"AFC Champions League" was highly alerted by two Taiwan team members. The MVP of the Japanese competition responded with a wry smile.

[Special Correspondent Gong Naijie/Reporting from Tokyo, Japan] The 2026 Asian Professional Baseball Championship begins today. The Taiwan team is striving to overturn the "undefeated wall" of the Japanese team that has won 7 games in the AFC Champions League. The head coach of the Taiwan team, Gao Zhigang, and starting pitcher Lin Ziwei both warned the opener Tomoya Masaki, and I laughed and said, "I don't want to be warned."

Gao Zhigang faced questions from the Japanese media at the official press conference yesterday. He responded that Masaki was also a hitter who needed to be careful. Lin Ziwei also said that he saw that Masaki was in good batting condition in the Japanese competition. "The Japanese team's hitters are all very top-notch. I hope I can face them in the best condition and try my best to shoot every ball."

In this regard, Tomoya Masaki said with a smile, "I hope they won't warn me or take too severe an offensive." But he also said, "I am excited and nervous at the same time. I hope I can show a swing that puts pressure on the opponent and drive the momentum of the whole team."

Tomoya Masaki played 101 games with SoftBank this year, had 28 home runs, 59 RBIs, a batting average of 2.74, and even won the MVP in the Japan Competition.