It’s All-Star Break… no real baseball to watch and analyze, so let’s look at our crop of hitters and give a few brief comments about each of them. What’s your take? Whom do you like at the 8 fielding positions? The above “depth chart” is just my own observations, and isn’t necessarily the way the…
Despite starting the month with two wins against the Swallows and a split series against the BayStars, one couldn’t help but think that this Hanshin team had still not yet found its way out of the post-interleague funk it was in. This series confirmed fans’ worst fears but ended with some hope and joy on…
The following interview was a 5-week series found on the Hanshin Tigers official website. I always find it hard to translate these, because the original answers given by Randy Messenger were in English, then interpreted into Japanese, transcribed, read by my eyes, and put back into the English I think Randy might have originally spoken….
With nine interleague wins and a weekend of clear skies in the forecast, it looked like the Tigers would have a couple of good things going for them as they headed back to league play: 1) A winning record against the stronger Pacific League; and 2) With no rain dates to make up, four straight…
← Click here for a team profile The last three seasons of cat fights, the Lions have remained kings of the jungle. As the Tigers try to claw their way back into the hunt for first, beating the team out of Saitama at home would be key, especially with the best team coming last on…
← Click here for a team profile Playing against these SoftBank Hawks is never easy. Though Hanshin seldom faces them, the head-to-head record isn’t too impressive (see below). But not only that, they have beaten the Tigers in the Nippon Series three times: in 1964 as the Nankai Hawks, in 2003 as the Daiei Hawks,…
← Click here for more information about the Orix Buffaloes The last time these two teams clashed at Kyocera Dome (in 2015), the results were disgraceful. Hanshin got outscored 26-2 over three games, and left Osaka for the comfortable confines of Koshien with bruised egos. Would this time be any different? Game 53 – Tuesday…
← Click on the logo for a team profile! Returning home after a crushing defeat in Game 3 of the Lotte series, Hanshin needed to regroup quickly and continue to build up some credit against the weaker Pacific League teams. Yes, it is weird to call the defending champions “weaker” but the truth is, aside…
Hanshin has a relatively mediocre record against every Pacific League team these past dozen years of interleague existence. The team against which Hanshin has its second best record are these Chiba Lotte Marines. However, last season they are the lone team that swept us three straight. However, these Marines are not the same team they…
Hanshin needed a big series against an opponent that had been relatively easy to beat up to this point this season. Unfortunately, extremely poor fielding cost the team two of three at Koshien, and the team finds itself out of first place heading into Interleague play. Game 44 – Friday 5/26. (Kuru)Shintaro Strikes Balls Bawls…