Popular Professional Baseball Leagues in Asia

Unlike in America, baseball is not that popular in Asia. However, there are a few countries that also have professional baseball leagues. These Asian countries, like the US, hold professional baseball games as a yearly event. Some of the known professional baseball leagues in Asia include the following:

China Baseball League (CBL) – China

Also known as Chinese Baseball League, CBL is founded in 2002 under the administration of the Chinese Baseball Association. There were four original teams playing under CBL which include the Tianjin Lions, Guangdong Leopards, Beijing Tigers and Shanghai Eagles. By 2005, these four teams were joined by two more teams, namely the Sichuan Dragons and Jiangsu Hopestars. The Henan Elephants, meanwhile, was introduced as new CBL team in 2009. The Henan Elephants joined the league as an expansion team. The Guangdong Leopards were hailed as champions of the 2010 CBL Baseball Championship Game, while the Beijing Tigers were the runner up.

Chinese Professional Baseball League – Taiwan

Established in 1989, CPBL is widely known as the top tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. Baseball was first introduced in the country during the time when the Japanese ruled Taiwan. Since then, the sport starts gaining popularity particularly when Taiwan’s National Little League baseball teams bagged the championship in 1970s and 1980s. The National Baseball team performed really well in the international competitions that they have participated in. However, it is very unfortunate that the development of the sport in the country was quite limited. This is because majority of the players are hesitant to really commit to the sport. Currently, there are four teams playing for CPBL. This included the Lamigo Monkeys, Sinon Bulls, Brother Elephants and Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions.

Korea Professional Baseball

This is considered as the highest level of professional baseball league in South Korea. In Korean, KPB is referred as Han-kook Pro Yagoo, which means professional baseball in English. In 1982, Professional Baseball in Korea was originally founded with six teams. But currently, there are eight teams playing for this year’s league. The teams are named according to the conglomerates or businesses that own them. Korea Professional Baseball is one of the two major baseball league, the other one is K-League, which is very popular in South Korea.

There are a total of 133 Korea Professional Baseball League games in a regular season. Each Korean baseball team will have to compete against each other for 19 times. The participating teams for 2011 include the Hanwha Eagles, Kia Tigers, LG Twins, Nexen Heroes, SK Wyverns, Samsung Lions, Lotte Giants, and Doosan Bears.

Nippon Professional Baseball

NPB is divided into two leagues: Central and Pacific League. It is also consists of two professional minor leagues – Eastern and Western League – which plays a much shorter season. Regular season of NPB normally begins during late March or early April and concludes in October. NPB also hosts two or three all-star games that are held in July. Baseball games in a regular season are played in various baseball stadiums in Japan. Currently, there are six Nippon baseball teams playing under the Central and Pacific League. Some of the teams that compose the Nippon Professional Baseball League include the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Yokohama Baystars, Chiba Lotte Marines, and Orix Buffaloes, to name a few.