What’s Interleague Play? How does it work?

During Interleague play each team will play every other team from the other league, twice at home and twice away. For those of you who aren’t good at math, that comes out to 144 games total, and 24 games per team. The DH rule will be in effect at all Pacific League parks, and all other Pacific League-specific rules (notably lineup reporting requirements) will not be used during Interleague play. The team with the best record after all the games have been played will be crowned Interleague Champion and will receive a cheque for 50 million yen (approx. 540,000 USD). A Pacific League team has been crowned Interleague Champion every year since the inception of Interleague play in 2005. The top player on the championship team will be named Interleague MVP and will receive a cheque for 2 million yen (approx. 21,500 USD). Two additional players, one from each league, who were not on the championship team will be recognized as valuable players. All wins and losses, as well as all individual statistics accumulated during Interleague play count in regular season totals.

How have the Swallows fared during Interleague play?

The Swallows have a total record of 79 wins and 65 losses during Interleague play since its inception in 2005. They have had a winning Interleague record in 3 out of the 5 seasons of Interleague play, coming in second in both 2006 and 2009.

Who are the Swallows playing?

What follows is a series of short summaries of all the Pacific League teams. I’ll tell you how they are doing this year, and throw out some players to watch out for during the game. They’re presented in the order we will be playing each team.

Orix Buffaloes
Last year’s Pacific League doormat, under new manager Akinobu Okada, are solidly in the race for 4th place with a record of 16-22-1. They come into Interleague play with a 2-7-1 over their last 10 games. Behind sluggers like Alex Cabrera, Greg LaRocca, and the young T-Okada, the Buffaloes lineup features some power but not much else. The Buffaloes also feature the worst pitching in the Pacific League with a team ERA of 4.55. Their best starting pitchers, Chihiro Kaneko and Mamoru Kishda, have been inconsistent both recording records of 2-3, with ERAs over 4.70. The Swallows have feasted on the Buffaloes compiling a 18-6 record against them in Interleague play, never failing to win the season series.

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
The always strong Hawks come into Interleague play with a record of 24-17-1, with a record of 6-3-1 over their last 10 games. The defending Interleague Champions, along with the Marines, are a half a game back of the league leading Seibu Lions, and are looking to use Interleague play as a springboard to the top of the league. The Hawks feature strong bats with Jose Ortiz leading NPB in homeruns with 13, and Munenori Kawasaki leading the Pacific League batting race with a .358 average. Hiroki Kokubo is also having a good season, hitting .300 with 8 homeruns. The Hawks are also aggressive on the basepaths leading the league with 59 stolen bases. In terms of pitching, Toshiya Sugiuchi just can’t seem to lose, racking up 7 wins in 8 starts, and closer Takahiro Mahara has saved 12 games while giving up only 1 earned run. In Interleague play the Hawks hold a 15-9 record over the Swallows.

Saitama Seibu Lions
Coming into Interleague play the Lions sit atop the Pacific League with a 25-16 record, with a 5-5 record over their last 10 games. The Lions sit atop the league on the strength of their pitching staff that boasts a league leading team ERA of 3.62. The rotation features Kazuyuki Hoashi with his league leading ERA of 1.27, 2009 Sawamura award winner Hideaki Wakui, and the reliable young Takayuki Kishi. Brian Sikorski leads the league with 13 saves. The Lions batters aren’t too shabby either, with sluggers Takeya Nakamura, Hiroyuki Nakajima, and Dermal Brown. The Swallows hold a 14-10 record over the Lions in Interleague play, but have split the season series every year over the last 3 years. Also, the Swallows have met the Lions in the Japan Series 3 times, coming away with the title twice, in 1993 and 1997.

Chiba Lotte Marines
The post-Bobby Valentine Marines came out of the gates swinging, opening the season with a 9-2-1 over their first 4 series. They’ve cooled down somewhat since then, mostly by being confounded by the Hawks, but they are still feature a dangerous team with a 23-15-1 record. The Marines feature a very robust offensive attack with 5 of the top 10 batting leaders wearing Marine colours. The Marines are the only team with a team OPS over .800, .820 to be exact, the next closest team is Seibu with a team OPS of .752. In layman’s terms, the Marines are patient at the plate, hit for average, and power. Former Major Leaguer Tadahito Iguchi is arguably having the best season out of the Marines batters, leading the league in doubles, walks, and OBS. Although hard slugging Kim Tae-Kyun, young captain Tsuyoshi Nishioka, and team batting leader Takashi Ogino, all have cases to make. The pitching hasn’t been too shabby either, with a team ERA of 3.97. However, beyond young ace pitcher Yoshihisa Naruse, all the other Marines starters have been somewhat inconsistent. Historically the Swallows hold a slight edge over the Marines in Interleague play with a record of 13-11.

