The good news is that the Tigers have finished playing in Pacific League parks for another year. The bad news is that they had their worst week of the season and looked terrible in doing so. This series was no different. Other than being able to squeeze out a victory in the middle game. Read…
After practically gift-wrapping the final game of the Lions series at home (bringing the Tigers record at Koshien this season to an atrocious 11-14-1), the Tigers hit the road for two straight series against two of the tougher Pacific League teams. The first of these would be held in Chiba against the Lotte Marines at…
Last season, the Hanshin Tigers “won” the interleague season… in that they took home the best record of any of the Central League teams. Of course, in a mini-season dominated by Pacific League teams, there was no hope for them to win it outright, but a 10-8 record (including a stellar 8-1 at home) was…
The series at Jingu left a sour taste in the mouths of Hanshin fans, and facing the Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo – where the Tigers won just 2 of 13 in 2015 – had the potential of either lifting our spirits or dashing our hopes heading into interleague play. As it turns out, it was…
I found a chart online showing Ultimate Zone Ratings for the middle infield positions of all the Central League teams. (It was compiled by Norio Torigoe, who also wrote the book “Hanshin Tigers: Actually Strong” which used sabermetrics to prove its points.) You should first know that Ultimate Zone Rating is a show of a…
After the embarrassment fed to them earlier in the week against the Giants, Hanshin had something to prove in this series. Could they make their week look respectable by taking their frustrations out on the last place BayStars? Game 29 – Friday, 4/29: K, I have to admit that I am not sure how many times…
Unable to get on a good roll and heading to a park that seldom helped them last year, the Tigers needed good pitching from their starters – something that has been their downfall most of the past week. Could the team use Thursday’s rainout to straighten out some of their problems? The tale of the tape…
It’s hard coming home after a bad day at work. Or maybe it’s comforting? The Hanshin Tigers got swept and humiliated in three games in Nagoya against the Chunichi Dragons. Could they right the ship at Koshien against the defending CL champion Yakult Swallows? Game 21 – Tuesday, 4/19: Surely young ace Shintaro Fujinami would…
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…
After a disappointing opening series at Koshien against the Carp, the Tigers were determined to continue their push to the top against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars at home this week. With the Giants and Carp playing so well early in the season, they would need every win they could get against the young team led by…