On the field, the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes were separated by half a game this season, and through two games of the Japan Series they remain close, having traded 8-0 victories. In the Kansai region, the two teams’ stadiums are separated by a mere 15 kilometers of railway track.
In the stands, media and public consciousness, however, there’s a yawning gap in support, enthusiasm and attention paid to each club.
Even with the Osaka-based Buffaloes’ incredible run of success over the past few years, including three straight Pacific League pennants and the 2022 Japan Series title, the metropolis and neighboring cities like Kobe and Kyoto remain Tigers territory.
Indeed, in spite of a 38-year Japan Series title drought — or perhaps because of it — the Tigers, who play home games at the historic Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, remain as much a part of the cultural fabric of Kansai as takoyaki (fried octopus balls) or manzai comedy. The team’s fight song is practically an unofficial anthem for the region, and Tigers news is regularly splashed across the front pages of sports newspapers, whether it’s baseball season or not.
For Trevor Raichura, founder of the Hanshin Tigers English News website and podcast, the Tigers’ lack of success is part of what endears the team to the region.
“They’re kind of the lovable losers in a sense,” Raichura says. “It’s kind of like when you have a kid, and your kid fails at something, you still can’t stop loving them. They’re cute even in defeat.”
Naturally, fan enthusiasm kicks into overdrive in the rare seasons when the team does find success.
Tigers fans are notorious for rowdy celebrations in Osaka’s Namba district, and Raichura says the excitement around the club built to a crescendo this year as the Tigers ran away with their sixth Central League pennant and first since 2005.
“There was just something different in the air (this year),” he says. “When September rolled around and the Tigers peeled off 11 straight it was just absolutely nuts.”
That rowdiness was on display from the Tigers’ boisterous ōendan (cheering section) in Game 1 and 2 of the Japan Series, played over the weekend at the Buffaloes’ home park of Kyocera Dome Osaka, dampening the home field advantage Orix might have had against any other opponent.
“Fans love to cheer for their team and everyone cheering together builds up that excitement,” says Takayoshi Hisadome, who visited Kyocera Dome Osaka prior to Game 1 on Saturday with his three dogs decked out in Tigers gear.
Supporters for both teams also point to history when asked why the Tigers are more popular than their fellow Kansai club.
The Tigers were founded in 1935 and played their first season the following year when professional baseball in Japan was still in its infancy. Since that first season, the club’s primary home has been Koshien Stadium.
Orix’s history, on the other hand, is hardly straightforward. The team is the result of a 2004 merger agreement — amid fierce opposition from fans — between the Orix BlueWave and Kintetsu Buffaloes that saw Orix take a majority stake in the new team. The Orix lineage traces back to the Hankyu Braves, who played home games in the Tigers’ stomping grounds of Nishinomiya. The franchise became the BlueWave upon moving to nearby Kobe before Osaka became the team’s primary home after the merger.
Still, Orix’s recent run of success appears to be paying dividends. The Buffaloes averaged 27,048 fans across 72 home games this season, far off the Tigers’ NPB-best 41,064 but good enough for second in the Pacific League.
For certain fans, the nonstop attention given to the Tigers may be all the more reason to support the region’s less popular club.
“Orix has a lower budget so I want to cheer for them,” says Yoshihiro Yukimoto, who was sporting a horned Buffaloes hat prior to Game 1. “Everyone cheers for Hanshin. People who cheer for Orix are special.”
Raichura agrees that there's a contrarian attitude among some Buffaloes fans.
Some become Buffaloes fans "kind of as a backlash, if you will, against the Tigers hype," he says. "There definitely is that ... subculture within the Buffaloes' fanbase."
Even as the two teams play in a rare all-Kansai Japan Series, there’s little in the way of animosity among fans of the two teams — at least so far.
Yukimoto says he cheers for the Tigers when the Buffaloes are out of the equation, a sentiment shared by Hisadome.
“Kansai people like Hanshin, but they also like Orix,” Hisadome says.
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