Taipei’s Baseball Passion +You

Note: This article was published in the 2025 Spring Edition of TAIPEI magazine, a publication by the Taipei City Government.

Over the past two-plus decades the Taipei City Government has actively encouraged Taipei folk to get out there and engage in healthy exercise and has systematically built up easy-access sporting facilities, both indoor and outdoor. Private enterprises have also gotten into the game with alacrity. Whichever sport tickles your fancy, you’ll find it easy to get started. But everyone agrees, throughout Taipei and all of Taiwan – BASEBALL IS KING!

Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the crowd,
Buy me some instant noodles and a nice boxed lunch,
I don’t care if I never get back….

Which is to say, attend a pro game here in Taipei and you’ll see that the Taiwanese play this beloved international game with distinct island flavors, as you’ll see momentarily. Baseball was introduced to Formosa not by the Americans, but by the Japanese when they ruled Taiwan (1895~1945). It has long been the No. 1 local sport, locals’ passion in large part stemming from the national pride built up by thrilling hitting-above-one’s-weight success on the international stage, most notably in Little League World Championships through the 1970s and ’80s and, over the past three decades, by the success of the men’s national team in international competitions. Affectionately known as Team Taiwan, most recently (November 2024) the men’s squad won its first-ever WBSC Premier12 championship, one of the globe’s elite international tourneys. The team then resiliently advanced to the 2026 World Baseball Classic in February 2025.

Taiwan’s men’s pro league, the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), was founded in 1987. Today there are six teams, each owned by and named after a major Taiwanese corporation. The regular season runs from March through October, with a one-week all-star break in June/July (playoffs in late October/early November). Each team has a regional market and a home city – the Wei Chuan Dragons in Taipei – but will play some games in smaller markets outside the six main home bases, to widen their fan base. In 2020, the CPBL made international headlines as the professional baseball league to hold its opening game of the season first, thanks to Taiwan’s successful containment of the global pandemic. In 2024, with the addition of a new team, the TSG Hawks, the number of total games played increased to 360 from 300. Total attendance soared by 53.7%, from 1,800,130 to 2,766,386 spectators.

Taipei has two international-caliber stadiums where you can catch a game, which we’ll now visit.

Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium

This facility, in Shilin District’s Tianmu area, which has a heavy expatriate population and pronounced cosmopolitan character, is the lair of the Wei Chuan Dragons, league champions in 2023. It’s not far – short bus or taxi ride, 15min walk – from MRT Mingde Station. Sitting within the 16.8ha Tianmu Sports Park complex, it was opened in 1999 and served as the venue for the Baseball World Cup in 2001.

An open-air venue primarily used for baseball, it has a capacity of 10,500. Tianmu was Taiwan’s first pro baseball stadium fitted with artificial turf, in 2021. This, in tandem with world-class site drainage capabilities, significantly reduces the impact of inclement weather. There are numerous different seating areas to choose from, such as the festive O-GRILL area in the right field, which has picnic tables, BBQ facilities, and other special-offering packages for groups; a “glamping” area for groups, with yurt-style tents sporting comfy interior/exterior seating and large viewing windows plus a special food/beverage combo (beer and snack set, fresh-prepared BBQ group meal); and a “doubles seating” zone on the third-level infield area with small tables for two, side-by-side seats, and fresh-prepared BBQ boxed lunches for two.

You may have taken in ball games in stadium venues in many other lands, but you’ll never have an experience as happily raucous as a Taiwan big-league game. There is a wholesome party atmosphere, with large squads of cheerleaders leading chants and a large army of dedicated home-team fans seated together and drumming, blowing whistles, and beating plastic cheer sticks – through pretty much the entire game. The Wei Chuan Dragons’ squad is called the Dragon Beauties, and each of them has their own jersey number and uniform, signifying that they are an indispensable part of the team.

