Tag Archives: Yomiuri Giants

Yamaguchi free to go

The Toronto Blue Jays released Shun Yamaguchi on Friday, opening the door for the right-hander to return to Japan after only year of his two-year contract.

The Yomiuri Giants were reportedly preparing a contract offer for Yamaguchi, who led the CL in wins in 2019, and who became the tradition-bound franchise’s first posting last winter.

Because the Blue Jays home games last season were held in Buffalo, New York, Yamaguchi never got to pitch in Canada.

Miura loses practice debut

Daisuke Miura’s first-team managing debut in a 3-0 practice game loss to the Central League rival Chunichi Dragons on Saturday made headlines in Japan as his side had three runners thrown out trying to steal, Hochi Shimbun reported.

“The three failed stolen base attempts are OK. One theme is to be aggressive,” said Miura, who managed the farm team last season. Everyone gave it a shot, so there were things to learn. There are a lot of things you can’t learn unless you try. We learned a lot.”

It’s hard to tell whether he was being ironic. His minor leaguers led Japan’s Eastern League in steals and sacrifice hits last year, while his predecessor’s offense got on base and hit for power, but finished third in runs scored. These figures are often trotted out along with Miura’s extensive use of one-run tactics last season, as if they are a kind of Japanese magic wand that will dispel the club’s poor scoring luck.

I’ve got news for you

In each of the last years, players from the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants were required to walk across Japanese pro baseball’s busy postseason thoroughfare and for two straight years they were run over by a bus.

OK, it wasn’t a bus that hit them but the Pacific League’s Softbank Hawk. In two videos that @HinosatoYakyu uploaded to Twitter, ace pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano and the team’s captain, shortstop Hayato Sakamoto were asked what the difference was with SoftBank.

I guess when you get swept by the same team two years in a row after dominating your own league, it’s natural to ask what makes that other team so good, and find a simple solution. Giants manager Tatsunori Hara suggested that using the designated hitter would give the CL teams a fighting chance.

Here are my three most recent posts related to the gap between the leagues:

But hearing the Giants players speak almost makes it sound as if some people think the Hawks are the reason the Giants can’t win the Japan Series and not the general imbalance between the two leagues.

If you think that, then as Ray Charles sings in the Roy Alfred song, I’ve got news for you.

The Hawks, as the most dominant team in either league, are a reason the PL is stronger, but they aren’t the ONLY reason. How do we know? Because if we stripped the Hawks’ 214-126-14 interleague record, the other five PL teams would STILL be better in quality than the CL.

CL records vs the 5 weakest PL teams

YearsWinsLossesTiesWin Pct.Pyth.
’05-’0723623311.503.515
’08-’10176175 9.501.445
’11-’1315818419.462.440
’14-’16143153 4.483.457
’17-’191291374.485.471
“Pyth” represents the CL’s IL Pythagorean win pct. over each three-year period.

It’s not the bus that ran over the Giants that is the problem, but that the traffic in that road just moves too fast for CL teams to keep up, and if it wasn’t the Hawks, it would have been somebody else.

League, Interleague win. percentages since 2005

TeamLeague InterleagueIL +
Hawks.572.629+.057
Giants.547.525-.022
Lions.524.510-.014
Fighters.523.542+.019
Tigers.519.484-.035
Dragons.509.497-.012
Carp.493.436-.057
Marines.490.541+.051
Swallows.468.465-.003
Buffaloes.460.497+.037
Eagles.460.469+.009
BayStars.433.402-.031