After my success in KBO betting, I thought it was worth taking a look at the some Chinese Professional Baseball League picks and parlays this week with games on May 16.

The CPBL is starting to gain some serious sports betting attention across the globe. The league based in Taiwan made headlines by becoming one of the first professional leagues to start back up after the COVID-19 outbreak. With just five teams, it’s pretty easy to lean as compared to the KBO and even feature some MLB exports.

Chinese Baseball Picks and Parlays May 16

There are two games scheduled for Saturday, May 16th, so let’s dig into them and find our best Chinese baseball picks.

Rakuten Monkeys (Lisalverto Bonilla 2-0, 4.28 ERA) vs. Fubon Guardians (Mike Loree 0-0, 0.00 ERA)

This game will be a rematch of Friday’s epic battle between Rakuten and Fubon, one of the best pitching duels of the season. Despite surrendering many runs, both Henry Sosa and Ryan Carpenter looked sharp and were neck and neck all night. Sosa ended up with ten strikeouts while Carpenter pitched into the 8th and eventually secured a 7-6 win.

Looking forward to Saturday, we might be in for another epic pitching showdown between these two teams.

The Guardians (+150) will turn to Mike Loree to make a start in his 2020 season debut. Since his debut in 2012, the New Jersey native has become one of the best pitchers in the league. He has a career ERA of 3.19 and in 26 games last year walked away with a 2.78 ERA when all was said and done. He also posted a strikeout rate of just below 25 percent, whiffing one in four batters to step to the plate. He was the best and most consistent arm in the CPBL last year, and it will be exciting to see him back in action for the Fubon.

Loree has found a fair amount of success against Rakuten throughout his career. He’s gone 21-13 with a 3.23 ERA in almost 300 innings pitched against the Monkeys and is and makes the Guardians a strong bet on Saturday.

The Monkeys (-150 ML) will send Lisalverto Bonilla to the hill. Bonilla has been pitching a bit over his head this year so far. My opinion, of course, but Bonilla has gone 2-0 with a 4.28 ERA in five appearances this year. He’s gone a healthy six innings in each start but also allowed at least two runs in each. Bonilla has also allowed four and six runs in separate games. His best start did come against these very same Guardians at the beginning of the year, going seven innings and striking out seven.

Despite having some action under his belt so far this year, I still think Bonilla has nothing on Loree. I know, it’s his debut game. But Loree has proven capable of finding consistent success in this league, and I see no reason for that to change. The Guardians also managed to put up six runs on Ryan Carpenter yesterday, and I think it’s fair to assume they can do some damage to Bonilla in the first of our Chinese baseball picks.

Best Bet: Fubon Guardians +150

CTBC Brothers (Jose De Paula, 0-5, 6.44 ERA) vs. Uni-Lions (Josh Roenicke 0-1, 12.38 ERA)

Much like the previous matchup, the Brothers (-110 ML) and Lions (-125 ML) had a great pitching duel on Friday between Ariel Miranda and Ryan Feierabend.

This game will not.

With a combined 0-6 record on the year, DePaula and Roenicke are volatile pitchers just trying to keep it together.

The Uni-Lions are the better team here overall, in my opinion. They have been posting some impressive victories of late, even scoring back to back wins over Justin Nicolino and Ariel Miranda.

Lucky for them, DePaula is nowhere near as good as those two. He has lost his first five starts of the year, including one to the Lions. In his last outing against Uni, DePaula fanned eight but gave up four runs off eight hits and a walk. He just hasn’t been able to find his groove at all this year, and it doesn’t appear to relieve is in sight.

With a FIP of 6.82 and DIPS ERA over five, he also lacks fun support, which is a terrible combination to offer a struggling pitcher. He does have a high strikeout rate, fanning 29 in 29.1 innings, but it still doesn’t make up for other issues. He has surrendered seven home runs and ten walks in just five games this season.

The Lions will turn to Josh Roenicke to try and secure the second game of this three-game tilt. He made his debut last week, and if his 12.38 is any indication, he struggled a little. He’s been known as one of the better arms in the league, so I am willing to give him a pass. He started off great, but he stumbled but time and gave up seven runs between the 3rd and 7th innings. He struck out just two and gave up a pair of home runs, but he walked nobody and didn’t struggle with control. It seems he just had some first-game jitters to be honest.

Roenicke has a career ERA of 3.58 in Taiwan over 269.1 innings pitched. He has the skill to be one of the best in the league, and I have far more faith in him than I do in DePaula tomorrow night.

The fact is, how can you bet on a team who is pitching a guy that is 0-5 with an ERA of 6.44? You can’t, in my opinion.

Best Bet: Uni-Lions (-125 ML)

So, that’s it for our first set of picks and parlays for Chinese baseball games on May 16. Check back tomorrow for more free picks from the Sports Intel team.