The sting of the opening series sweep to the Swallows looked to be alleviated in Hiroshima. The team actually started scoring runs again, and even held the lead in each of these contests. Unfortunately, the bullpen (and in the final game, the starter) could not hold the slim leads down, and the bats were unable…
About a week before the regular season began, we sat down with new pitcher Kyle Keller. At this point, he had appeared in just one preseason game (against the Softbank Hawks in Fukuoka) and was brimming with optimism. While the season has not gone at all as planned for him or the Tigers, this interview…
Rookie Takuma Kirishiki looked good for the game’s first five innings (much like third-year Ippei Ogawa did yesterday), but the bats were silent again today. Just five hits, and despite having three decent scoring chances, the scoreless inning streak extended to 23 and will need to come to an end in Hiroshima on Tuesday.
Yesterday after the fourth inning, the Tigers managed just one hit, and that lack of production hurt as the bullpen imploded. Today, the batting woes continued, with just a double and single in nine innings of hard-to-watch baseball. That’s being a bit harsh, actually. Ippei Ogawa was splendid for five innings. Two relievers (Taiki Ono…
The 2022 season started with a ton of uncertainty for Hanshin Tigers fans. Can we trust Shintaro Fujinami to start the year well? Is he worthy of the Opening Day starter role? Is Teruaki Sato ready to hit cleanup after a disastrous second half last season? Why is Kento Itohara batting 5th? Can 40-year-old Yoshio…
Hosts T-Ray and Sanjay discuss team news, the last nine exhibition games, and then turn the floor over to nine contributors who fearlessly predict the final standings in the Central League for the 2022 season! A little bit of analysis from the hosts follows that, and then a look ahead at the first nine games…
As you probably know by now, 2022 is the Year of the Tiger. You may also know that H-TEN has had its share of slogans through the years. We wanted to make this year special with a slogan that matches how we fans feel about the team, but also shows that we have a part…
Some of you might know that we did a really fun interview series with Jerry Sands last year. (If you did not know that, you might want to check it out. Plus our interviews with Mel Rojas Jr and Joe Gunkel and Matt Murton… plus keep your eyes open for one with Kyle Keller coming…
Here is an approximate look at how the Hanshin Tigers look heading into Opening Day 2022. Some of the injuries are just Covid-19 positive tests. I have tried to put every single player into one of the depth charts, though this is not 100% accurate, as I am not privy to the coaches’ decisions between…
If you are a new fan and are not particularly familiar with the team, let this be your introduction! We are going to break down the entire roster for you very briefly so you can get a feel for who is whom, what they have done, and what they might do in 2022 and beyond….