It was looking like the weather might wash away the entire weekend of baseball, but the skies held up as Game 1 between the Hanshin Tigers and the Yokohama DeNA BayStars got started. All the talk was that winners of Game 1 of this playoff series go on to the next round 95% of the…
The gap has shortened once again. With hopes of first place completely vanished, and eight matches remaining against these Yokohama DeNA BayStars, this series was crucial in establishing that (a) second place is OURS, and that (b) if we meet in the Climax Series, it won’t be easy for them. In three days, the Tigers…
Somehow in the past month, the Tigers have managed to take away the Hiroshima Carp‘s magic number. Twice. And in the month of August, they managed to cut an 11-game gap between the teams in half. And yet during that time, the team only went 2-3-1 in their head-to-head matches. This three-game set in Hiroshima…
Just a week ago these two teams squared off in the home-run friendly confines of Jingu Stadium. The Tigers experienced a spike in their offensive numbers while enjoying another series victory against the Yakult Swallows. And at long last, the team was back at Koshien Stadium to play baseball – the first time since July…
No matter how weak the Yomiuri Giants appear (1 game under .500 entering this series), they always seem to bring their best against the Hanshin Tigers. As the Tigers’ long 27-game stretch away from Koshien Stadium drew to a close with this series, the team hoped to end on a high note. Unfortunately, the note…
The road trip of death has just one week left. So far it has been quite successful, but now is not the time to let up. Playing against the last-place Yakult Swallows, against whom the Tigers have had good success this year (who hasn’t, really?), it would be nice to win two or three. But…
The long, hard road trip continues on with two crucial matchups. We put the series loss to the Yomiuri Giants in the rearview mirror, and try to remain positive in light of the bad news about Randy Messenger. On tap over the weekend was a crucial set against the hard-charging Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Getting swept…
It doesn’t seem to matter how either of these teams are faring in the standings. These “Legendary Games” (伝統の一戦) have a special atmosphere, and neither team wants to lose. This is an important time of year for both teams – Hanshin needs to play well on the road and patiently wait for the high schoolers…
This Hiroshima Carp team is strong. Really strong. Though the Tigers entered this series with a slight 6-5 edge in 11 head-to-head games this season, the last two were lopsided enough to make it feel like it’s 2016 all over again. But things would be different in this series, right? I mean, the games are…
It’s All-Star Break… no real baseball to watch and analyze, so let’s look at our crop of pitchers and give a few brief comments about each of them. What’s your take? Whom do you like in those final couple of rotation spots? In the bullpen? The above “depth chart” is just my own observations, and…