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The story
On the Nandemo Jikkyo G (Live Sports Coverage) board, a thread buzzed about the Yomiuri Giants climbing into provisional first place, with their magic number race against the Hanshin Tigers dragging on as the pennant chase gets messier by the day. Some posters questioned how the Giants could stay in title contention despite losing key players — Kazuma Okamoto traded away, and pitchers Shosei Togo, Iori Yamazaki, and closer Taisei all frequently sidelined — while others pointed to mounting resentment toward Hanshin manager Kyuji Fujikawa, with comments spreading that “fans of all 11 other teams are rooting for the Giants.” The thread was split on whether the Giants’ surge comes down to real strength or Hanshin simply fading.
What people said
Talent-wise, Hanshin should be winning this thing by a mile
And the guy who closed that gap is definitely Fujikawa
Gotta be Abe's daughter…
Gotta be Abe's daughter, with Raimaru a close second
I'm cheering them on and all, but if I had to guess, it's just that everyone's clutch
It's the "One Outs" theory (from the baseball manga/anime about exploiting weak spots)
Rather than being the strongest team with a slight edge over everyone, it's better to farm one specific patsy hard — that's how you actually win pennants
Honestly they could just put the Giants TV app on smart TVs and call it a day
G+ is straight-up trash
Togo barely around
Yamazaki barely around
Taisei barely around
That's normally a bottom-half ("B-class") season right there
And no manager either
The new foreign pitcher they signed keeps getting hurt too, and given they finished 3rd last year, this should normally be a B-class season
Honestly, just keep Hashigami
It'd be brutal if they end up B-class next season
No one's gonna want the job after that
are Giants fans actually happy winning the pennant by beating scrubs like the Yokohama BayStars, Yakult, Chunichi, and Hiroshima?
That's just farming weaklings
Then why can't you guys even manage to farm the weak teams?
They were probably planning to coast along with Hashigami as a stopgap manager, bring back Yoshinobu Takahashi or Tatsunori Hara next year as another stopgap, and just wait for Sakamoto to retire
But instead it's: when Hanshin gets hit, it's an evil beanball
When Hanshin does the hitting, it's a righteous beanball that needs no apology — total double-standard guy
Getting mad when it happens to your own team is fine, but hinting at intentional retaliation is the worst part
You should never say something like that
Guys like Hara, Ochiai, and Okada would throw some snarky jabs in situations like this too, but they never turned into the villain the way Fujikawa has
He's just really bad at using the media to needle people as a manager
that fans of all 11 other teams are rooting for the Giants
Never seen a manager this hated by other teams' fans before
I bet even some Hanshin fans dislike Fujikawa
He's hated by fans of all 12 teams
and 2nd-place Hanshin still has their magic number hanging over them, huh
If they lose tonight, that number's gone
The Giants are basically a bunch of scrubs thrown together
Who's actually to blame on Hanshin's side here?
They've got the pitching quadruple crown, and their batters hold 1st AND 2nd in the triple-crown categories
That's overwhelming talent for you~
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The Yomiuri Giants have positioned themselves to contend for the pennant against Hanshin this season, despite losing star slugger Kazuma Okamoto to a trade and frequently being without pitchers Shosei Togo, Iori Yamazaki, and closer Taisei. Hanshin manager Kyuji Fujikawa, whose name came up repeatedly in the thread, has drawn criticism over his handling of hit-by-pitch incidents — accused of a double standard where pitches that hit Hanshin batters are treated as malicious while pitches thrown by Hanshin are treated as justified. This appears to have fueled resentment among fans of other teams, feeding into the sentiment that “fans of all 11 other teams are rooting for the Giants.” Meanwhile, opinion in the thread was split on whether the Giants’ surge reflects genuine strength or simply Hanshin fading, and there was also unease about next season’s managerial situation, with some fans hoping coach Hideki Hashigami stays on. The rare spectacle of a title race being fought while missing so many key players has stirred up heated debate among both teams’ fans.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “The Yomiuri Giants Are Seriously Going For The Pennant.”
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