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
Last year’s Pacific League Champions have hit a serious snag in their quest to repeat, and are currently sitting at the bottom of the Pacific League standings with a record of 14-25-1. Things have started to look up for the Fighters as they have won 6 out of their last 10, and are on a 3 game winning streak going into Interleague play. The Fighters feature all-world pitcher Yu Darvish, who is leading the league with 78 strikeouts and who sports a health 1.79 ERA. Beyond Darvish, however, the Fighters have had trouble finding consistency in their starting pitchers. The Fighters feature 3 batters with .300+ batting averages in Kensuke Tanaka, Yoshio Itoi, and Tomohiro Nioka, but are having problems plating runners with only 145 runs batted in. The Fighters have only managed to hit 18 homeruns in 40 games, and their leading homerun hitter is former Swallows favourite Atsunori Inaba with just 4. The Swallows hold a 12-12 record against the Fighters in Interleague play, but that is distorted by the 5-1 record we recorded in the inaugural season of Interleague play.

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
After losing manager Katsuya Nomura, last year’s Pacific League runner up are reverting back to their losing ways with a 16-23 record. Momentum is also not on the Golden Eagles’ side, with a 4 game losing streak coming into Interleague play. The Golden Eagles are like the Fighters in many ways, except instead of having one über pitcher in Yu Darvish, the Golden Eagles have three good, but sometime inconsistent, pitchers in Masahiro “Ma-kun” Tanaka, Hisashi Iwakuma, and Satoshi Nagai. Those three pitchers combine for 9 out of the Golden Eagles’ 10 league leading complete games. Unfortunately the Golden Eagles’ haven’t been able to score any runs just like the Fighters. But whereas the Fighters had three batters hitting .300+, the Golden Eagles only have one, Yusuke Takatsu. Catcher Motohiro Shima is the only other regular hitting above .300, but he hasn’t had enough at bats to qualify for the inclusion on the leaderboard. Veteran Takeshi Yamasaki, who lead the league in homeruns in 1996 and 2007, leads the team in homeruns with 4. Overall, the Golden Eagles have hit an anemic 16 homeruns in 39 games, and feature a league low .653 team OPS. The Swallows hold a 17-7 lifetime advantage of the Golden Eagles in Interleague play.

How do you think the Swallows will do in Interleague play?

I think if our pitching stays strong and our bats wake up like we saw in the last series, I think we have a decent shot at coming out of Interleague play with a winning record. If we can get lucky with some pitching matchups, I can see us going 14-10 by beating up on Orix, Nippon Ham, and Rakuten. But then again, seeing the kind of season we’ve been having so far, I can also easily see us going 10-14 or worse. I’m also curious to see how Takada will rejigger the lineup when we have the DH available.

The Tsubamegun at Chiba Marine Stadium? Hostile territory, one might think.

Not when Mr. Larry Rocca is around.

First of all, Mr. Rocca wears nice suits. We were a bit taken aback when he appeared out of thin air in 90 degree sunlight wearing a blue and white striped three-button job with a crisp royal-colored tie. Yes, we were fantastically under-dressed and sweaty, but that will surprise few of you that have met us.

But we shook hands, he made fun of our baseball caps, complimented Ken from TPR (who was with us) on his Aoki towel-scarf, and we quickly strode off to collect our press passes and start our journey through the confines of the revamped and user-friendly Chiba Marine Stadium.

It was a bit of a haul out to Kaihin-makuhari station for us because we all live in western Tokyo. It takes a little over an hour to get there by train from Takadanobaba station and the Tozai line. We weren’t sure how long it would be until we could eat again, so we stopped at the Shakey’s pizza place in ‘Baba for their lunch buffet (never a very good idea) and then set out for Chiba.

We deprived Larry of the opportunity to show us the Chiba Lotte Marines Museum that is perched near the gates surrounding home plate by showing up early and touring around a bit. Lots of great pictures and multi-media detailing the meatmorphosis of the team from its days in Kawasaki to its current winning formula in Ichihara, Chiba. Larry didn’t mind that we had done a little snooping on our own, I’m sure he was hoping that we’d watch the dancers on the main stage out in front of the stadium for a little bit before we came out to meet him. There are lots of things to do at Chiba Marine Stadium before the game begins, including a merchandise selection that had us green with envy as we thought of the tent at Jingu and the hurdles through which one must leap to get his head into a fitted Swallows cap. No such shortage in Marine country. (And no prominent hawking of their arch-rivals’ gear when said rivals aren’t even playing, either. Maybe it’s their self-respect we envied, as much as their tat selection.)

Larry quickly led us out to the field where we saw the team going through some pre-game drills -soft toss, bunting, and fielding practice – and this is where we got to see manager Bobby Valentine for the first time.

Bobby came over for a quick chat, which began, true to his reputation, with him poking fun at us and his staff, then we were off to meet “Mr. Info”, otherwise known as Paul Pupo, who, along with Larry, told us a bit about the Marines’ progressive approach to statistical analysis and attention to detail. During every game, Paul oversees a “Mission Control”-looking operation, which greatly impressed us – almost as much as Paul’s stories of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle of his early years and philosophizing on the happiness that true love brings did. (If you want your lady to think you’re romantic, don’t let her hear Mr. Info on the subject – he’ll outdo you, hands down, unless your name is Keats.) This philosophical bent and a penchant for wit seemed to be the glue that held Bobby’s crew together. We’re all expecting a lot more out of our colleagues now. (Of course it would help if they had cool baseball jobs, too.)

