Busy day yesterday, but Royals Review had you covered!<\/p>\n
First, the Royals revealed the new City Connect jerseys<\/a>. Anne Rogers also wrote about them<\/a>. As did Pete Grathoff<\/a> at The Star. Jaylon Thompson talked to players<\/a> about them:<\/p>\n \u201cIt definitely adds character to the game,\u201d Royals second baseman Jonathan India said. \u201cIt makes you feel a little swaggy out there. It gives you a confidence edge. You just kind of feel that.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, there were some roster moves<\/a> ahead of the game last night. Jaylon Thompson also wrote about them<\/a>.<\/p>\n Finally, Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas talked about downtown ballpark plans<\/a>. The Star had \/a lot\/ to say about that.<\/p>\n Sam McDowell and Kacen Bayless had the \u201cjust the facts<\/a>\u201d article:<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I would say to folks is that today is a very material step in the delivery of a downtown baseball stadium that the Royals and the city are interested in opening by Opening Day of 2030,\u201d Lucas said in an exclusive interview with The Star.<\/p>\n And last, but certainly not least, Chris Higgins and Dylan Lysen wrote an article entitled \u201cHow would KC cover $600M for Royals stadium? Why proposal doesn\u2019t require a vote<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a baseball stadium footprint that is actually helping fund the development and surrounding development,\u201d Lucas said. \u201cThis is a lot like incentives that we do each and every day, as compared to the old votes that we had on full county sales taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, public agencies like the Port Authority of Kansas City stags hearings but have not needed voter permission to consider incentives for new apartment buildings and other projects. And recently, the city of Independence staged public hearings but did not need voter permission to sign a deal granting $6 billion-plus in tax breaks for a $150 billion dollar data center.<\/p>\n Oh, wait, that\u2019s the opposite of<\/p>\n Want good news via BlueSky instead?<\/p>\n At The Athletic ($), Jim Bowden\u2019s mailbag mentions the Royals<\/a>:<\/p>\n What level of production should Royals fans realistically expect from Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone this season? \u2014 Lloyd W.<\/p>\n I expect Jensen to be in the conversation with the Tigers\u2019 Kevin McGonigle and the White Sox\u2019s Munetaka Murakami for AL Rookie of the Year. I think Caglianone will hit at minimum between 20 and 25 homers when all is said and done. They are both going to develop into All-Star caliber players over the next three years.<\/p>\n There was a lot of talk about the City Connects so I\u2019ll post it in this section, too:<\/p>\n At MLB.com, Anthony Castrovince wrote the official introductory piece<\/a>Anthony Gharib wrote that story<\/a> for ESPNHe also gives a grade<\/a> to every City Connect jersey. The Royals get a C. David Schoenfield gave their original City Connect a C, as well (if you scroll down the article)Matt Snyder at CBS Sports ranks the eight new jerseys<\/a> and had the Royals in\u2026 7thMeanwhile, Jack Baer at Yahoo had them in<\/a> 2nd<\/p>\n Yesterday, David Lesky ($) had one called \u201cTwo Not So Fun Days in Cleveland for the Royals<\/a>\u201d while Craig Brown\u2019s was \u201cA painful afternoon in Cleveland<\/a>\u201d. I\u2019m sure they\u2019re well written and with a wealth of good information that I\u2019m not going to read. I just want to get past this unfun week of baseball.<\/p>\n At Royals Keep, Kevin O\u2019Brien asks if Bobby is \u201con the verge of breaking out<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n The bat speed isn\u2019t bad, as it\u2019s mostly been above-average this year. However, he\u2019s touched 75 MPH far less than a year ago, and he\u2019s hovered around or below the MLB average bat speed. It\u2019s only a 74 swing sample, which is why I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something to panic about. However, if there\u2019s not an uptick in bat speed, it will be interesting to see how his power will respond with the current swing path-tilt.<\/p>\n It\u2019s that time of year again! Actually, it\u2019s a little past that time of year. It\u2019s time for our Asian Baseball previews. I think last year\u2019s schedule worked pretty well: Three weeks of previews, one week of midseason fun, and then three weeks of wrap-up. Not too much or too little.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the schedule for this year:<\/p>\n This week: CPBLApril 17: KBOApril 24th: NPB<\/p>\n Here are links to old articles:<\/p>\n For a reminder about competition level, here what Baseball America said in 2020:<\/a><\/p>\n Overall, here is the hierarchy of how MLB front office officials and evaluators generally view the quality of the various Asian leagues compared to MLB and the minor leagues.