The Asia Series was 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 was 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 tournament has not been played since 2008 due to financing issues following the withdrawal of Konami. However, the subject of re-introducing the event 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 Wednesday, 18 May 2011, that they will be participating in the tournament. The ABL will have a bye week built into the season to accommodate this.
Due to scheduling issues however, the Asia Series was discontinued following the 2013 Asia Series. The Canberra Calvary was the last team to win the Asia Series.
Format[]
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. All games have the designated hitter rule in effect, though not all participating teams would have it in their regular league.
In 2013, the knockout stage was introduced. The 1st place team from each group fought the 2nd place team from the other group.
Finals results[]
| Season | Host Nation |
Champions | Score | Runners-up | MVP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Japan |  Chiba Lotte Marines |
5–3 |  Samsung Lions |
Benny Agbayani (Chiba Lotte Marines) | ||
| 2006 | Japan | Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters |
1–0 |  Lamigo Monkeys (as La New Bears) |
Yu Darvish (Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters) | ||
| 2007 | Japan | Chunichi Dragons |
6–5 | SK Wyverns |
Hirokazu Ibata (Chunichi Dragons) | ||
| 2008 | Japan | Saitama Seibu Lions |
1–0 | Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions |
Tomoaki Satoh (Saitama Seibu Lions) | ||
| 2011 | Taiwan | Samsung Lions |
5-3 | Fukuoka Softbank Hawks |
Jang Won-Sam | ||
| 2012 | Taiwan | Yomiuri Giants |
6-3 | Lamigo Monkeys |
Hayato Sakamoto | ||
| 2013 | Taiwan |  Canberra Cavalry |
14-4 | Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions |
Jack Murphy |
Series records[]
By country[]
| # | Country | Champions | Runners-up | Participated | Years Won | Years Finalist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Japan (NPB)
|
5 | 1 | 7 | 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012 | 2011 |
| 2 | South Korea (KPB)
|
1 | 2 | 7 | 2011 | 2005, 2007 |
| 3 | (ABL)†
|
0 | 0 | 3 | 2013 | |
| 4 | (CPBL)
|
0 | 7 | 2006, 2008, 2012 , 2013 | ||
| 5 |  (CBL)
|
0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 6 |  (EC)†
|
0 | 0 | 1 |
By club[]
| Club | Champions | Runners-up | Participated | Years Won |
Years Finalist |
Games Won |
Games Lost |
Games Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Lions
|
1 | 1 | 5 | 2011 | 2005 | 7 | 6 | Template:Winning percentage |
| Chiba Lotte Marines
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 2005 | 4 | 0 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 2006 | 4 | 0 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| Yomiuri Giants
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 2012 | 3 | 0 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| Chunichi Dragons
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 2007 | 3 | 1 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| Saitama Seibu Lions
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 2008 | 3 | 1 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| Canberra Cavalry
|
1 | 0 | 1 | 2013 | 3 | 1 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| Lamigo Monkeys1
|
0 | 2 | 2 | 2006, 2012 | 4 | 3 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions
|
0 | 2 | 4 | 2008, 2013 | 6 | 8 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
|
0 | 1 | 1 | 2011 | 3 | 1 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| SK Wyverns
|
0 | 1 | 2 | 2007 | 5 | 2 | Template:Winning percentage | |
| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Template:Winning percentage | ||
| Lotte Giants
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Template:Winning percentage | ||
| EDA Rhinos
|
0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | Template:Winning percentage | ||
 China Stars
|
0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 | Template:Winning percentage | ||
 Perth Heat
|
0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | Template:Winning percentage | ||
| Fortitudo Baseball Bologna
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | Template:Winning percentage | ||
| Tianjin Lions
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | Template:Winning percentage |
- 1: Participated in 2006 under its old name La New Bears
See also[]
- Asia Baseball awards
- Caribbean Series
- World Series
References[]
External links[]
- Konami Cup Asia Series - official website
Template:Asia Series Template:Nippon Professional Baseball Template:Australian Baseball League Template:Korea Baseball Organization Template:Chinese Professional Baseball League Template:China Baseball League
| Professional Baseball | |
| Americas | |
| Major League Baseball | American League • National League |
| Minor League Baseball | *Triple A : International League • Mexican League • Pacific Coast League
|
| Mexican League Affilates | *Double A : Nothern Mexico League
|
| Winter | *Affilliated: Arizona Fall League • Dominican Winter Baseball League • Mexican Pacific League • Parallel Leaguee • Venezuelan Professional Baseball League
|
| Defunct | *Major :National Association • American Association • Union Association • Player's League •
Federal League • Negro League baseball • All-American Girls Professional Baseball League • Continental League • Cuban League • National Association of Base Ball Players
|
| Asia | |
| Japan | Nippon Professional Baseball : Central League • Pacific League
|
| South Korea | Korea Professional Baseball
|
| Taiwan | Chinese Professional Baseball League |
| China | China Baseball League |
| Defunct | Japanese Baseball League • Taiwan Major League • Israel Baseball League |
| Europe | |
| Italy | Italian Baseball League |
| Netherlands | Honkbal Hoofdklasse |
| Oceania | |
| Australia | Australian Baseball |
| Defunct | Australian Baseball (1989-1999) • International Baseball League of Australia • Hawaii Winter Baseball |
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