Wei Chuan Dragons Win Sixth CPBL Title as Mercedes Shuts Down Brothers at Taipei Dome

Eight scoreless innings deliver a historic finish

The Wei Chuan Dragons won their sixth Chinese Professional Baseball League championship on October 26, 2026, defeating the CTBC Brothers 6-0 at Taipei Dome behind eight scoreless innings from Cristopher Mercedes. Before 38,178 spectators, the Dragons became the first team to celebrate a championship with streamers inside the stadium.

Mercedes allowed just two hits across 100 pitches as Wei Chuan completed a 4-2 victory in the Taiwan Series. The championship was the club's second since returning to the league's top level in 2021, following its title in 2023.

The Dragons also set a Taiwan Series record by holding the Brothers scoreless in three games. The previous record for a team in a single championship series was two shutouts, the baseball term for finishing a game without allowing the opposition to score.

Wei Chuan had won the first three games before CTBC fought back with consecutive victories. Game 6 remained close for seven innings, with the Dragons protecting a 1-0 advantage, before five runs in the eighth finally put the championship within comfortable reach.

The six games, all played at Taipei Dome, drew a combined attendance of 230,615. That was the first Taiwan Series total above 200,000 and a rise of 77,220 admissions from the previous record set a year earlier.

Mercedes gives the Brothers almost no room

Mercedes retired the first 10 batters he faced before walking Yueh Tung-hua. The Brothers did not record a hit until catcher Kao Yu-chieh doubled in the sixth inning. Kao collected both of CTBC's hits against the Dragons starter.

The Brothers eventually moved a runner to third in the sixth, putting the tying run within reach of a hit or another productive play. Mercedes escaped without allowing a run, preserving the narrow lead at the point when one mistake could have changed the game.

Mercedes finished with six strikeouts and two walks, throwing 68 of his 100 pitches for strikes. In the eighth, he induced a ground ball from Huang Wei-sheng that produced a double play, allowing the Dragons to record two outs on one play and end his final inning.

His performance earned him both Game 6 MVP and Taiwan Series MVP. Across two starts in the series, he won twice and allowed one earned run over 14 innings, producing an earned run average of 0.64. ERA expresses how many earned runs a pitcher allows for every nine innings pitched.

Mercedes, speaking through an interpreter after the game, credited the fans, teammates, coaches and support staff for the championship.

"The championship title is a team effort. Nice job, guys," he said.

One run keeps Wei Chuan ahead

Chang Cheng-yu supplied the breakthrough in the bottom of the third inning. Li Kai-wei reached first after being hit by a pitch, and Kuo Tien-hsin singled to put runners at first and third.

Kuo was caught trying to steal second base, leaving the Dragons with two outs. Chang then singled to bring Li home for a 1-0 lead. The timely hit mattered even more because Wei Chuan could not immediately add to it.

Chu Yu-hsien and Chen Tzu-hao opened the fourth with consecutive singles, creating another chance. Brothers shortstop Chiang Kun-yu caught Liu Chun-wei's line drive, and starting pitcher Mario Sanchez recovered to retire the next two batters.

Sanchez completed five innings on 71 pitches, allowing one run on six hits and a walk while striking out six. His performance kept the Brothers close enough to tie the game with a single scoring play, even as their hitters struggled against Mercedes.

Five runs turn tension into celebration

Kuo and Chang began the bottom of the eighth with consecutive singles against Brothers reliever Cheng Hao-chun. CTBC brought in Tsai Chi-che, but Liu Ji-hong and Chu followed with more singles as Wei Chuan began to stretch its lead.

Liu Chun-wei then added a sacrifice fly, a ball caught in the outfield that allowed a runner to tag the base and reach home. Catcher Jiang Shao-hong completed the five run inning with a home run against Chiang Chung-cheng, bringing himself and another runner home.

Wei Chuan collected five hits in the inning. After spending most of the afternoon just one run ahead, the Dragons entered the ninth leading 6-0.

Lin Tzu-yu recorded the first two outs in the top of the ninth before closer Lin Kai-wei took over. Chen Chun-hsiu hit a ground ball, and Chang fielded it and threw to first for the final out. Red streamers followed as the Dragons secured the first championship celebration at Taipei Dome.

A comeback stopped after making history

The Brothers finished without the trophy, but they had already taken a comeback further than any previous Taiwan Series team facing the same deficit. CTBC became the first club to win two consecutive games after losing the opening three.

Before this series, nine teams had fallen behind 3-0. Seven were swept in four games, while the other two survived Game 4 but lost Game 5. Across the competition's 37 seasons, no team has recovered from 3-0 down to win the title.

CTBC kept its season alive in Game 4 with a 5-4 victory in 11 innings, decided by Chan Tzu-hsien's winning hit. That result followed the Brothers' Game 4 comeback, when an overturned call at home plate helped them draw level during regulation play.

