SoftBank Wins Third Straight — Matsumoto Haru Notches 10th Victory, Yanagita’s Two Homers Down Fighters 3-2

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The story

In Pacific League action on September 10, SoftBank defeated the Nippon-Ham Fighters 3-2 to claim their third straight win. Starter Matsumoto Haru allowed just one run over five innings to pick up his 10th victory of the season, while Yanagita hit two home runs in the game and Masaki also went deep in a high-scoring slugfest. SoftBank’s record against the Fighters this season has now stretched to 5 wins, 18 losses, and 2 draws, and some posts brought up manager Shinjo’s preseason declaration of a ’96-win’ target. The thread was dominated by sarcastic remarks about the growing gap and banter between fans of both teams.

Nippon-Ham  0 0 1  0 0 0  0 1 0|2

SoftBank . 0 1 1  1 0 0  0 0 X|3

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Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here

What people said

16AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:44
This isn't even 'SoftBank's dog' territory anymore! (a jab implying Nippon-Ham is now worse than just being a reliable easy win for SoftBank)
19AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:44
So close, just needed one more push…
yeah, it's brutal
20AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:44
Shinjo: "This year we're aiming for 96 wins. Seriously, I mean it. Honestly I want to say 100, but I'll modestly say 96. Look forward to it."

Okada: "But SoftBank isn't even that strong."
 Shinjo: "Exactly!"
 (Everyone bursts out laughing)


Shinjo: "Does the Hawks' slogan 'Zenshin' mean 'beat Shinjo in everything'?" (a pun — 全新 sounds like 全て新庄に勝つ, "beat Shinjo at everything")

Kiyomiya: "This year, we're winning by an overwhelming margin."
25AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:45
Re: #20
Shinjo: "This year we're (SoftBank is) aiming for 96 wins. Seriously, I mean it. Honestly I want to say 100, but I'll modestly say 96. Look forward to it."

Okada: "But (for Nippon-Ham,) SoftBank isn't that strong."
 Shinjo: "Exactly!"
 (Everyone bursts out laughing)


Shinjo: "Does the Hawks' slogan 'Zenshin' mean 'beat Shinjo in everything'? (I mean, we'll obviously win some games)"

Kiyomiya: "This year, (the Hawks) are winning by an overwhelming margin."
22AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:45
Leaving Otsuka in and pinch-hitting for Gunji lol
Shinjo: "I raised these young guys myself"

lmaooooo
67AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:51
Re: #22
Re: #34
Don't pass off fabrications as facts.
26AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:45
Hakata Hanamaru: "The Hawks are disliked by a lot of people nationwide, so I don't bring up the Hawks on national broadcasts."

A line from 'Downtown's Bar Hopping' a few years back

If you've ever left Fukuoka, you'll know this is true
27AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:46
Cleanup hitter Nomura:
takes a called strike right down the middle — an old 'Mino-san' special (vintage NPB slang for watching a hittable pitch sail by)
grounds into a double play with a scoring chance on
pops out in foul territory on the very first pitch
29AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:46
[SoftBank] Arihara Kohei's transfer "extremely regrettable," says front office director — club reportedly tried to keep him with an offer topping Nippon-Ham's
https://www.nikkansports.com/m/baseball/news/202512250001052_m.html?mode=all

>GM Mikasa said, "We wanted him to stay," and continued retention talks with an offer exceeding Nippon-Ham's, but it fell through.

Embarrassing to post as a casual fan lol
↓↓↓
https://hayabusa9.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/mnewsplus/1784547291/186

186 Anonymous 2026/07/21 (Tue) 17:20:37.19 ID:4YnZluvm0
Nippon-Ham's offer for Arihara was way better, actually
Embarrassing to be such a casual fan, Ham-trash boy
30AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:46
Kiyomiya: "This year, we're winning by an overwhelming margin." ← now nearly 10 games back lol
31AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:46
181 km/h exit velocity on Yanagita's first homer, lmao (that's about 112 mph)
35AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:47
To think they're losing worse than the Orix team they called "SoftBank's dog" last year
40AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:47
There's a real chance Nippon-Ham is intentionally tanking the regular season just to peak for a Japan Series run
43AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:48
Matsumoto Haru: "Thanks to Gīta and Masaki, I made it to double digits (10 wins)." (Gīta is Yanagita's nickname)
44AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:48
Honestly, they deserve being called SoftBank's "easy mark" or "dog" at this point. Are they even trying?
45AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:48
Re: #1
Pitching decisions
Winning pitcher: SoftBank — Matsumoto Haru (10-3, 0 SV)
Losing pitcher: Nippon-Ham — Kato Taka (11-3, 0 SV)
Save: SoftBank — Sugiyama (1-2, 30 SV)
51AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:49
Something's seriously wrong when they can't win by this much of a margin
79AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:53
Re: #51
The one who's off is Shinjo
89AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:54
Re: #51
The umps have been way too brutal ("benpire" — slang blending "toilet" and "umpire" for a terrible ump)
53AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:49
Maybe the gap won't close because Orix has a secret Nippon-Ham sleeper unit embedded in it (joking conspiracy-meme reference)
55AnonymousSep 10, 2026 20:49
Winning on three home runs — that's usually the Fighters' whole thing, they basically stole their own opponent's playbook. All hail Gīta.

Background and talking points

SoftBank’s season record against Nippon-Ham has widened to 5 wins, 18 losses, and 2 draws, driven largely by the gap in pitching stability and the raw power of SoftBank’s lineup. Matsumoto Haru picked up his 10th win of the season on this day, and Yanagita’s two-homer performance shows just how directly the team’s core players are driving results. On the other hand, it’s worth noting that manager Shinjo’s preseason talk of “96 wins” was more a rallying cry delivered in the excitement of the season opener than a formal target declaration. The thread was full of taunting rooted in the lopsided head-to-head record, but much of that back-and-forth amounted to rivalry-driven mudslinging between fan bases — this article focuses mainly on the excerpts relevant to the actual game.

※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Pacific League H 3-2 F [9/10] Hawks win third straight, Matsumoto Haru 5 innings 1 run, Yanagita 2 HR, Masaki HR, Nippon-Ham vs Hawks now 5-18-2“.

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