{{Short description|Baseball league in Taiwan}} {{Infobox sports league | title = Popcorn League | current_season = | logo = | caption = | last_season = | upcoming_season = | sport = Baseball | founded = 2014 | class = | inaugural = | folded = | owner = | ceo = | coo = | teams = 11 | continent = Asia | champion = | champ_season = | most_champs = Taiwan Cooperative Bank (6) | most successful club = | TV = | country = Taiwan | website = | venue = }}
The '''Popcorn League''', also known as the '''Popcorn Baseball League''' ({{zh|t=爆米花棒球聯盟|link=no}}), is a semi-professional baseball league based in Taiwan. Founded in 2014, the league started out as a summer independent league. After a hiatus from 2015 to 2016, it became a winter league starting in 2017.
== History == In 2014, as a partnership between the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) and sports broadcasting company Videoland Sports, the Popcorn League was established. Videoland Sports had recently lost the bid to carry top-tier Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) games on its local cable network for the first time in 18 years and stated its commitment to improve the level of play in local baseball. According to the CTBA commissioner, the league saw see itself as a "means to provide a steady stream of talented players for the CPBL" and aimed to work with Major League Baseball in the United States by allowing up to four foreign players and one coach on each team to enhance the level of its play.<ref>{{cite news|last=Huang|first=Paul|title=CTBA launches semi-pro baseball Popcorn League|url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/sport/archives/2014/04/10/2003587690|work=Taipei Times|date=10 April 2014|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref>
In the league's first foreign players draft, Chen Chun-hsiu was selected in the first round by Chii Lih Coral.<ref>{{cite news|last=|first=|title=爆米花聯盟洋將選秀 陳俊秀將回台打球|url=https://sports.ltn.com.tw/news/breakingnews/1011314|work=Liberty Times|date=19 May 2014|access-date=23 December 2023|language=zh-tw}}</ref> In the inaugural season, the Topco Falcons defeated Taiwan Cooperative Bank at Tianmu Baseball Stadium to win the league's first championship.<ref name="TT 2014">{{cite news|last=Huang|first=Paul|title=Topco Falcons rout Bankers 18–3 to take championship|url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/sport/archives/2014/08/31/2003598674|work=Taipei Times|date=31 August 2014|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref>
The league was inactive for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, returning in 2017.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ou|first=Chien-chih|title=爆米花今年不打 崇越：打中職二軍或自辦盃賽|url=https://sports.ettoday.net/news/456389|work=ETtoday|date=20 January 2015|access-date=23 December 2023|language=zh-tw}}</ref><ref name="ET 2017">{{cite news|last=Yang|first=Shu-fan|title=爆米花聯盟復辦 選培訓名單備戰明年印尼亞運|url=https://sports.ettoday.net/news/960285|work=ETtoday|date=5 July 2017|access-date=23 December 2023|language=zh-tw}}</ref> Taiwan Cooperative defeated Taipei Highwealth to win its first championship.<ref name="LT 2018">{{cite news|last=Luo|first=Chih-peng|title=業餘》爆米花聯盟合庫封王 前兄弟象練習生是大功臣|url=https://sports.ltn.com.tw/news/breakingnews/2324136|work=Liberty Times|date=26 January 2018|access-date=23 December 2023|language=zh-tw}}</ref> In the following season, Taiwan Cooperative Bank defeated Topco Scientific to secure its second consecutive championship.<ref name="SET 2019">{{cite news|last=Wang|first=Yi-hsiang|title=爆米花聯盟冠軍賽 合庫扳倒崇越完成二連霸|url=https://www.setn.com/news.aspx?newsid=488110|work=SET News|date=20 January 2019|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref> The winning streak ended in the 2019 season, when Taipei Highwealth defeated Taiwan Cooperative Bank in the championship series.<ref name="LT 2020">{{cite news|last=Wu|first=Ching-cheng|title=爆米花》棒打最強銀行員 台北興富發斷合庫連霸|url=https://sports.ltn.com.tw/news/breakingnews/3032665|work=Liberty Times|date=7 January 2020|access-date=24 December 2023}}</ref>
