to pull out a 6-5 victory over Venezuela, Japan won 9-6 over Chinese Taipei.
With three teams tied at 1-2, the tiebreaker went to Chinese Taipei.
The Republic of China was in the final at the Tokyo Dome.
The Final:
The Tokyo Dome was sold out for an ultimate final between two rival nations.
While both share strong bonds politically, these do not extend to the baseball diamond.
And, the game began how any championship final should.
It was unbreakably close between Chinese Taipei and Japan.
Both teams traded shutout innings through the 4th.
No Taiwanese person felt safe. Usually at this point in the game, Team Japan would slide past opposition. After all, Japan does not lose in Japan, and were 2-0 against Chinese Taipei this tournament.
But, that all changed in the top of the 5th Inning for Team Chinese Taipei.
First, catcher Chia-Cheng Lin scored on a solo home run to put the Taiwanese up.
Then, team captain Chieh-Hsien Chen hit a three-run home run to make the score Chinese Taipei 4 Japan 0!
Taiwan held out the rest of the way.
It would all come down to the bottom of the 9th Inning with one man on bass for Japan and one out.
A hit to first baseman, Yu-Hsien Chu, flew fast in the air, leaving everyone to believe it would be a hit. But no, Yu-Hsien Chu caught the ball and then tagged the base for a double play for the final two outs of the game.
Chinese Taipei had won the 2024 Premier12!
What does this mean for Taiwan Baseball?
Taiwan has long been considered a cradle of baseball power.
In the Little League World Series, Taiwanese teams have won the second most titles at 17.
Chinese Taipei has won gold medals in the U12, U15, U18, and U23 world championships as well.
But, these successes always came with a big question mark!
Could Taiwan ever dominate at the senior level? Or were the players only good as children?
Luckily, Chinese Taipei did answer this question.
Previously, baseball had a World Cup, Intercontinental Cup, and Olympic Games that served as the three major world level championships and Taiwan won medals in all three.
But these results came before the full professionalization of international baseball.
Similar to the pre-World Cup soccer or pre-Dream Team basketball days, the best players were not allowed to play and this limited the prestige.
It has only been since 2006 that this changed with the World Baseball Classic.
And while the Premier12 may not feature as many MLB players, players from the MLB and all the other top leagues are eligible to compete.
Thus, the Premier12 has become the #2 tournament for international baseball.
Despite having one of the best and most followed professional leagues, Chinese Taipei struggled for relevance in these competitions.
Chinese Taipei finished 12th, 15th, 8th, and 14th in the first four editions of the WBC for a combined record of 3-10.
In the Premier12, Chinese Taipei fared better at 9th and 5th in the first two editions.
The Olympics saw Chinese Taipei qualify once in the professional era to finish 5th in 2008.
Thus, fans had grown restless for national team success.
Finally, 2023 saw Chinese Taipei go 2-2 in the group stage of the WBC, but their group had a five-way tie for 1st and Chinese Taipei finished last in the tiebreaker.
So, despite this high level of play, Chinese Taipei entered the 2024 Premier12 as a team needing extra qualifiers to qualify for the 2026 WBC.
This lost status as a top 16 team seemed a foreshadowing for Taiwan’s future status.
Against this backdrop, it is easy now to see just how relieving Taiwanese supporters are to finally have won a major profession world title.
Work is not done though as Chinese Taipei still need to have a good 2025 to qualify for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
In order to qualify, they will need to finish top 2 in a qualifying group that features Nicaragua, South Africa, and Spain.
But, the sport has never been in a better place following the monumental victory as seen from the reaction in the nation and in the press.
Final Standings:
- Chinese Taipei: 6-3
- Japan: 8-1
- USA: 5-4
- Venezuela: 5-4
- South Korea: 3-2
- Panama: 3-2
- Australia: 1-4
- Mexico: 2-3
- Dominican Republic: 1-4
- Netherlands: 2-3
- Cuba: 1-4
- Puerto Rico: 1-4
Highlights from the Final
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