Unlike MLB, which manages its media relations in an orderly fashion, NPB has, for reasons I still cannot fathom, never stepped in to ensure that media covering the Japan Series have orderly and predictable access before and after the games.
Other than the required managers’ meeting on the Friday before Game 1, and the obligatory press conferences that day, the teams run everything.
Since NPB delegated media access to the teams in 2020 to develop individual COVID responses in regards to the media and fans, Japanese pro baseball has ended a 70-plus year tradition of allowing reporters in every park at every game on the field and in the dugouts before games while letting them follow players after the games.
The Japan Series heads to Osaka for Game 3 on Tuesday with Yakult leading Orix 1-0 after Game 2’s tie. The series will see its first lefty starters, Yakult’s Keiji Takahashi, and Orix’s Hiroya Miyagi.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto was named the winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award after leading the Pacific League with four complete games, two shutouts, 15 wins, a .750 winning percentage, 193 innings, 205 strikeouts and a 1.68 ERA. It was the second straight season he led in those six categories.