The cheerleading troupes have an impressively wide repertoire of dances/chants, a practice borrowed from Korean baseball in 2013. Many home team fans will stand and dance/chant along. There’s a game-opening routine performed on the field, specialized dances/chants for individual players, etc. Many of the cheerleaders have become celebrities, making appearances outside of games both with their squads and on their own, at public events (such as the 2024 Taipei New Year’s Party), in movies, and on TV variety shows. With their popularity drawing in new audiences, cheerleading culture has significantly boosted the visibility of the CPBL and is widely regarded as a driving force behind the resurgence of baseball in Taiwan. One especially popular cheerleader is Dahye Lee who is currently the captain of the Dragon Beauties. The first cheerleader from Korea to have a successful career in Taiwan, she has starred in countless events organized by the Taipei City Government.

Special Hot Zone infield-area seating is found at every Taiwan pro-ball stadium, in Tianmu directly in front of the two dugouts, the main cheerleader performance spots.

TAIPEI TIANMU BASEBALL STADIUM
台北市天母棒球場
Add: 77, Sec. 2, Zhongcheng Rd., Shilin Dist.
Tel: (02) 7755-1999
Website: www.wdragons.com/tianmu_stadium

Taipei Dome

The Taipei Dome is downtown in the heart of the city, on Zhongxiao East Road, not far from the city’s main tourism-brand icon, the Taipei 101 skyscraper. MRT Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station is right before it.

The striking facility, opened in October 2023, is a multi-purpose domed stadium with a capacity of 40,575, the country’s first indoor facility of such size. Its primary use is for baseball – it is in full compliance with World Baseball Softball Confederation regulations – but it’s also designed to handle a wide array of other large-scale events, including softball and soccer games, as well as concerts and celebrations. Taipei served as a host for opening round games in last autumn’s Premier12 competition, with games played at both the dome and in Tianmu. This year, the dome welcomed the 2025 WBC Qualifiers and will serve as a key venue for the 2025 World Masters Games (wmg2025.tw), which Taipei/New Taipei City are co-hosting.

The opening of the dome is a key milestone in the evolution of Taiwan baseball. The venue is a world-class site far larger than the island’s other pro baseball venues, providing players with experience on a stage far larger than most have been exposed to and preparing them better for international competition. In 2024, a total of 38 regular-season games of the CPBL were played inside the dome, drawing close to 800,000 spectators. On average about 20,000 spectators attended the games.

These sporting events, along with numerous concerts by world-class pop stars, have attracted a large number of visitors to Taipei City, leading to near-full occupancy rates at hotels in the Xinyi, Daan, and Songshan districts near the Taipei Dome. The stadium has played a significant role in boosting the city’s tourism, driving revenue growth in the hospitality industry, and benefiting numerous local businesses.

Inside the dome, the Hot Zone encompasses the seats directly in front of the dugouts as well as the infield-closest seating running in between, behind the home plate area. There are also specially reserved seating areas for fans of the home team adjacent to this – i.e., seating running further down along the first and third base lines as well as directly in behind these areas’ Hot Zone seating.

Now, about that little “Take me out to the ball game” ditty at this article’s opening. You can get your American ball-park classics – hot dogs, burgers, pizza – at Taiwan’s pro-ball parks, but ball-park culinary staples that fuel the Taiwan fan’s passion include instant noodles, deep-fried chicken cutlets, the Taiwan boxed lunch version of the Japanese bento, and a newer classic, Taiwan-invented pearl milk tea. Your beer also comes Taiwan-style – vendors patrol the stands and pump your pint cup full with fresh draft from back-carried canisters.

Among the non-sport-related attractions inside the dome is the Garden City shopping mall. Part of the mall is the Gourmet Park, featuring 14 restaurants serving Taiwanese and international cuisine. A Showtime Cinemas complex is expected to open in the second quarter of this year as well.

Outside the dome, you’ll find a top-tier roster of tourist attractions within walking distance of the stadium. The city block on which the dome stands is shared with the expansive Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, a former tobacco factory complex (built 1930s) transformed into a cultural hub home to exhibition, retail, and food & beverage spaces. The nearby East District and the Xinyi Commercial District, over which Taipei 101 towers, teem with high-end malls, restaurants, and entertainment spots.

