Yomiuri Giants

Year Founded: 1934

Home Stadium: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo

Previously Known As: Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club (Dai Nippon Tokyo Yakyu Club) (1934), Tokyo Giants (1935–1946) Yomiuri Giants (1947- )

Championships Won: Japan Series 22 (most recent, 2012) Central League 39 (2024)

2024 Record vs. Hanshin: 12 wins 12 losses 1 tie

Playoffs vs. Hanshin: 2010 Climax Series First Stage (won 2-0); 2014 Climax Series Final Stage (lost 0-4); 2015 Climax Series First Stage (won 2-1); 2019 Climax Series Final Stage (won 4-1), 2021 Climax Series First Stage (won 2-0).

Players in Common with Hanshin: Suguru Egawa (Hanshin 1978 draft pick, Yomiuri 1979-87); Shigeru Kobayashi (Yomiuri 1973-78, Hanshin 1979-83); George Arias (Hanshin 2002-04, Yomiuri 2006), Yasuhiro Yamamoto (Yomiuri 2016-20, Hanshin 2021-23), Kyle Keller (Hanshin 2022-23, Yomiuri 2024-)

Current Uniforms:

Away – Home – 

Top 5 Players in Team History:

1. Sadaharu Oh, 1959–80, first baseman
2. Shigeo Nagashima, 1958–74, third baseman
3. Eiji Sawamura, 1936–37, 1940–43, pitcher
4. Tetsuharu Kawakami, 1938–42, 1946–58 first baseman
5. Hideki Matsui, 1993–2002, outfielder

Most Famous Manager: Tetsuharu Kawakami, 1961–74, 11 Japan Series titles, including nine straight from 1965–73.

Current Manager: Shinnosuke Abe (new in 2024)

Current Top Hitters: Kazuma Okamoto (27, 3B/1B): .278/.374/.584, 41 HR, 93 RBI in 2023

Current Top Pitcher: Shosei Togo (23, RHP): 12 W, 5 L, 170 IP, 2.38 ERA, 141 K in 2023

Brief History: There is no franchise more engrained in the very fabric of professional baseball in Japan than the Giants, Japan’s oldest and winningest club.

Fittingly, Yomiuri also boasts the game’s most robust collection of former stars. Home run world record-holder Sadaharu Oh, “Mr. Pro Yakyu” Shigeo Nagashima, Sawamura Award namesake Eiji Sawamura, Hideki Matsui and the “God of Hitting” Tetsuharu Kawakami are just a few players to have worn the Yomiuri uniform over the years.

The catalyst for the team’s creation was the famed Major League Baseball tour of 1934. The Japanese squad that took on those major leaguers, whose ranks included Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, during the tour would later become Japan’s first professional team, known at the time as the Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club. That team included a teenage right-hander named Eiji Sawamura, who famously struck out nine of the MLB stars in five innings during one contest.

The team was known as the Tokyo Giants when it joined the Japanese Baseball League, the forerunner of NPB. The club won nine titles during that single-league era. The franchise had adopted the ‘Yomiuri’ moniker by the time NPB was formed in 1949. Since beginning play in the Central League in 1950, the Giants have won 36 league pennants and 22 Japan Series titles.

The most famous period in team history was the V9 Era from 1965–73, when the club reeled off nine straight Japan Series titles. The Kyojin were powered by the famed O-N Cannon, with Oh batting third and Nagashima hitting cleanup for the entirety of the run. The other constant was Isao Shibata’s place at either No. 1 or 2 in the order during those years. That team also tapped into the nationalistic spirit of the times, claiming to be “pure-blooded” and needing no foreign players, despite Oh being half-Taiwanese.

The Giants’ success and media exposure allowed the team to become easily the most popular in Japan. In the past, the Giants were also the only team to play all their games on national television. Even as recently as 2008, Seibu Lions pitcher Takayuki Kishi quipped after Game 4 the Japan Series that he knew he would be on TV that night since he was pitching against the Giants. Oh’s run to a world-record 868 home runs, also spread the brand overseas somewhat.

Their success, however, can at least partially (not wholly) be traced to the way the team has historically been able to throw money at the best players. The team has also been accused of not being totally above-board in some of its tactics when it comes to player acquisition in the past — as Hanshin Tigers fans can painfully attest after the Suguru Egawa Incident of the late 70s.

Successful, star-laden and prestigious, the Giants routinely played in front of packed houses at Korakuen Stadium (1949–1987) and Tokyo Dome (1988-present), both in the capital city’s Bunkyo ward. The differences between the crowds for Giants games and for Nippon Ham Fighters (their former co-tenants) contests were amazingly jarring, to say the very least. A penchant for hosting games outside Tokyo also helped endear them to fans across the country. The Giants for instance hosted the first baseball game at Sapporo Dome in 2004, and used to play a home series there every so often.

Yomiuri’s overwhelming grip on the populace has greatly waned with the rise of loyal fanbases in other areas and increased competition for fans’ attention.

Rare is the season that the Giants aren’t in the thick of the pennant race but they finished 2022 and 2023 in fourth place, marking just the second time in franchise history that they had two straight B-class finishes. They are hoping to return to glory under new manager Shinnosuke Abe in 2024.

Jason Coskrey can be found on X at @jcoskrey

CL: Chunichi Dragons / Hiroshima Toyo Carp / Tokyo Yakult Swallows / Yokohama DeNA BayStars

PL: Chiba Lotte Marines / Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks / Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters / Orix Buffaloes / Saitama Seibu Lions / Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles