Top 10 Games of 2019 (Part 2)

See Part 1 HERE

Before we jump into the new decade, we thought it would be appropriate to go over the best games of 2019. We have to admit, it was a pretty darn exciting season. Obviously it did not end in victory, but it definitely gave fans some hope that Akihiro Yano’s brand of baseball could very well be successful in 2020 and beyond. My boy (and yours), Zorny joined me and we counted down the best games of the year. Here are #5 through #1!

T-Ray: So I bet our top 5 games will either overlap on what’s already been said or what we are about to say. My #5 is April 9 (Koshien opener) against the BayStars. Onelki Garcia absolutely tanked for the second straight week, but the team (and Neftali Soto’s shoddy D) bailed him out, and ultimately we left the team triumphantly with a 12-8 win. Of course, one reason this game was so huge was that Ryutaro Umeno hit for the cycle with a broken toe.

Zorny: Yeah, it’s most probably going to overlap a bit since some of your games and some of mine were already said but no worries. We’re gonna keep breaking them down for you readers. Man, I totally missed that one on my list but definitely worth mentioning since Umeno proved us once again why he’s a reigning Golden Glover and leader for the Tigers. My #5 goes to the midseason classic, the All-Star game, more specifically the 2nd game at Koshien (the 1st game was played at Tokyo Dome) in which another player hit for the cycle. As mentioned before, our rookie of the rookie, Koji Chikamoto. Again, best performance by Tigers players ever! EVER! EVAH!

T-Ray: So we both put a “cycle” in the #5 slot, haha interesting. Also worth mentioning that Gucci hit a pinch-hit homer in Game 1 in Tokyo. Well, you’re up for sharing your #4, then!

Zorny: #4 on my list goes to that beautiful man, the man that beat the crap out of cancer, the one and only, Fumihito Haraguchi and his first appearance (June 4, Zozo Marine Stadium) after beating this disgusting disease. I bet that not just me but everyone watching that game, more specifically after that double off the wall, was feeling super emotional.

T-Ray: It was all beautiful. Tigers up by a ton of runs, Gucci comes up and gets good wood on it, but the bounce off the wall is straight to their left fielder. Gucci slides headfirst into second, is safe. Chiba Lotte also showed class, allowing Hanshin to send two guys to the hero’s podium. Umeno and Haraguchi stood up there as fellow catchers and men of high character. This game is even higher on my list. My #4 is actually one that most have forgotten about, but dude… when you can hit 4 home runs against back-to-back Sawamura Award winner Tommy Sugano… that’s a special night (May 15 at Tokyo Dome). Itoi, then Fukudome, then Kinami, and finally Ohyama. And hey, Umeno added another off their bullpen for good measure. (It was also Koki Moriya’s first career win.)

Zorny: You can include me as one of those that forgot about this game. Huge display of power by our offense against none other than Sugano! Massive game without a doubt!

T-Ray: And for my #3, I fast forward to the end of the season. Actually, the start of the postseason. We had just won six straight to make it to the dance, and our team looked invincible. But then Nishi got pounded in the first inning. Five batters, nine pitches, five hits. The fifth batter literally knocked him out of the game, as he took one off the leg. We were down 1-7 at one point. But Fumiya Hojoh took the team on his back and almost single-handedly completed the comeback. OK, he got help from guys reaching base in front of him, but his 3-run homer and 2-run triple were CLUTCH.

Zorny: My number #3 goes this very exact game! As you said, we started pretty sloppy but we prevailed after all. Thanx to a tiring bullpen by DeNA, we were able to pull it through and come back in unbelievable fashion. To be very honest, I didn’t think we were to make it and I just couldn’t believe at the end. Definitely one of the most thrilling games of 2019. Just a side note: In the very next game, something very similar happened, but after not being able to capitalize in extras, Otosaka delivered a moonshot.

Zorny: Okay. We are almost there. The countdown is coming to an end and with me, my #2 which goes back to Solarte first home game. The reason I placed this game in second, it’s because whenever I think of last season, I think of that game. Not just because of Solarte’s sayonara homer and 8000th homer in the team history but also due to his sudden departure. I wish he had stayed longer…

T-Ray: Dude, his departure was a shocker like I’ve never felt as a Hanshin fan before. It resonated deep within me. Anyhow, my #2 is actually your #6 – Takayama’s walk-off. I was there, which made it that much more impactful. But also, it was a game that pulled at the fans’ emotions from start to finish. Marte tied it up with a home run against Sawamura in the bottom of the 8th. The Tigers loaded the bases with no outs in the 11th but got nothing out of it. Kyuji walked two of their guys in the twelfth and gave us all cardiac arrest. Then Takayama was the last guy on the bench for the team in the 12th, and play-by-play grumbler Okada said that because their pitcher was a lefty, Yano shoulda stayed with Kai Ueda, who can bat righty. Three pitches in, he was speechless while everyone else erupted.

Zorny: Ueda wouldn’t have delivered. He might have but it wouldn’t be as grandiose as what Takayama did. And hey, regardless of who did it, beating the Giants is always priceless.

