There are fewer things more frustrating to baseball managers, players and fans than watching a lead slip away in the ninth inning.
Which is why it's a good time for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to start reviewing their options as Fighters closer Hisashi Takeda and Eagles fireman Kazuo Fukumori struggle.
Even though a 144-game season is more marathon than sprint — as managers love to point out — not much good comes from tripping over your own feet at the starting line.