Current season, competition or edition: 2020 China National Baseball League season | |
 | |
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 |
| No. of teams | 4 |
| Country | China |
| Continent | Asia |
| Most recent champion(s) | Beijing Tigers (1st title) |
| Most titles | Beijing Tigers (1 title) |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
The China National Baseball League (Chinese: 中国棒球职业联赛, CNBL) is a professional baseball league founded in 2019.[1]
The original China Baseball League (CBL) was founded in 2002. The league suspended operations in 2012 due to financial troubles after the 2011 season, but returned in 2014. The league closed permanently in 2016. The original league was the final in 2018 season and discontinued operating league.
On August 16, 2019, the league announced that Major League Baseball signed an agreement with the Chinese Baseball Association to help with a revamp of the league.
on August 6, 2019 the 8th China Baseball Professional League (CNBL) Draft Conference and League Logo Release Ceremony was held in Beijing. The logo of the league was unveiled, and the 5th CNBL Draft was held, with 2019 players selected to represent four professional clubs in the new season.
The league is in its infancy and will play a very important role in improving the competitive level of baseball in China. The new season will feature 18 rounds, 36 games, five best-of-three finals and an All-Star Weekend, which runs from mid-August to the end of October.
The four clubs participating in the new season are the Beijing Tigers, Tianjin Lions, Jiangsu Juma and Guangdong Cheetah. The opener will be played between two traditional baseball teams, with the Beijing Tigers and Tianjin Lions officially kicking off at the Tianjin Tuanbo Sports Center Baseball Stadium.
Tickets for the 2019 China Baseball Professional League will be sold by each club, and fans and friends are welcome to watch the game. In addition, all league matches will be presented to fans and friends through online live broadcasts, and many online platforms will broadcast the matches of the new season live.[2]
The China Baseball League was founded in 2002 by the China Baseball Association and is currently operated by Dynasty Company. At the beginning of its establishment, the Chinese Baseball League had only four teams, in 2005 the league was expanded to six teams, and in 2009 the league added another team, and the league eventually increased to seven.
On April 2002, 4, Shen Wei, secretary general of the Chinese Baseball Association, explained at the press conference on the inaugural of the Chinese Football League that the title of the league does not use the word "professional": "The game we are launching now cannot be called a professional baseball league (Zhong Xiao), and the reason why we cannot use the word professional is because today's league does not have the conditions that professional baseball should have." If the level of the competition is not high enough; The conditions of the stadium are still far from the requirements of professional baseball; The ball market is not mature enough, including the stadium, baseball atmosphere, audience, fans of limited size, etc. If these conditions are not met, it is useless to claim to be professional." Judging by the fact that China has only a dozen adult baseball teams, the poor condition of baseball venues, and the inability to cultivate fans for several years, the Chinese baseball league is still far from the word "professional". The Chinese Baseball League began to receive fewer sponsorships after the Beijing Olympics. Major League Baseball and Nippon Major League Baseball, which originally planned to develop the Chinese market and invested manpower and material support, have gradually reduced the scale of cooperation or withdrawn, resulting in more difficult operations in the Chinese Baseball League and a decrease in the number of league games year by year.
Although the 2011 season started smoothly with sponsors, it was forced to shorten the season due to "force majeure" in the middle of the season, and the original plan of each team to televise five home games was only one broadcast of the final championship game. The 2012 and 2013 Chinese Baseball League was suspended due to lack of sponsorship but resumed in 2014 after several setbacks. In 2019, the league was renamed the China Baseball Professional League from the China Baseball League and announced a new logo.
| Team | City | Province | Stadium | Capacity | Joined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beijing Tigers | Beijing | – | Lucheng Field | 5,000 | 2019 |
| Guangdong Leopards | Zhongshan | Guangdong | Zhongshan Sports Center Stadium | 12,000 | 2019 |
| Jiangsu Huge Horses | Wuxi | Jiangsu | Wuxi Baseball Stadium | 3,000 | 2019 |
| Tianjin Lions | Tianjin | – | Tian Ti Dodger Stadium | 2,000 | 2019 |
| Year | Winners | Games | Runners-up | Games |
| 2019 | Beijing Tigers | 3 | Jiangsu Huge Horses | 1 |
| Club | Champions | Runners-up | Winning Seasons | Runner-up Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beijing Tigers | 1
|
0
|
2019 | |
| Jiangsu Huge Horses | 0
|
1
|
2019 |