[FuzzyRussianHat]

The 69^th China Series was the first finals meeting between Changsha and Urumqi, although both had a title already in the decade. The Unicorns had home field advantage, but the Cannons quieted their high-powered offense with a 4-1 result in game one. Zhenying Chen had one run and three hits allowed over seven innings, while Yongzhan Wu got his seventh save of the playoffs with two scoreless to close.

Changsha got another road win 5-2 the next night, but Urumqi returned the favor with their own two road wins by 4-1 and 5-2 margins. There was finally a home win in game five; a 2-1 duel for the Cannons. They outhit the Unicorns 10-2, but only finally got the go-ahead in the eighth on a RBI single. Chen struck out 11 with one run allowed in eight innings, while Wu got his ninth save of the playoffs.

The series shifted back west to Urumqi, but Changsha routed them 10-2 in game six to close out the series. The Cannons are now tied with Tianjin and Dalian for the most rings with six (1997, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2033, 2038). Changsha is 6-3 all-time in the finals while the Unicorns are 2-3.



Series MVP went to Kordell Kirk, who closed out the series with a complete game. He won his two starts with a 2.25 ERA and 10 strikeouts over 16 innings. You could certainly argue Chen was better with a 1.20 ERA and 20 Ks in his two wins with 15 innings. Wu also fell one short of CLB’s playoff saves record, posting a 0.48 ERA over 18.2 playoff innings with nine saves and 23 strikeouts.

Urumqi’s Sonny Wong struggled in his two finals starts and set two bad playoff records with six losses and 53 hits allowed. He had an 8.71 ERA over 31 innings with his 0-6 record. Wong is the first pitcher in any world league to be on the hook for six defeats in a postseason run.

In another playoff note, Guangzhou’s Bucky Hein and Shijiazhuang’s Sihua Fan were the first CLB pitchers with 200+ career playoff innings. At age 29, Hein is already the playoff leader for wins (17). Lei Li has the most playoff Ks at 228 with Fan (224) and Hein (202) both in close pursuit. The Gamecocks’ Yan Bashi now is the playoff leader for runs (78), hits (139), and total bases (242). He and Tian Du both have the most games played at 129.

Other notes: Syamsul Azzahari became Chinese League Baseball’s new career home run king and the first to cross 600. The Jinan slugger missed two months to a torn hamstring in 2038, but he still hit 32 homers to get to 618, passing Tao Cai’s high mark of 595 set in 2033. The 37-year old Malaysian 1B also has 1414 RBI, just behind Cai’s record 1426.

Azzahari had become the runs leader the prior year over Cai and now had 1337. He sits 3^rd in hits with 2603, behind Junjie Hsiung’s 2824 and Shenchao An’s 2704. They are the only CLB batters to cross 2500 hits in the ultra-low scoring league. Azzahari is also primed to pass Cai’s record for total bases with the former at 4729 and the latter at 4759. Azzahari passed Cai for 6^th on the WAR leaderboard among position players at 125.57, although he’s still a good distance from Hsiung’s 152.6.

Hao Tian and Subahan Rozali were the 21^st and 22^nd to reach 400 homers. Lanzhou’s Yue Xu struck out 22 on July 25 against Qingdao, tying CLB’s single-game record set in 1996 by Martin Cui. Xu’s effort was a one-hitter with no walks, allowing a solo homer in the ninth inning. Yongzhan Wu was the 12^th reliever to 300 saves. Mengjie Zhang drew 109 walks, which was the 3^rd-best single season in CLB and six short of the record. CFs Yang Yang and Ming Bai both won their 7^th consecutive Gold Glove.