Ichiro Suzuki, Akinori Iwamura & other NPB minor league stars
Ichiro Suzuki is some day going to be the first player to begin his career in NPB and end up in MLB's Hall of Fame. Akinori Iwamura won't make it,…
Japan trying to do right thing at home
Watching the implementation of NPB's new collision rule for a couple of months has been pretty painful. We've seen gun-shy catchers setting up for throws 10 feet from home plate…
Welcome to Npbspeak
The Oceania of George Orwell's 1984 has Newspeak as its official language which is used to transmit to the proletariat the wisdom of Big Brother. Japanese professional baseball in a nifty parallel, has Npbspeak to guide fans according…
Getting our fill at the plate
Here's a scene we discussed on today's Japan Baseball Weekly Podcast. A beautiful example of Buffaloes catcher Katsumi Yamasaki waiting for the throw next to the plate and blocking it…
Baseball’s twilight zone is in the rules
SoftBank Hawks manager Kimiyasu Kudo was enraged to see his second baseman, Keizo Kawashima, taken out on a slide by Nippon Ham Fighters and former major leaguer Kensuke Tanaka, and…
Minor material
A year ago, Tigers batting coach Tom O’Malley was touting rookie Taiga Ogoshi’s potential as a hitter. Although Hanshin’s third-round pick in the 2014 draft struggled at the top level…
NPB March 29 as it happened
After 179 innings to start the season, the Pacific League had its first home runs on Tuesday, when Daichi Suzuki of the Lotte Marines muscled up to put two over…
Opening weekend
It was great catching up with Fernando Seguignol the other day at QVC Marine Field before the Chiba Lotte Marines opened the season against the Nippon Ham Fighters. As we…
Time for good old-fashioned witch hunt
OK. Saying the Yomiuri Giants should change their game-starting theme music at Tokyo Dome to the Who's "You Better You Bet" was seriously in bad taste. The thought occurred when…
NPB officially enters 19th century
Tuesday, March 15, 2016, is a date we can remember as the day Japanese baseball caught up with one of baseball's oldest rules -- the obstruction rule that prohibits blocking a…
