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The story
A remark from Hiromitsu Ochiai, who managed the Chunichi Dragons for eight years — “We win the pennant every other year. Even in the years we don’t, we’re basically in second place” — sparked a lively Chunichi discussion on 5ch’s Nanjo (live sports commentary) board. Some posters argued that attendance held up well under Ochiai’s regime, while others countered with data showing it actually declined year after year. The debate centered on whether “winning baseball that’s monotonous” or “losing baseball full of variety” draws more fans, with many also pointing to the current team’s weak bullpen and thin roster depth.
What people said
Nagoya fans: "Go Dragons, gooooooo!!!!!!!!" (sold out every single day)
Something's clearly not adding up here
That's because he made trash calls like pulling Yamai while he was throwing a perfect game.
Honestly "Joynus" would've been more competent than Ochiai.
Eh, that part's fine though lol
Just counting the number of sellouts, it was overwhelmingly higher.
The data clearly shows a steady decline — why go off pure vibes?
"Just winning is easy."
Same as soccer: a foolproof winning tactic is boring to watch.
Can't stand watching Inoue-ball, where the bullpen blows the game every single time.
The team's weaker now but clearly more popular.
Ochiai-ball wins but it's boring; Inoue-ball loses but it's entertaining.
Of course the entertaining one is more popular.
The problem is Ochiai trying to hog the spotlight.
No wonder it killed the mood.
Did Ochiai actually raise any homegrown stars?
For Nagoya it's about in-group pride, not just winning.
Oshima became a regular during the Ochiai era though.
Ochiai played him in 2010 and 2011.
That's why the stands are empty.
Take a lesson from us Chuni-Dora fans and dump all that past glory.
Start by admitting you're a comedy team too.
No matter what, you can't out-comedy Chunichi.
Stuff like the "Zontaba" incident happens and it's genuinely no laughing matter.
No homegrown stars.
Losing flatly, with no interesting variation.
Scandals.
No wonder there's zero entertainment value.
Props to the fans for still showing up to watch.
I'd say this actually draws more fans than a team with bad stats barely scraping by wins.
Fans who go to the ballpark want extra-base hits more than wins.
Management is poor and the roster's thin, so if anyone goes down there's no backup, and a lot of guys are injury-prone.
Even when they get hits, they can't cash in the crucial run, so it's just inefficient.
Honestly, I think so too.
He's even appearing on Tokai regional TV shows.
Apparently his wife is a local woman he married while he was on Chunichi's roster, though.
Same as Eiji Bando — pro-Hanshin in Osaka, pro-Chunichi in Nagoya.
Was that back when Brown was managing Hiroshima?
Ochiai got hit with a "That's not allowed!" complaint, and he pushed back hard, threatening to take it all the way to an administrative lawsuit until Hiroshima caved and apologized in tears.
Yano, meanwhile, just goes "I didn't do it! Idiot!"
What is he, a kid?
Ochiai only got Wada brought in for him.
Tanishige and Woods were holdovers from the previous manager,
and once Woods declined, they turned to their own Blanco.
The Ogasawara-Ramirez lineup was just way too nasty, no matter how you slice it.
Woods was brought in in 2005 — Ochiai's second year, right?
Woods joined after Ochiai took over.
Though by the later years the entire outfield had turned over.
Even in the infield, Ibata left at some point — wasn't it basically just Araki and Tanishige who kept playing every single year?
And on the mound, almost everyone but Iwase changed too.
A lot of players stayed in the lineup all year long.
I used to think the starting lineup being nearly the same faces every day felt stale, but I guess that was actually the sign of a rock-solid regular lineup that made them strong.
Isn't developing injury-resistant players a legitimate skill in itself?
No matter how talented someone is, it means nothing if they're always hurt.
You'd get yelled at if you called this year's Hanshin "lucky" just because Satoteru and Morishita didn't go down.
That's some twisted logic.
"Twisted logic"? That's just how reality's actually playing out,
so I guess that makes Chunichi fans themselves twisted.
Isn't that exactly right though?
Exactly right, yeah.
Weak AND empty stands — that's the worst of both worlds.
Step one: let go of your past glory (those three straight pennants).
Step two: recognize that you're on par with the Chunichi Dragons — a comedy team in this league, same as us.
First off, you're way too insular — start building a fanbase outside the prefecture.
Then there's all the drug-related scandals and other messes, clean those up too.
And beyond that, you just have to force your way into signing players who can actually draw a crowd.
Background and key points of this discussion
Hiromitsu Ochiai managed the Chunichi Dragons from 2004 to 2011, winning four league pennants and one Japan Series title, and finishing no worse than second place even in years the team didn’t win it all — a record that lines up with the quote in the thread title. In recent years, by contrast, Chunichi has repeatedly finished under .500 and even landed in last place, a stark contrast to the Ochiai era’s results. Where opinions split in the thread was over whether a high win rate actually translates into higher attendance. Posters who recalled attendance being “good” under Ochiai clashed with others citing data showing a steady decline, and the argument was never settled. Some also pointed to poor bullpen management and a thin roster, making this more than a simple “strength vs. popularity” debate.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nanjo) thread “Ochiai’s Chunichi: ‘We win the pennant every other year. Even when we don’t, we’re basically runner-up.’ Nagoya fans: ‘Yeah…’“
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