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The story
A 5ch thread picked up on the fact that Hanshin Tigers slugger Teruaki Sato is on pace for the Central League Triple Crown with a .315 average, 35 home runs, and 100 RBIs. The thread’s original poster opened by arguing these numbers pale next to past Triple Crown winners, declaring Sato “looks set to become the worst Triple Crown winner in history” — touching off a mix of pushback and agreement. The debate centered on whether this season’s modest numbers stem from a league-wide pitching-dominant trend, or whether the league’s overall level has simply dropped as star hitters keep leaving for MLB, with comparisons stretching all the way to Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Hiromitsu Ochiai, Munetaka Murakami, and Kazuma Okamoto.
What people said
No good — way too weak.
Clearly pathetic next to past Triple Crown winners.
Come on, at least put up better numbers than Boomer (Randy Bass's teammate Boomer Wells, a past Triple Crown winner).
Being the best of the bunch under those conditions still makes it a legit Triple Crown.
If anything, this shows real skill more clearly than back in the juiced-ball days.
You're always quick with the excuses.
By that logic it just comes down to 'the level's low because all the good players keep leaving for MLB' anyway.
Nah, the ball's back to normal now.
So what?
Of course you compare against whoever's actually in the league right now.
Does that mean the batting title's been meaningless ever since Ichiro left for MLB?
Does it mean today's pitching Triple Crown is meaningless because Darvish and Yamamoto left for MLB?
That's basically what you're saying.
If you're comparing hitters from different eras, wouldn't wRC+ settle that?
Ichiro wouldn't even be rated as highly by today's standards anyway.
Otchi (Ochiai) put up ridiculous numbers in '85 and '86.
That's because Ochiai padded his stats against farm-team pitchers — that's why people clown on him for it.
That was only in the final stretch, though, right?
Facing farm-team call-ups isn't really a knock on Otchi anyway.
Even stripping out those at-bats, his numbers are still absurd.
Actually, it's not true that it was only farm-team pitchers in the final stretch.
Sato actually hits worst against farm-team call-ups, if anything.
What's Sato's OPS??
Wonder how much it's climbed from 1.005 as of yesterday.
Well, still lower than Otchi's, so there's that.
Right now it's still lower than past Triple Crown winners.
It's up to 1.012 now.
Both Okamoto and Murakami are losing to Sato-teru domestically.
Not bringing up Seiya Suzuki because it's inconvenient for your point?
Home runs: Murakami (56) > Okamoto (41) > Sato (40)
RBIs: Murakami (134) > Okamoto (123) > Sato (102)
There you go.
Okay, that's laying it on way too thick.
Both Murakami and Okamoto were nowhere near any titles until they got hurt together.
Guess you have to dig back that far to make the case.
Jingu Stadium specialist, lol (his home park is a hitter's haven).
Murakami hit his 35th homer today, FYI.
Right, right — that's exactly why people call it a 'stolen' Triple Crown.
Well, I wouldn't go that far, but the level's definitely dropped.
The only real rival left is Maki, and he plays second base anyway.
His rivals vanished mid-season for the Olympics,
and he just feasted on the non-national-team-caliber pitchers left behind in Japan.
But his numbers were just too insane.
If you're going down that road, then winning the Triple Crown the moment Murakami and Okamoto leave for MLB would be just as much of a 'break-in' win.
That was a while back (2022, 2023).
Okada just forced that quick-hands hitting style on him, that's all.
Re: #70
He hasn't hit 40 since then, though, right?
Even at Jingu.
lol
It's not like it was forced, exactly.
It's just one hitting approach among others.
He got shut down by Sakakibara's pitching, that's why.
So how many did Sato hit in 2024, again?
Ha, lmaooo
A Triple Crown winner barely scraping past 1.000 (OPS)?!
It does feel a bit off to read OPS out using batting-average-style notation like that.
It's the on-base percentage that's the issue.
A Triple Crown winner with an OBP under .400 would be a first in history, I'd think.
I'd say no, basically.
I saw somewhere before that there might be a shot at a qualifying ruling, but guess that's a stretch.
Maybe if he keeps hitting and Hanshin keeps blowing teams out so his at-bat count piles up, who knows?
There is a qualifying-rule option, but it converts every plate appearance he's short of the minimum into an out, so it's basically impossible.
Assuming Sato keeps his current average, if he gets around 23 hits over the remaining 7 games, maybe…
Background and key points of the debate
A “Triple Crown” means leading the league in all three of batting average, home runs, and RBIs at once. The thread was sparked by the fact that Teruaki Sato’s numbers (.315 average, 35 home runs, 100 RBIs) look weak next to those of past Triple Crown winners, with names like Nobuhiko Matsunaka and Hiromitsu Ochiai brought up for comparison. The debate split into roughly two camps: one held that “the whole league is in a pitching-dominant season, so standing out under those conditions doesn’t diminish the achievement,” while the other argued that “the league’s level has simply dropped as star hitters keep leaving for MLB.” Posters also flagged the difficulty of comparing stats across eras, with some suggesting wRC+ as a fairer metric. Note that the home run/RBI comparisons with Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto, along with the OPS and on-base percentage figures cited, are all snapshots tallied on the fly within the thread, reflecting mid-season numbers (as of September 26, 2026). The claim that an OBP under .400 would be unprecedented for a Triple Crown winner is likewise just thread speculation, not a confirmed record.
※This article was compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyo G) thread “Sad news: Teruaki Sato looks set to become the worst Triple Crown winner in history.”
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