T-Ray: You and I (and the whole Tigers Nation) know it. So… my number one should be a game that impacted the outcome of the season, but actually I’m going back to your #4. Cancer has affected everyone in the whole world. Everyone has lost someone to cancer. Think about what an incredibly nice guy Gucci is, the battles he had faced just to get to where he was in 2018, when he tied the team record for most single-season pinch hits. Injuries, hernias, development player contract… and then this happens. Did you know his cancer was Stage 3.5? It was pretty close to doing him in completely! (He is not completely in the clear, actually – he will go back to the doctor for periodic tests for the next 5 years, something like that.) And so when he came back, stood in that batter’s box, there was NOTHING that anyone could do to distract me from watching. And when he hit that double… man, that is the season right there. If we had finished in last place, I would have said, “At least we still have Haraguchi with us.” That sums it up, bro. My undisputed champion of a game.

Zorny: He’s a real fighter and after going through all of that, he comes back and shows everyone how much enthusiasm and energy he still has left. After that game, he became my ichiban all the way and it’s not even close. 

My number 1 game of the year has to be the last game of the regular season. It was one of the most emotional games I’ve ever watched as a Tigers fan. I mean, it was really a piece of art. A must-win game to surpass Hiroshima in the standings and clinch a playoff berth, it seemed like watching a baseball documentary on the making which, in the end, is all about redemption. The only thing missing there was the soundtrack. Can you please tell us the details of this game T-Ray?

T-Ray: Oh man, I was at this game, too! It really was a weird one. I remember Twitter polls asking Tigers fans what they thought the outcome would be. Keep in mind the Tigers are on a five-game win streak, facing the Dragons, who have nothing to play for. TEN PERCENT picked the Tigers to win. WTH? So anyhow, it was quite documentary-like. Yudai Ohno, who had previously no-hit us earlier in the month, is on the mound. The catch is that he needed 3 ⅓ clean innings to win the ERA title. So after mowing down 10 straight Tigers, their manager comes in and pulls him. The crowd went NUTS! Next pitcher couldn’t find the strike zone, and before he knew it, the Tigers had two runs on the board. As I mentioned at the top of the post, the Tigers pitchers weren’t giving runs to ANYONE during this stretch. So the stinginess kept going through to the end of the game, and the only drama left was when Toritani would take to the field. First, he batted in the bottom of the 7th. Flies out to right. Then he dashes from the first base dugout to his old familiar spot at short. Crowd goes NUTS. He spends the next two innings there, but nary a ball comes his way. Still, he left to a ton of cheering, and the crowd was in complete anticipation of a farewell ceremony. They curtain-called him, and eventually he came back out, waved to the crowd, and went back to the clubhouse. Crowd kept chanting and roaring. Garcia came out, hyped the crowd up, but there was nothing more for Tori. Just a 30-second scoreboard display, and it didn’t show career highlights or anything. Just a “You’re forever our hero” phrase with his name.

Zorny: The funny thing about this game is that, not just Hanshin fans were going nuts but also Hiroshima fans and that due to an early departure of Yudai Ohno which, as you said, was all over us. Once he left, conspiracy theories of the game being rigged and a disgusted feeling started to emerge from their mouths. 

T-Ray: Yeah, and also Kris Johnson lost the ERA title as well. But if Ohno had stayed in and the Tigers happened to score on him, then he would have lost the title, and had nothing to show for his spectacular season. When the team has nothing left to play for, as was the case for the Dragons, may as well let an individual win a crown! Yeah, the conspiracy theorists also say that the other games were kind of rigged, too. Abe retiring but no Tigers in the playoffs? No Giants-Tigers showdown? Doesn’t feel right. Giants wanted this to happen as well… but really, that’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it.

Zorny: And let’s not forget that, not only Ohno got his round of applause but also Akifumi Takahashi did after leaving in the top of the 7th. That added to the ceremonial feeling of that game. It was his last game as a Tigers along with Toritani.

T-Ray: True. Well my dude, this has been a fun chat. Took longer than I thought, and we typed more than I thought. But man, what a season. Far exceeded my expectations.

Zorny: I think we should all agree that this one was definitely something else. A roller coaster of emotions of all sorts but in the end we finished on a high note and I just couldn’t be more proud of this group of guys. 

T-Ray: I can’t believe how many good games I got to witness in person. Just silly. Three walk-off wins plus two shutout wins. Umeno’s cycle. First and last home games. Couldn’t ask for much more.

Zorny: Finally eh? I remember you having a bad stretch in previous seasons but this one really made up for it. In my case was the same. Two games but two HUGE games. What a year! 

T-Ray: Well man, this brings us to the end of the decade. I’m optimistic about the team’s future, but let’s spare people our prognosis for next year until… well, until next year.

Zorny: After all these winter signings, all I can say is that it looks very promising and I just can not wait for the next season. Is it March yet?

T-Ray: Just hibernate, bro. That’s what I wanna do. Again, thanks for taking the time to do this with me.

Zorny: Lol! My pleasure man. Glad to be part of it as usual.

Thanks for sticking with us as we chatted our way through what was an incredible season. Zorny and I (T-Ray) talk about the Tigers all the time and we might start logging more of our talks and posting them on H-TEN. Hope you’ll trek along with us as we get ready for a season to remember, 2020!