2018 Second Half-Season Winner: Lamigo Monkeys
Talk about being a dominant team in the CPBL. The Monkeys have won the 2018 second-half season title by defeating the Fubon Guardians 8-5 last night.
With the final strikeout by the closer 陳禹勳 (Chen Yu-Hsun), over 10,000 Monkeys fans tossed the streamers to celebrate the team for winning its 12th half-season titles in the franchise history.
It's a Taiwanese baseball tradition, fans will throw streamers into the stadium to celebrate winning the half-season championship. Here's what happened last night when the #Lamigo Monkeys won the 2018 #CPBL second-half season title. pic.twitter.com/Nhl5FNx3ik
— CPBL STATS (@GOCPBL) October 6, 2018
“I want to thank my players and the coaches for working seamlessly together this season,” said the Monkeys’ manager 洪一中 (Hong I-Chung). “Winning four half-season titles in two years is not an easy achievement.”
Manager Hong continued and thanked the fans for their undying support over the years. “Your support is our motivation, and I hope you guys will continue to cheer and to be proud of this team!”
New CPBL Records for the Monkeys
By winning the half-season title, the Monkeys also set a new CPBL record for winning four consecutive half-season titles.
- 2017 First-Half Season Title
- 2017 Second-Half Season Title
- 2018 First-Half Season Title
- 2018 Second-Half Season Title
Gearing up for 2018 Taiwan Series
With the Monkeys winning both the first and second-half season title, the team have been awarded a one-game advantage in the 2018 Taiwan Series (Best-of-seven).
The Uni-Lions and the Guardians will play a best-of-five series from October 19-23. The winner of the series will then advance to the Taiwan Series.
The streamers is a great tradition. It looks like it would be huge amount of fun to be a part of.
It feels like if the Uni-Lions finish second in the second half, they should go straight to the Taiwan Series. Ah, but post-season games mean so much to the box office…
Yeah, financially, post-season games are so important for the team here.
When think about it, it is kind of ridiculous that 3 out of 4 teams are in the playoffs. This “wild cards/ challenge round” rule was implemented back then when there were 6 teams. I guess the official just can’t be bother to adjust the rule to fit a 4-team league.
You are right, financially it is good for the teams and for the local economy as well. I see it as a way to keep the enthusiasm of the fan as much as possible during the season. I believe it is a good thing. Specially for the fans that have something interesting to root for. perhaps a win win situation?
Their operation philosophy is quite unique too. Instead of trying to compete with the other teams for “fans”, what they are doing is trying to compete with the cinemas, shopping malls and KTV. Trying to create an environment of going to the game and have fun. Win, loss, no matter.
A bit like a family of 4 went to the game, kids had a blast dancing around, parents got to relax. And at the end of the day, leaving the stadium thinking “wow, that was fun, should so that again, by the way, who won?”