The Chiba Lotte Marines have done just fine without a real power hitter in their lineup for most of the season.
With slugger Josh Whitesell limited to just 24 games, manager Tsutomu Ito's squad has come up with clutch hits, scraped together just enough runs at opportune times, and bought into 'Itonomics' in order to small-ball their way to the top of the Pacific League standings.
There is, as always, room for improvement. Just because the Marines have come this far without a major power threat in the lineup, doesn't mean the team couldn't use a bit more firepower to support their quest to bring the pennant back to Chiba for the first time since 2005.