[FuzzyRussianHat]

Tianjin was first in the Northern League in 1988 at 94-68, giving them a Chinese League Baseball record sixth straight playoff appearance. Jinan finished two behind at 92-70 to take the second place spot. It is only the second playoff berth for the Jumbos, who took second in 1980. The Beijing dynasty came to a close after four straight finals berths and three CLB titles. The Bears were still good in 1988, but they ended up fourth at 88-74. Hangzhou was one better at 89-73 with Shanghai fifth at 86-76.

Jackrabbits RF Mingqi Dai won his third Northern League MVP. “Bumblebee” led the NL in WAR (12.1), RBI (96), OBP (.369), slugging (.613), OPS (.982), and wRC+ (237). The Tianjin lefty also had 37 home runs and a .302 average. Pitcher of the Year was Jinan’s Hejing Guo, who emerged seemingly out of nowhere. The 25-year old bounced bak from a torn flexor tendon the prior year, leading in WHIP (0.72) with a 1.27 ERA over 198.2 innings, 15-5 record, 273 strikeouts, and 8.0 WAR. Sadly, more injuries meant Guo’s career would be over before turning 28. Also of note, Tianjin’s Junwei Zhu won his fourth Reliever of the Year, posting a 1.06 ERA and 43 saves with 189 strikeouts in 110.1 innings.



The Southern League saw two playoff droughts snapped. Shenzhen secured the top spot at 96-66, getting only their second-ever playoff berth (1979). Macau was one behind them at 95-67 for their third-ever playoff appearance (1975, 1983). Both teams saw turnarounds from losing records in the prior four seasons. Chengdu and Dongguan both finished third at 90-72, while last year’s finalist Guangzhou was fifth at 87-75.

Macau two-way player Wei Qin won his first Southern League MVP. As a first baseman, he played 128 games with 6.1 WAR, 28 home runs, 110 hits, a .877 OPS, and 176 wRC+. On the mound, Qin had a 1.89 ERA and 15-6 record over 238.2 innings with 258 strikeouts and 4.8 WAR. Although Wuhan was below .500, 29-year old righty Xiabin Chen won Pitcher of the Year. He was nine strikeouts short of a Triple Crown with a 21-10 record, 1.39 ERA, and 307 Ks. He led in innings pitched (284.1), WHIP (0.73), quality starts (32), complete games (21), shutouts (9), and WAR (8.7). Chen pitched one more season with the Wolverines before leaving for America.

Both first place teams were victorious over the second place teams in the semifinal playoff matchups. Tianjin topped Macau 4-2, while Shenzhen survived in seven against Jinan with the home team winning all seven games. This sent the Spartans to their first-ever China Series appearance, while the Jackrabbits earned their sixth finals berth and fourth of the decade.



Tianjin joined Beijing as the only Chinese franchises with four CLB rings thus far. The Jackrabbits won the 19^th China Series 4-2 over Shenzhen, taking third title in six years (1983, 86). Tianjin also won it all back in 1972. League MVP Mingqi Dai was finals MVP for the second time in his career, posting 14 hits, 11 runs, 4 home runs, 11 RBI, and 7 walks in 12 playoff starts.



Other notes; 1988 was the first season in CLB that zero no-hitters were thrown. Guodong Lin became the fifth pitcher to 200 career wins. Junjie Hsiung and Chaoqing Yang became the fourth and fifth batters to 1000 RBI. Yang also became the eighth to 1000 runs scored. Hsiung won his 10^th and final Gold Glove at shortstop. He’d play one more season and his defense helped make him the position player WARlord at 152.6. As of 2037, Hsiung is also the CLB leader in hits (2824), games (2658), and doubles (471). 3B Chantha Thepsenavong won his 12^th Gold Glove, which is tied with 1B Shenchao An for the most at any position.