Asia Series

This promises to be an interesting series with six teams instead of the usual four.

I'm afraid that I know almost nothing of the China and Taiwan teams. The China league disbanded this year, so I was surprised to see them participating. The Lamigo Monkeys from Taiwan should be competitive.

Perth's first game will be against the Lotte Giants (Korea). The team lost to the SK Wyverns in the second round of Korea's playoffs, something they seem to do often. They're good enough to consistently get to the playoffs, but not to get through to the big game. To make matters worse for them going into the Asia Series, their manager stepped down after losing the playoffs, so their new manager may not have the experience with the players necessary to lead them to victory. They will have a home field advantage, and the team is very popular.

Perth will play the Yomiuri Giants on the following day. As you probably saw in the Nippon Series, the Giants' catcher, Abe, is a force to be reckoned with both with a bat and in calling games. If he's healthy (which is a question mark), then he's the one you don't want to let beat you. Chono at leadoff is also a big danger to spark a big inning. The Giants have traditionally had problems in day games, and playing out doors this late in the year may be a challenge to them. But it's hard to imagine them not in the final game.

Finally, there's the Samsung Lions who just won the Korea Series a week ago. This team just knows how to win, year after year. Samsung has long struck me as a team similar to the Yomiuri Giants here in Japan, in that they go after expensive free agents to build a strong team around. (I only follow Korean baseball very lightly, so my impression may be wrong.)

I expect Yomiuri vs. Samsung in the final. (No offense to Perth.) But in a short series like this, anything can happen.