Eight pitches. That’s all it took to bring the Tigers bats out of their postseason slumber. A leadoff hit by Nishioka, sacrifice bunt by Uemoto, RBI double by Toritani and a 2-run HR by Gomez put the Tigers in the lead — one they would not relinquish all night as they cruised to a 4-1…
Scheduled Games & Possible Starters*: Wednesday, October 15, 6pm: Shintaro Fujinami (10-7) vs. Tetsuya Utsumi (7-9) Thursday, October 16, 6pm: Minoru Iwata (9-8) vs. Hirokazu Sawamura (5-3) Friday, October 17, 6pm: Randy Messenger (13-10) vs. Toshiya Sugiuchi (10-6) Saturday, October 18, 6pm: Atsushi Nohmi (9-13) vs. Yuki Koyama (6-2) Sunday, October 19, 6pm: Suguru Iwazaki (5-4) vs. Kan Otake (9-6) Monday, October 20, 6pm: Shintaro Fujinami…
The original article can be found here 元の記事はこちらです As the Climax Series (CS) approaches, we took the time to conduct an online survey of 17,577 male baseball fans aged 20-54 who say they attend at least one game every season. From that pool, we took results of 200 fans from each team. The average age of…
With tonight’s 4-1 Giants victory over the Hiroshima Carp, the red-and-white fall into third place, a half-game behind our Hanshin Tigers. The result is that Koshien Stadium will host two, possibly three baseball games this long weekend. Game 1 is Saturday at 6pm, and will likely see Messenger facing off against Kenta Maeda. Game 2…
Last week I broke down the final few days remaining on the schedule, as well as the importance of finishing first (or at least second). The Tigers’ regular season is now over, and it ended on a positive note, as they defeated the second-place Hiroshima Carp, 4-2. Since I didn’t see the game, I will…
Last night the Yomiuri Giants won the Central League title for the third consecutive year and thirty-sixth time overall. Unlike major league baseball, where the division championship means a slight home-field advantage, the NPB playoff rules tilt things heavily in the league champion’s favour. Here’s a look at the NPB playoff format. Sorry the graphic…
When it rains, it pours. Even when the weather is nice, as it was all week, it still felt rather gloomy at Koshien. The Tigers got swept by the Giants at home for the first time since 1999. The slump has been well documented, including my own analysis (click here), so I will not talk…
Attack the Giants! Counting on Murton Coming Back, T. Arai Staying Hot The original article can be found here 元の記事はこちらです No time to get down on yourselves! The Tigers went without outfielder Matt Murton (32) for the second straight day as their weakened roster lost to Hiroshima. But next on the agenda (starting on the…
Heading into the All-Star Break, the Tigers were the hottest team in Japanese baseball. They took 11 of their 13 matches in the first half of July. Waiting for them out of the gates for the second half were key matchups against the Giants at home and the Carp on the road. Let’s look at…
When the baseball game ends in a loss, another game starts immediately following the last out. Why did we lose? Who fell short? The name of the game is “Find the Scapegoat.” After watching last night’s unfortunate loss to the first place Giants, it was easy to join in the game and look for the…