Myth: The BayStars have a terrible pitching staff and a dynamite hitting order. The opposite has been true more often than not this season so far. Though the Tigers entered this one 6-2 against the last place team so far, they would need their best pitching and hitting just to stay competitive in this one. Game…
Host T-Ray welcomes 2015 regular co-host WhizOh back to the show as the two talk about the first full week of baseball – three games in Tokyo against the Swallows and three in Yokohama against the BayStars. We choose our players of the week and predict the week to come as well. Opening song – 君は君だけ –…
Though the high school baseball tournament has been over for a few days already, the Tigers continue to play ball away from Koshien to start the season. They split their series at Jingu against the Swallows evenly (1-1-1) despite giving up 14 runs in the last two games. They would continue the road trip in Yokohama…
WARNING: This post will be LONG and will likely not contain many visuals. If you are serious about knowing all you need to know about the upcoming season, keep reading. If you just want to know which team I pick to win it all, scroll down to the bottom of the post. For a look…
The 12-in-12 could not have been going any worse than it had up to this point. Two wins and eight losses, with the lone wins coming against the Yakult Swallows (1-1) and Hiroshima Carp (1-2). Two losses each at the hands of the BayStars and Giants, plus one against the Chunichi Dragons, completely eliminated the…
So the lead was now down to a half game. The Hanshin Tigers needed to take advantage of the short “home” respite at Kyocera Dome on the weekend against the floundering Yokohama DeNA Baystars. Could they hold them off and preserve or even build on their lead over the surging Giants? Game 1: Starter Minoru…
Two straight huge wins over the Hiroshima Carp had the Tigers looking great and remaining in the thick of the Central League race. The weekend series in Yokohama would feature their two legitimate aces and a chance to move into first place if all the cards got dealt in their favor. How would they fare…
It is completely illogical and unfathomable, and in all ways inconceivable that two .500 teams should be tied for the league lead as summer vacation started here in Japan. And yet that is exactly where the Central League found itself – the Yakult Swallows and Hanshin Tigers sat at the top, a game ahead of…
I got a phone call on Saturday morning from Tigers legend Gene Bacque. The day after the team played in its 10,000th regular season game, he wanted to tell me that he was the pitcher in the team’s 3000th ever game. It was August 15, 1963 (3 days after his 26th birthday) and the team…
It is fitting that the star of the Tigers’ eighth straight home win is number eight, Kosuke Fukudome. The 38-year old had a game for the ages on Saturday, not only reaching base every time up, but scoring on every occasion as well. The Tigers won 5-3, and we could spend some time looking at the…