COVID-19 and the postponement of the MLB season has brought a lot of attention to the Chinese Professional Baseball League. One of the venues you might have seen a game from is Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium. It’s home to the Rakuten Monkeys, who were formerly known as the Lamigo Monkeys.
Let’s start the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium review with a look at getting there. The stadium is out in Taipei’s suburbs all the way past Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. That being said, getting there isn’t all that hard thanks to Taipei’s awesome public transit system.
From the Taiwan Main Station, get on the Jichang Line and go to the Taoyuan Sports Park Station. It takes about seven minutes to get to the stadium on foot once you exit the train. You just follow the people wearing baseball jerseys if you aren’t sure where to go.
You will eventually arrive at the front of Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium where there is a ticket office, team shop and all that jazz. Buying tickets was easy. The ticket office salesperson will show you a seating chart and you point to the section you want to sit in.
Behind centerfield is a bunch of food vendors selling all your favorites like dumplings, takoyaki and dried squid. I mean, what’s a baseball game without dried squid? Soda, beer and water are also on offer.
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Here is the most important part of the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium review. Don’t enter the stadium at the right field entrance. This is the away fans section and you won’t be able to access any other parts of the stadium. The ticket taker doesn’t really speak English and won’t stop you.
The rest of the stadium is nice, although the outfield and first base line seats get roasted by the sun during afternoon games. If you are sitting in front of the dugout, you will get to see a lot of the cheer team who can be very loud and somewhat distracting.
The stadium itself doesn’t have a lot of character. The Rakuten Monkeys do have quite a few promotion games, however. You probably won’t understand what these are about, but it’s fun nonetheless.
I went during Japanese weekend and the team invited mascots from various teams in the Nippon Professional Baseball league. That included the creepy Chiba Lotte Marines’ mascot who I’m not a fan of. If you want to learn more, checkout our ZOZO Marine Stadium review.
Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium review score: 6.5
I can’t think of anything memorable about Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium. It wasn’t terrible by any means and you should definitely checkout a Chinese Professional Baseball League game if you’re in Taipei. Just don’t feel compelled to make it this one unless you have adopted the Monkeys as your team.
