An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
April 14th, 2012 Hiroshima Carp 1 Tokyo Swallows 10 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WWLLW (Matsuyama) The birds’ first game of the year against the fish was a home-away-from-home game in Matsuyama, a fortunate choice of location given the constant rain that cancelled every other game in the Kanto region. Your Tokyo [...]
Thanks to Gen at Yakyu Baka for tipping us off about season predictions made by the so-called experts assembled by Sponichi. Some of them clearly haven’t been paying close attention to what went on behind the scenes with all six of the Central League teams since the Japan Series ended last November. All 14 pundits had [...]
Chunichi Dragons Kenshin Kawakami, Chunichi’s u-turn starter, apparently married an American citizen while working in the US. Victor Diaz signed a one-year deal. Yomiuri Giants The Giants put a clown suit on KBO’s Hanwha Eagles beating them 14-0 on Thursday. Hanshin Tigers Matt Murton joined spring camp on February 8th. His delayed return to Japan [...]
Chunichi Dragons Signed reliever Jorge Sosa to a one year deal. Sosa has a 4.72 ERA through 294 big league appearances. Yomiuri Giants NPB Tracker thinks the Giants should be legitimate contenders this year. Hanshin Tigers Kubo and Hirano finally re-signed. The team shaved 40 million yen off of Kubo’s salary and tacked 30 of [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
