2020 Chinese Professional Baseball League season


The 2020 Chinese Professional Baseball League season is the 31st season of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. The season was scheduled to begin on 14 March, earlier than previous seasons in order to free up time for the CPBL players to participate in the final qualifying tournament of the 2020 Summer Olympics. However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, opening day was delayed. On 1 April, the CPBL announced that the season would begin on 11 April with last season's champions the Rakuten Monkeys hosting runners-up the CTBC Brothers, but behind closed doors with no fans attending.
Due to inclement weather, game #1 and #2 hosted by Monkeys were postponed. This led to game #3, the CTBC Brothers hosting the Uni-President Lions on April 12 at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, becoming the first game of the season to play to completion. On May 8, a maximum of 1,000 fans were permitted to attend games. Restrictions were further relaxed on June 5: as long as there was one-seat spacing between spectators, attendance number was no longer restricted, and masks were no longer required while seated; food prepared on-site was again allowed.
The CPBL received international coverage because other major baseball leagues such as Major League Baseball in North America, Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, and the KBO League in South Korea were still severely impacted by the virus outbreak and unable to confirm the dates of their respective season openings.
The annual CPBL All-Star Game was cancelled for the first time to accommodate to the compact schedule. The season will be concluded in late October with the Taiwan Series.

Competition

Four teams, the Rakuten Monkeys, Uni-President Lions, Fubon Guardians, and CTBC Brothers will contest the CPBL, the highest level of professional baseball played in Taiwan. The season is divided into two halves, with each team playing 60 games in each half. The winners for each half-season plus the non-winner with the best overall record will qualify for the playoffs. In the event that the same team wins both halves, the next 2 teams with the best overall records will advance.
In May 2019, commissioner John Wu announced that the CPBL had reached an agreement with Ting Hsin International Group, largest and managing shareholder of Wei Chuan Foods Corporation, to reactivate Wei Chuan Dragons. The Dragons would participate in the minor league during 2020 season and expected to return to the major league in 2021.

Broadcast rights

Following a dispute between the CPBL and MP & Silva during the, broadcast rights to CPBL games were acquired over the intervening seasons by Eleven Sports,,, and Videoland Television Network. English-language broadcasts were added on a trial basis and streamed via the Twitter account of Eleven Sports Taiwan. A number of international fans tuned in, and all CPBL teams subsequently announced that they would feature English commentary.

Standings

First Half standings

claimed the first half Championship on July 14, by defeating Uni-President Lions with a score of 6:1 in the resumption of game #62, which was suspended on May 26 at top of third inning with a score of 1:0 due to rain.
TeamGWTLPct.GB
CTBC Brothers60370230.617--
Rakuten Monkeys60340260.5673.0
Uni-President Lions60260340.43311.0
Fubon Guardians 60230370.38314.0

Second Half Standings


TeamGWTLPct.GB
Fubon Guardians74030.571--
Rakuten Monkeys84040.5000.5
CTBC Brothers84040.5000.5
Uni-President Lions73040.4291.0

Overall standings


The team among the non-half-season-winners with the best overall record will gain the wild card spot and the third seed in the playoffs.
TeamGWTLPct.GB
CTBC Brothers68410270.603--
Rakuten Monkeys68380300.5593.0
Uni-President Lions67290380.43311.5
Fubon Guardians67270400.40313.5

Hitting

Pitching

Play-offs

Rules

All regular season rules apply with the following exceptions: