BATTING *To qualify: 3.1 plate appearances per the number of games played by that player's club Average .314 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .297 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) .280 - Toshiya Satoh (Marines) .279 - Tomoya Mori (Buffaloes) .275 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) On-Base Percentage .439 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .365 - Tomoya Mori (Buffaloes) .353 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) .3433 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) .3428 - Ariel Martínez (Fighters) OPS .960 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .797 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) .795 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) .791 - Ryoya Kurihara (Hawks) .788 - Tomoya Mori (Buffaloes) Home Runs 31 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 20 - Franmil Reyes (Fighters) 20 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) 20 - Gregory Polanco (Marines) 19 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) RBIs 93 - Hotaka Yamakawa (Hawks) 84 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) 74 - Ryoya Kurihara (Hawks) 72 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 58 - Chusei Mannami (Fighters) AVG with RISP .336 - Ryosuke Tatsumi (Eagles) .328 - Neftalí Soto (Marines) .324 - Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) .309 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) .300 - Tomoya Mori (Buffaloes) Stolen Bases 38 - Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) 28 - Yuya Ogo (Eagles) 28 - Hiroto Kobukata (Eagles) 18 - Go Matsumoto (Fighters) 17 - Ryota Isobata (Fighters) PITCHING *To qualify: Minimum innings equal to the number of games played by that pitcher's club ERA 1.89 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 2.19 - Natsuki Takeuchi (Lions) 2.22 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) 2.46 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 2.54 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) WHIP 0.92 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 0.96 - Natsuki Takeuchi (Lions) 1.03 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 1.06 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 1.07 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) Innings pitched 159.2 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 157.1 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 155.1 - Chihiro Sumida (Lions) 154.0 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) 152.0 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) Strikeouts 175 - Tatsuya Imai (Lions) 145 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) 144 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 142 - Atsuki Taneichi (Marines) 136 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) Wins 12 - Kohei Arihara (Hawks) 12 - Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 11 - Liván Moinelo (Hawks) 11 - Takahisa Hayakawa (Eagles) 10 - Kazuya Ojima (Marines) Holds 31 - Ryusei Kawano (Fighters) 25 - Shota Suzuki (Marines) 24 - Tomohito Sakai (Eagles) 23 - Seiryu Kotajima (Buffaloes) 23 - Yuki Matsumoto (Hawks) Saves 31 - Takahiro Norimoto (Eagles) 25 - Albert Abreu (Lions) 23 - Andrés Machado (Buffaloes) 23 - Naoya Masuda (Marines) 20 - Roberto Osuna (Hawks)
BATTING *To qualify: 3.1 plate appearances per the number of games played by that player's club Average .316 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .291 - Yuudai Yamamoto (BayStars) .288 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) .28719 - Shogo Akiyama (Carp) .28714 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) On-Base Percentage .400 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .375 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) .374 - Toshiro Miyazaki (BayStars) .368 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) .363 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) OPS .897 - Domingo Santana (Swallows) .831 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) .828 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) .823 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) .815 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) Home Runs 27 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) 24 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 23 - Tyler Austin (BayStars) 21 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 20 - Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) RBIs 73 - Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) 72 - Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) 70 - Shota Morishita (Tigers) 69 - Shugo Maki (BayStars) 69 - Jose Osuna (Swallows) AVG with RISP .359 - Yusuke Ohyama (Tigers) .347 - Shota Morishita (Tigers) .336 - Teruaki Sato (Tigers) .327 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) .322 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) Stolen Bases 18 - Koji Chikamoto (Tigers) 12 - Kaito Kozono (Carp) 11 - Kouki Kajiwara (BayStars) 11 - Naoki Yoshikawa (Giants) 11 - Masaya Yano (Carp) 11 - Ryutaro Hatsuki (Carp) PITCHING *To qualify: Minimum innings equal to the number of games played by that pitcher's club ERA 1.14 - Hiroto Takahashi (Dragons) 1.67 - Daichi Ohsera (Carp) 1.69 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 1.73 - Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) 1.86 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) WHIP 0.92 - Hiroto Takahashi (Dragons) 0.94 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 