TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s professional baseball league kicked off its 36th season on Saturday with a record crowd of 40,000 fans packing the Taipei Dome to watch the CTBC Brothers face off against the Uni-Lions.

The attendance set a new opening day record and matched the turnout for both the first game of last year’s championship series and CTBC Brothers star Chou Szu-chi’s (周思齊) final two career games on Sept. 21–22, per CNA. By comparison, last year’s opening day game between the Rakuten Monkeys and Wei Chuan Dragons drew 28,618 spectators.

In his pre-game remarks, Taiwan Baseball League Commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) became emotional as he addressed the crowd:

"In the past 36 years, the league has overcome many difficulties and has reached this day step by step. I would like to thank all the teams, coaches, and players, and I am most grateful to the fans. Thank you all for coming back!"

Before the game, popular Taiwanese music group Energy delivered a rousing performance, using dramatic choreography to fire up the sold-out stadium.

The matchup was a rematch of the 2024 championship series, with the Uni-Lions avenging their prior defeat by shutting out the home team in an 8-0 blowout.

Uni-Lions starter Brock Dykxhoorn delivered a dominant performance, holding the Brothers scoreless through 5 2/3 innings as his team maintained a 1-0 lead.

The Uni-Lions then broke the game open by loading the bases with three consecutive singles, followed by Pan Chieh-kai’s (潘傑楷) two-run single to right field. The offense continued to surge, capping the rout with a seventh-inning home run by designated hitter Lin An-ko (林安可) to deep right field.