NPB stars prepare to say goodbye as season winds down
It's retirement season in NPB. As the 2020 campaign begins to wind down, fans across Japan will be saying goodbye to some familiar faces. Hanshin Tigers reliever and former major leaguer Kyuji Fujikawa announced in September that he was calling it quits at the end of ...
Marines soldier on after virus outbreak
What a week it was for the Chiba Lotte Marines. Technically, things got started Oct. 4, when pitcher Daiki Iwashita and a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. Subsequent testing early last week revealed 11 more infections (a total that included seven top-team players), the club ...
Virus-hit Tigers endure tough, eventful week in Central League
The difference between playing a mostly representative NPB season — as opposed to 50 or 60 games — or having it all fall apart was always as tenuous as some dinner plans. That was laid bare last week as the league experienced its first midseason ...
Hawks pitcher Dennis Sarfate facing up to reality career may be over due to injury
Sarfate isn't retiring yet, he says, but he knows he may have already thrown his last pitch.
Giants and Hawks in driver's seat at halfway mark in NPB
Despite the shortened schedule, there's still plenty to look forward to in the 2020 campaign.
Hawks reliever Dennis Sarfate says he's played final game in Facebook post
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks star reliever Dennis Sarfate has played in his last game, according to a post on his Facebook page. The reliever, 39, who returned to the U.S. Friday, revealed he will need hip replacement surgery and doesn't expect to play again. He later said, ...
BayStars starters setting tone on mound
For all of the noise that's surrounded the Yokohama BayStars recently — namely people taking swipes at the manager and closer Yasuaki Yamasaki's troubles — the team is keeping its head above water. The BayStars are coming off a solid week, having taken two of ...
Hawks postpone game against Lions after player tests positive for coronavirus
Veteran outfielder Yuya Hasegawa is the first NPB player to test positive since the league resumed in June.
Ryoya Kurihara belted a three-run first-inning home run and Shuta Ishikawa threw a one-hitter as the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks beat the Pacific League champion Seibu Lions 4-0 on Saturday afternoon. After Ishikawa struck out two of the four batters he faced in the first inning, ...
Yuki Yanagita powers Hawks past Eagles in six-game series
With no All-Star Game, Yuki Yanagita held his own personal home run derby last week in Fukuoka. The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles may have arrived from Sendai in first place and with NPB's hottest hitter, Hideto Asamura, but it was Yanagita whose star shone brightest ...
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks southpaw Tsuyoshi Wada held the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters hitless through the sixth inning in an 8-3 Pacific League victory on Saturday. The 39-year-old's mixed up his low-velocity fastball with his changeup, slider and an occasional curve to keep the Fighters completely ...
Rick van den Hurk took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Wladimir Balentien homered twice to lead the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to a 4-2 win over the defending Pacific League champion Saitama Seibu Lions on Thursday. Balentien, who joined the Hawks this season after ...
