Taiwan Wins First Ever Major International Baseball Title

Taiwan has won its first ever major international baseball title at the WBSC Premier12 tournament.

Transcript

00:00Cheers, tears, and baseball immortality.

00:13Taiwan won its first ever world baseball title at the national team level, going all the

00:18way at the 2024 Premier 12 Tournament in the Tokyo Dome.

00:23The team clinched gold after defeating defending champions Japan 4-0 in an upset victory that

00:29rocked the sports world.

00:31Going into the final match, Taiwan faced a daunting challenge.

00:35Japan's national team hadn't lost a game in five years, and was on a 27-game win streak.

00:41But Taiwan rose to the occasion, scoring four runs on a pair of home run hits.

00:47In the fifth inning, catcher Lyle Lin hit a solo shot.

00:50Shortly afterward, team captain Chen Jiexian hit a three-run blast.

00:56I'm proud of our team.

00:59We went all the way to the final day, and we still got the gold medal.

01:04Taiwan's starting pitcher, Lin Yuming, and the rest of the pitching staff held Japan

01:09scoreless, and limited their offense to just four hits.

01:12I want to cry, but I can't.

01:14I feel like I haven't gotten over it yet.

01:16To us, it's a dream.

01:18It's an incredible feeling.

01:22For a country where baseball is the national sport, the achievement has been a long time

01:28coming.

01:29Across Taiwan, people packed into watch parties and erupted into sheer joy at the moment of

01:34victory.

01:35Team Taiwan's victory has lifted the country's spirits, and it's become a major source of

01:40national pride.

01:52Taiwan's previous best performance was winning silver at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, over

02:11three decades ago.

02:13But this most recent win writes a new chapter in Taiwan baseball, one where Taiwan has won

02:19it all and earned its place as world champions.

02:22Patrick Sun and Leslie Liao for Taiwan Plus.