The team giving us the biggest fits this year is the team that has struggled the most with run production. That said, the Hiroshima Carp have an outstanding pitching staff, to the point that they entered this series just 1.5 games out of first place. They figured out Shoki Murakami early and often in the…
The Tigers have been playing excellent baseball in the past month or so. Losses were few and far between, and series losses were becoming so rare, they were more like mythology than real life. But during this particular weekend, the team had uncharacteristically poor fundamentals. Two errors and two (or three, depending on how you…
A rare mid-week day off and a home series against the last-place Yakult Swallows seemed like a perfect recipe for extending the winning streak from seven to ten. However, four errors cost the team five runs on Friday, ending the hot stretch. Fortunately, the team got back on its horses on Saturday and Sunday, collecting…
Heading into this series, the Hanshin Tigers had gone ten straight games scoring 2 or fewer runs (but going 4-4-2 in that stretch), setting a new club record. The Chunichi Dragons were flying high, scoring runs seemingly at will and sitting blissfully in first place. But that’s the thing about April baseball. One bad series…
On Tuesday night (November 28) in Tokyo, Nippon Professional Baseball held its annual awards ceremony to recognize excellent players and their contributions to the game. Here’s how it went down for our Hanshin Tigers. Matsutaro Shoriki Award: Akinobu Okada Central League MVP: Shoki Murakami Central League Rookie of the Year: Shoki Murakami Central League Best…
Despite the dramatic win in Game 4, the Tigers still needed to win this one in order to head back to Kyocera Dome with some momentum and the pressure squarely on the Buffaloes. Their two best pitchers await, so forcing them into two must-win games was the only option. In spite of this, the Tigers’…
Before the Japan Series started, pretty much everyone predicted a low-scoring series. However, that surely has not been the case. Starter Hiroto Saiki labored through five innings but held the Buffaloes to a single run despite 8 base runners, and the relievers allowed the tying run to cross home (they were helped by a Tigers…
It’s always a little alarming when people start talking about a perfect game before it’s half over, but Shoki Murakami was dealing. No one reached base against him through four innings, conjuring up images of his first start in 2023 against the Yomiuri Giants (April 12, 7 perfect innings). The perfect game vanished against the…
The Hanshin Tigers hosted the Climax Series Final Stage for the first time in team history. Would they be alright coming into the most important part of the year completely cold? The pitchers would probably be alright, but how about the hitters? Well, they didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard or hit the cover off…
Years in which these final games matter to the standings are few and far between, and this year is no exception. What can be said is that this season, we are the champs and it does not matter if we drop more games than we win! That said, it would be nice to see the…