Tseng Professional Baseball

Tseng Professional Baseball (曾國職棒; TPB) is the largest professional baseball organization in Tseng. There are two main leagues in TPB, the TPB Premier League and the TPB Minor League along with several other small farm and independent leagues.

History
Baseball was introduced into Tseng by the Japanese during its occupation. It was further expanded by U.S. troops who were stationed in Tseng post-WWII. The first leagues formed in the 1950s, and a Tsengian team was created in 1968, which came close but never won a title due to Taiwanese and Japanese dominance.

Despite this, many people weren't very interested in forming a professional league, as soccer and martial arts were far more popular. By the 1980s though, baseball started to catch on with the public. In 1980, the Tseng Baseball Association(TBA) was founded with 4 teams, the first major attempt to kickstart professional baseball in Tseng. However, by 1983 it was nearing bankruptcy.

Former baseball player and businessman Hao Zhao-ran (郝昭然) decided to meet up with Tsengian companies and TBA representatives to convince them to form a new and better baseball league. In the end, 6 teams were created for TPB's inaugural season in 1984.

In 1999, it was decided that a minor league would be created for the 2000 season, as many new players wanted to join TPB, but their skill level was not enough for the majors. Thus, TPB became an organization for baseball starting in 2000. The original TPB league was renamed TPB Premier League and the TPB Minor League was created. In recent years, many other small leagues like the Tseng City Baseball League and Nankou Baseball have joined TPB.

TPB participated in the in all of its editions except 2005.

Structure
TPB has two leagues, the Premier League (10 teams) and the Minor League (12 teams) for a total of 22 teams. Almost all TPB newcomers have to participate in at least 3 seasons in the Minor League. There have only been 3 players that have come straight from university (and 1 from high school) to the Premier League.

The Premier League season starts in late February or early March and ends in September with the Tseng Series. It is 140 games long. Minor League seasons are 75 games long and begin in May and end in September as well.