They should not be here. And yet here they are. After last Sunday’s loss to the Carp in a game that could have clinched third place, the Tigers were left to hope the lowly Chunichi Dragons would knock off the hungry and surging Carp on Wednesday night to break the tie for third. With 50-year…
The week started well for the Tigers, though first and second place fell out of reach before September came to an end. Still, one more win in their final two games would all but punch their ticket to the postseason. Unfortunately for them, they would face a Yakult Swallows team that could clinch the pennant…
The 12-in-12 could not have been going any worse than it had up to this point. Two wins and eight losses, with the lone wins coming against the Yakult Swallows (1-1) and Hiroshima Carp (1-2). Two losses each at the hands of the BayStars and Giants, plus one against the Chunichi Dragons, completely eliminated the…
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…
As has been the case in the Central League all season, winning streaks are followed by losing streaks, which are followed by winning streaks again. The Tigers had won 3 straight heading into Sunday’s matchup with the Dragons, but lost 5-0 in the series finale. Would it be the beginning of another losing streak, or…
Back to Koshien at last. With two teams still breathing down the Tigers’ necks, they needed a strong series against one of those teams, and the red-hot Yakult Swallows came to town looking to take first place from the suddenly weary-looking Hanshin Tigers. Let’s take a look at how the first professional baseball at Koshien…
Original article can be found here 元の記事はこちら With the U-18 Baseball World Cup being held in Osaka, many scouts from the Braves, Mariners, Reds and other major league clubs were watching closely from the seats behind home plate at Koshien Stadium during yesterday’s game between the Hanshin Tigers and Yakult Swallows. Naturally they got a good look…
It really doesn’t matter too much what the Tigers’ record is. They need to beat their longtime rivals, the Yomiuri Giants. Wada himself said, “We’re more focused on the rivalry than our record in this series.” He backed that up by slotting three of his strongest pitchers to take the mound under the EGG in…
August is usually a fair barometer for how the Hanshin Tigers’ season will develop. Typically the team gets one series at Koshien Stadium to start the month, and one at the end to finish it. The rest, they travel to nearly all Central League parks, playing a few interspersed “home” series at Kyocera Dome (home…