Asia Series 2008
The 2008 Asia Series was the 4th edition of the Asian international championships for club baseball teams. It took place from November 13 to 16, 2008 at the Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō , Tokyo , Japan . The participants were the national champions of the four host countries, the Tianjin Lions from the People's Republic of China , the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions from the Chinese Taipei ( Taiwan ), the Saitama Seibu Lions from Japan and the SK Wyverns from the Republic of Korea .
In the final, the Saitama Seibu Lions defeated the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions with 1–0. This was the fourth time that the Japanese hosts won the tournament. Tomoaki Satō (Seibu) was named MVP of the tournament.
For the first time, a club team took part in mainland China instead of an all-star team that had contested the three previous editions. The prize money was 50 million yen (around 400,000 euros) for the winner , 30 million yen for the runner-up and 10 million yen each for the other two teams.
Group stage
In the group stage on November 13, 14 and 15, 2008, all teams played against each other in a round robin round. The games took place at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. local time.
Results
| date | guest | home | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 13th | Tianjin Lions | Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions | 4 - 7 |
| November 13th | Saitama Seibu Lions | SK Wyverns | 3 - 4 |
| 14th November | SK Wyverns | Tianjin Lions |
15 - 0 (7 innings) |
| 14th November | Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions | Saitama Seibu Lions | 1 - 2 |
| 15th of November | Saitama Seibu Lions | Tianjin Lions |
16 - 2 (7 innings) |
| 15th of November | SK Wyverns | Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions | 4 - 10 |
table
| space | team | W. | L. | T | PCT | RS | RA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saitama Seibu Lions | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 21st | 7th |
| 2 | Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 18th | 10 |
| 3 | SK Wyverns | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 23 | 13 |
| 4th | Tianjin Lions | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 6th | 38 |
final
The final took place on November 16, 2008 in front of 18,370 spectators. For the fourth time, the Japanese team won the tournament with the Saitama Seibu Lions, but only through a very tight Sayonara-gachi : Seibu rightfielder Tomoaki Satō decided the final in the 9th inning with 2 outs and a runner on first base by an RBI - Double .
| team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | R. | H | E. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Saitama Seibu Lions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6th | 1 |
Web links
- Official Website (Japanese)