The last couple of days have really blown the summer heat out of Japan. But that’s not the “cool” I’m talking about here. It’s the experiences I’ve been a part of. First of all, dearly departing Yoshio Itoi put out a “contest” of sorts on his Twitter account and was giving away signed retirement towels….
From our monthly Daily Sports column (Japanese) / デイリースポーツの連載コラムから So the Hanshin Tigers reached the playoffs despite an extremely poor start to the season. Congratulations! Let’s send off incumbent manager Akihiro Yano, who announced his resignation way back on January 31, with a miraculous playoff run! Meanwhile, the team appears to finally be ready to…
Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay discuss team news, the last ten games of Tigers baseball, roast departing manager Akihiro Yano one last time, and discuss what to expect out of the upcoming playoff series in Yokohama. For the record, Surprise Playoff Preview Part 1 was in 2019… Recorded on: October 2, 2022 Become a Patron and…
Thanks to the Yakult Swallows beating the Hiroshima Carp on September 29 and 30, they were eliminated from the playoff race. Then the Yokohama DeNA Baystars beat the Yomiuri Giants on October 1, which mathematically eliminated the orangemen. This meant neither was our final game must-win, nor were any of the other two CL games…
Pretty much every game in the past two weeks has been “must win” for the Tigers, but it is only recently that they have started taking those words literally. Tonight was no different. It took until the eighth inning for the team to put together a good chance, and our clutchest bat of late –…
This was to be my last game at a ballpark this season, and I knew it. The Tigers were riding a 4-game losing streak, and I knew it. Hiroshima is a hard ballpark for our team to steal wins out of, and I knew it. Nevertheless, there was a certain anticipation within me as I…
Sorry for the innuendo in the title… just that our playoffs here in NPB are called the “Climax Series” though more often than not, they are anti-climactic. Anyhow, T and Ray sat down and hashed out whether a playoff berth is best for the 2022 Hanshin Tigers or not. Here’s how the discussion went down:…
Source: Tigers Official Outfielder Yoshio Itoi announced his retirement on Tuesday morning after 19 seasons of professional baseball. Originally drafted as a pitcher by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2003, Itoi won multiple Golden Gloves, a batting title, a stolen base title, and played in many all-star games as well. He spent four seasons with…
Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay discuss team news, the last twelve games of Tigers baseball, and look at who the most likely (and preferred) candidates are to take over from current manager Akihiro Yano in 2023 and beyond. In the post-show show, they pay tribute to two 40-something legends of the game who both announced their…
Not much to say here. The starters did their jobs quite well but the bats did not show up all weekend. Koji Chikamoto hit the team’s only two extra-base hits and drove in two of the three runs that the offense scored. The lead over the Giants for third place is down to two games……