Taipei: Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) will trial a shorter pitch clock during its 2025 preseason games and introduce larger bases in the 2026 season.
According to Focus Taiwan, the pitch timer during the upcoming preseason will be reduced from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with the bases empty and from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with runners on base. This decision was announced by CPBL Commissioner Tsai Chi-chang following discussions at a managers' meeting.
The proposal for these changes was initially suggested in mid-February by Tseng Hao-jiu, the Rakuten Monkeys' bench and batting coach, and Lin Yueh-ping, manager of the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions. Both Tseng and Lin served as Team Taiwan's head coach and pitching coach, respectively, during the 2025 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers (WBCQ). Their suggestion aimed to help players adjust to WBC rules, where pitchers have stricter time limits.
In the WBCQ games, pitchers are required to throw within 15 seconds with no runners on base and within 18 seconds when there are runners, while batters must be ready with eight seconds left on the clock. Taiwan secured a place in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, but some players expressed discomfort with the faster pace. Uni-Lions outfielder Lin Chia-wei, for instance, struggled to enter the batter's box in time on several occasions.
Commissioner Tsai acknowledged these challenges but emphasized that the final decision lies with the managers of the CPBL's six teams. "The league respects the managers' opinions because they are the ones implementing strategies on the field. Since we prioritize player health, we let the managers decide first and make changes step by step," he stated. Nonetheless, the league plans to enforce the pitch clock more strictly this year.
In addition to the pitch clock adjustments, the CPBL will delay the adoption of larger bases until the 2026 season due to supply shortages. Tsai indicated that spring training in 2026, or possibly sooner, would be an appropriate time to introduce the larger bases. With this change, the CPBL will align with Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), both of which have adopted larger bases to reduce collisions and facilitate stolen bases. MLB first implemented this change in 2023, increasing the base size from 15 inches square to 18 inches square.