[FuzzyRussianHat]

It was inevitable that professional baseball would come to China. With the largest population of any country in the world, it was only a matter of time. The game had caught on huge in neighboring East Asia and had proven a success under a Communist government with the Eurasian Professional Baseball. Still, the Chinese government was reluctant to see the game catch on as it had in places like Japan, Korea, and Taiwan; wanting to maintain control and limit outside influences. The state wanted to make sure that if there was to be pro baseball in China, that it had a big role in shaping it. China did also want to compete and prove its superiority and worth on the world stage. At that point, despite controlling the mainland firmly, many countries still recognized the Republic of China government in Taiwan as the legitimate government of China, as opposed to the Communist one under Chairman Mao.

More serious discussions about a major professional baseball league in China popped up in the 1960s and eventually, Chinese League Baseball was officially christened beginning with the 1970 season. CLB would initially be split into two 12-team leagues with both sharing the same rules (notably, no designated hitter). CLB would have 22 teams officially part of China, along with the city states of Hong Kong and Macau. The Northern League would have teams from Beijing, Dalian, Hangzhou, Harbin, Jinan, Nanjing, Quindao, Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin, Xi’An, and Zhengzhou. The Southern League had teams in Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Kunming, Macau, Shenzhen, Wuhan, and Xiamen.



There were no divisions and no interleague play, meaning the 12 teams in each league played each other in a mostly balanced schedule. The postseason format was entirely unique in that the championship could have two teams from the same league. The top two placers in each league advanced to a best-of-seven semifinal series with the first place team from one league hosting the second place team from the other league in a 3-3-1 format. The two semifinal winners moved onto the China Series with a 2-3-2 format for the overall title. The format would expand a few times, but the possibility for a final between two teams from the same league remained open until the 2010s.

Free agency minimum service time would be eight years, tied with the most restrictive of any of the existing professional leagues, and they’d look to stringently keep players in the home league and prevent players from joining from other leagues. Chinese baseball would also end up being the lowest-scoring of any pro league, even at times lower than neighboring Austronesia Professional Baseball. The league’s batting average would often hover around .215 with an average ERA in the mid to low 2s. It wouldn’t be until the 2020s that China would institute rules to increase scoring and even that skill kept them as the lowest compared to the other leagues’ jacked up totals of the era.

There would also be a huge influx and investment into the greater baseball scene in China, as it had been scattered about and disorganized prior. Although there had been Chinese teams to the World Baseball Championship, many of the top players had left or grown up in the systems of other leagues, most commonly EAB, APB, and OBA. With this huge push, China would emerge as a major consistent contender in the WBC in the 1970s and beyond. Chinese League Baseball also joined as a member of the Global Baseball Alliance, making it the ninth recognized major baseball organization.