The China Baseball League (, CBL) is a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

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 returned in 2014. The league closed in 2016. The 2018 season was the final edition of China Baseball League after the establishment of the China National Baseball League. The league restarted in 2023. Stadiums had standard dimensions of 98m, 122m, 98m. Teams also participated in five-game tournaments throughout the year such as the National Baseball Championships, the National Youth Baseball Championships and the Cross-Straits Baseball Tournament. In May 2023, 5, the 15th China Baseball League restarted with 10 teams kicked off in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. The league consists of three sub-stations in Wuxi, Chengdu, and Tianjin.

Clubs

The original four teams were the Beijing Tigers, Tianjin Lions, Shanghai Eagles and Guangzhou Lightning. The Hope Stars and Dragons joined them in 2005. The Hope Stars were an under-21 team of promising players from around the country. Henan Elephants entered CBL as an expansion team in 2009.

History

The first season ran from April 26 to May 25, 2002 with a one-game championship. In the 2004 season, the defending champion Beijing Tigers once again defeated the Tianjin Lions in the best-of-five finals. They came back from an 0-2 deficit to win the series 3 games to 2. The opening day of the 2005 season was April 1, 2005. The regular season ended on June 26. In the 2005 best-of-five championship series, the Beijing Tigers swept the Tianjin Lions, three games to none, giving the Tigers their third straight title. (The 2005 championship series was abbreviated to three games due to

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the virus SARS-CoV-1, the first identified strain of the SARS-related coronavirus. The first known cases occurred in November 2002, and the ...

.) In 2014 the CBL returned with a six-game regular season with four teams - the Tigers and Pegasus in the North Division and the Leopards and Lions in the South Division. In the finals the Tigers defeated the Lions in the best-of-three finals two games to one. hotStar United began sponsoring the CBL in 2014. The 2015 regular season featured six teams from Division 1 playing 15 games each. Division 2 teams played six games each. The Jiangsu Pegasus swept the Beijing Tigers two games to none to win their first-ever championship. The 2016 China Baseball League opened on May 5 at the baseball base in Wuxi, Jiangsu. The new season of the China Baseball League has a longer schedule than previous years, with more games, and the number of participating teams has increased from a minimum of 27 to 6. The 10 top domestic teams consisting of Beijing Tigers, Tianjin Lions, Shanghai Golden Eagles, Jiangsu Juma, Sichuan Jiaolong, Guangdong Cheetahs and Group B teams will play nearly 10 fierce battles in the league. The 2016 China Baseball League was divided into two stages: the regular season and the finals. The regular season will run for ten weeks, with 30 rounds and the finals lasting two weeks, using a best-of-five format, with the team that wins three games first to win the championship. Every weekend, from May 5 to September 3, the baseball league will feature nine pinnacle showdowns in three different cities. The six Group A teams will play a two-game home and away round-robin match. The four Group B teams will also strive to finish sixth in Group A and secure promotion places next year. On May 5, 2023, the 15 China Baseball League with 10 teams kicked off in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. The league consists of three sub-stations in Wuxi, Chengdu and Tianjin, with a total of 2023 matches. On May 5, 2023, the 26 China Baseball League ended its first leg in Wuxi, and Shanghai Red Eagle won the championship with nine victories. On June 6, 2023, the 5 China Baseball League Chengdu Station ended, and Jiangsu Juma won the championship On July 7, 2023, the 18 China Baseball League Tianjin kicked off, Sichuan Jiaolong defeated Guangdong Cheetahs 2023:5, Jiangsu Juma narrowly defeated Shandong Blue Whale 4:9, Beijing Tigers defeated Shanghai Red Eagles 8:7, and Tianjin Lions at home defeated Henan Wolf Warriors 6:7. On July 7, 2023, the 28 China Baseball League Finals kicked off at the Tianjin Tuanbo Sports Center Baseball Stadium. In the first match, Jiangsu Juma, who finished at the top of the league standings, failed to continue their good form, losing 2023-3 to Shanghai Red Eagles. On July 7, the second game of the 29 China Baseball League Finals was held at the Tianjin Tuanbo Sports Center Baseball Stadium on the 2023th, and the Shanghai Red Eagles defeated Jiangsu Juma 29-3 to win the overall championship of the season with a total score of 0:2.

Chinese Baseball League winners

Partnership with Nippon Professional Baseball

In 2007, the CBL began a support relationship with

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

, Japan's baseball league. The agreement allows the Japanese clubs to send coaches and players to China and Chinese players to train at the Japanese facilities. All teams will have a Japanese team as a partner. Beijing will pair with the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

, Sichuan with 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 ...

, Shanghai with the

Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...

, Jiangsu with the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

and Guangdong with the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

. Tianjin will continue its existing relationship with the Yokohama BayStars which began in 2005.

References

External links