An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
May 20th, 2012 Orix Buffaloes 4 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1 Streak: Lost 2 Last 5: LWLLL (Meiji Jingu Stadium) The run production woes continue. What do you need to know? After Wednesday’s blowout victory over 2011 Japan Series champion Fukuoka, the birds are a bit constipated run-wise. Not fun. Tokyo got off on the wrong [...]
Tokyo News Today’s home opener versus the Hanshin Tigers was obliterated by very unfriendly weather, so the clocks of the Tokyo faithful have been reset to 6PM Wednesday evening. We’ll see you there. Miyamoto took a pitch in the upper calf (just below the back of the knee) during Sunday’s game, and he’s apparently still [...]
We’re back with fresh intro/outro bookend music (care of Dave’s handiwork) and our prognostications about the 2012 NPB season! With less than two weeks to go until opening day (Friday March 30th, 6PM, Tokyo Dome), we run through where we think the 12 NPB teams will finish the season with extra-special emphasis placed on your [...]
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 [...]
Shinya Miyamoto, Tokyo’s veteran infielder and now 41 years of age, was voted the best defensive third baseman in the Central League this season. It was the third time that he has won the honor in as many seasons. That is, of course, in addition to the six Golden Gloves he had previously won at [...]
Fukuoka win the 2011 Japan Series 4-3 over Chunichi.
2011 Central League champs, the Chunichi Dragons, advanced to the Japan Series after defeating the Tokyo Swallows in six games in the final stage of the playoffs. The Fukuoka (Softbank) Hawks won the Pacific League pennant and then swept the Saitama Seibu Lions to face Chunichi in the best-of-seven series.
It’s now time to decide who will move on to the 2011 Japan Series. The schedule for the final stage of the Climax Series is set to go a little something like this (scroll down for the Pacific League schedule): Central League 2nd place Tokyo Yakult Swallows vs 1st place Chunichi Dragons All games will [...]
May 23rd, 2011 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 0 Tokyo Swallows 0 Streak: Drew 1 Last 5: LLLLD (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Not a very enjoyable day at Jingu. This game was called after five innings of steady drizzling. The mound had just about turned to mud. Fukuoka 1. Kawasaki SS 2. Honda 2B 3. [...]
