Jason Coskrey - The Japan Times

October 12, 2025

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Jason Coskrey

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Jason Coskrey

Jason Coskrey is a sports writer for The Japan Times. His primary focus is Japanese baseball, but he has also covered soccer, American football, boxing and basketball. He previously worked for the Marietta Daily Journal in Marietta, Ga. A native of Detroit, he is a graduate of the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN

Sep 30, 2013

Another challenge awaits Rakuten

Clinching the Pacific League pennant a little early gave the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles a chance to really enjoy the moment.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK

Sep 29, 2013

Few issues left in play as season nears finish

Nippon Professional Baseball has crowned its 2013 league champions and most of the spots in the Climax Series have already been spoken for.

Japan Times

BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN

Sep 24, 2013

Kato's attempt to change NPB doomed by lack of power

Ryozo Kato had the ideas to be the commissioner Japanese baseball needed, but not the muscle.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 23, 2013

Giants win pennant before beating Carp

The Yomiuri Giants raced out of the dugout after the final out, as streamers and confetti rained down from the stands, and tossed their manager into the air eight times.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK

Sep 22, 2013

Home run king Balentien nearing another conquest

Wladimir Balentien has hit more home runs than any NPB player has ever hit in a single season and through Sunday had 13 games left to add to his record total which stood at 58.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 15, 2013

Balentien sets new Japan single-season home run record

As soon as Wladimir Balentien's bat made contact with Daiki Enokida's fastball there was no doubt: Japan had just crowned a new home run king.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 14, 2013

Swallows snap losing streak in wild encounter with Tigers

A prized rookie pitcher went head-to-head with a slugger on a historical pace before a fight broke out and before and a player dove across home plate to successfully execute a suicide squeeze.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 13, 2013

Balentien still waiting as Tigers beat Swallows

Wladimir Balentien said getting to 55 was "the hard part" in his quest to set a new single-season home run record.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 12, 2013

Carp double up Swallows; Balentien remains at 55 homers

There were plenty of balls flying out of Jingu Stadium on Thursday night.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 11, 2013

Balentien ties single-season home run record

Before facing the Hiroshima Carp, Wladimir Balentien and teammate Ryoji Aikawa decided they were going to go with a high-sock look, or as Balentien put it, "old-school, Sadaharu Oh-style."

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 11, 2013

Balentien ties single-season home run record

Wladimir Balentien turned Japanese baseball's record-setting trio into a quartet.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 10, 2013

Balentien belts 54th home run in loss to Carp

Wladimir Balentien moved one step closer to history, and the Hiroshima Carp remained on track for a long-awaited trip to the postseason.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 6, 2013

Bass says Balentien won't get easy path to Oh's record

When Randy Bass hit his 54th home run of the year, he thought he would have a decent shot at the Japan single-season record.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Sep 5, 2013

Obiki, Fighters clobber Hawks

Keiji Obiki helped erase a four-run deficit with a come-from-behind grand slam in the second inning, and the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters went on to rout the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks 11-5 on Thursday night at Tokyo Dome.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Aug 31, 2013

Balentien maintains poise, perspective as he chases single-season HR record

Wladimir Balentien flips on the television and takes in a rare moment of relaxation. Instead of his Tokyo Yakult Swallows uniform, which will be worn later, he's clad simply in a red T-shirt commemorating his back-to-back home run titles and yellow shorts from a past NPB All-Star Series.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Aug 30, 2013

Balentien belts 52nd home run, moves closer to single-season record

Wladimir Balentien took another step toward the single-season home run record, while the Tokyo Yakult Swallows dealt a blow to their opponents' Climax Series hopes.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Aug 27, 2013

Giants showcase winning formula in series opener against archrival Tigers

The Yomiuri Giants brought back the magic and dispatched one of their toughest rivals in the process.

BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN

Aug 22, 2013

Time to salute Ichiro's amazing feat, leave debate aside

Ichiro Suzuki took off his helmet to reveal a head a little more salt than pepper as he bowed in appreciation of the reception he was receiving after joining an exclusive club with the 4,000th professional hit of his career between Japan and the U.S. at Yankee Stadium.

BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN

Aug 19, 2013

German giving master class in fine art of stealing bases

Esteban German is looking for a sign. Not one of a divine nature, but something — anything from the movement of a shoulder to the shifting of weight — that can serve as his cue to leave the safe haven of first base and make a mad dash to second.

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball

Aug 18, 2013

Upbeat Morgan makes impact on, off field for BayStars

It doesn't take a lot of digging to get to the root of Nyjer Morgan as a baseball player. The Yokohama BayStars outfielder practices hard, plays hard and, as a point of pride, keeps things refreshingly simple.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.

Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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