| Upcoming season or competition: 2011 Asia Series |
|
| Formerly | Konami Cup |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Inaugural season | 2005 |
| No. of teams | 4 |
| Country(ies) | Australia (from 2011) China (2005–2008) Japan South Korea Taiwan |
| Most recent champion(s) | Samsung Lions (2011) |
| Most titles | Chiba Lotte Marines Chunichi Dragons Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters Saitama Seibu Lions Samsung Lions (1 each) |
| Related competitions | ABL CBL CPBL KPB NPB |
The Asia Series is an international baseball tournament in East Asia that was first held between November 10 and November 13, 2005, in Tokyo. The tournament was sponsored by Konami corporation from 2005 to 2007 and was known as the Konami Cup in that period.
It is played among the annual champions of the Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) Japan Series, the Korea Professional Baseball's (KPB) Korean Series, the Chinese Professional Baseball League's (CPBL) Taiwan Series, and the China Baseball League's (CBL) championship series. Prior to 2008, China Stars, an all-star team of China Baseball League participated in the series instead of the champion from China.
The Asia Series was placed on hold due to financing issues following the withdrawal of Konami, reducing 2009's pan-Asian postseason to a single Club Championship game between the Japanese and Korean champions at Nagasaki, with the Yomiuri Giants defeating the Kia Tigers, 9–4.[1] A potential 2010 revival was then cancelled due to a conflict with the 2010 Asian Games,[2] and replaced with another round of club championship games. The Korean champion SK Wyverns split a two-game series with CPBL champion Brother Elephants in Taiwan, before being defeated by the NPB's Chiba Lotte Marines at the Tokyo Dome, 3–0.[3]
The subject of re-introducing the event for 2011 was discussed in a November 2010 meeting between the heads of the NPB, KPB, CPBL, and Australian Baseball League (ABL). The CPBL offered to host the event in November 2011. The Perth Heat announced on May 18, 2011 that they would participate in the tournament. The ABL had a bye week built into the season to accommodate this.
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Each of the four 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.[4] All games have the designated hitter rule in effect, though not all participating teams would have it in their regular league.
| Season | Host Nation |
Champions | Score | Runners-up | MVP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Japan |
Chiba Lotte Marines |
5–3 | Samsung Lions |
Benny Agbayani (Chiba Lotte Marines) |
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| 2006 | Japan |
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters |
1–0 | La New Bears |
Yu Darvish (Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters) |
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| 2007 | Japan |
Chunichi Dragons |
6–5 | SK Wyverns |
Hirokazu Ibata (Chunichi Dragons) |
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| 2008 | Japan |
Saitama Seibu Lions |
1–0 | Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions |
Tomoaki Satoh (Saitama Seibu Lions) |
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| 2011 | Taiwan |
Samsung Lions |
5–3 | Fukuoka Softbank Hawks |
Jang Won-Sam (Samsung Lions) |
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| 2012 | – |
| Country | Champions | Runners-up | Participated | Years Won | Years Finalist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan (NPB) | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 | 2011 |
| South Korea (KPB) | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2011 | 2005, 2007 |
| Taiwan (CPBL) | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2006, 2008 | |
| China (CBL) | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| Australia (ABL) | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Club | Champions | Runners-up | Participated | Years Won |
Years Finalist |
Games Won |
Games Lost |
Games Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Lions† | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2011 | 2005 | 6 | 5 | .545 |
| Chiba Lotte Marines | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2005 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | |
| Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2006 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | |
| Chunichi Dragons | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2007 | 3 | 1 | .750 | |
| Saitama Seibu Lions | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2008 | 3 | 1 | .750 | |
| SK Wyverns | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2007 | 5 | 2 | .714 | |
| Lamigo Monkeys†† | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2006 | 2 | 2 | .500 | |
| Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions† | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2008 | 4 | 6 | .400 | |
| Sinon Bulls | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .333 | ||
| China Stars | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | .000 | ||
| Perth Heat† | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .000 | ||
| Tianjin Lions | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .000 | ||
| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks† | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | .750 |
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