NPB’s 2022 home run leader declined to be overshadowed on Opening Day 2 by MLB’s 2022 home run leader as both league champs won as the 10 teams that didn’t play Thursday in Hokkaido started their seasons.

Including Thursday’s opener at Public Money for Corporations Field Hokkaido, all six opening games were sell outs.

On a downside, it looks like the dire highlights situation in NPB will get tighter and bleaker this year. PL TV is no longer providing embed codes for their highlights, while the Swallows, a reliable source until last season, did not post any on Thursday.

Swallows 4, Carp 0: At Jingu Stadium, Munetaka Murakami, fresh off two massive extra-base hits in the WBC knockout stage, hit a two-run homer off Daichi Osera (0-1) in his first at-bat of the season to match Aaron Judge’s season debut in New York on Thursday. Murakami, who struggled through most of the WBC, blasted a two-run sayonara double to see off Mexico in the semifinals and blasted a massive game-tying shot that tied the final before Japan won 3-2.