An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
Chunichi Dragons Sold backup catcher, Keiji Oyama (31) to Tohoku. 2011 was Oyama’s best season so far, offensively-speaking. He hit .280/.394/.390 in 102 plate appearances. It sounds like Araki and Ibata could be reverting to their old positions, second and short, respectively. Victor Diaz is all but certain to be wearing a Chunichi uniform this [...]
The trivia question that popped up the other day got a decent response and was an enjoyable brain-teaser, so I thought I’d construct one that I actually know all of the answers to. Did you know that Ruppert Jones was the first player in NPB history to don the ’00′ uniform back in 1988? Playing [...]
Chunichi Dragons The talk of Araki and Ibata switching back to their original positions, 2nd and short, respectively, continues. Not that anyone cares. Victor Diaz might be on the team’s radar. Diaz played in Korea in 2009. Yomiuri Giants Hayato Sakamoto, Yomiuri’s prized homegrown shortstop, has been reaping the benefits of Shinya Miyamoto’s guidance this [...]
Chunichi Dragons Free agent LHP Wei-ying Chen signed with Baltimore. It’s a three-year deal that consequently puts a serious dent in Chunichi’s ability to keep opposing teams off the board. Cheers to that! Yomiuri Giants Sounds like the Giants may be about to sign utility INF/OF John Bowker who was recently released by the Phillies. [...]
Chunichi Dragons Mr. Takagi, the Dragons’ energetic and cuddly new manager, wants fans to touch his butt if they win the Central League Pennant in 2012. Yomiuri Giants In preparation for the upcoming season, Utsumi and several of his teammates went shopping in Guam. According to this report compiled by Yakyu Baka, Yomiuri will likely [...]
Happy New Year, everyone. Here’s another stab at a news roundup for our beloved Central League. Chunichi Dragons Under new management, the Dragons seem to be taking the whole ‘fan experience’ thing very seriously. Both the manager and the head of the team’s player group, starter Kazuki Yoshimi, have a bunch of ideas that range [...]
Happy holidays everyone! Hope that everyone out there has had a chance to spend some time with loved ones. This is the first of what will likely be an on-again, off-again column detailing what’s going on with Tokyo’s competition in the Central League. Chunichi Dragons Morimichi Takagi took over as Chunichi’s new coach following the [...]
Yakyu Baka reported back at the beginning of October, and Kozo Ota relayed the same information here, that eight players are not having their contracts extended for the 2012 season. Well, the Swallows reported on Thursday that they’ve basically filled three of those slots with a pair of out-of-contract players and another from the independent [...]
October 18th, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 4 Hanshin Tigers 0 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: LLLWW (Koshien) After huffing and puffing for a while, the CL’s most boring team finally clinched their second straight pennant in Yokohama with…..a 3-3 tie. How apt. For a while Tokyo’s championship hopes looked like they may live to see [...]
October 14th, 2011 Hanshin Tigers 10 Yakult Swallows 1 Streak: Lost 5 Last 5: LLLLL (Meiji Jingu) Tonight it seemed the only way the Swallows would win this game would be if the rain kept on falling and the game would have been called. Unfortunately, after a few rain delays, the game was eventually [...]
