The Popcorn League , also known as the Popcorn Baseball League (Chinese: 爆米花棒球聯盟 ), is a semi-professional baseball league based in Taiwan . Founded in 2014, the league started out as a summer independent league. After a hiatus from 2015 to 2016, it became a winter league starting in 2017.
7-583: In 2014, as a partnership between the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) and sports broadcasting company Videoland Sports , the Popcorn League was established. Videoland Sports had recently lost the bid to carry top-tier Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) games on its local cable network for the first time in 18 years and stated its commitment to improve the level of play in local baseball. According to
14-543: The People's Republic of China ). The CTBA assists with hosting national and international baseball competitions to enhance the quality of Taiwanese baseball, and also to enhance the health of Taiwanese citizens, as well as promotes sportsmanship. Baseball was introduced to Taiwan during Japanese occupation and is claimed to be one of the oldest national sports in Taiwanese history. The 7th president Peng Chenghao took over
21-557: The Taipei Dome in a closed-door doubleheader ahead of the venue's official opening. On 14 November, Taipei Highwealth played New Taipei Heran in the morning, and Taiwan Cooperative Bank played Xports in the afternoon. On 18 December, Taiwan Cooperative Bank defeated Taipower to win a third consecutive championship, its fifth in history. In January 2024, CTBC , which owns the CTBC Brothers , announced that it would sponsor
28-408: The 2019 season, when Taipei Highwealth defeated Taiwan Cooperative Bank in the championship series. On 19 September 2022, CBTA commissioner Jeffrey Koo Jr., Sports Administration secretary-general Lu Hung-chin, and LabTurbo Biotech general manager Eric Tai announced that LabTurbo Biotech would become the league’s 11th team. In the 2023 season, four Popcorn League teams became the first to play at
35-570: The CTBA commissioner, the league saw see itself as a "means to provide a steady stream of talented players for the CPBL" and aimed to work with Major League Baseball in the United States by allowing up to four foreign players and one coach on each team to enhance the level of its play. In the league's first foreign players draft, Chen Chun-hsiu was selected in the first round by Chii Lih Coral. In
42-537: The Taichung team, along with Taiwan Life. As of 2023, there are 11 active teams: Chinese Taipei Baseball Association The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association ( CTBA ; Chinese : 中華台北棒球協會 ; pinyin : Zhōnghuá Táiběi bàngqiú xiéhuì ) was established on February 28, 1973 to promote and develop baseball in Taiwan (known in international competition as Chinese Taipei due to political pressure from
49-509: The inaugural season, the Topco Falcons defeated Taiwan Cooperative Bank at Tianmu Baseball Stadium to win the league's first championship. The league was inactive for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, returning in 2017. Taiwan Cooperative defeated Taipei Highwealth to win its first championship. In the following season, Taiwan Cooperative Bank defeated Topco Scientific to secure its second consecutive championship. The winning streak ended in
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