Sac Bunts

Former NPB Commissioner Ryozo Kato used to joke that Japanese baseball was similar to a large boat in the middle of the ocean. You can make it change directions, sure, but it's going to be a slow and labored process. Kato has been gone since 2013, ...

One of the common threads in the comments from many of Japan’s top players before spring training was about how much each was motivated by the prospect of trying to win gold on home soil during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. They can still do that, ...

There are a few trains of thought about spring training. One of the most prevalent, is that it doesn't matter. Or to be more precise, the results don't matter. The win-loss records don't count for anything and are largely forgotten the second the first pitch ...

Handing the ball to Yuki Nishi to start the season was probably a no-brainer for the Hanshin Tigers. Nishi was a celebrated free-agent acquisition in the winter of 2018, when he switched his Kansai allegiances from the Orix Buffaloes to the Tigers. He was Hanshin's ...

The oddest thing about the preseason game the Yomiuri Giants and Tokyo Yakult Swallows played at Tokyo Dome on Saturday night — and really the same could be said about all the other games over the weekend too — was the lack of fans. The ...

The ball that brought an end to the 1964 Japan Series between the Nankai Hawks and Hanshin Tigers landed, as so many others had over those seven games, in Hawks catcher Katsuya Nomura's mitt. That final pitch (a swinging strike) was thrown by Nankai star ...

We should all have people in our lives as loyal to us as some fans and media around the Hanshin Tigers are to the memory of Randy Bass. Much like NBA legend Michael Jordan never missing a game-winning shot, Bass never hit a ball that ...

Alex Ramirez, the manager of the Yokohama BayStars, responded to the loss of his best player by declaring the dawning of a new generation. Ramirez expects his BayStars to be good this year, even without Yoshitomo Tsutsugo in the No. 4 spot. He misses the ...

Tuffy Rhodes could be tough to figure out. Sometimes, he'd flash a big smile and crack jokes. Catch him in a good mood, and you might forget you weren't actually an old friend. Other times, Rhodes gave off an aura that said it'd be best ...