0.96 - Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) 1.033 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 1.034 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) Innings pitched 171.1 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 165.0 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 155.0 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 154.2 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 144.1 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) Strikeouts 145 - Shosei Togo (Giants) 129 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 127 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 125 - Hiroto Takahashi (Dragons) 123 - Shoki Murakami (Tigers) Wins 14 - Tomoyuki Sugano (Giants) 13 - Katsuki Azuma (BayStars) 12 - Hiroto Takahashi (Dragons) 12 - Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) 11 - Hiroki Tokoda (Carp) 11 - Shosei Togo (Giants) Holds 38 - Takuma Kirishiki (Tigers) 35 - Shinya Matsuyama (Dragons) 33 - Tatsuya Shimizu (Dragons) 29 - Daichi Ishii (Tigers) 27 - Javy Guerra (Tigers) Saves 39 - Raidel Martínez (Dragons) 37 - Ryoji Kuribayashi (Carp) 26 - Taisei Ota (Giants) 25 - Kohei Morihara (BayStars) 22 - Suguru Iwazaki (Tigers)
Tuesday 17 September Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-09-17 Eagles-Fighters went 10 innings
Yukiya Itoh's two-out single to centerfield set off Daichi Suzuki to scamper from second base and slide home to give the Rakuten Eagles a come-from-behind 5-4 sayonara victory over the Lotte Marines in 10 innings. The Marines had taken a 4-3 lead in the top of the 10th when Yudai Fujioka lofted a fly ball to left field over the shallow outfield scoring Ryūsei Ogawa from second base. A sacrifice fly from Yoshiaki Watanabe scored Tsuyoshi Yamasaki to tie it in the last of the 10th before Itoh's walk off. The Marines had negated the three runs scored by the Eagles in the 3rd with three runs of their own in the 4th thanks to back-to-back home runs by Gregory Polanco and Neftali Soto. After starting the season 18-27 and being 8 games out of third place, the Eagles are now just one game behind the Marines for the final Pacific League playoff spot ahead of their crucial Wednesday encounter. Chusdei Mannami had a RBI and run scored to help the Nippon-Ham Fighters to a 3-2 win over the SoftBank Hawks in Fukuoka. The Fighters scored twice in the 6th to flip a 1-0 deficit and added what eventually became the game winning run in the 7th to keep the Hawks magic number to clinching the Pacific League pennant at 5 games. Before the game SoftBank deactivated MVP front runner Kensuke Kondoh due to a right ankle injury suffered on a stolen base attempt in Monday';s game against the Orix Buffaloes. Hawks manager Hiroki Kokubo did not offer a time table of when Kondoh could return, only suggesting that he could possibly return in time for the playoffs.
Wednesday 18 September Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-09-18 Giants-BayStars finished tied after 12 innings
Sponsored by Nippon Life Insurance Company, NPB umpires wore pink uniforms at every game to promote/encourage cancer screening. Hiromi Itoh struck out nine batters en route to his fourth complete game shutout victory of the season as the Nippon-Ham Fighters blanked the SoftBank Hawks 3-0. It was a gutsy performance as Itoh allowed nine hits and two walks in earning his 13th win of the year with a pitch count of 134. The Fighters themselves only managed five hits in the game including Franmil Reyes' 21st bomb in his debut season in Japan. In a critical game with playoff implications, former Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel had his worst outing in Japan as the Rakuten Eagles scored an 8-1 drubbing of the Lotte Marines in Sendai. The win jumps the Eagles over the Marines into third place in the Pacific League standings on winning percentage. Keuchel was rocked for six runs including four in the 4th inning that saw Rakuten bat around the order, registering five hits and one walk. Yukiya Itoh was the home team's offensive Hero going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Masaru Fujii picked up his 10th win of the year, fanning five batters over 6 innings. Seishirō Sakamoto went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored as the Hanshin Tigers pulled to within a-game-and-a-half of the Central League lead following their 8-3 win over the Chunichi Dragons in Nagoya. Hanshin scored three earned runs off Dragons starter Hiroto Takahashi whose ERA climbed up to 1.28 on the year. Shoki Murakami pitched 5 innings to earn his seventh win. Following the game, Dragons manager Kazuyoshi Tatsunami announced that he will be stepping down at the end of the season. The team failed to reach the playoffs in each of the three seasons he's been in charge.
Shosei Togo picked up his 12th win for the third consecutive season while Kazuma Okamoto hit his 25th home run for the sixth straight year as the Yomiuri Giants shutout the Yokohama DeNA BayStars 5-0 at the Tokyo Dome. Togo allowed four hits and two walks while striking out seven over 8 dominant innings. The victory reduced the Kyojin's pennant-clinching magic number to 8. Domingo Santana and Tetsuto Yamada each homered to lead the Yakult Swallows to a 5-1 win over the Hiroshima Carp at Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo. The Carp have now lost their last eight games on the road - their longest streak since 2007 - and remain just half-a-game ahead of the BayStars for the third and final playoff spot in the Central League.
Games remaining - Central League Yomiuri Giants : HT 2 ... HC 3 ... YB 3 ... YS 1 ... CD 1 Hanshin Tigers : YG 2 ... HC 1 ... YB 5 ... YS 1 Hiroshima Carp : YG 3 ... HT 1 ... YB 1 ... YS 5 ... CD 3 Yokohama BayStars : YG 3 ... HT 5 ... HC 1 ... YS 2 ... CD 3 Yakult Swallows : YG 1 ... HT 1 ... HC 5 ..., YB 2 ... CD 2 Chunichi Dragons : YG 1 ... HC 3 ... YB 3 ... YS 2 Games Remaining - Pacific League SoftBank Hawks : NF 2 ..., RE 3 ... LM 1 ... OB 4 ... SL 2 Nippon-Ham Fighters : SH 2 ... RE 5 ... LM 1 ... OB 2 ... SL 3 Rakuten Eagles : SH 3 ... NF 5 ... LM 3 ... OB 3 ... SL 1 Lotte Marines : SH 1 ... NF 1 ... RE 3 ... OB 1 ... SL 4 Orix Buffaloes : SH 4 ... NF 2 ... RE 3 ... LM 1 ... SL 1 Seibu Lions : SH 2 ... NF 3 ... RE 1 ... LM 4 ... OB 1
Kazuma Okamoto went 3-for-5 including his 26th home run of the year as the Yomiuri Giants dispatched the Hiroshima Carp 8-2 at Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium. Coupled with the Yokohama BayStars 9-5 win over the Hanshin Tigers, the Giants magic number to clinch the Pacific League pennant has was reduced to 6 games while the Carp were overtaken for third place by the BayStars. Naoki Yoshikawa also went 3-for-5 for the Giants including a double with three RBIs and two runs scored. The ageless Hayato Sakamoto also doubled, the 458th of his career which puts him at second all-time on two-base knocks. The Chunichi Dragons hit three home runs on the first 12 pitches thrown by Cy Sneed which kick started a 7-6 win over the Yakult Swallows at Meiji Jingu. Kaito Muramatsu, Hiroki Fukunaga and Seiya Hosokawa were the culprits with Muramatsu and Hosokawa parking the first pitch they each saw in the game. For Hosokawa it was his 21st bomb of the year. Munetaka Murakami went yard twice for the Swallows, numbers 29 and 30 for the for the 24 year old third baseman who has now hit 30 homers for 5 consecutive seasons. The SoftBank Hawks reduced their magic number to win the Pacific League to 4 after defeating the Orix Buffaloes 4-0 at the Mizuho PayPay Dome. Kohei Arihara pitched an excellent 8 shutout innings allowing just two hits and one walk while fanning seven batters. Kenta Imamiya and Ryoya Kurihara each homered for SoftBank. For the Buffaloes, it was the 23rd time they have been shutout this season and are currently on their second eight game losing streak this season.
Checking the standing now wow what happened to Hiroshima Carp? They were top of the table over the summer but now seem to be just clinging on to that last playoff spot. Is it looking likely they won't even make it now?
Saturday 21 September Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-09-21 BayStars-Tigers went 10 innings
The Hiroshima Carp scored four runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to snatch a 5-4 win over the Yomiuri Giants. With a runner at first and two outs, the next five Carp batters reached base off four hits and a walk to flip a 4-1 deficit into a dramatic 5-4 lead. Shota Suekane capped the rally with an RBI single to left scoring Kaito Kozono with the game winning run. In Yokohama, the Hanshin Tigers blew a 4-0 lead but came back to defeat the DeNA BayStars 6-5 in 10 innings. Teruaki Sato launched a moon shot high into the right field bleachers to give the Tigers the win in the extra frame, Sato's 15th homer of the year. Toshiro Miyazaki homered for Yokohama in their five-run 5th inning, the 150th round-tripper of Miyazaki's career. The results of the two high profile games in the Central League means the Giants magic number to clinch the pennant remains at 6 while the Carp return to 3rd place ahead of the BayStars who drop back to 4th. The Tigers host the Giants at Koshien on Sunday and Monday, the final meetings between the two teams this regular season. Pinch hitter Tatsuru Yanagimachi lined a two out double into the left-centerfield alley scoring Isami Nomura and Taisei Makihara to give the SoftBank Hawks a sayonara 3-2 victory over the Rakuten Eagles. The win coupled with the Nippon-Ham Fighters loss to the Orix Buffaloes means the Hawks can cement the Pacific League title on Sunday at the earliest.
They led the Central League at the start of September but since then they've been in a horrible slump, going 3-14 since September 3rd and that includes Saturday's key win against the Giants. The Carp and BayStars are fighting it out for the third and final playoff spot in the CL.
