The APBC tournament began on Thursday. I will only post scores and highlights (no summaries). SCHEDULE Thu 16 Nov : 12:00 - Korea vs Australia Thu 16 Nov : 19:00 - Chinese Taipei vs Japan Fri 17 Nov : 12:00 - Australia vs Chinese Taipei Fri 17 Nov : 19:00 - Japan v Korea Sat 18 Nov : 12:00 - Australia vs Japan Sat 18 Nov : 19:00 - Korea vs Chinese Taipei Sun 19 Nov : 11:00 - 3rd Place/Consolation game Sun 19 Nov : 18:00 - Chmpionship Final
Thursday 16 November Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/apbc/schedule/competition?date=2023-11-16
W: H.Y. Jung (KOR, 1-0) L: D. McGrath (AUS, 0-1) HR: A. Hall (AUS, 1) W: H. Nemoto (JPN, 1-0) L: R.Y. Gu Lin (TPE, 0-1) HR: Sh. Morishita (JPN, 1)
W: C.W. Chiu (TPE, 1-0) L: D. McGrath (AUS, 0-2) HR: C.K. Lin (TPE, 1) W: Ch. Sumida (JPN, 1-0) L: E.L. Lee (KOR, 0-1) S: K. Taguchi (JPN, 1) HR: Ch. Mannami (JPN, 1), W.J. Kim (KOR, 1)
Saturday 18 November Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/apbc/schedule/competition?date=2023-11-18
W: T. Hayakawa (JPN, 1-0) L: J. Bushell (AUS, 0-1) W: T.I. Won (KOR, 1-0) L: Y.C. Wang (TPE, 0-1) HR: J.H. Liu (TPE, 1)
APBC Championship Final Sunday 19 November Probables 18:00 Japan : Tatsuya Imai (Seibu Lions) Korea: Gwak Been (Doosan Bears)
Kuo Tien-Hsin with a walk off RBI single and Taiwan takes bronze over Australia in the Asia Professional Baseball Championship! pic.twitter.com/YLxcLdXIV4— Jeff Duda (@INTLBaseball24) November 19, 2023 3rd Place/Bronze Medal Game W: C.E. Lin (1-0) L: C. Wynne (0-1)
Yuto Koga got the bunt down, Shugo Maki got intentionally walked, and Shogo Sakakura hit and sac-fly to tie the game at 3.Now Korea intentionally walks Chusei Mannami to bring up Makoto Kadowaki with a chance to walk it off with 2 outs.— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) November 19, 2023 Makoto Kadowaki with the walk off RBI single for the 4-3 win and Japan is 2023 Asia Professional Baseball Champions! pic.twitter.com/zPiJY3GAID— Jeff Duda (@INTLBaseball24) November 19, 2023 Championship Final W: K. Yoshimura (JPN, 1-0) L: H.Y. Jung (KOR, 1-1) HR: Sh. Maki (JPN, 1)
Re-posting because I lied. This won't be the final post of this thread. NPB Awards take place next week. And I've added the 'behind-the-scenes' video from the Final against Korea.
Hanshin Tigers Victory Parade Live stream of the parade in Kobe begins at Thursday 11:00am JT (9pm US Eastern / 6pm Pacific) The parade then moves to Midōsuji Avenue, the main street of Osaka, scheduled for 14:00 Japan (Midnight ET, 9pm PT)
On Monday NPB announced the 2023 "Best Nine" award winners, as voted by NPB reporters. CENTRAL LEAGUE P: Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 1st time award winner C: Takumi Ohshiro (Giants) 2nd 1B: Yusuke Ohyama (Tigers) 1st 2B: Shugo Maki (BayStars) 2nd 3B: Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) 3rd SS: Seiya Kinami (Tigers) 1st OF: Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 3rd OF: Ryoma Nishikawa (Carp) 1st OF: Yuki Okabayashi (Dragons) 2nd PACIFIC LEAGUE P: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Buffaloes) 3rd time award winner C: Tomoya Mori (Buffaloes) 4th 1B: Yuma Tongu (Buffaloes) 1st 2B: Hideto Asamura (Eagles) 7th + 1 at 1B 3B: Yuma Mune (Buffaloes) 3rd SS: Kotaro Kurebayashi (Buffaloes) 1st OF: Kensuke Kondo (Hawks) 2nd + 2 at DH OF: Chusei Mannami (Fighters) 1st OF: Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) 8th DH: Gregory Polanco (Marines) 1st
On Tuesday the NPB Awards gala was held at the Grand Prince Hotel Shin Takanawa in Tokyo. In addition to recognizing previously announced winners of the Gold Glove and Best Nine awards, the two main awards for each league were announced and presented. 2023 BEST NEWCOMER (Rookie of the Year) Central League 1. Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 2. Shota Morishita (Tigers) 3. Yuto Akihiro (Giants RHP Shoki Murakami (Hanshin Tigers) 22 games 10 wins 6 loss 2 complete games 1 complete game shutout 1.75 ERA 144.1 innings pitched 137 strikeouts 30 runs allowed 28 earned runs Pacific League 1. Shunpeita Yamashita (Buffaloes) 2. Shota Watanabe (Eagles) 3. Yuki Udagawa (Buffaloes) RHP Shunpeita Yamashita (Orix Buffaloes) 16 games 9 wins 3 loss 1.61 ERA 95 innings pitched 101 strikeouts 21 runs allowed 17 earned runs
2023 BEST PLAYER (Most Valuable Player) Central League 1. Shoki Murakami (Tigers) 2. Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 3. Yusuke Ohyama (Tigers) RHP Shoki Murakami (Hanshin Tigers) 22 games 10 wins 6 loss 2 complete games 1 complete game shutout 1.75 ERA 144.1 innings pitched 137 strikeouts 30 runs allowed 28 earned runs Shoki Murakami is the 3rd pitcher in NPB history (1st in Central League history) to win both Best Newcomer and Best Player awards in the same year. Isamu Kida (1980 Pacific League) Hideo Nomo (1990 Pacific League) Pacific League 1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Buffaloes) 2. Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 3. Yuma Tongu (Buffaloes) RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto - Orix Buffaloes (3rd award winner) 23 games 16 wins 6 losses 2 complete game 1 complete game shutout 1.21 ERA 164 innings pitched 169 strikeouts 27 runs allowed 22 earned run Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the third player to win the MVP award for 3 consecutive years. Hisashi Yamamda (1976, 1977, 1978) Ichiro Suzuki (1994, 1995, 1996)
25 year old Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 6 full NPB seasons: 4x ERA Title 4x Strikeout Title 3x MVP 3x Sawamura Award 3x Best Nine Award 3x Gold Glove Award 3x Triple Crown Winner 2x Tossed No-hitter 3x Pennant Winner 1x Nippon Series Champion 1x WBC Champion 1x Premier12 Champion 1x Olympic Gold Medalist
Members of Samurai Japan's WBC team who were present at the Gala received their commemorative championship rings. Yoshinobu Yamamoto posted a photo of his ring on Instagram. And the Hanshin Tigers released video of Takumu Nakano trying on his ring. Oh, and I was finally able to obtain a copy of the documentary film on Japan's road to victory. The video is available on Amazon. But I should add that the DVD version is Region 2 (Europe, Japan) so be aware if you're in the U.S. (Region 1). Through much online searching I was able to rip the (copyright protected) discs and turn them into mp4 files.
Awesome cover photo from the latest issue of "Sports Graphic Number", the leading Japanese sports magazine.
The 2024 season thread has been posted. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/2024-nippon-professional-baseball-npb-season.2129831/