Some time before the end of the year, I hope to post a top 10 Hanshin Tigers stories of 2016 article… but time is of the essence! In the meantime, here’s a shorter one for you: my personal five top moments as a follower of the team. And… here we go! 5) Going to spring…
Well, we kind of lost a bit of the early season momentum and the races became a little less exciting. In particular, Jimbo saw his hitters almost all sent down to the farm or given a spot on the bench. Zorny took advantage of low volume pitching numbers but an exception second half from the…
Recently, one of the measures of a player’s value to a team has been a statistic called WAR – Wins Above Replacement. The idea is to take a fielder’s offensive contributions (batting, base running, etc.) and defensive ability (ultimate zone rating, runs prevented, etc.) to give them a value that tells nerds how many more wins…
Nearly a year ago, as the season had come to an end, I received a surprise parcel in the mail. Though the team had not yet made it official, everyone knew Matt Murton had played his final game for the Tigers. So it was with kind of mixed emotions that I opened the parcel and…
It’s not just that the Hanshin Tigers season is all but over. It’s also that I need good reading material for on train and bus rides (my commute to work is almost 2 hours one way). So I have a decent stock of books to get me through until next spring, or at least I…
Great news for Hanshin Tigers fans out there who feel like they do not know much about the team but want to know more! T-Ray is planning to write a book in 2017 (and 2018 if more time is needed)! The plans at present are for the book to tell the incredible story of the…
With just a month left to play, we can start to imagine what the Tigers’ individual stats will shape up to look like. Who’s having a better year than last? Who’s slumping? Who’s primed for a breakout NEXT season? Who won’t HAVE a next season? (Rumor has it veteran reliever Shinobu Fukuhara will be released.) In our…
The season really is moving along fast now that the 100th game is in the rearview mirror. The team seems to have generated more offense in recent weeks, which means certain statistical categories have seen slight changes. Overall, though, T-Ray’s team continues to rake and rack up big quantity pitching numbers. The best race right now…
All-Star break gives us a good opportunity to evaluate how are teams are doing. Some categories are still up for grabs, while others are moving along in a predictable way. At the end of interleague, we did a mini-add/drop session to help our teams out. For those we added (**), stats only count from June 21st…
The season has reached a slow, grinding halt – at least for the Hanshin Tigers’ numbers. Still, the fantasy season continues on. We did a player add-drop a couple of weeks ago, and hope to pull off some trades at the all-star break. For those we added (**), stats only count from June 21st and…