Thankless task

One wrong NPB could right this year, with the stroke of a pen, is to give credit to closers who preserve ninth-inning ties.

The Marines’ Naoya Masuda did this on Tuesday, when he worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close out Lotte’s 3-3 tie with the Nippon Ham Fighters.

Live chat with former NPB star Leon Lee

Monday, Aug. 30, 11 am Japan; Sunday, Aug. 29, 7 pm Pacific Daylight Time.

Lee, who played 1,255 games over 10 years in Japan from 1978 to 1987 for the Lotte Orions, the Taiyo Whales, and Yakult Swallows. In addition to his accomplishments, Lee is a keen observer with a knack for explaining complicated things simply. 

Bring your questions and enjoy.

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Had Masuda done this in the eighth inning, he would have earned a hold. Had he done it with a lead of from one to three runs, he would have earned a save. But with this year’s pandemic rules limiting games to nine innings and ties going through the roofs, the closers who are preventing losses, are being ignored.

In the majors, this might not be a big deal, because MLB can change its rules as long as the players union goes along with it. But in Japan, it’s far more complicated. NPB cannot unitarily do things differently without its amateur partners on Japan’s rules committee at least signing off on it.

The different bodies don’t need to use the exact same rules — amateur baseball clarified catcher obstruction far earlier than NPB did — but the amateurs at least have to be heard.

So let’s go back and give the closers credit for their work retroactively.

With that in mind, here are the pitchers who most deserve extra credit:

TeamNameCOVID holdsHidden blown saves
BSKazuki Mishima110
MNaoya Masuda101
CRyoji Kuribayashi80
EYuki Matsui70
DRaidel Martinez61
LKaima Taira50
FToshihiro Sugiura53
GThyago Vieira40
STaichi Ishiyama41
HSho Iwasaki41
GKota Nakagawa30
DDaisuke Sobue30
BuYoshihisa Hirano30
HLivan Moinelo31
LReed Garrett31
SScott McGough31

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