Then it was off to see some more of the stadium. Bobby’s office was on the list of places that we were allowed to sneak a peak at, and we also got to sit in on Chiba’s official press conference announcing the three players, Nishioka, Satozaki, and Naruse, that would be on the Japanese national baseball team in next month’s Beijing olympics.

The Marines have made great strides in making the stadium a place that’s enjoyable for more than just the baseball. While we were duly impressed by the nice new skyboxes, which have hosted the likes of Tom Hanks, we thought the club’s attempts at emphasizing the history and continuity of the team were even better – just the sort of thing we’d like to see over at Jingu, if only the Swallows could do something about that lease.

The topper, though, was the bank of picnic tables with the truly thoughtful touch of an all-you-can-drink option. Not impressed? It starts three hours before game time. (We’re never missing an Interleague game out there again.)

Then it was off to the home team dugout where we were able to set up shop and interviewed a few of Chiba’s foreign players.

First was Benny Agbayani. The former New York Met (also under Valentine) talked to us about some of the differences between MLB and NPB, told of how he has tried to do everything he can to instill a winning spirit in the younger players on the team, and what he saw in the near future for himself.

Then we were able to meet Jose Ortiz who is one of the team’s most versatile players. He played first, second, and third bases during a game this past weekend, and he has been a key utility man in Valentine’s plans this season. Ortiz shared with us the difficulties of returning to top level form in Japan after surgery on his left arm and also expounded on some of the differences between the way the game is approached in Japan and North America.

The final player that we had a chance to talk to was Brian Sikorski, the former Swallow who is currently in his second stint with the Chiba Lotte Marines. Brian voiced praise of former Tokyo manager Atsuya Furuta and we discussed the differences between this and last year’s bullpens at Jingu stadium.

As game-time neared, the stands began to fill and an increasing number of VIPs filed in and out of the dugout. We, of course, felt very out of place and were sure we were about to be kicked out when Bobby Valentine walked into the dugout and agreed to talk into the mic for us.

On air.

We covered topics such as the Global MLB Draft and the idea of an Asian Baseball League. We also touched on doping in NPB and what can be done to eradicate it (although Bobby said he had a hard time convincing his players to even take anti-inflammatory drugs when they were actually injured – the only drug they need being a couple of post-game beers, which, he said, was the way in the States until BALCo replaced beer.) We also got to hear a little bit about Bobby’s many restaurants. Even when baited, though, he didn’t repeat his previous claim that Bobby V’s was the first restaurant to serve wrap sandwiches.

No sooner had we taken the mics off his jersey than the conversation turned to kanji. We didn’t really anticipate that happening, but that’s where it went, and that’s where it stayed, even after he was pulled away to turn in the line-up cards. This is about the same time that we were introduced to Bobby’s bench coach, Mr. Frank Ramppen, who, like everyone else on the staff, is one hell of a guy.

Bobby swears by Remembering the Kanji, a book by James W. Heisig, and he shared with us, while we were standing behind home plate, some of the examples of how the method works. Mr. Valentine has figured out how to remember, read, and pronounce 1,400 kanji since he started reading the book this year. That’s two-thirds of the way to being able to read and understand a Japanese newspaper…

Maybe Bobby should start his own language school, too.

Even as the time for the first pitch grew dangerously near, Bobby posed for pictures with us in his office and then insisted on telling us about a couple of the amazing photos and artifacts hanging on the walls.

This was a truly impressive collection of memorabilia, much of which Larry had shown us as he was giving us a tour a bit earlier – awards, medals, pictures with Presidents and of the celebrations after the Marines’ 2005 Japan Series win, copies of priceless photo albums of the New York Yankees’ tour of Japan in 1934 and other historical baseball events, Japan Series program covers dating back years, and Bobby’s first-ever baseball contract – $500 a week, if memory serves.

All in all, it’s safe to say that we were treated better than we deserved, especially when you consider that our site rarely mentions Bobby’s team anyway.

Next, it was time to enjoy the game versus the Orix Buffaloes. We settled into our “Bobby Seats” on the third base side of the stadium, eschewed our caps in favor of new Marines headgear, and enjoyed the game, which was exciting enough to serve as a climax to what had already been a day more exciting to us than we could get across here.

Down 6-1 as the end drew near, Chiba staged an impressive rally leaving them down by just one run with a man ready to bolt for home and only one out as Benny stepped up to the plate. Could it get any better? The guy who’d been so cool to us just a few hours before was now in position to win the game in dramatic fashion.

Unless, of course, he grounded into a double play.

Oh well, it happens to the best of ‘em.

That’s what you get for inviting a bunch of Swallows fans around before the game, I guess. We were won over nonetheless and can say that we’d pull for the Marines in any game except against us.