Tag Archives: Masataka Yoshida

NPB news: Nov. 2, 2022

We’ve had some news items since the Japan Series ended Sunday with players talking about taking their acts overseas, including one whose efforts might teach us whether Orix’s ownership has evolved beyond the slime stage. Also, I spill on this weekend’s trivia question.

Free at last

Kodai Senga, having shouldered the load of being the SoftBank Hawks ace for years, will soon be free to negotiate with any team on the planet after filing for international free agency Monday, the first day he was able to.

In my Profile: Kodai Senga, you will find background information and a fair amount of discussion of his pitches, one a plus, two above average, and an average one that will knock your socks off on those occasions when he is blessed with decent command.

Continue reading NPB news: Nov. 2, 2022

NPB news: Oct. 29, 2022

Japan Series Game 6 was held on Saturday, and was poised to be the series’ second 1-0 shutout, until more ninth-inning weirdness occurred. The Orix Buffaloes are now within one win of their franchise’s first series championship since Ichiro Suzuki and the BlueWave beat the Yomiuri Giants in 1996, and the first win in four tries over Yakult after losses in 1978, 1995 and last year.

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto did not pitch after suffering an oblique injury in Game 1, but that didn’t seem to matter, and won’t pitch in Game 7, when it will be up to Orix’s Hiroya Miyagi and Yakult’s Cy Sneed to see if we have an Orix championship or a Game 8 trick or treat. 

Game 6

Buffaloes 3, Swallows 0: At Jingu Stadium, Sachiya Yamasaki continued his scoreless run in this year’s series, adding five solid innings to the four more fraught frames in last Sunday’s Game 2. This time instead of a three-run Swallows’ ninth-inning comeback and a tie game, the Buffaloes bullpen squashed the Swallows, holding them to two walks over four innings in the one-hit shutout.

Continue reading NPB news: Oct. 29, 2022