TAIPEI DOME
台北大巨蛋
Add: 515, Sec. 4, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Xinyi Dist.
Tel: (02) 2722-8811
Website: www.farglorydome.com.tw

2025 CPBL Season
The next CPBL season will commence at Taipei Dome on March 29 with a matchup between the reigning champions, CTBC Brothers, and the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions. Tickets are expected to be in high demand, so early purchase is recommended.
For the 2025 schedule, visit the official CPBL website at en.cpbl.com.tw/schedule.

Places to Practice Baseball Yourself

Besides enjoying the game as a spectator, there are many places where you can have fun swinging a bat yourself. The Major League Baseball and Softball Batting Cage is located in the Ximending area, Taipei’s mecca for youth retail and entertainment. A short walk from MRT Ximen Station, it’s on the eighth floor of Eslite Spectrum Ximen, a trendy high-rise mall. Just recently renovated, there’s an assemblage of baseball and softball batting cages in a stylized playing field. Each machine-pitched batting round consists of 20 balls, you choose from an array of aluminum bats, and you can select the pitch speed and type (fastball, curveball, etc.) coming at you. Staff recommends that novices begin with faster 100mph pitches because balls at 80mph seem quite slow and require better timing. There are also small pitching cages where you can test your prowess on the mound with targets.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL BATTING CAGE
大聯盟棒壘球打擊場
Add: 8F, 52, Emei St., Wanhua Dist.
Tel: (02) 2388-3229
Hours: 11:30am-10:00pm

The 71 Sports Classroom is a baseball-dedicated center located on Shezi Island, which is not an island at all but a long, slender peninsula, formed by long-ago silting, in the crook where the Tamsui and Keelung rivers meet. It’s in a large, high-ceilinged former industrial building on grounds shared with the popular Garden Mall (www.gardenmall.com.tw), a sizeable flower/herb-themed family amusement attraction. On stepping in you take in the entire classroom operation at a glance – green artificial turf carpets on the floor, and green safety netting is everywhere, including hanging down from the ceiling.

The facility provides trained instructors, all experienced ball players, for a spectrum of teaching sessions (hitting, defense skills/strategy, etc.). Among the advanced equipment of 71 Sports Classroom is the iPitch Smart Pitching Machine, which was first introduced to Taiwan by the center and is said to have played a major role in improving the batting of the Team Taiwan squad, which won last year’s WBSC Premier12 tournament.

The focus is on personal teaching and small class teaching, with specialized instruction regimens tailored for different age groups (children through adults), gender, and skill levels. On-field classes are also available, with instructors traveling to chosen sites throughout the Taipei/New Taipei City area. Batting and pitching cages at the Shezi facility can also be rented.

71 SPORTS CLASSROOM
投打學苑
Add: 18-2, Sec. 7, Yanping N. Rd., Shilin Dist.
Tel: 0912-905-271
IG: instagram.com/71sportsclassroom
Hours:
Tue-Fri 10:00am-10:00pm
Sat 10:00am-7:00pm
Sun 10:00am-6:00pm

The Taipei Youth Program Association (www.typa.org.tw), based on the Taipei American School (TAS) campus in Tianmu, offers baseball teaching and game competition programs (fee) for kids from K-1 through grade 5 (training only for K-1). The fields used are on the TAS campus. Practice sessions are once a week, on a weekday afternoon, and games are on Saturday afternoons. Parents must be TYPA members – foreign nationals holding a foreign passport; registration is simple. Emphasis is on catching, throwing, and hitting techniques while reinforcing basic positioning and game strategy. If you’re a die-hard baseball fan, or if your child simply loves the game, why not let them experience the thrill of playing on a real baseball field? You never know – the next baseball superstar might be living right in your own home!

Baseball Events During the 2025 World Masters Games
Baseball and softball (regular, slow pitch) games will be played at both the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium and Taipei Dome during the games (as well as Yingfeng Riverside Park’s baseball field), which will run from May 18 to 29 and feature athletes 30 and older. Admission is free. Teams compete in different categories: Competitive, Recreational, and Open, with divisions according to age. There are men’s, women’s, and also mixed competitions in slow-pitch segment.