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Chinese League Baseball also joined the expansion craze of 2009, making their first changes since the inaugural 1970. CLB added three teams to each league, making it two 15-team leagues and 30 total teams. CLB maintained a division-free format and adjusted the interleague schedule to account for such a unique structure.



Joining the Northern League were the Shiijazhuang Serpents, Changchun Camels, and Urumqi Unicorns. Added to the Southern League were the Wenzhou Wild, Nanning Nuts, and Shantou Scorpions. To avoid too many players being poached with six new teams, the expansion draft was relatively restrictive, thus leading to a tough climb for the new squads.



CLB also changed the playoff format so that each league had four playoff squads instead of the previous three. But they also made a setup unique to any pro league by instituting a Double Round Robin opening round. CLB also maintained its unique interleague playoff setup.

In one Round Robin group, it would be the NL’s #1 and #3 seeds against the SL’s #2 and #4. The other group was the inverse and each team got one home and one road game against the other three squads. The top two placers advanced to a best-of-seven semifinal. The winners then played in the best-of-seven China Series.



Defending CLB champ Shanghai finished first in the Northern League at 102-60, taking Zhengzhou by only one game at 101-61. Both earned repeat playoff berths. The Zips had their first-ever 100+ win season, while it was the second for the Seawolves.

Third was Beijing at 98-64 for their second appearance in three years. Tianjin grabbed the fourth and final spot at 92-70 to end a three-year drought. Qingdao, who was the China Series runner-up the last year, was the first team out of the playoffs at 88-74. They and Jinan were four back on the final wild card, while Shenyang was five behind at 87-75.

Zhengzhou’s Liang Xu won Northern League MVP and posted only the second-ever Triple Crown hitting season in CLB history, joining Shichao Zhang’s 1984 effort. The 30-year old left fielder had 42 home runs, 101 RBI, and a .343 average. Xu also led in runs (93), OBP (.392), slugging (.633), OPS (1.025), wRC+ (242), and WAR (11.5). Xu played only one more season with the Zips, then left for Brazil and a six-year, $54,000,000 with the Salvador Storm.

Pitcher of the Year also came from Zhengzhou with Yuandong Wang in only his second season. The 22-year old lefty led in wins at 21-6 and posted a 1.52 ERA over 260 innings, 285 strikeouts, 6.7 WAR, and a 163 ERA+. Wang had been the fifth overall draft pick by the Zips in 2007.



Macau had CLB’s best overall record again, although their 103-59 was less eye-popping than the 118-44 from 2008. Dongguan was 98-64 in second place, continuing their roller coaster ride. The Donkeys were a 2007 playoff team, but had collapsed with an atrocious 56-win 2008.

Chengdu repeated as a wild card, finishing third at 94-68. Xiamen and Changsha tied for fourth at 92-70, besting Foshan by one game. The Mutts won the tiebreaker game for their second berth in four years. Hong Kong’s bid for a third straight playoff appearance was thwarted with a tenth place 78-84.

Xiamen LF Shou Chen won Southern League MVP. The 29-year old righty led in total bases with 320, posting 39 home runs, 87 RBI, a .270 average, 205 wRC+, and 10.0 WAR. Chen played one more season for the Mutts before leaving CLB for MLB. Nashville gave him a mammoth five-year, $79,000,000 to defect to the United States.


Changsha’s Lei Li made history as the first five-time Pitcher of the Year winner in CLB. As of 2037, he’s one of only two. Li led in ERA (1.20), FIP- (27), and WAR (10.7). The 29-year old righty added a 16-4 record and 16 saves over 217.1 innings with 318 strikeouts and a 205 ERA+. Li helped the Cannons to 1820 strikeouts as a team, which still stands in 2037 as the Southern League record. It is second-best for all of CLB behind Xi’an’s 1835 Ks in 1994.

In Round Robin Group A, the Southern League’s #2 Dongguan and #4 Xiamen both advanced at 4-2, while the Northern League’s #1 Shanghai and #3 Beijing were both 2-4. Group B had the NL #2 Zhengzhou first at 5-1, advancing along with SL #3 Chengdu at 3-3. The SL’s #1 seed Macau and NL’s #4 Tianjin both were 2-4.

For the Clowns, this was their first semifinal since 1998, but they lost 4-1 to Xiamen. The Mutts went from needing a play-in game to their third China Series berth, joining the 1981 and 2006 campaigns. Zhengzhou was making their third semifinal berth in four years, while Dongguan hadn’t done it since 1986. After falling in 2006 and 2008, the Zips finally advanced with a 4-2 win over the Donkeys. Zhengzhou earned its second finals appearance, joining the 1995 campaign.



Xiamen’s improbable run as the #4 seed culminated with a 4-3 victory over Zhengzhou in the 40^th China Series. The Mutts won their second title, having also taken it in 2006. 2B Guochen Wang won finals MVP in his ninth and final season with Xiamen. In 18 playoff starts, he had 24 hits, 9 runs, 6 doubles, and 5 RBI.



Other notes: Guangzhou’s Xiaoguang Yang threw CLB’s 40^th Perfect Game on May 1, striking out 13 against Foshan. Hong Kong’s Xue Lian struck out 21 in a 12 inning marathon session against Wenzhou. This was one short of the CLB single-game record set by Martin Cui in 1996.

Cheng Song became the seventh pitcher to 3500 career strikeouts, a mark no one has reached since. He finished with 3656 Ks, ranking sixth as of 2037. 3B Gongsun Yang won his seventh Silver Slugger. Expansion Changchun set an all-time worst record in the Northern League at 50-112.

CLB remained the lowest scoring league in pro baseball in the 2020s, posting a league average 2.48 ERA and .211 batting average. Both grade as extremely low on the historic scale. The Southern League in 1996 had a 2.28 ERA, which was the lowest mark in any subleague ever. CLB remained an extremely low offense environment in the 2010s, but would bump to merely “very low” in the 2020s.