Shanghai on deck, as CPB summer league gets set for first pitch

Bigger, louder and hopefully better — the expanded Chinese Professional Baseball league is on deck and ready to take another swing at raising the sport's burgeoning profile in China, as a revamped summer season gets set for its first pitch.

With two additional franchises and 34 talented new draftees, the CPB league — the first of its kind in China, funded by corporate stakeholders — gets its 2026 summer league underway on Aug 13 in a new host city.

With the players eager to continue pitching baseball's charm to a wider audience, fresh off the success of the CBP league's inaugural spring season earlier this year, the newly renovated West Bank Baseball Field in Shanghai's Xuhui district will host all six clubs during the summer campaign, which will last just over a month and a half and features 45 regular-season games.

The back-up venue will be the host of the spring campaign, the Zhongshan Park field in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

The top four clubs will advance into the playoffs, which are scheduled to start on Sept 21, to play for a chance to compete in the best-of-three championship series, beginning on Sept 26 in Shanghai.

The lineup features one new franchise, the Shanghai Orcas, which fills the vacancy left by the Shanghai Dragons team that relocated to the Chinese capital in the offseason and rebranded as the Beijing Loongs.

Three of the CPB founding clubs — Xiamen Dolphins, Shenzhen Bluesox and Fuzhou Sea Knights — return, while another founding franchise, Changsha Want Want Happy, will make its long-overdue CPB debut, after withdrawing from the spring season due to the club's prolonged preparations.

Guided by the Chinese Baseball Association and WBSC Asia, the CPB league features market-driven operations, which are expected to breathe new life into the promotion of what is a niche sport in the country, according to the governing body.

"The founding of the CPB league represents a landmark leap, anchored by the league's sound and sustainable market-oriented development model that can be replicated and upgraded," Tang Liang, a vice-chairman of CBA, said during the launch ceremony of the summer season on Monday in Shanghai.

"The CPB league has substantially expanded and solidified its fan base, and energized market growth momentum for the sport during its successful spring season.

"The baseball scene is no longer quiet and subdued.

"The roaring cheers from spectators celebrating the players' impressive performances, and the vibrant atmosphere (during the spring season) made it a fun experience for every participant, building momentum for the professionalization of baseball in China."

The league's spring season concluded on Feb 1 in Shenzhen, with the host Bluesox taming the former Shanghai Dragons 2-1 in the final series to claim the inaugural title.

While the refurbished West Bank field in Shanghai is the city's first and only commercially operated baseball venue, more purpose-built baseball facilities are expected to take shape in other cities as part of CPB's three-year roadmap to evolve into a year-round, home-and-away program in 2028.

Want Want Group, the corporate owner of the Changsha-based franchise, announced at the launch of the summer league that it has signed a deal with Xiangjiang Group, a State-owned urban development enterprise, to build a 5,000-seat baseball ground at Meixihu Park in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, by the end of next year in time for the 2028 CPB season.

The CPB league is also bolstering efforts to expand its talent pool, with 34 players selected by six clubs at its second draft, where a total of 186 athletes, including active and former pros, MLB Development Center alumni and amateurs, signed up for multiple tryouts.

A two-day draft combine in Mir-yang, South Korea, in May — the CPB's first overseas tryout — attracted over 180 applicants, including 23 former Korea Baseball Organization players, not only helping expand the league's international reach, but also ensuring China's baseball-mad neighbors took notice.

With the top overall pick, Xiamen selected 22-year-old pitcher Yang Lixuan, a former member of China's youth team that finished fourth at the U23 World Cup in 2024.

The most notable move came from the Shanghai Orcas, which traded their three first-round draft picks to the Beijing Loongs in exchange for 14 seasoned players who featured in the earlier spring campaign, including star pitcher Gong Haicheng, who represented Team China at the World Baseball Classic in both 2017 and 2023.

With every contender ready to swing for the fences this summer, the defending champion is already feeling the heat.

"After the test in the spring season, I think everybody knows what to expect and is ready to compete right away," said Cui Difan, general manager of Shenzhen Bluesox.

"We're certainly expecting stronger competition in the summer season."

Beyond the diamond, the league has rolled out a multi-pronged strategy to raise baseball's public profile in China.

As part of one such initiative to attract inbound tourism and global viewership, Shanghai's summer season will launch fan travel packages tailored for overseas visitors, blending sports events with local tourism consumption.