Trevor Bauer released 2 videos over the past 24 hours. His regular vlog on Sunday... And this one on Monday.
Tsuyoshi Wada allowed three hits and two walks over 5-1/3 innings as the SoftBank Hawks gave themselves a bit of wiggle room in the race to host the Climax Series first phase following their 7-3 win over the Rakuten Eagles on Tuesday. The 42 year old Wada became the first player aged 42 or older in Pacific League history - the fourth in NPB history - to win 8 games in a season. The Hawks have just two games to make up but won't see action until Saturday The Eagles have three games remaining, and as they are now two games behind the Hawks for second place in the Pacific League, a win on Wednesday against the Nippon-Ham Fighters is nearly a must if they hope to remain in the hunt for the runners-up spot. SoftBank are also a-game-and-a-half ahead of the Lotte Marines following the Marines home defeat at the hands of the Seibu Lions 4-1. Wataru Matsumoto made it a tough night for Lotte, allowing just one run and fanning 10 batters over seven quality innings. The Marines have four game still to play including three against the champion Orix Buffaloes.
A first inning two-RBI double from Takumi Ohshiro and a 7-2/3 inning effort from starter Yuji Akahoshi led the Yomiuri Giants to a 3-1 victory over the Chunichi Dragons in Nagoya. Chunichi outfielder Yuki Okabayashi became the youngest player in Central League history to play in every inning of every game in a season and the third 21 year old in NPB history to achieve it. The Giants will be involved in the final Central League game of the season on Wednesday when they host the Yokohama BayStars. It is crucial game for Yokohama as a win will give them home field for the first phase of the Climax Series against the Carp, but a tie or defeat will see the three-game series being played in Hiroshima. Katsuki Azuma will be on the mound for the BayStars looking for his 17th win of the year.
Iori Yamasaki tossed a complete game gem on Wednesday, allowing just two base runners while striking out six to lead the Yomiuri Giants to a 1-0 victory over the Yokohama BayStars at the Tokyo Dome. The defeat means the BayStars will have travel to Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium for the First Phase three-game Climax Series against the Hiroshima Carp. The win by the Kyojin allowed the team to finish the season above .500 and sends manager Tatsunori Hara out on a high note. Hara, who will not be returning to manage the club next season, led the Giants for 17 total seasons over three separate spells beginning in 2002. He won 1,291 games and collected 9 Central League pennants and 3 Nippon Series titles. Shinnosuke Abe will be promoted from head coach/battery coach to take over the team next season. BayStars announced after the game that Daisuke Miura will return as manager for the 2024 campaign.
An RBI single by Sōma Uchiyama and sacrifice fly from Tetsuto Yamada scored two runs in the ninth inning to give the Yakult Swallows a 5-4 sayonara win over the Hanshin Tigers at Meiji Jingu The win means the Swallows, defending Central League champions the past two seasons, were able to climb past the Chunichi Dragons and avoid finishing in last place. The 2023 C.L. champion Tigers will prepare for the Climax Series Final Phase while awaiting the winner of the Carp-BayStars series. https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/game/2021019721/video/player/11293139 The Lotte Marines scored five runs over the seventh and eighth innings to earn a crucial come-from-behind 6-3 win over the Orix Buffaloes in Osaka. Katsuya Kakunaka's two-out two-RBI double tied the game at 3-3 in the seventh, and Yudai Fujioka followed with another double to score pinch-runner Kyota Fujiwara with the winning run. A 2-RBI double from Shogo Nakamura in the eighth added insurance for the Marines who now trail the SoftBank Hawks by one game in the fight for second place in the Pacific League. The Rakuten Eagles, who sit in fourth place a game behind the Marines, will host Thursday's only action as they take on the Nippon-Ham Fighters as the red hot race for a spot in the post-season continues to heat up.
The Rakuten Eagles scored four runs in the fifth inning and held on to defeat the Nippon-Ham Fighters 5-3 as the intriguing race for post-season spots continues in the Pacific League. The Fighters took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on RBIs from Yua Tamiya and Haruka Yamada. Tamiya collected his second RBI an inning later when Kōtarō Kiyomiya scored from second on Tamiya's single to centerfield. Hideto Asamura began Rakuten's comeback with a solo home run in the fourth inning before the Eagles exploded with a four-run fifth to grab their first lead of the game. Two walks and a hit batsman surrendered by Nippon-Ham starter Haruka Nemoto loaded the bases setting up Asamura to tie the game at 3-3 with a two-out two-RBI single to center. Takero Okajima followed with a double off the left field wall scoring Itsuki Murabayashi and Asamura with the game winning runs. Yuki Matsui closed out the game for the Eagles with a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 39th save, tops in the whole of NPB this year.
Koki Yamaguchi went 4-for-5 with three RBIs, Shogo Nakamura went 3-for-4 and also had three RBIs while Kyota Fujiwara and Toshiya Satoh each added two RBIS as the Lotte Marines never let up in their 12-1 destruction of the Orix Buffaloes Friday night in Chiba. The Marines also made sure there was a fresh arm on the mound by using eight pitchers over the nine innings. Only Toshiya Nakamura worked more than one frame, facing seven batters over his two innings of work. It was a crucial win for Lotte who are now one game ahead of the Rakuten Eagles for the final playoff spot in the Pacific League.
