Unfortunately, because of the weekend of rainouts, plus a miraculous Swallows win against the Carp earlier on the weekend, the Hiroshima Carp came to town with a magic number of one. And of course, all the talk in the media was that the Tigers had to prevent the pennant from being clinched on our soil….
The Yomiuri Giants aren’t a fourth place team on paper. With three of the best starters in the Central, and a lineup of proven veteran hitters and free agents, they should be contending for the pennant. And when they play the Hanshin Tigers, they look like a pennant team. The reality in this series was…
The gap has shortened once again. With hopes of first place completely vanished, and eight matches remaining against these Yokohama DeNA BayStars, this series was crucial in establishing that (a) second place is OURS, and that (b) if we meet in the Climax Series, it won’t be easy for them. In three days, the Tigers…
Somehow in the past month, the Tigers have managed to take away the Hiroshima Carp‘s magic number. Twice. And in the month of August, they managed to cut an 11-game gap between the teams in half. And yet during that time, the team only went 2-3-1 in their head-to-head matches. This three-game set in Hiroshima…
After struggling to score runs against the Yakult Swallows (but still winning all three games), the Hanshin Tigers hosted the Chunichi Dragons over the weekend. It was a much needed six-game home stand after a 27-game trip away from Koshien Stadium. For the most part, this one went down as expected, although Sunday’s game left fans…
Just a week ago these two teams squared off in the home-run friendly confines of Jingu Stadium. The Tigers experienced a spike in their offensive numbers while enjoying another series victory against the Yakult Swallows. And at long last, the team was back at Koshien Stadium to play baseball – the first time since July…
No matter how weak the Yomiuri Giants appear (1 game under .500 entering this series), they always seem to bring their best against the Hanshin Tigers. As the Tigers’ long 27-game stretch away from Koshien Stadium drew to a close with this series, the team hoped to end on a high note. Unfortunately, the note…
Typically, Nagoya Dome is not a friendly place for the Hanshin Tigers. In fact, in the team’s first two trips to face the Chunichi Dragons in their home park this season, the Tigers went 1-4 (with another loss coming in a countryside park). But the start of the “Road of Death” at the end of…
Let’s not fool ourselves. The Yakult Swallows are sitting a distant last in the standings, but any given team can win any given game. These Swallows have been playing decent ball of late, having come back from a 10-run deficit last week against the Dragons, and then overcoming a 4-run Giants lead on Thursday night….
It’s never easy going up against the defending champs. And the Hiroshima Carp have been having their way with opponents of late, having won six straight series, and blowing out three different teams by double digits in the past two weeks. (This includes one against our Tigers at Koshien.) A sweep for us could give…