<\/p>\n MLB<\/p>\n NPB (Japan)<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n KBO (Korea)<\/p>\n AA<\/p>\n High A<\/p>\n CPBL (Taiwan)<\/p>\n Low A<\/p>\n CPBL – Chinese Professional Baseball League<\/a><\/p>\n International Players: Not a lot of (any?) big name former players in the CPBL but this section will be more populated for the KBO and NPB; Full list from CPBLStats<\/a><\/p>\n Former Royals: Royals farmhands have drifted in and out of the league. There are four currently: Pedro Fernandez<\/a> (Monkeys), Marcelo Martinez<\/a> (Dragons), John Gant<\/a> (Dragons), and Eric Stout<\/a> (Hawks).<\/p>\n Last Season: In 2024, the Uni-Lions won the first half, the CTBC Brothers won the second half, and our Rakuten Monkeys were the wild card team. In 2025, the same thing happened. In 2024, the Lions defeated the Monkeys in the playoff and lost to the Brothers in the Taiwan Series. 2025 looked like history was going to repeat itself. The Uni-Lions had a 2-0 lead in the playoff but lost a game where they led 6-2 in the 6th, were pounded 9-3, and blew a 3-0 game in the 9th. The Monkeys then defeated the Brothers 4-1 in the Taiwan Series to win their first championship since 2019, when they were the Lamigo Monkeys.<\/p>\n Rooting Interest: The Rakuten Monkeys are our squad here at RR. As noted in a previous preview: \u201cthey had the first English broadcasts and were the inspiration for my first article\u201d<\/a>. The red-clad simians won it all last year and are looking to repeat. However, Martinez went to the Dragons in the offseason after the Monkeys spent a lot of their foreign player budget<\/a> on retaining Fernandez. Sadly, my favorite, Chu Yu Hsien<\/a>, moved on to the Dragons last season and Father Time may be catching up with the slugger. He has 184 home runs coming into the season and it would be nice to see him get to 200. Making it tougher to cheer on the team is that Rakuten keeps making their own PR nightmares. CPBL Stats describes them as \u201ca lazy organisation that has been running its CPBL team half-heartedly over the past few years\u201d when talking about their food scandal last year<\/a> and then wrote about not paying for surgery for a player<\/a>.<\/p>\n World Baseball Classic: Reminder: Taiwan competes under the laughable \u201cChinese Taipei<\/a>\u201d moniker because China threatens to use their international clout to exclude them from any international competition if they compete as \u201cTaiwan\u201d. In the opening game of the WBC, they were blanked by a trio of Australian pitchers, losing 3-0. Then they were pummelled 13-0 by Japan. They returned the favor by thumping the Czech Republic 14-0. In their final game in Group C play, thousands of fans flew from Taiwan to Tokyo to watch the team\u2019s first-ever WBC win against Korea<\/a>:<\/p>\n More than 40,000 fans \u2013 mostly from Taiwan \u2013 filled Tokyo Dome at noon on Sunday as Chinese Taipei\u2019s cheerleaders danced atop the dugouts and its band blasted music and led chants. Fans were then treated to a dinger-filled, heavyweight spectacle, with Chinese Taipei emerging with an incredible 5-4 victory, the players walking off the field as tears streamed down their faces.<\/p>\n However, the extra-inning win was not enough. Korea, Australia, and Taiwan all finished at 2-2 but Korea advanced based on the tiebreakers. Despite participating in all 6 WBCs, Taiwan has only advanced once from pool play, in 2013.<\/p>\n Spoiler: The Monkeys won on Opening Day<\/a> in front of a \u201csold-out crowd of 40,000 at Taipei Dome\u201d. They defeated the Brothers in historic fashion: \u201cthe first-ever game-ending hit-by-pitch in CPBL\u2019s opening game history\u201d.Stadium musical chairs<\/a> may be on the horizon in the CPBL. \u201cTaiwan Life, a subsidiary of CTBC Financial, which also owns the CTBC Brothers baseball team, has secured a 10-year operating right for Chengcing Lake Baseball Stadium, along with a 12.43-hectare land development project surrounding the stadium\u201d. The TSG Hawks, an expansion team from 2024, currently play there. The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (yes, that\u2019s their full name) christened a new stadium at the Asia-Pacific International Baseball Training Center<\/a>. They don\u2019t own the stadium and are in a short-term lease but it could turn into a long-term home.If you think home run celebrations are still in MLB, they also happen around the world. Here\u2019s one from the TSG Hawks<\/a>. Hype videos? How about this one<\/a> for the Uni-Lions? Or this lava-filled one<\/a> from the CTBC Brothers? Theme nights? The Brothers have a Peanuts theme night<\/a> coming up. Last one, I promise: Closer intro<\/a> for the Fubon Guardians.https:\/\/en.cpbl.com.tw\/<\/a> – The Official CPBL site has some parts translated into Englishhttps:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/CPBL\/<\/a> – CPBL Reddithttp:\/\/cpblstats.com\/<\/a> – Best English fansite on the web; the author does a lot of the posting in the CPBL subredditCPBL viewing guide for 2026: https:\/\/x.com\/GOCPBL\/status\/2037464360797474955<\/a><\/p>\n