New league to pitch baseball into a brighter future

The regular-season top team will directly advance into the best-of-three final series, scheduled from Feb 6-8, with its finals challenger to be decided by an extra playoff between the runner-up and third-placed clubs.

The majority of the spring season will be staged at Shenzhen's Zhongshan Park Baseball Field, with a second international-standard field in Zhongshan, another city in Guangdong province, prepared as a backup hosting venue.

The CPB league also completed the first-ever talent draft of any baseball programs in China on Wednesday, which saw five clubs select 57 players out of over 500 prospects who had signed up with tryouts and tests held in five cities across the country since early October.

The open draft had seen elite athletes, including Chinese national team players, veterans from overseas pro leagues in Japan, South Korea and North America, compete for career-rejuvenating opportunities against college players, expats, and amateur enthusiasts in China, who are expecting to build a serious career in the new league.

"I am really grateful for being able to pick up the bat and compete as a player again, thanks to the establishment of the CPB league," said Liang Xintong, a pitcher selected by Want Want Happy, a club based in Hunan provincial capital Changsha.

"It's really a great opportunity for many baseball players, like me, who'd given up on the sport, due to the lack of competitions in the past, to come back playing and continue developing a career on this league platform," said Liang, who had to retire from baseball after representing Shandong at the 2021 National Games and has become a part-time skiing instructor.