It’s a Monday, so there were no major league games in Japan, but things were happening beyond the normal rants about what baseball should and shouldn’t be.

The Orix Buffaloes have lost seven straight games, but got more bad news, while NPB on Monday attempted to put an end to talk about umpires’ behavior, and Tuesday’s starting pitchers were announced.

We also had an explanation for Akira Neo ascending into a world that much of Japanese baseball pretends doesn’t exist.

Shall we get started?