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 begun their first season as defending champions in 38 years. That said, to date (April 4), they have not looked much like victors. That said, we’ve only just begun. I have promised myself to not get too high or too low after any…
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 You know you’ve found the perfect job when you find yourself shaking your head going, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this. Honestly, I’d do it for free.” At the end of February, I found myself in exactly that situation. (Don’t tell my boss what…
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 Ever feel like you didn’t belong somewhere? Like you were way out of your league? I bet the young Hanshin Tigers players are feeling just that as they head to spring training. I mean, they are standing alongside the champions of Nippon Professional Baseball and trying to…
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 This offseason, just like so many in the past, has left baseball fans pining for the return of their favorite pastime. At the same time, two of Japan’s most hallowed playing grounds were converted into a different surface for one game that would determine a different sort…
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 won the Japan Series for the first time in 38 years, ending the second-longest drought in NPB. (The Carp have now gone 39 seasons without a championship, and will be playing for their first in 40 years next season.) Thanks in large part…
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 So this is what it feels like to be a fan of the champs. The Tigers nation, myself included, is still basking in the glory of it all, in part because of the frantic pace at which the team went from tenuously holding the lead in the…
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 It was an August for the ages, was it not? The Tigers only lost one series during its “Road of Death” and ended their time away from Koshien with an incredible 18-5 record. It surely was a great time to watch the Tigers do their thing. Unfortunately…
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 I once had a dream of becoming a sports journalist. I think I was caught up with the vague idea that being in the locker room with a championship team amidst the champagne shower frenzy was as good as life could get. Along the way, my aspirations…
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 If you take a quick look at Marty Kuehnert’s life in Japan, you’d think he was a real-life Midas. Does everything he touches turn to gold? It’s got to be fiction. Oftentimes, though, the most fantastic narratives are straight-up truth. Marty grew up in California, but had…
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 Japan is riding a perfect baseball wave right now. If you think about it, this perfect storm has been in the works for 5 years now. Ever since Shohei Ohtani took MLB by storm in 2018, there has been a heightened interest in the country and league…