Pandemic causes WBC Déjà vu
The year 2020 has been so bad that NPB is ready to reset the clock to 2009, the last year its union threatened to boycott the WBC -- partly over…
NPB owners shit the bed again
There is a fine line between understanding the business of baseball and the fact that baseball itself is not a business but a sport that people play or watch for…
April 24 Opening Day is madness
Tokyo Disneyland may be closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, but Fantasyland is operating at full capacity in the halls of government and in the offices of Nippon Professional Baseball.…
Tumbling Dice, K?
More than a year removed from his comeback player of the year season with the Chunichi Dragons, 39-year-old Daisuke Matsuzaka took the mound at MetLife Dome, where 21 years earlier…
Growing your own
The Pacific League has now won the last seven Japan Series and has a .532 interleague winning percentage. People have attributed the gap to more hard-throwing pitchers in the PL,…
Maru goes behind fielding numbers
I wasn't the only one to take note of Yoshihiro Maru's declining fielding metrics since 2016 with the Hiroshima Carp, but I may have been the most outspoken about them.…
Tigers prepare two-way doubletalk
After watching video of Tigers first-draft pick Junya Nishi batting and pitching, one has to be curious what Hanshin's plans are for him. Since last year, people were talking about…
Tony Barnette and Japan
On Wednesday, Jan. 29, Tony Barnette announced he is retiring from pro baseball after a career that included six seasons with the Yakult Swallows. His success with Yakult coincided with…
Japan’s shadow ball
Although claims of sexual harassment and abuse of power are becoming more and more frequent in Japanese society and Japanese sports, one has to wonder why Japan's poor record of…
Tuffy Rhodes has yet to really connect with Hall of Fame voters.
Tuffy Rhodes: On being himself
On Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2019, one of Japanese baseball's all-time greats, Tuffy Rhodes, remained gathering dust in the middle of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame players division voting results,…