The Brothers then won Game 5 by 4-3. Chiang Kun-yu collected three hits, drove in two runs and scored the winner in the ninth on Huang Wei-sheng's sacrifice fly. Their historic Game 5 victory cut Wei Chuan's series lead to 3-2 and forced the Dragons to wait another day.

Wei Chuan ended that challenge by returning to the strength that had built its lead: preventing runs. Three of the Dragons' four championship series victories were shutouts, meaning the Brothers failed to score in half of the six games.

Typhoon delays reshape the closing stretch

Typhoon Champi interrupted the series before Game 5. Taipei announced school and office closures, and the game was postponed twice, from Friday to Saturday and then to Sunday, October 25.

The two extra days gave important Brothers pitchers more recovery time. Nivaldo Rodriguez, who had thrown six scoreless innings in Game 3 on October 20, returned for Game 5 and allowed two runs on three hits over six and one third innings against Dragons starter John Gant.

Wei Chuan erased a 3-1 deficit in the seventh inning of Game 5 through Chang's double and Kuo's single, each bringing home a run. CTBC answered in the ninth, and Felix Pena retired all three Dragons batters in the bottom half to protect the victory.

The closing sequence stretched across more than a week:

• October 18: Mercedes pitched six innings and allowed one run as Wei Chuan won Game 2 by 3-1.
• October 20: The Dragons won Game 3 by 6-0, moving one victory from the championship.
• October 21: The Brothers won Game 4 by 5-4 in 11 innings to avoid a sweep.
• October 23-24: Game 5 was postponed twice because of Typhoon Champi.
• October 25: CTBC won Game 5 by 4-3, reducing the series deficit to 3-2.
• October 26: Wei Chuan won Game 6 by 6-0 to take the championship.

Chang and Sanchez earn team honors

Chang received the Dragons' outstanding player award after batting .333 with seven hits and six runs batted in across the series. His biggest contribution came in Game 3, when two hits produced four runs in the 6-0 victory.

Game 6 showed his value again. Chang drove in the opening run, singled during the decisive eighth inning and handled the ground ball for the championship's final out. His batting average meant he recorded a hit in one third of his official at bats.

Sanchez received the Brothers' outstanding player award after taking on several demanding pitching assignments. He started Game 1, allowing three runs over seven innings, then delivered four and one third scoreless innings in relief in Game 4 to help CTBC survive.

After four days of rest, Sanchez returned to start Game 6. He took the loss despite allowing only one run in five innings, completing a series in which his work repeatedly gave the Brothers a chance to compete.

Mercedes had also helped establish Wei Chuan's early advantage. His first victory came when the Dragons won Game 2 behind Zeng Sheng-an's decisive homer, which supplied all three of their runs. Mercedes then delivered the longest and most commanding start of his series when the title was at stake.

Six titles across two chapters

Wei Chuan's championship history now spans a successful original era and a revival after two decades away. The Dragons won titles in 1990, 1997, 1998 and 1999 before disbanding later in 1999.

The club was established again in 2019, played in the CPBL's minor league in 2020 and returned to the top division in 2021. Championships in 2023 and 2026 have added two trophies since that return.

Manager Yeh Chun-chang earned the third championship of his managerial career and his second with the Dragons. After the game, he thanked supporters and the people working around the team.

"It is because of you all that I could enjoy the privilege of sharing the honor. Go Wei Chuan Dragons!" he said.

Wei Chuan had qualified directly for the Taiwan Series by finishing with the league's best regular season record. The Brothers reached their third consecutive championship series after an 8-2 playoff victory over the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions on October 12.

Taipei Dome sets an attendance record

The championship drew 230,615 admissions across six games, compared with 153,395 across five games in the previous year's series between the Brothers and Rakuten Monkeys. The increase of 77,220 amounted to about 50.3 percent.

The additional game contributed to the higher total, but attendance also rose when measured per game. This series averaged about 38,436 spectators, compared with 30,679 a year earlier, an increase of roughly 25.3 percent.

Games 1, 4 and 5 each sold out at 40,000 spectators. Game 2 drew 39,568, Game 3 drew 32,869 and Game 6 drew 38,178. Before the finale, attendance had already reached 192,437, surpassing the previous record with a game still to play.

Those figures count admissions across multiple games, so a supporter attending several times contributes more than once. For Taipei Dome, the series brought both a record championship audience and its first title celebration, ending with the Dragons lifting the trophy after six games at the same venue.

Key Points

• Wei Chuan defeated CTBC 6-0 on October 26 to win the Taiwan Series 4-2 and claim its sixth championship.
• Cristopher Mercedes threw eight scoreless innings in Game 6 and won series MVP after allowing one earned run over 14 innings.
• The Dragons recorded three shutouts, a Taiwan Series record.
• CTBC became the first team to win twice after losing the first three games of a Taiwan Series.
• Chang Cheng-yu and Mario Sanchez received their respective teams' outstanding player awards.
• The six games drew a record 230,615 admissions, with 38,178 attending the championship clincher.
• Wei Chuan became the first team to celebrate a championship at Taipei Dome.