All three teams involved in the playoff chase have two games remaining in the regular season. The Rakuten Eagles play one game each against the SoftBank Hawks and Lotte Marines. The Marines and Hawks play their other game against the Orix Buffaloes. On Saturday: Marines host Buffaloes in the afternoon (14:00). Eagles host Hawks in the nightcap (18:00). If the Marines beat the Buffaloes, then the Eagles MUST beat the Hawks or they will be eliminated. If the Marines lose to Orix, then the Hawks would clinch second place if they defeat the Eagles. This would then place Monday's Eagles-Marines game as an all-or-nothing play-in game with the winner advancing to the playoffs and the loser being eliminated. (The Eagles hold the tiebreak if they and the Marines finish with the same .500 winning percentage.) I think I have all that correct.
Trevor Bauer threw batting practice on Friday on his road to recovery before the Central League playoffs begin. #バウアー 選手がハマスタでの全体練習前に行われたライブBPに登板！💪@BauerOutage #baystars pic.twitter.com/Msum2njNSn— 横浜DeNAベイスターズ (@ydb_yokohama) October 6, 2023
The Lotte Marines were dealt a minor blow in their quest to reach the Pacific League post season following their 4-1 defeat at home to the Orix Buffaloes. Yutaro Sugimoto was Orix's biggest thorn to the Marines, slugging two solo home runs putting him at 16 for the year. The first of Sugimoto's homers was given up by Yuji Nishino, who struck out eight batters on the night but had allowed an unearned run in the first inning when centerfielder Hiromi Oka mishandled Leandro Cedeno's single allowing Tomoya Mori to race home with the first run of the game. The defeat means that the Marines must beat the Rakuten Eagles in Sendai Monday afternoon or their season will be done. During the traditional post-game ceremonies to mark the end of the regular season home schedule, the Marines paid tribute to Emi Taniho. the public address announcer at Chiba Marines Stadium since the club moved into the ballpark in 1991. She worked a total of 2100 games over the 33 years including the Japan Series titles in 2005 and 2010. "THANK YOU FOR YOUR VOICE" オリックスファンも谷保コールさせていただきました！！ pic.twitter.com/59FxhyqEgt— せきさん (@okazakinococoro) October 7, 2023
In the night game, the SoftBank Hawks and Rakuten Eagles played out a very tense 5-5 tie at Miyagi Park. Itsuki Murabayashi's two-run double in the second inning gave Rakuten a 2-0 lead. But the Hawks came back with three runs in the third inning punctuated by Yuki Yanagita's two-run mammoth blast into the right field bleachers. Home run number 22 for the 34 year old slugger. SoftBank notched single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to extend their lead to 5-2 and starting pitcher Carter Stewart appeared to be in control following the shaky second inning. But in the sixth after retiring the first two batters of the inning, Stewart surrendered a walk and Takero Okajima singled to left to set up a game-tying three run home run by Ryosuke Tatsumi that was greeted by tremendous cheers probably heard throughout the Miyagi Prefecture. There was no further scoring during the extra frames although each team left four runners on base. The tie was celebrated by the Hawks who are now guaranteed to be playing in the Climax Series.
No games are scheduled for Sunday with everything to play for on Monday. Rakuten must defeat the Marines in the afternoon in what will definitely be the Eagles' final home game of the year since they can no longer finish in second place. The Hawks would then host the Eagles in the Climax Series. If the Marines beat the Eagles, then the Hawks will have to beat the Buffaloes in the night game in order to host the first phase of the post-season in Fukuoka. A loss will send the series to Chiba.
The crucial game between the Rakuten Golden Eagles and Chiba Lotte Marines set for Monday afternoon has been postponed (again) due to rain. The contest is a makeup from the original date of May 18, which was also rained out. The game has been rescheduled for Tuesday 10 October at 18:00.
Rookie Ryuhei Sotani allowed just three base runners over six shutout innings and Kensuke Kondo tied the Pacific League lead with his 26th home run of the year to help the Orix Buffaloes close out their regular season with 4-1 victory over the SoftBank Hawks. It was a critical loss for the Hawks who would have sewn up second place in the standings with a win, guaranteeing they would have hosted the Eagles/Marines winner in the best-of-3 Climax Series first phase.
Tuesday's game between the Rakuten Eagles and Lotte Marines will not only decide which two teams will contest the Climax Series first phase, but will also determine where the three-game series will be played. If the Marines win, they will finish second and will host the third place SoftBank Hawks in Chiba. The Eagles would be eliminated. If the game ends in a 12-inning tie, the Marines will finish third in the standings and have to travel to Fukuoka to face the second place Hawks. The Eagles would be eliminated. If the Eagles win, they will finish third in the standings and travel to the PayPay Dome to play the second place Hawks. The Marines would be eliminated. The Eagles have no chance of finishing second in the standings.
Rintaro Sasaki: “At this point, I’ve decided on studying abroad in the United States in order to get to the next level in my baseball career.”He has not decided what college he will attend but he is reportedly eyeing Vanderbilt University. pic.twitter.com/YpffJdDNfK— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) October 10, 2023 Sasaki’s decision is likely heavily influenced by his father, who managed Ohtani and wants his son to reach similar heights on the world stage.This is a big risk and one that I don’t think he should’ve made (NPB competition is way higher than NCAA) but I wish him all the best. https://t.co/gHI5gM0aLi— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) October 10, 2023