From the Daily Sports Online column / デイリースポーツオンラインの連載コラムから
March 31, 2023. Opening Day for the Central League in NPB. The long wait is over. Six pm couldn’t come sooner. That said, for me, 5:15 pm is when it all begins. Just 45 minutes before the ump yells “Play ball,” we fans get to see the starting lineups submitted by managers, and visions start to dance in our heads.
You see the players’ names, their positions, and the hitting order, and the imaginary game unfolds in your head. The leadoff hitter reaches on a walk. Steals second. Comes home on a single. An out later, the cleanup hitter smashes a home run to deep center. In the bottom half, the starter takes the mound and strikes out the side! And on and on.
It’s not hard to create those images if you are a hardcore baseball fan who knows the team and its members. But social media, when done well, helps the casual fan to get ready for the game, too. Most (and it pains me to not be able to say “all”, even in 2023) teams have a Twitter account, and they all faithfully present their starting nine at precisely the same time. It is extremely interesting to see how each team chooses to present its heroes to its fanbase. Last season, I decided to rank NPB teams’ Twitter accounts according to how “cool” and effective they were at sharing this information with fans before game time. Here’s how my list broke down, followed by a brief explanation/rationale.
#12: Hiroshima Toyo Carp
NO TWITTER ACCOUNT! Shame on you.
#11: Hanshin Tigers
Just a link to their website. No visual appeal whatsoever. No information for people to catch at a glance (other than the starting pitcher’s name). Making people work for the info they want. And even the website is not the most visually appealing thing out there. (Yes, I’m making you click the link to see the design. Fully aware of the irony.) BOO!
#10: Tokyo Yakult Swallows
The manager hand-wrote the line-up, which gets handed to the officials for approval. Nice to have a personal, analog touch, but it could be so much more.
#9: Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Same as above, but also includes the opposing team’s starting lineup for a bit of extra info.
#8: Yomiuri Giants
The lineup card is like the last two, but the tweet also included three still-shots (and hashtagging the featured players) for a little more visual appeal.
#7: Orix Buffaloes
This is the same video you see at the stadium on the big scoreboard when they announce the starting lineup to the crowd. Cool, lots of moving parts, colors, and visual appeal… but who wants to watch a 2-minute video while scrolling Twitter just to find out who’s hitting when?
#6: Saitama Seibu Lions
Now we start getting into the good ones. The regular typed-out order is alright (hashtags included), but the visual below it makes this appealing. Nice touch with a full-body shot of the starting pitcher. Who knew they only had one starting “member” though?
#5: Yokohama DeNA Baystars
Date, time, location, team slogan, game #, and nice chest-up profile pics for each player. Team colors come through and this looks crisp. You have to look carefully to find players’ positions, though. A little too subtle for my liking.
#4: Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Team logos look sharp, players are placed at their positions on the diamond, and names and numbers are easy to read. The “Starting Line Up Players” is kinda shady English, but other than that, this one’s nice.
#2 (tie): Chunichi Dragons
Not sure why they are doing this in English only, given that their fanbase is 99% Japanese, but it looks good. Short 13-second video with some animation in it. Players’ names, numbers, positions, and hitting order all come through clearly. Would be nice if the head-shot pics were slightly bigger.
#2 (tie): Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
More or less the same as the Dragons. The video is 2 seconds shorter, and the names are in Japanese. Their fonts pop better than the Dragons one, but otherwise, this one is a wash. Well done!
#1: Chiba Lotte Marines
Just look at this video. Twenty seconds, full-sized action shots of every player, sharp fonts and background design (diamond motif). This is the gold standard.
Why is any of this important, anyways? Well, if you want to draw in new fans, this is the way to do it. Imagine if you were shopping for a product and the ads looked like these. Which would you be likely to stop and look at, and give your full attention to? The answer is clear. Links don’t cut it. Words alone do not do the job. Infomercials are too drawn-out. The top three here will earn themselves more fans. The next three might. The others need a lesson in social media and marketing.
I am intrigued to see what each team does in 2023 to build upon what they did last year. The Tigers can’t do any worse than they’ve been doing these past 6-7 seasons. I just hope no one faxes the Carp and convinces them to get a Twitter account because I do not want to re-do these rankings and see our dear team in last place. Get it together, Tigers social media team!