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The Northern League saw new faces at the top in 1980. Harbin finished first at 100-62 for their second-ever playoff appearance (1973). Taking the second place playoff spot was Jinan at 96-66 for their first-ever postseason berth. Defending Chinese League Baseball champion Hangzhou just missed out at 94-68, while Xi’an was fourth at 88-74. This ended a four year playoff streak for the Attack.

Qingdao was a middling 82-80, but CF Libo Li had an all-time season en route to the Northern League MVP. The 28-year old was three average points from a Triple Crown and led in runs (121), triples (27), home runs (41), RBI (104), total bases (386), slugging (.650), OPS (1.020), wRC (244), and WAR (15.8). Li also won his fifth Gold Glove with a 11.7 zone rating. The WAR mark remains the all-time record as of 2037 for a CLB hitter and is one of only a small handful in any pro league to get 15+. The 121 runs scored was a CLB record until 2029. Pitcher of the Year was Xi’An’s Guodong Lin with the 26-year old righty leading in ERA (1.33) and WHIP (0.70), adding 8.5 WAR over 271.2 innings with 312 strikeouts and a 17-11 record.



In the Southern League, Foshan went from 76 wins the prior year to 98-64 for a first place finish. It is only the second playoff berth for the Flyers (1971). Chengdu earned their first-ever playoff berth, although the Clowns had a fierce battle with Hong Kong for the spot. Both finished the regular season at 93-69 with Chengdu winning the one-game tiebreaker. The Champions take third for back-to-back seasons. Kunming’s dynasty ended as after finishing first in four straight years, the Muscle limped to an eight place 78-84 in 1980. Shenzhen, a 102-game winner the prior year, fell to 83-79 in a tie for fourth with Changsha.

Taking Southern League MVP was Hong Kong’s Zhengyu Peng. The 25-year old RF was the leader in runs (98), hits (193), triples (27), total bases (358), average (.335), slugging (.622), OPS (1.007), wRC+ (222), and WAR (12.2). He added 29 home runs and his third Gold Glove. Changsha veteran Peng Huang won Pitcher of the Year with the 30-year old righty leading in WAR (9.5), and complete games (16). He had a 1.76 ERA over 270.1 innings with a 16-14 record and 282 strikeouts. Also of note, closer Yongjie Xie became a four-time Reliever of the Year winner. In his lone season with Chengdu, the 29-year old was the leader in saves (42) with a 0.60 ERA over 90.1 innings, 187 strikeouts, and 7.3 WAR.



The first place finishing teams were both victorious in the semifinal series with Harbin sweeping Chengdu and Foshan downing Jinan 4-1. This sent the Flyers to their first-ever China Series appearance, while the Hellcats had been there once before as the 1973 runner-up. Harbin would play bridesmaid again as Foshan rolled to a 4-1 series victory to claim the CLB title. Pitcher Yao Gao was finals MVP with the 25-year old righty posting a 1.23 ERA in three playoff starts with a 3-0 record and 12 strikeouts in 22 innings.



Other notes: CLB’s ninth perfect game came on September 7 as Hangzhou’s Mingyue Lin struck out 10 against Dalian. Foshan’s Zeen Wei drew 115 walks in 1980, setting a still-standing CLB single season record. Dolgoon Bolorsukh became the first CLB batter to 400 career home runs. Shenchao An became the first to 2000 career hits. An also won his tenth Gold Glove at first base, the only player to win in all of CLB’s ten seasons thus far. Two-way player Nick Wei won his eighth Silver Slugger as a pitcher.