CTBC Brothers Eliminated from First Half; Manager Hirano Apologizes to Fans, Vows to Rebuild

(Central News Agency, Su Chih-yu, Taipei, June 3) After losing their game yesterday, the CTBC Brothers' elimination number for the first half of the season officially reached zero, making them the first team in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) this year to be eliminated from the first-half championship race. Brothers manager Keiichi Hirano apologized to the fans and promised to build a formidable team again.

The Brothers lost in the Taiwan Series last year. This year, they have only two paths to the postseason: winning the second-half championship or finishing in the top three in overall winning percentage. Summarizing the first-half performance, Hirano said today, "First of all, I feel very sorry to the fans who have always supported us. We will definitely face this reality, create a strong team again, and work together."

Hirano is in his fifth year in Taiwan and his third year as the Brothers' manager. He led the team to a championship two years ago but lost to the Rakuten Monkeys in the Taiwan Series last year. He stated that although the team's record is poor now, he will continue to work hard based on the experience accumulated over the past two years.

The Brothers organization announced personnel changes yesterday. Former general manager Liu Chih-wei will serve full-time as the COO of CTBC Sports Entertainment, while former second-team manager and farm director Peng Cheng-min has been promoted to general manager. Hirano admitted that he had received information about the changes beforehand and that the team's operations have not changed much recently. (Editor: Chang Ya-ching)