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For the second straight year, China’s Northern League had four different playoff teams than the prior season. Harbin finished first at 102-60 to snap a nine-year playoff drought. The Hellcats hadn’t finished first in the standings since 2003. Zhengzhou was second at 96-66 for their third playoff berth in four years, allowing the fewest runs in the NL at 514. Shenyang snagged third at 94-68 to end a three-year drought.

Tianjin took the fourth and final spot at 93-69, also getting their third berth in four years. The Jackrabbits also secured their sixth playoff trip in eight years. The first teams out were defending NL champ Qingdao (87-75), and Shijiazhuang (86-76). Hangzhou, last year’s semifinalist, plummeted to 67-95. Although the Devils and Serpents both missed the playoffs, they both had record-setting offensive stats.

Shijiazhuang’s .275 team batting average, 732 runs, and 1551 hits were each single-season records for all of Chinese League Baseball. Qingdao had a .270 average, 718 runs, and 1505 hits, which would’ve been records if not for the Serpents. Tianjin notably had 107 triples and 334 steals, ranking third and second in NL history, respectively.

Harbin’s Ming Li repeated as Northern League MVP and won his third in four years. The 27-year old CF set a new CLB single-season record for runs scored with 126, passing the previous best of 121 by Libo Li which had held since 1980. Ming Li also led in total bases (415), slugging (.709), OPS (1.106), wRC+ (215), and WAR (13.8). He added 208 hits, 26 doubles, 17 triples, 49 home runs, 101 RBI, 56 steals, and a .356 batting average.

Li’s season cracked CLB’s leaderboards in numerous stats. His WAR was the eighth-best by a CLB position player, his slugging was third-best, OPS was fourth-best, and total bases ranked third-best. Li’s dominance got him paid handsomely in the offseason with an eight-year, $107,900,000 extension with the Hellcats.

Fourth year Zhengzhou ace Qing Zhang won Pitcher of the Year, leading in ERA (1.50), wins (19-3), WHIP (0.89), quality starts (31), shutouts (5), FIP- (61), and WAR (8.6). The 26-year old lefty had 257 strikeouts in 251.2 innings, falling 19 Ks shy of a Triple Crown. Zhang missed much of 2030 to a ruptured finger tendon, but still earned a four-year, $19,260,000 extension that winter from the Zips.

Also of note, Tianjin closer Jinglong Yu won his third Reliever of the Year. He posted 42 saves, 79 games, 1.30 ERA, 111 innings, 164 strikeouts, and 5.5 WAR; all career bests. Yu was third in Pitcher of the Year voting and earned international attention with his dominance. He left in the offseason for Major League Baseball on a three-year, $28,900,000 deal with Houston.

Shenyang fared best in the double round robin at 4-2, returning to the semifinal for the first time since 2025. It was notably the seventh semifinal trip for the Swans since 2017, although 2020 had been their only success there. Tianjin and Harbin both finished 3-3 and Zhengzhou was 2-4. The tiebreaker moved the Jackrabbits forward, giving them a fourth semifinal trip in seven years. In a seven-game classic, Shenyang outlasted Tianjin for their second China Series trip of the decade and fourth overall (1998, 2002, 2020, 2029). The Northern League has had six different champions in as many years.



Three of the Southern League’s playoff teams from 2028 made it back in 2029. Dongguan was among them atop the standings at 105-57. The Donkeys hadn’t finished first since 2022 and allowed the fewest runs in CLB at 471. Chongqing was a firm at second at 99-63. Although they missed the playoffs last year, the Cavaliers did secure a fourth berth in five years.

There was an eight game drop to reigning CLB champ Xiamen in third at 91-71, giving the Mutts their sixth playoff trip in seven years. Changsha narrowly took the fourth and final spot at 88-74, edging out 87-75 Guangzhou despite the Gamecocks leading the SL with 653 runs. Wuhan was a distant sixth at 81-81.

Changsha LF Tao Cai repeated as Southern League MVP and won the award for the fourth time, having also taken it in 2021 and 2022. He became the sixth in CLB history to win 4+ MVPs. The 32-year old nicknamed “Gonzo” led in home runs (50), RBI (114), total bases (392), slugging (.666), OPS (1.042), wRC+ (223), and WAR (9.8). Cai got 191 hits, 89 runs, and 25 doubles.

Dongguan’s Erkin Mammdov won Pitcher of the Year in his sixth season. The 26-year old Kazakh righty led in WAR (7.7) and quality starts (27). Mammadov had a 19-7 record, 1.99 ERA, 261.2 innings, and 286 strikeouts. He finished second in ERA, second in wins, and fifth in strikeouts.

The top spot in the double round robin was Dongguan at 4-2, earning their first semifinal appearance since 2009. Changsha and Xiamen were 3-3 and Chongqing was 2-4. The tiebreaker sent the Cannons forward for the first time since their 2011 CLB title and snapped the Mutts’ bid for a third straight finals trip. Changsha clobbered the Donkeys 4-0 in the semi for their seventh China Series appearance (1977, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011, 2029).



The 60^th China Series saw Shenyang defeat Changsha 4-1 to give the Swans their second title, joining the 2020 win. 2B Luca Ruiz won finals MVP in his fifth season with Shenyang. The 30-year old Honduran came to China after failing to catch on in CABA. In 18 playoff starts, Ruiz had 17 hits, 12 runs, 1 double, 2 triples, 1 homer, 6 RBI, and 6 steals.



Other notes: Urumqi’s pitching staff allowed 1537 hits with a 9.44 H/9, both were all-time worsts for the Northern League. Xiku Yan and Tao Cai became the 14^th and 15^th in CLB to reach 1000 career RBI.

Chinese League Baseball’s rule changes did make the 2020s its highest scoring decade, although the stats still were very low relative to other world leagues. CLB’s league ERA was around 2.87 after being at 2.54 for the 2010s. The league batting average grew to .230 after being around .215 previously. This left Austronesia Professional Baseball firmly as the world’s lowest scoring league, although CLB was second.