The long wait is over. For just the second time in NPB (1950-present) history, the Hanshin Tigers are the best team in Japan. This series went down to the wire, but the final game was lopsided from the start. Even in the innings that the Tigers didn’t score, they knocked on the door and put…
A loss is a loss, so there is no point in complaining about what seemed from these biased eyes to be an inconsistent strike zone. Normally steady Shoki Murakami walked two (on close calls) and Yuki Nishi walked one on a questionable call, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the benefit of several calls the other way…
Despite the dramatic win in Game 4, the Tigers still needed to win this one in order to head back to Kyocera Dome with some momentum and the pressure squarely on the Buffaloes. Their two best pitchers await, so forcing them into two must-win games was the only option. In spite of this, the Tigers’…
Before the Japan Series started, pretty much everyone predicted a low-scoring series. However, that surely has not been the case. Starter Hiroto Saiki labored through five innings but held the Buffaloes to a single run despite 8 base runners, and the relievers allowed the tying run to cross home (they were helped by a Tigers…
Coming home to Koshien Stadium after a rough beatdown on Sunday night, the Tigers were looking to take control of the series again. They opened the scoring, but an uncharacteristic outing from Masashi Itoh put them in a hole in the middle innings. However, the team fought back hard in the latter third of the…
Source: Daily Sports Online Former Tigers 5th Rounder Excited about Japan Series Canadian Daily Sports Online columnist Trevor Raichura sat in on a public viewing of Game 1 of the Japan Series, a Tigers 8-0 blowout win, at a yakiniku shop in downtown Kobe. Despite the big win for his favorite team, he says he…
The lesson we need to learn, Hanshin fans, is to not let the wins get us too high (until our fourth win of the series, that is) and to not let the losses get us too low. Yesterday was a dominant Tigers win, and tonight, well, it was the exact opposite. Our pitchers looked shaky,…
It’s always a little alarming when people start talking about a perfect game before it’s half over, but Shoki Murakami was dealing. No one reached base against him through four innings, conjuring up images of his first start in 2023 against the Yomiuri Giants (April 12, 7 perfect innings). The perfect game vanished against the…
Potential Pitching Matchups: Keep in mind that teams do not release this information very far ahead of time, so these are just our speculations, which are partly based on media reports we’ve read. Game 1 – Saturday, October 28, 6:30 pm (Kyocera Dome): Shoki Murakami (10-6, 1.75 ERA, 137 K) vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (16-6, 1.21 ERA) Game…
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 The Hanshin Tigers have been having themselves a dream season, winning their first Central League pennant in 18 years and sweeping their way through the Final Stage of the Climax Series. On the other side of NPB, the Orix Buffaloes won the Pacific League by a long…