Rakuten Monkeys
樂天桃猿
Logo Cap insignia
Information
League	Chinese Professional Baseball League
Location	Taoyuan
Ballpark	Rakuten Taoyuan Baseball Stadium
Founded	2003; 22 years ago (2003)
Taiwan Series championships	(8) 2006 2012 2014 2015 2017 2018 2019 2025
Playoff berths	(14) 2006 2007 2008 2011 2012 2014 2015 2017 2018 2019 2022 2023 2024 2025
Former name	First Financial Holdings Agan (2003) La New Bears (2004–2010) Lamigo Monkeys (2011–2019)
Colors	White and red
Mascot	Rockey, Monkey, Victor
Retired numbers	10 52
Ownership	Rakuten
President	Masayuki Morii
General manager	Yukiyoshi Oishi
Manager	Kenji Furukubo
Website	monkeys.rakuten.com.tw

TheRakuten Monkeys (Chinese:樂天桃猿;pinyin:Lètiān Táoyuán;lit. 'Rakuten Taoyuan Monkeys'), formerly known asLa New Bears (2004–2010) andLamigo Monkeys (2011–2019), are a professional baseball team in theChinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. Owned and administered by the Japanese technology conglomerateRakuten, the Monkeys qualified for theplayoffs in 2006 for the first time in team history, and by finishing with the best record in the entire season, gained an automatic berth for theTaiwan Series.

First known as the First Securities Agan, the team was owned by the First Financial Holding Corporation, a government-funded financial holding service institute. Its then-chairman Chen Chien-lung was a keen political supporter of PresidentChen Shui-bian, and, upon the president's request, immediately agreed to take over one of the two formerTaiwan Major League (TML) teams after TML was merged into CPBL in January 2003.

Since Macoto Bank had already decided to take-over theMacoto Gida, Chen Chien-lung took over the Agan as promised. The majority of Agan's player came fromTaipei Gida andKaohsiung-Pingtung Fala, and not from theTaichung Agan, which carried the same mascot and were the champions of the final season of TML. Agan played its home games atChengcing Lake Baseball Field.

After Chen Chien-lung's sudden resignation due to allegation ofinsider trading in August 2003, the First Financial Holding Corporation no longer showed willingness in running the team. The Agan finished the 2003 season placing fifth overall, and did not win any of the 20 games againstBrother Elephants, theTaiwan Series champions of that season.

Just before the 2004 season, Kaohsiung County MagistrateYang Chiu-hsing invited theLa New Corporation, a footwear manufacturer to sponsor the then-vacantChengcing Lake Baseball Field, which was under the management of Kaohsiung County after the disbandment ofTaiwan Major League. La New Corporation eventually agreed and, in addition, offered to buy the First Financial Holdings Agan, whose management had been struggling in the past season.

In December 2003, La New completed the process with First Financial Holdings and renamed the team La New Bears. In the first two years of their existence, the Bears did not perform well. But after several additions to the roster through drafts and the minor league, the Bears turned the team around, eventually winning the2006 Taiwan Series title.

After several years of futile effort to manage the Kaohsiung market, the team relocated toTaoyuan County (now Taoyuan City) and changed its name to Lamigo Monkeys in January 2011. Lamigo is a subsidiary of La New Corporation that operates a wellness center, restaurants as well as a travel agency in northern Taiwan.

Since Lamigo is based in northern Taiwan, the team was moved toTaoyuan International Baseball Stadium in Taoyuan County. Their new Chinese name,taoyuan (Chinese:桃猿), is a homophone to their new home county. Despite the name change, La New Corporation retained its direct ownership of the team.^[1]

In 2012, the Monkeys won their first seasonal title after the name change when they defeatedUni-President 7-Eleven Lions four games to one in Taiwan Series.

In July 2019, the organization announced that the team would be sold.^[2][3] In September 2019, negotiations withRakuten to acquire the team closed successfully.^[4] With the sale, Rakuten became the first foreign company to own a Chinese Professional Baseball League team.^[5] Terms of the sale were not disclosed.^[6]

The team name was formally changed to the Rakuten Monkeys on 17 December 2019. New uniforms were also revealed, similar in design to theTohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles uniforms.^[7]

In 2020, fans were not allowed to attend sporting events in Taiwan due to thecoronavirus pandemic. The Rakuten Monkeys decided to place robotic mannequins in the stands to simulate the appearance of fans at their games.^[8][9]

In 2025, the Rakuten Monkeys won their first Taiwan Series title since the 2019 Rakuten takeover, having defeated the CTBC Brothers in five games.^[10]

The team played their home games atChengcing Lake Baseball Field inKaohsiung County from 2004 to 2010.

In the 2011 season, they moved toTaoyuan International Baseball Stadium. Accordingly, the team's name was changed to the Lamigo Monkeys.

• 10 – The number is reserved for the fans, as the tenth player on the field.
• 52 – The number is retired in honour ofChin-Feng Chen since September 2016.

• Official website(in Chinese)

• Rakuten Monkeys
• 2003 establishments in Taiwan
• Baseball teams established in 2003
• Rakuten
• Chinese Professional Baseball League teams
• Sport in Taoyuan City

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing traditional Chinese-language text
• Articles containing Chinese-language text
• Articles with Chinese-language sources (zh)