< Previous Next > Date: September 15, 2003 When you go 17 straight seasons without even contending for the pennant, seasons like this seem surreal. These Tigers won at least 15 games in each of the first four months of the season, and became the fastest team ever to reach 70 wins in a…
< Previous Next > Date: November 2, 1985 The drought had gone on long enough. In fact, there were players on the Tigers roster who were still in diapers the last time the team had won a pennant in 1964. And this team had a lot of the right pieces to take the team…
< Previous Next > Dates: October 15-18, 2014 To better understand the significance of this moment, you need to know the Central League’s playoff system. Until and including 2006, the team that finished first in the regular season standings automatically advanced to the Nippon Series. However, in 2007, the CL introduced the Climax Series. The…
< Previous Next > Date: June 12, 1999 Hanshin fans had had very little to cheer about for years. Fourteen seasons since the last championship and four more until the next, there was no telling when the Dark Ages would come to an end. One of the few bright spots on this team was a…
< Previous Next > Date: July 30, 2004 The ironman was on a mission. And not even a broken wrist was going to stop him. Playing in his 698th consecutive full game (no innings off) on July 29th, Tomoaki Kanemoto needed just 3 more games to match the NPB record of 700, set by Hideshi…
< Previous Next > Date: October 9, 2012 This moment cannot be properly understood without first understanding the absolute mess this team was before Tomoaki Kanemoto‘s acquisition during the 2002 offseason. Just two seasons removed from the 1985 championship, the team finished… 6th, 6th, 5th, 6th, 6th, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 6th, 6th, 5th, 6th, 6th,…
I’ll be honest with you: I’ve had the flu all this month. I haven’t been awake most of the past 5 days. I didn’t see a ton of highlights or read most of the news. But what I did read, and what I do know, I bring to you. And it comes down to one…
< Previous Next > Date: August 30, 1973 As the season was heading into its final month and the Tigers fighting to catch the Yomiuri Giants (who had won 8 straight Nippon Series at this point), the Tigers faced the Chunichi Dragons at Koshien Stadium. Young ace Yutaka Enatsu (25) was on the mound, and…
It’s actually a scary thing to be facing a team that is riding a 13-game losing streak. Because you know that streak will eventually come to an end, and you don’t want to be the team that helps them snap it. The Yakult Swallows last won on June 30th against these very Hanshin Tigers. So…
T-Ray is back with his friend Scott to talk about the game of the year, the decade, the club’s entire existence, really. Check it out!