Sources: Daily / Sponichi / Daily Hanshin outfielder Hayata Itoh, who tested positive for COVID-19 on March 26, was released from hospital on April 5th, becoming the first of the three hospitalized Tigers to be discharged. He will spend an indefinite period in isolation in his home, and had this to say through the team:…
To no one’s surprise, really, the NPB season has been further delayed due to the continued spread of the coronavirus in Japan, especially in the Tokyo area. Today (April 4) marked the first day in which there were over 100 new cases reported in the nation’s capital alone, and most of them cannot be traced…
This year’s team slogan, announced last November at the team’s annual Fan Appreciation Day, is 執念 Tigers Change 2018. 執念 (shuunen) means “tenacity” and manager Tomoaki Kanemoto was hoping the slogan would give his team that extra push to be tenacious at the plate, on defense, on the mound, in all situations. But the fact…
Life as a Tigers fan had been pretty depressing for much of June. Surprisingly, one of the few teams we’ve had success against this season is the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Thanks to them (really, thanks to some untimely errors) we were able to put that 5-game losing streak behind us. SWEEP! Game 66: Brought to…
You expect to win two, if not three when you’re playing against a bottom-feeding team like the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. The Tigers barely pulled it off – but hey, we’ll take the wins any way we get them. Game 58 – Kids Back in Kanemoto’s Good Books? Starting Pitchers: Shintaro Fujinami vs. Wataru Karashima…
I hated Wadaball. So did most of you. And when his time at the helm ended in October 2015, and Tomoaki Kanemoto took over the reins, there was a lot of excitement in Tigerland. Things were going to be different, at last! Aniki’s team would be faster and (much) stronger than the yawn-inducing lineup Yutaka…
The Tigers were gifted ten free passes, and a crucial error by the usually-reliable Carp shortstop allowed Hanshin to turn the tables in the sixth inning to steal a win in their first game at Koshien Stadium this season. Starting Pitchers: Taiki Ono (1-0, 1.23 ERA) vs. Kazuki Yabuta (1-0, 3.60 ERA) 2 With two…
The Hanshin Tigers announced their top squad members today in preparation for the start of the 2018 season, which starts tomorrow against the Yomiuri Giants at Tokyo Dome (March 30, 6:00 pm JST). Here is the list, as well as some comments from yours truly: Catchers #12 Seishiro Sakamoto: Of the three catchers, he’s got…
Before we get to the highlights (yes, there were a couple of games!), here are the latest bits of news: – Manager Tomoaki Kanemoto has declared that Yusuke Ohyama will get a chance at third, which means moving ironman Takashi Toritani over to second base. I guess Hiroki Uemoto is out of a job! –…
In this series, we look back on our draft picks from the past six seasons and see how they are faring now. Were the guys all the cracked up to be? Overachievers? Underachievers? Non-achievers? Click here for: 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 Round 1: Hayata Itoh (OF) – Keio University Not…