With the exception of Shohei Ohtani, no player is set to make a bigger splash in MLB’s offseason free agent market than Orix Buffaloes ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is just the tip of the iceberg in an offseason when four pittchers from Japan are testing an MLB market that is likely to produce some record contracts.
Although Yamamoto is being posted and will have just a 45-day window to sign and a posting fee will need to be paid to Orix, MLB scouts and executives seem certain he will shatter the record for the biggest contract offered to a first-year MLB player.
Tuesday was part of a dream come true in a country where the schedule often means a week of meaningless makeup games. Before he left us, the late great Wayne Graczyk, spoke of his dream of the season being decided on the regular-season’s final game.
Although the pennants were both decided in September, the Pacific League playoff picture came down to the final out in Sendai on Tuesday.
Marines 5, Eagles 0: At Miyagi Stadium, the Marines played a winner-take-all game against Rakuten. Their win knocked the Eagles out of the playoff picture, and pushed the Marines into second place ahead of SoftBank.
