【CBL Week 7 Highlight】

Four Teams to Play in 2008 CBL Playoffs Determined
① Tianjin vs Guangdong and ② Shanghai vs Beijing
go Head to Head starting in this weekend

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This was the final week of the CBL regular season (Week 7: September 13th to 15th). The attention this week was on the matchups between Guangdong and Shanghai, a battle for the top spot in the Southeast/Sothern China Division, Beijing and Sichuan, a race for a playoff spot between the 2nd and 3rd place teams in the Southwest/Northern China Division, and Jiangsu vs Tianjin- the Jiangsu Hopestars still kept their hopes alive of getting to the playoffs.

<Jia Yubing in his return from the Olympic Team (Beijing)>

Also, the “CBL Sichuan Earthquake Charity Event” was held on Saturday, September 13th at Guangzhou and Wuxi, and as was the case at the charity events that were held last week in Chengdu and Beijing, numerous fans made donations towards the earthquake victim relief fund.

【Guangdong Leopards vs Shanghai Golden Eagles –Guangzhou Baseball Stadium】

Sweeping this three-game series would allow the Guangdong Leopards to win the Division away from the Shanghai Golden Eagles. On the other hand, for Shanghai, winning one of the three games would give them the Division crown. Both teams headed into Game One with great hopes. The opening game, which was a seesaw battle, ended on a sacrifice fly by Liang Yong Le in the bottom of the ninth and Guangdong won the game 7-6. In Game Two, Shanghai pitcher Dong Shi, whose team lost the crucial first game, gave his team a great effort, allowing only three runs in seven innings, but the Shanghai offense was completely silent against the Guangdong pitchers. The Golden Eagles struck out a combined 17 times against the three Guangdong pitchers of Tang Miao, Lu Chao and Chen Jun Yi. Shanghai lost the game 1-3 for their second straight defeat. The Shanghai Golden Eagles’ offense, who would not be able to go back to Shanghai if they were swept, finally woke up. They jumped all over Guangdong starting pitcher Meng Wei Qiang from the outset, scoring 9 runs up to the 4th inning. Starting in the middle innings, the Golden Eagles were able to prevent the Leopards from coming back in the game with the relief combination of Zhang Li and Chen Hai Feng. Shanghai was able to hang on and finish the regular season as Division champions.

　* Click here to view photos between Guangdong and Shanghai from Week 7.
http://www.cbl.org.cn/photo/index.asp?pic_type=600802

【Beijing Tigers vs Sichuan Dragons- Beijing Baseball Stadium, Lucheng, Beijing】

For the Beijing Tigers, Sun Ling Feng and Jia Yu Bing returned from the Olympic team, just as Li Lei and Sun Wei did last week. The Tigers now had a strong lineup that the other teams wished they had. The Beijing offense was on full blast from the outset. They jumped on the board in the first inning, scoring 5 runs on a series of hits, including a base hit by Sun Ling Feng, doubles by Li Lei and Jia Yu Bing and an RBI hit by Sun Wei. Beijing continued to add on hits, both short and long, in the innings that followed, for a total of 20 hits, including home runs by Jia Yu Bing and Sun Ling Feng, and defeated Sichuan in blowout fashion, 15-4. The Tigers were successful in beating out the Sichuan Dragons for a playoff spot in the first game of this series.

Although Beijing did not play their veteran players in Game Two and lost the game 3-11, they played their best players in Game Three and won easily, 8-2. They are more than ready for the playoffs to begin.

* Click here to view photos of games between Beijing and Sichuan from Week 7.
http://www.cbl.org.cn/photo/index.asp?pic_type=600801

【Jiangsu HopeStars vs Tianjin Lions- Jiangsu Wuxi Baseball Stadium】

The player that shined in this series was Tianjin leadoff hitter Wang Chao. Wang, who won the batting crown last season, returned to the Lions from the Olympic team last week. He went 7 for 15 in the three-game series, and the way he played gave people an idea of his character. Also, young catcher Zhang Zhen Wang returned to the team, which made Manager Jiao Yi very happy. Zhang played in the games as the DH since veteran catchers Ren Min and Xu Chang Qing were doing the catching for Tianjin this season. He played extremely well, going 6 for 10 in the three games with 5 RBIs. He was able to show his fans and teammates how much he had improved since playing in the New York Yankees’ farm system (MLB) beginning in the second half of last season. Tianjin swept the series, winning the games 6-1, 12-7 and 8-3, and gave Jiangsu very little chance to win. The Tianjin Lions finished the regular season with an impressive record of 19 wins and 2 losses.

* Click here to view photos of games between Jiangsu and Tianjin from Week 7.
http://www.cbl.org.cn/photo/index.asp?pic_type=600803

Week 7 was the final week of the 2008 CBL regular season.
The Sichuan Dragons and Jiangsu HopeStars, once again, were unable to achieve their goal of advancing to the playoffs.

*League Standings at the End of Week 7 (as of September 14th)

2008 China Baseball League Regular Season Stadings
【Southwest Division】 Stadings As Of 14-September

2008 China Baseball League Regular Season Stadings
【Southeast Division】 Stadings As Of 14-September

The China Baseball League has announced that the playoffs, which begin on Saturday, September 20th, will have the following schedule:

【2008 CBL Playoff Schedule】

(Note) The first team to win three games wins the series.