On 19 September 2022, CBTA commissioner Jeffrey Koo Jr., Sports Administration secretary-general Lu Hung-chin, and LabTurbo Biotech general manager Eric Tai announced that LabTurbo Biotech would become the league’s 11th team.<ref>{{cite news|last=Tsai|first=Hou-hsuan|title=業餘成棒多一隊！列特博成為甲組第11隊|url=https://www.setn.com/m/ampnews.aspx?NewsID=1180156|work=SET News|date=19 September 2022|access-date=24 December 2023|language=zh-tw}}</ref>
In the 2023 season, four Popcorn League teams became the first to play at the Taipei Dome in a closed-door doubleheader ahead of the venue's official opening. On 14 November, Taipei Highwealth played New Taipei Heran in the morning, and Taiwan Cooperative Bank played Xports in the afternoon.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hsieh|first1=Ching-wen|last2=Chao|first2=Yen-hsiang|title=Taipei Dome holds closed-door games ahead of long-awaited opening|url=https://focustaiwan.tw/sports/202311140024|work=Focus Taiwan|date=14 November 2023|access-date=23 December 2023}}</ref> On 18 December, Taiwan Cooperative Bank defeated Taipower to win a third consecutive championship, its fifth in history.<ref name="CT 2022">{{cite news|last=Cheng|first=Jen-nan|title=爆米花棒球聯盟冠軍戰 鏖戰10局合作金庫3連霸|url=https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20221228005051-260405?chdtv|work=China Times (Taiwan)|date=18 December 2022|access-date=23 December 2023|language=zh-tw}}</ref>
In January 2024, CTBC, which owns the CTBC Brothers, announced that it would sponsor the Taichung team, along with Taiwan Life.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lin|first=Yu-chen|title=棒球》借重中信兄弟成功經驗！ 中信承接臺中城市隊經營權|url=https://sports.ltn.com.tw/news/breakingnews/4568667|work=Liberty Times|date=31 January 2024|access-date=31 January 2024|language=zh-tw}}</ref> This team defeated Taipower in December 2024 to win its first championship.<ref name=“LT2024”>{{cite news|last=Luo|first=Chih-peng|title=爆米花聯盟》3洋投攜手完封台電 台壽霸龍奪隊史首冠|url=https://sports.ltn.com.tw/news/breakingnews/4898447|work=Liberty Times|date=19 December 2024|access-date=15 February 2025}}</ref>
== Current teams == As of 2023, there are 11 active teams: <onlyinclude><!--NOTE: this directive must span the table, and only the table, so it can be embedded elsewhere--> {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;" |- !Team !Joined !Founded !City |- |'''LabTurbo Biotech''' |2022 |2019 |Taipei |- |'''New Taipei Heran''' |2017 |2009 |New Taipei |- |'''Pingtung Brown Shrike''' |2021 | |Pingtung County |- |'''Taichung Taiwan Life''' |2014 |2009 |Taichung |- |'''Tainan''' |2017 |2014 |Tainan |- |'''Taipei Highwealth''' |2017 |2009 |Taipei |- |'''Taitung Chii Lih''' |2014 |2011 |Taitung County |- |'''Taiwan Cooperative Bank''' |2014 |1948 |Taipei |- |'''Taiwan Power Company''' |2014 |1948 |Kaohsiung |- |'''Taoyuan Aerotropolis''' |2017 |2009 |Taoyuan |- |'''Xports''' |2014 |2011 |Taipei |}</onlyinclude>
== Champions == {| class="wikitable" !Season !No. of teams !League Champion !Notes |- |2014 |align=center|6 |Topco Scientific Falcons |<ref name="TT 2014"/> |- |2015 |align="center" colspan="2" |''None (season cancelled)'' |<ref name="ET 2017"/> |- |2016 |align="center" colspan="2" |''None (season cancelled)'' |<ref name="ET 2017"/> |- |2017 |align=center|10 |Taiwan Cooperative Bank |<ref name="LT 2018"/> |- |2018 |align=center|9 |Taiwan Cooperative Bank |<ref name="SET 2019"/> |- |2019 |align=center|10 |Taipei Highwealth |<ref name="LT 2020"/> |- |2020 |align=center|10 |Taiwan Cooperative Bank | |- |2021 |align=center|10 |Taiwan Cooperative Bank | |- |2022 |align=center|11 |Taiwan Cooperative Bank |<ref name="CT 2022"/> |- |2023 |align=center|11 |Taiwan Cooperative Bank |<ref>{{cite news|last=Lo|first=Chih-peng|title=爆米花聯盟》勇奪全壘打、打點王 亞錦賽國手大豐收|url=https://sports.ltn.com.tw/news/breakingnews/4564314|work=Liberty Times|date=26 January 2024|access-date=27 January 2024|language=zh-tw}}</ref> |- |2024 |align=center|11 |Taichung Taiwan Life |<ref name=“LT2024”/> |- |}
== See also == * Mavericks Independent Baseball League
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:2014 establishments in Taiwan Category:Baseball leagues in Taiwan Category:Sports leagues established in 2014
{{Popcorn League}} {{Sport leagues in Taiwan}}