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The Chinese Northern League had the same two playoff teams again in 1979, although the spots were reversed. Hangzhou finished 99-63 to earn their the top spot for the first time. Xi’An took second at 92-70, beating Zhengzhou by two games and Harbin by five. It is the fourth straight playoff berth for the Attack and their fifth in six seasons.

Northern League MVP went to Xi’An’ SS Junjie Hsiung. The 29-year old was the WARlord (12.3) and leader in hits (195), total bases (308), average (.326), slugging (.515), and wRC+ (194). His season ranked third to date on the Chinese League Baseball leaderboard for batting WAR, aided by his sixth Gold Glove at shortstop. He also won his fourth Silver Slugger. In his debut with Hangzhou, Zhijan Dong won his third Pitcher of the Year. The 29-year old signed a seven-year, $2,740,000 contract in the offseason after exceling with Hong Kong. With the Hens, he had a 1.64 with a league-best 23-7 record, 284.2 innings, 361 strikeouts, 18.1 K/BB, 21 complete games, 43 FIP- and 12.1 WAR.



The Southern League saw a three-team battle for the two playoff spots. Two time defending Chinese champion Kunming and Shenzhen tied for first at 102-60, while last year’s runner-up Hong Kong just missed the cut at 100-62. The tiebreaker gave the Muscle the first place spot for the fourth consecutive season. For the Spartans, it was their first-ever playoff berth.

OF Hao Lan became a three time MVP. The 29-year old had been with Dalian previously, but was traded to Hong Kong in January for four prospects, one of which would be eventual Hall of Fame pitcher Baoxian He. In his one year with the Champions, Lan led the Southern League in hits (184), runs (115), home runs (41), total bases (363), triple slash (.315/.390/.622), OPS (1.012), wRC+ (209), and WAR (12.1). He’d sign with Jinan in the offseason.

Pitcher of the Year for the first time went to a reliever with Shenzhen’s Yongjie Xie. The 28-year old also won his third Reliever of the Year. He spent the first eight years of his career with Changsha before getting traded to Qingdao mid 1978. He signed a one-year deal with the Spartans and dominated in his one season with a 0.52 ERA over 83 games and 103 innings with 48 saves, 59 shutdowns, 202 strikeouts, and 7.9 WAR. This set a record for best ERA by a CLB Reliever of the Year winner, a mark that would only get topped once by Xie himself.

The playoff semifinals would both be won by the first place team over the second place team in six games. Hangzhou defeated Shenzhen to give the Hens their first finals berth, while Kunming bested Xi’An to earn a third straight appearance. The Muscle would be denied the overall three-peat through as Hangzhou won the China Series 4-2. 25-year old LF Yuhong Jin was finals MVP as in 12 playoff games he had 13 hits, 9 runs, 4 home runs, and 7 RBI.





Other notes: Encai Xing became the first CLB reliever to 400 career saves. Four reached 300 home runs, bringing the club to six members. RF Xinze Yan earned his ninth Silver Slugger, leading all players through CLB’s first decade. Two-way player Nick Wei won his seventh Silver Slugger.

For its first decade of play: Chinese League Baseball boasted incredibly low offensive numbers with league batting averages around the .220 range and ERAs in the 2.80. They were next to their neighbors in Austronesia Professional Baseball for the lowest scoring professional baseball league. The “dead ball” style would persist with Chinese baseball consistently being the lowest scoring or second lowest scoring of the pro leagues.