Asia Series

Asia Series

Most recent season or competition: 2013 Asia Series
Formerly	Konami Cup
Sport	Baseball
Inaugural season	2005
No. of teams	6
Country	Australia (2011– )  China (2005–2008, 2012)  Chinese Taipei  Europe (2013– )  Japan  South Korea
Most recent champion(s)	Canberra Cavalry (1st title)
Most titles	Canberra Cavalry Chiba Lotte Marines Chunichi Dragons Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Saitama Seibu Lions Samsung Lions Yomiuri Giants (1 each)
Related competitions	ABL CBL CPBL CEB European Cup (CEB) KBO League (KBO) NPB

The Asia Series is an annual international club baseball competition, currently contested by the champions of all four World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) associated leagues – Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), Korea Baseball Organization League (KBO League), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) – along with the CEB European Cup holder and the host city,^[1] to bring the number of teams up to six.

The competition was co-sponsored by NPB Association and Konami from 2005 to 2007 and was therefore known as the Konami Cup. Furthermore the participation was limited to the East Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, Taipei and China). The tournament was stopped between 2009 and 2010 due to the withdrawal of Konami and the related financing issues. It was re-introduced in 2011 in the form as we know it today, and has been hosted since then by Taipei and South Korea, unlike the Konami Cup, which was held in Japan.

Background

The Asia Series began in 2005 as a tournament among the champions of NPB, KBO League and CPBL and an All-Star team from China Baseball League (CBL), which was called China Stars. Konami co-sponsored the competition until 2007, why the 2008 season became the first Asia Series. Additionally, it was the first time, that the champion of CBL was appointed for the tournament, instead of an All-Star line-up.

The withdrawal of Konami raised in the following years financing issues. The 2009 season was reduced to a single-game championship between the champions of NPB and KBO League and held at the Nagasaki Stadium. The Yomiuri Giants won against the Kia Tigers by 9–4.^[2]

A potential 2010 season was then cancelled due to a conflict with the 2010 Asian Games^[3] and replaced by another sets of Club Championship. The KBO League champion SK Wyverns first split the two-game championship with CPBL champion Brother Elephants at the Taichung Stadium, before being defeated in a single-game championship by the NPB champion Chiba Lotte Marines at the Tokyo Dome with 3–0.^[4]

The subject of re-introducing the event for 2011 was discussed in a November 2010 meeting between the heads of the NPB, KBO, CPBL, and ABL. The CPBL offered to host the event in November 2011. The ABL, whose season runs from November through February, added a bye week in its schedule to allow the champion of the season before to participate in the Asia Series.

In 2013, Fortitudo Baseball Bologna of the Italian Baseball League competed as the first representative of Europe to participate in the tournament, qualifying as the 2013 CEB European Cup champion. Due to the CBL's hiatus that year, the tournament remained at six teams.

The 2014 und 2015 season were cancelled due to scheduling issues.^[5]

Format

Each of the teams participates in a round-robin series, playing each other team once. The two teams with the best win-loss percentage face each other in the final, with the team finishing higher considered the "home team", meaning that they have the advantage of batting last. In previous tournaments, if teams were tied a series of tiebreakers 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.^[6] All games have the designated hitter rule in effect, though not all participating teams would have it in their regular league.

Participants

Country	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Japan (NPB)					N/A					N/A
South Korea (KBO)
Chinese Taipei (CPBL)
China (CBL)
Australia (ABL)
Europe (CEB)

Finals results

2005–2008

Konami Cup / Asia Series

Season	Host City		Champions	Score	Runners-up		MVP	No. of Teams
2005 Details	Tokyo		Chiba Lotte Marines	5–3	Samsung Lions		Benny Agbayani Chiba Lotte Marines	4
2006 Details	Tokyo		Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1–0	La New Bears		Yu Darvish Hok. Nippon-Ham Fighters	4
2007 Details	Tokyo		Chunichi Dragons	6–5	SK Wyverns		Hirokazu Ibata Chunichi Dragons	4
2008 Details	Tokyo		Saitama Seibu Lions	1–0	Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions		Tomoaki Satoh Saitama Seibu Lions	4

2011–

Asia Series

Season	Host City		Champions	Score	Runners-up		MVP	No. of Teams
2011 Details	Tainan		Samsung Lions	5–3	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks		Won-Sam Jang Samsung Lions	4
2012 Details	Busan		Yomiuri Giants	6–3	Lamigo Monkeys		Hayato Sakamoto Yomiuri Giants	6
2013 Details	Tainan		Canberra Cavalry	14–4	Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions		Jack Murphy Canberra Cavalry	6
2014–2015			Cancelled due to scheduling issues
2016 Details	TBD

Series records

By country

Country	Champions	Runners-up	Participated	Years Won	Years Finalist
Japan (NPB)	5	1	7	2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012	2011
South Korea (KBO)	1	2	7	2011	2005, 2007
Australia (ABL)	1	0	3	2013
Chinese Taipei (CPBL)	0	4	7		2006, 2008, 2012, 2013
China (CBL)	0	0	5
Italy (CEB)	0	0	1

By club

Club	Champions	Runners-up	Participated	Years Won	Years Finalist	Games Won	Games Lost	Games Pct.
Samsung Lions	1	1	5	2011	2005	9	7	.563
Chiba Lotte Marines	1	0	1	2005		4	0	1.000
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1	0	1	2006		4	0	1.000
Yomiuri Giants	1	0	1	2012		3	0	1.000
Chunichi Dragons	1	0	1	2007		3	1	.750
Saitama Seibu Lions	1	0	1	2008		3	1	.750
Canberra Cavalry	1	0	1	2013		3	1	.750
Lamigo Monkeys^1	0	2	2		2006, 2012	4	3	.571
Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions	0	2	4		2008, 2013	6	8	.429
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	0	1	1		2011	3	1	.750
SK Wyverns	0	1	2		2007	5	2	.714
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	0	0	1			2	1	.667
Lotte Giants	0	0	1			1	1	.500
EDA Rhinos^2	0	0	2			1	4	.200
China Stars	0	0	4			0	11	.000
Perth Heat	0	0	2			0	5	.000
Fortitudo Baseball Bologna	0	0	1			0	2	.000
Tianjin Lions	0	0	1			0	3	.000

• ¹: Participated in 2006 under its old name La New Bears
• ²: Participated in 2005 under its old name Sinon Bulls

See also

• World Baseball Classic
• WBSC Premier12
• MLB Japan All-Star Series

References

1. http://www.ibaf.org/en/news/2013/10/02/bologna-italy-to-play-in-asia-series/76f72236-3fde-4c85-a372-7428c5a8c19e
2. History of Asia Series – Cancellation of 2009 Asia Series and Follow-Up. (Traditional Chinese/English). Retrieved on November 24, 2011.
3. Yoon Chul. Asia Series Likely Off Due to Schedule Conflict. The Korea Times; January 28, 2010. Retrieved on November 24, 2011.
4. History of Asia Series – Cancellation of 2010 Asia Series and Follow-Up. (Traditional Chinese/English). Retrieved on November 24, 2011.
5. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/perth-heats-asian-expedition-off-after-annual-series-cancelled-20141008-11388k.html
6. "Asia Series 2011 opens November 25" (Press release). International Baseball Federation. 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.

External links

• Asia Series 2013 Official Website (Chinese (Taiwan))