After the rather embarrassing opening series in Tokyo against these same Giants (25 straight innings without a run), the Tigers’ pride was on the line for this, the first home set of 2024 against their longtime rivals. They continued to struggle with run production, but the pitching trio of Shoki Murakami, Masashi Itoh, and Yuki…
The good news is that the Hanshin Tigers won their 2024 Koshien debut (on a cold night, I might add). The bad news is that in three games, they managed just three runs (two of them coming in a blowout loss). They now have lost three of their first four sets of the year. Heating…
Last season, that magical season that saw the Tigers win the Japan Series, started with a three-game sweep at Kyocera Dome against these same Yokohama DeNA Baystars. That hot start propelled the team to the top of the standings, where they stayed for the better part of the season. This year things did not go…
The title defense began on March 29 at Tokyo Dome. You would think the defending champs, and the only CL team to finish in the top 3 for 5 straight years, would get to start their season at home! However, the Tigers traded that privilege for the right to host the Yomiuri Giants at Koshien…
The reigning NPB champions started their title defense on Friday night at Tokyo Dome. Koyo Aoyagi took the mound for the Tigers as they faced the Yomiuri Giants led by ace Shosei Togo. The first four innings were clean for both teams, though each had a chance to break the scoreless tie. In the top…
The Hanshin Tigers have been hard at work down in Okinawa. Camp started on February 1, and runs through the 27th. Starting this weekend, practice games will become more frequent, and we will see which players are going to get more playing time during the March exhibition games, and which will end up in the…
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…
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’…
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…
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…