On August 28, 2026, a Chunichi Dragons game became the talk of 5ch’s “Live Commentary General” (なんでも実況G) board. The starting pitcher carried a perfect game through 6 innings and kept the no-hitter alive into the 7th, but was pulled once he reached roughly 100 pitches. The relievers who took over got hit hard, surrendered the lead, and the team went on to lose. Thread posters pointed out this was the same pattern that’s played out again and again this season — “starter pitches great, bullpen blows it up” — sparking a wave of reactions mixing self-deprecation and irony under the running joke “Reversal Chuni-Dora.”
What people said
1AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:02
Well, that's a wrap.
4AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:04
Our pitching staff is so thin at this point that Saito is basically the only arm we've got left.
5AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:05
It was a perfect game through 6 innings, a no-hitter through 7 — that's where we're at.
7AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:05
https://imgur.com/DWZZEiT.png
27AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:08
Re: #7
There's a guy in the background who looks just like me
8AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:05
Take a look at our bullpen lineup — that's a level you wouldn't believe exists in modern baseball.
9AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:05
It's because Takahashi bailed on the job partway through.
12AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:06
My bad on this one (*^O^*)
45AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:12
Re: #12
(*^◯^*) Who the hell are you!
17AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:07
A team that dangles a top-3 finish in front of its fans, then slams them back down to reality.
18AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:07
Typical Reversal Chuni-Dora — that's the one thing they always nail.
20AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:07
I don't know, but whenever we get plenty of scoring chances and only manage 2 runs, I get this feeling we're gonna lose — and then we actually do.
22AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:08
Can't be helped, we don't have a single decent reliever.
24AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:08
Wasn't everyone just hyping up a perfect game a minute ago?
28AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:08
Pulling him in the 7th at 100 pitches when the 8th-inning guy is trash means they weren't even trying to win.
29AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:08
The moment Hiroto's finger started acting up and Inoue began panicking, this game was already lost.
The starting rotation is all guys who max out around 100 pitches
↓
The relievers who were solid early in the season are getting tired and falling apart
↓
They push the starter to the 7th anyway but he can't finish the game
↓
Yoshida gets hit and they scramble to make a change
↓
And now there's not a single decent reliever left
32AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:08
I love Chuni-Dora, their comedic timing is top-tier.
33AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:09
Throwing the exact pitch the batter's sitting on is just insane.
35AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:10
They've even mastered the art of making a top-3 finish look within reach, just to keep a firm grip on fans' hearts and never let go.
38AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:10
Honestly this works out fine — gives them a reason to finally give Inoue his walking papers.
42AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:12
Everyone kind of knew it'd end up like this.
43AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:12
Starter, facing the lineup a third time, 100 pitches in — that's a checklist full of reasons to get hit hard.
44AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:12
Chunichi's probably lost like 30 games this year because of the bullpen.
48AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:13
If they keep the same winning percentage the rest of the way:
Home, 5 games → 3 wins, 3 losses
Away, 19 games → 6 wins, 13 losses
They finish 22 games under .500.
49AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:13
I really don't get the managing decisions here — was there even a reason to pull Yoshida?
51AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:14
Lost three straight to Hiroshima, now 19 games under .500.
Every time they're one loss from dropping to 20 under .500, they somehow rattle off a 6-game win streak, claw the deficit back down for about 5 games, then lose again and land right back at 19 under — rinse and repeat.
52AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:14
Now I totally get why this team's so popular.
77AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:22
Re: #52
This kind of thing gets addictive.
53AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:15
It's not like the other team's bullpen is anything to write home about either.
66AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:18
Getting cocky in the first half only for this to happen — that's hilarious, gotta admit.
70AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:19
Re: #66
Whenever scrubs ("miso-kasu") get cocky, they get smacked right back down, huh.
67AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:18
It's the same story every time late in games — no Hosokawa, no Sano around, so there's no way to fight back.
82AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:26
Re: #67
Maybe the spirit of "Banchō" Miura possessed him?
68AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:19
https://imgur.com/isnolrA.jpeg
90AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:30
Re: #68
Same school year, different draft-year first-round picks — what a contrast in fortunes.
97AnonymousAug 28, 2026 21:57
Show the fans a glimmer of hope for 3rd place, then make them taste despair —
that's the secret to this team's popularity.
100AnonymousAug 28, 2026 22:03
Re: #97
That's literally the playbook of an abusive boyfriend.
Background and Key Points of This Story
This season, Chunichi has repeatedly seen games slip away when a strong start gets undone by the bullpen, and this game fit that pattern to a tee. Pulling a starter around the 100-pitch mark in the 7th reflects a broader recent trend in NPB toward prioritizing injury prevention, so it can’t simply be chalked up to a bad managerial call — but the relievers who took over couldn’t hold the line and ultimately allowed the reversal. The thread comment claiming the bullpen has “blown 30 games” this season reflects fan sentiment rather than an official statistic, so it should be taken with a grain of salt. Also, “shakkin” (literally “debt”) is baseball slang for the opposite of a winning record — it refers to the number of games below .500 — and this loss adds to that tally, keeping a top-3 finish (“A-class”) further out of reach.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Live Commentary General) thread “Chuni-Dora lolololol.”
Leave a Reply