The 2011 Asia Series was the fifth time the

Asia Series The Asia Series was an international club baseball competition, contested by the champions of all four professional leagues associated with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC)—Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professi ...

has been held, and the first after a two-year break. The tournament was held in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, the first time it has been held outside

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Though originally scheduled to commence on 11 November, the tournament was postponed by two weeks to allow for the delayed finish to the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) season due to the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The new schedule has the opening games to be played on 25 November, and the championship game concluded the tournament on 29 November. As had been the case in previous tournaments, the winners of NPB's 2011 Japan Series,

Korea Baseball Organization The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. The KBO was founded in 1981 and has governed two leagues: the KBO League () and KBO Futures League ( (F ...

's (KBO) 2011 Korean Series and

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

's (CPBL)

2011 Taiwan Series The 2011 Taiwan Series was played by Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions and Lamigo Monkeys, winners of the first and second half-seasons. The Lions won the title of 2011 Taiwan Series four games to one and will represent Taiwan in the 2011 Asia Series ...

competed. Though originally included, no team represented the

China Baseball League The China Baseball League (, CBL) is a professional baseball league under the administration of Chinese Baseball Association, founded in 2002. The league suspended operations in 2012 due to financial troubles after the 2011 season, but retur ...

(CBL) due to ″concerns about the team's makeup″. An

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n team participated in the tournament for the first time: the

Perth Heat The Perth Heat is a baseball team in the current Australian Baseball League and a founding member of the Australian Baseball League. It is the most successful team in ABL history, winning 15 Claxton Shields. Australian Baseball League (1989– ...

were invited as winners of the

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it s ...

's (ABL) 2011 Championship series. The

Samsung Lions The Samsung Lions () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982. They are based in the southeastern city of Daegu and are members of the KBO League. Their home stadium is Daegu Samsung Lions Park. They have won the Korean Cha ...

defeated the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. Founded on February 22, 1938, as the Nankai Club, being the first Kansai t ...

in the title game to become the first non-Japanese champion. Starting pitcher Jang Won-Sam was named the MVP of the series.

Participating teams

Format

Each of the four 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. In previous tournaments, if teams were tied a series of

tiebreakers In games and sport, a tiebreaker or tiebreak is any method used to determine a winner or to rank participants when there is a tie - meaning two or more parties have achieved a same score or result. A tiebreaker provides the additional criterion ...

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.

Round-robin stage

Final

References

External links

* {{Asia Series Asia Series 2011 in baseball

International baseball competitions hosted by Taiwan