Starting pitchers Hiroya Miyagi and Takayuki Katoh both went the full 9 inning distance with Katoh's Nippon-Ham Fighters scoring in the final frame to defeat Miyagi's Orix Buffaloes 3-2. The three runs scored off Miyagi were all earned, with the ace southpaw allowing 10 hits but no walks while fanning a season high 13 batters over 128 pitches. The winning run in the 9th arrived with Ryōta Isobata racing home safely on Go Matsumoto's 5-2-3 fielder's choice grounder. But Katoh outdueled his lefty counterpart allowing two earned runs on just five hits with no walks and six strikeouts on 125 throws. The win by the Fighters delayed any pennant-winning celebrations by the SoftBank Hawks who had defeated the Rakuten Eagles earlier in the day to reduce their Pacific League magic number to just 1. The Lotte Marines defeated the Seibu Lions 7-2. Roki Sasaki: 7 innings, 2 runs allowed (1 earned), 4 hits, 1 walk and 10 strikeouts on 107 pitches. Heater topping out at 159 kmh (99 mph).
Takumu Nakano's two out single to right field in the 3rd inning scored Seiya Kinami and it held up to give the Hanshin Tigers a 1-0 win over the Yomiuri Giants. Hiroto Saiki engaged Tomoyuki Sugano in a highly anticipated pitching duel that lived up to the advertisement. Saiki went 7 strong innings to raise his record to 13-3 with a 1.61 ERA. Sugano went one inning better but saw his record drop to 14-3 with his ERA now at 1.70 Although the Giants have a Central League magic number of 6 they only hold a one game lead over the Tigers. The long-time rivals meet for the final time in the regular season on Monday at Koshien. In total, the Kyojin have seven games remaining while the Toraho have six to play. There was a historic moment in the 6th inning in Nagoya when Hiroshina Carp shortstop Masaya Yano drew a 22 pitch walk against Chunichi Dragons pitcher Hideaki Wakui, setting a new NPB record for most pitches in a plate appearance. Watching amateur videos of the 'event', the pitcher-batter duel lasted roughly 11 minutes 7 seconds. The MLB record for most pitches in a plate appearance is 21 by Brandon Belt (San Francisco Giants) against Jaime Barria (Los Angles Angles) in the 1st inning on April 22, 2018. The at-bat ended with Belt flying out to right field.
On Monday Japan officially observed Autumnal Equinox Day, a public holiday where the event itself took place on Sunday at 21:44 Japan Time. A full slate of NPB games were played as part of the celebrations. Yuto Kawamura went 3-for-4 including a double with two RBIs and two runs scored as the SoftBank Hawks cemented the Pacific League pennant with a 9-2 victory over the three-time reigning champion Orix Buffaloes Monday night in Osaka. It is the 20th league title in the club's history and their first since 2020, the fial year of their incredible dynasty where they collected 5 PL pennants and 7 Nippon Series championships in a span of 11 seasons.. Led by manager Hiroki Kokubo, the Hawks went only two days where they did not hold first place in the PL standings. Among the post-game on-field celebrations were Masayoshi Son, the founder, representative director, corporate officer, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, as well as Sadaharu Oh, the legendary former Yomiuri Giants player who managed the Hawks from 1995-2008 and has been a club executive since 2009. There were also the sightings of two key players: Kensuke Kondoh on crutches, and Yuki Yanagita. Kondoh is currently nursing a right ankle sprain he suffered last week but is expected to be ready for the post-season as is Yanagita, out for nearly four months due to a hamstring injury but who has made two appearances with the second team in the past four days. With the win, the Hawks receive a bye to and home field advantage throughout the Climax Series Final Stage where they will also receive a one-game head start in the best-of-seven series which will begin on Wednesday 16 October.
An RBI single by Hayato Sakamoto scored Naoki Yoshikawa in the 7th inning for the game's only run as the Yomiuri Giants reduced their Central League magic number to 4 following their 1-0 win over the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien. Tigers starter Haruto Takahashi had allowed just two hits over 6 innings but in the 7th he surrendered singles to the first three batters in the inning including Sakamoto's single to right field. It was Takahashi's first loss following four consecutive victories since returning to action after a two-year absence from arm surgery. Giants closer Taisei Ota earned his 27th save of the season.
Daiju Nomura went 3-for-5 including a bases-clearing triple as the Seibu Lions defeated the Orix Buffaloes 9-2 in the only NPB game scheduled for Tuesday. Tatsuya Imai took a no-hitter into the 6th inning and ended up tossing 7 frames allowing two earned runs on just three hits and three walks to push his record to 9-8 on the year. Both teams are playing out the season as they have already been eliminated from post-season qualifying. Although the Buffaloes still have six games remaining, they will all be on the road as Tuesday's game marked their final home game for 2024, the first team to complete its home schedule this season. As is NPB custom, team manager Satoshi Nakajima addressed the fans after the game, offering thanks for their support throughout the season while apologizing profusely for not being able to win a fourth consecutive PL pennant. Thanks was also given to Ryoichi Adachi (13 years) and Takahiro Okada (17 years), both of whom announced their retirements upon the conclusion of the season. The ceremony included video tributes from celebrity Buffaloes supporters including heartfelt messages sent by two former Buffaloes teammates: Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Masataka Yoshida.