No matter what changes or how much time passes, it seems like the Chunichi Dragons find a way to make it into the Climax Series. The Dragons have a new manager and an aging roster, yet here we are talking about them entering another ...

Seibu Lions fans weren’t happy Saturday afternoon and they were letting Chiba Lotte Marines rookie pitcher Takahiro Fujioka feel the brunt of their vitriol. Fujioka wasn’t giving Hiroyuki Nakajima anything to hit, or anything even remotely close to the plate, and each ball he ...

Shinnosuke Abe perked up at the news the Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera had won the Triple Crown. “He did? I knew he was competing closely (with the Texas Rangers’ Josh Hamilton), and leading by one (home run),” the Giants captain said. Cabrera’s accomplishment led ...

The final regular-season meeting between the Chunichi Dragons and Tokyo Yakult Swallows was a largely uneventful affair. When they get together again next month, the stakes will be much higher. Takahiro Donoue drove in a pair of runs, and the Dragons got off to ...

Jose Ortiz spent the first part of this season playing in Mexico, where he said he wasn’t really doing too well. From where the Seibu Lions stand, Ortiz is playing just fine now. Ortiz broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the ...

As Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger Wladimir Balentien went through his pregame stretching, he surveyed the field where the newly minted Central League champion Yomiuri Giants were wrapping up batting practice and barely suppressed a laugh while noting, “everything has gone right for them this ...

The Yomiuri Giants wrapped up the Central League pennant last week. Now the spotlight shifts to the Pacific League race, which is getting tighter by the day. Entering this week, there are three teams — the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, Seibu Lions and Fukuoka ...

For the last two years, the Yomiuri Giants have watched another team celebrate. Watched as another group of players paraded around the field clutching the Central League pennant. This year, someone else can do the watching. Led by Hisayoshi Chono and MVP candidate Shinnosuke ...

For the next couple of weeks, the prevailing narrative of most Hanshin Tigers games will be the impending retirement of star outfielder Tomoaki Kanemoto. Fans will fawn, opponents will reflect and the media will pay tribute to a career more than worthy of high ...

This close to the prize, the Yomiuri Giants aren’t about to let anyone slow their march toward the Central League pennant. Least of all their struggling rivals to the west. Hayato Sakamoto hit a come-from-behind three-run home run in the seventh inning and the ...

This season there are a few NPB players who have fulfilled the requirements for international free agency (meaning they are free to negotiate with any team, domestic or abroad) and may attempt to follow in the successful footsteps of Yu Darvish and Norichika Aoki ...

The big news last week was that the Japanese Professional Baseball Players Association decided to compete in next year’s World Baseball Classic. The next challenge two-time defending champion Japan faces may come when it’s time to actually fill out the roster. The timing of ...