An in-depth look at the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, Jingu Stadium, the Central League, and Japanese Pro Baseball
June 2nd, 2013 Tokyo Swallows 5 Chiba Marines 3 Streak: Won 1 Last 5: LWLLW (QVC Marine Stadium) This game was a wild one. There was a little bit of everything going on, but your Tokyo birds ended the afternoon with smiles on their faces. With the win, Tokyo secured the interleague series victory over their [...]
April 28th, 2013 Yomiuri Giants 1 Tokyo Swallows 2 Streak: Won 5 Last 5: WWWWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) Tokyo went into this contest looking for its first sweep of the 2013 campaign, and hoping to seal the deal for the home team was lefty Ryousuke Yagi. And he did remarkably well in his fifth start [...]
April 14, 2013 Tokyo Swallows 0 Yomiuri Giants 2 Streak: Lost 4 Last 5: WLLLL (Tokyo Dome) The Swallows sent Yagi to the mound to face Utsumi and try to stave off a sweep in the crosstown rivals’ first series of the season. Meanwhile, Yomiuri was looking to keep its perfect home record intact. But [...]
March 31st, 2013 Hanshin Tigers 0 Tokyo Swallows 2 Streak: Won 2 Last 5: LWW (Jingu Stadium) Your Tokyo Swallows rode another strong pitching performance to a shutout win at Hanshin’s expense. And with Hanshin’s Fujinami putting together a strong performance in his first pro start, there was little room for error given the [...]
October 14th, 2011 Tokyo Swallows 1 Chunichi Dragons 0 Series: Chunichi 1-1 Tokyo (Nagoya Dome) Six innings of shutout pitching by Tateyama, another Balentien longball, plus two innings of perfect relief from Tony led to a crucial victory in a win-or-go-home game down in Nagoya. And with the two teams combining for a total of [...]
We still have a lot (hopefully) of playoff baseball left ahead of us, but it’s never too early to start thinking about how to improve the team moving ahead. One of the most obvious points of interest is the list of players that have recently been granted their outright release by the teams that they [...]
September 21st, 2012 Tokyo Swallows 4 Yomiuri Giants 6 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WWWWL (Tokyo Dome) I want to be remain thankful and happy that the birds swept the last two series at a time when they really needed to. But no, it’s hard to be grateful when you drop the game that ensures [...]
September 16th, 2012 Yokohama BayStars 1 Tokyo Swallows 2 Streak: Won 3 Last 5: WLWWW (Meiji Jingu Stadium) With Hiroshima losing to the Dragons earlier this afternoon, the Swallows looked to extend their advantage in the race for the third and final CL playoff spot to a full three games. And that [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
