Reason to weep: it was reported that several key members of the Swallows are reportedly out of action due to the flu.

The regular season ended on Monday when Tokyo came from behind to beat Yomiuri, and the Swallows’ resulting 71-72-1 record earned them praise for a modest improvement over last year and the team’s first ever advancement to the Climax Series. The team’s solid play at the end of 2009 was a refreshing bookend to a [...]

October 16th, 2009 Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 4 Tohoku Rakuten Eagles 11 Best of 3 Series: Fukoka 0 – 1 Tohoku (Kleenex Stadium) The Eagles absolutely destroyed the visiting Hawks in the first game of what could be an abbreviated series up in Sendai.

So here we are: half a game out of third place (one game ahead of fifth), and 15 games remaining in the 2009 regular season. The tears-inducing freefall of the last eight weeks notwithstanding, the birds are still in the playoff picture due to the blanket of mediocrity covering every team in the Central League, [...]

Trans-Pacific Radio just published a podcast which reviews the 2008 baseball season all the way through the Japan Series which was eventually won by the Saitama Seibu Lions. Click here to listen to the podcast.

October 23rd, 2008 Chunichi Dragons 2 Yomiuri Giants 11 (Tokyo Dome) That hurt. Yomiuri regained its swagger tonight and walked all over Chunichi’s pitching on way to an 11-2 rout of the defending Japan Series champions.

October 22nd, 2008 Chunichi Dragons 4 Yomiuri Giants 3 (Tokyo Dome) Chunichi came up with some clutch play to level this series at one game apiece.* Shockingly, it took Yomiuri starter, Seth Greisinger, 101 pitches to get through four and one-third innings during which he gave up three runs (two earned) off of five hits. [...]

October 22nd, 2008 Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 0 Saitama Seibu Lions 9 (Seibu Dome) The Saitama Seibu Lions employed an old-fashioned ass-whuppin’ tonight en route to advancing to the Japan Series versus the winner of the Chunichi-Yomiuri series that is currently locked at 1-1. The name of the night was Hideaki Wakui (2-0, 0.60) who [...]

October 21st, 2008 Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 4 Saitama Seibu Lions 9 (Seibu Dome) Former Tokyo Swallows ace, Kazuhisa Ishii (1.29 playoff ERA), pitched a very strong seven innings for the home team in his first postseason appearance in a Lions uniform. He gave up three runs, one of them earned, off of five hits [...]

October 20th, 2008 Chunichi Dragons 2 Hanshin Tigers 0 (Kyocera Dome) A 9th inning Tyrone Woods two-run home run off Hanshin closer Fujikawa was the difference between the two teams on Monday night, as Chunichi advanced to the Climax Series 2nd Stage.