Japanese Baseball Jul 11, 2021
Mercedes (5-1), who along with teammate Angel Sanchez will represent the Dominican Republic at the Tokyo Games, struck out six and walked two while allowing seven hits.
Baseball / Japanese Baseball | The week in NPB Jun 28, 2021
Streaking Giants set sights on first place
by Jason Coskrey
Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. That safety warning, or some version of it, appears on the passenger side mirrors of vehicles in several nations, including the United States. It's a warning the Hanshin Tigers should heed. They may still be driving at ...
Baseball / Japanese Baseball | The week in NPB Jun 21, 2021
Justin Smoak's departure puts family issues in spotlight in NPB
by Jason Coskrey
Family was the dominant theme in NPB last week. The Japanese baseball world received some stunning news on Thursday, when it was revealed Yomiuri Giants infielder Justin Smoak was leaving the team, and Japan, in order to be with his family. Justin Smoak left the Giants ...
Baseball / Japanese Baseball Jun 17, 2021
Giants' Smoak leaving Japan to be with family during pandemic
"His love of family outweighed everything else," said Atsuhiro Otsuka, the club's assistant representative to NPB.
Baseball / Japanese Baseball Jun 10, 2021
Yamaguchi posted a 15-4 record and led the CL in strikeouts, wins and winning percentage with the Giants in 2019, his previous season in Japan.
Baseball / Japanese Baseball | The week in NPB May 31, 2021
Dragons help Central League get off to fast start in interleague play
by Jason Coskrey
Round one goes to the Central League and, of all teams, the Chunichi Dragons. Interleague play kicked off across NPB last week, and the Dragons, who were in fifth place in the CL after the first-half of intraleague competition, are at the top of the ...
Japanese Baseball May 30, 2021
Justin Smoak homered and drove in three runs to lift the defending Central League champion Yomiuri Giants past the Pacific League's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4-3 on Sunday in interleague action. Smoak singled in two first-inning runs off Tsuyoshi Wada (3-3), and after Kazuma Okamoto broke ...
Baseball / Japanese Baseball May 25, 2021
Zelous Wheeler powers Giants to victory over former team in interleague opener
by Jason Coskrey
Wheeler gave the Giants the lead with a three-run home run against the Eagles.
National May 24, 2021
Yomiuri Giants owner Toshikazu Yamaguchi proposed the plan to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who appeared to support it.
Baseball / Japanese Baseball | The week in NPB May 17, 2021
Roki Sasaki makes highly anticipated NPB debut with Marines
by Jason Coskrey
The "monster" finally made landfall on May 16. Pitcher Roki Sasaki was Japan's most-hyped rookie in some time when the Chiba Lotte Marines won his rights in the 2019 draft. He didn’t pitch on the top team in 2020, but that didn’t slow the swell ...
Japanese Baseball May 5, 2021
Angel Sanchez tossed seven shutout innings and Hiroyuki Nakajima drove in the decisive run as the Yomiuri Giants subdued the Hiroshima Carp 4-0 in the Central League on Wednesday. Right-hander Sanchez (2-2) gave up six hits but no walks as he largely kept the Carp ...
Baseball / Japanese Baseball | The week in NPB May 3, 2021
Eric Thames' injury mars debut of Giants' high-profile foreign stars
by Jason Coskrey
After everything it took for Thames to get to Japan, he’s now heading back to the U.S. for surgery after less than three full innings in NPB.