While I dream that the 2016 Tigers will win the pennant, I am also fully aware that playing with such a young lineup means there will be a lot of growing pains, mistakes, and losses. The previous series against the BayStars showed us several times that wins would not come easy. (We won the first…
Nagoya Dome has almost never been kind to the Hanshin Tigers. Since its opening in 1997, the Tigers’ record in Nagoya is 77-145-5. But this is a team of ultra reform (cho-henkaku) right? Let’s look at how the Tigers’ record would change after this three-game set. Game 18 – Friday, 4/15: Veteran Atsushi Nohmi had brought…
Host T-Ray welcomes two special guests (Joe and Patrick) to the show to talk about the season-opening weekend games (Hanshin vs. Chunichi). In the show’s second half, Patrick and T-Ray talk about the Yomiuri Giants of last season and where they expect the team to finish in 2016. Follow Patrick on Twitter: @npbtracker Bookmark Patrick’s NPB tracker…
Randy Messenger looked invincible in the first inning. After that, the Chunichi bats and eyes made sure the bases were always occupied. After a strikeout-ground out-strikeout first inning, rookie Shun Takayama recorded his first career hit on a two-strike grounder to left field. Only Shintaro Yokota‘s quickness prevented his groundout to pitcher from becoming a double…
Host T-Ray holds a special interview with the admin from Moeyo Dragons to talk about Chunichi’s 2015 and 2016 seasons. After that, he talks with a special co-host about the gambling scandals, players that have earned a spot on the first squad for Opening Day, and more. Follow the Chunichi Dragons in English at: http://moeyodragons.blogspot.com Opening song – 君は君だけ…
WARNING: This post will be LONG and will likely not contain many visuals. If you are serious about knowing all you need to know about the upcoming season, keep reading. If you just want to know which team I pick to win it all, scroll down to the bottom of the post. For a look…
Once again I had the privilege of attending a game with a good friend and being able to sit in a good section. I was 17 rows behind the Tigers’ dugout, so I got to see the players coming off the field every inning, high fiving each other, and so on. Tonight our opponent was…
In a nutshell our problem is this: the Hanshin Tigers can’t beat other teams’ best pitchers. The chart below lists the Central League’s ten best qualified (enough innings played to win individual awards) pitchers by ERA. Keep in mind this chart does not look at our record in games in which their aces got no-decisions. Pitcher…
Since the all-star break, the Hanshin Tigers are playing much better ball. They are 11-6 with a run differential of +13. Before the break they were 41-42 and got outscored by 86 runs. The team has won all but one of their six series (losing two of three to the Swallows at home), and started…
With the Road Trip of Death looming and a quick series in Nagoya on tap, the Tigers needed to sneak in a couple of road wins before coming home for one last Koshien Ultra Summer series. They were facing the last place Chunichi Dragons with just one problem: a history of losing at Nagoya Dome….