An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
May 12th, 2013 Hanshin Tigers 4 Tokyo Swallows 2 Streak: Lost 4 Last 5: WLLLL (Botchan Stadium - Matsuyama) Tokyo got an early lead and held onto it for most of the game thanks to Yagi’s solid start, but Hanshin won the game on a three-run effort in the top of the eighth. And guess [...]
April 11th, 2013 Tokyo Swallows 1 Chunichi Dragons 4 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: LWLWL (Nagoya Dome) The Swallows lost their second series in a row as they dropped the rubber match against the Dragons. Tonight, the Swallows lost to the 1-2 punch of Daniel Cabrera and Hector Luna. On the Swallows side, it [...]
October 1st, 2012 Yomiuri Giants 0 Tokyo Swallows 5 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WLWLW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Tokyo finished out its regular season schedule against crosstown rival, Yomiuri, in some style with a rather uneventful win over the 2012 Central League champs. The win brought Tokyo’s regular season record against the Giants to [...]
March 30th, 2012 Tokyo Swallows 6 Yomiuri Giants 3 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: WW— (Tokyo Dome) After last night’s strong pitching win, the bats came alive to cover for one shaky inning by Muranaka. Both teams came out with the same lineup as yesterday, with sophomore Sawamura pitching for the Giants and Muranaka starting [...]
Swallows Present As mentioned in our most recent podcast, Balentien could start the year on the top team. Because he’s starting to show some life at the plate, mixed with Roman’s continued stability on the mound, and abetted by Lim’s tender throwing arm, Tokyo’s well-paid closer could start the year on the farm instead. Yet [...]
Welcome to the Monday Review, in which we’ll look back at the week that was and look ahead to the week that will be. We hope a recurring weekly review column will help readers identify some trends that can’t be covered in a single game report. We’re still trying to work out the format, so [...]
October 2nd, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 4 Yokohama BayStars 3 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: WWLLW (Yokohama Stadium) After watching its young pitchers get knocked about the park for the past two days, Tokyo looked to salvage a bit of pride against the recently very feisty BayStars. Tokyo opened the scoring on a solo Hatakeyama [...]
September 28th, 2011 Hanshin Tigers 5 Tokyo Swallows 8 Streak: Won 3 Last 5: LLWWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) The Swallows sent Shichijo to the mound after a 1 month stint in Toda, while the Tigers elected to send young Takumi Akiyama to the mound for his first start of the season. Akiyama had two strong [...]
September 24th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Chunichi Dragons 3 Streak: Lost 4 Last 5: TLLLL (Nagoya Dome) Another day, another heart-breakingly close loss to the Dragons in Nagoya. The Swallows got their points early as Kawabata managed a two out single off Soto, which Hatake followed with his 21st home run of the season. [...]
September 22th, 2011 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2 Chunichi Dragons 3 Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: WWTLL (Nagoya Dome) The Swallows landed in Nagoya looking to create some distance between them and the second place Dragons. The Dragons, on the other hand, were playing their first game after learning of the impending departure of their strict [...]
