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The story
On September 22, the Yomiuri Giants fell to the Hiroshima Carp on a walk-off hit in the 11th inning, pushing the team’s loss total to 60 for the season. On the Giants thread on 5ch (a major Japanese message board), reactions to the loss mingled with talk of the Hanshin Tigers’ pennant “magic number” lighting up, their now 1.5-game lead over the Giants, and the tight three-way Central League Rookie of the Year race between Urata, Takemaru, and Kudo. The same day also brought news that Shohei Ohtani and Roki Sasaki were both set to return to the Dodgers, making for a thread that mixed domestic and overseas baseball talk.
What people said
Giants Acting Manager Thread 148
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/34d7e2eeebc6d1715e7a2ba6e50532c97eaba2a6
[Giants] Nightmare walk-off loss ends bid for 4th straight win… team hits 60 losses; Akahoshi surrenders the tragic hit to Katsuta; three straight hits off Izumiguchi tie it in the 7th; Funabasa loads the bases with two outs but shuts the door; Togo allows 1 run over 5
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/31092f722135a0f2ebcf3b528bec4083ff2c5a05
They'll probably win today, though…
A Tigers win + Giants loss drops the magic number to 8 🔥
Their lead over 2nd-place Giants grows to 1.5 games‼
If the Tigers go .500 (5-5) the rest of the way…
🐰 the Giants would need to go at least 6-2 to take the pennant
Guess it's all thanks to my total dominion over this place lol
Well then, back to work, busy busy lol
Swallows-Tigers (Jingu) 2:00 PM ← day game
Carp-Giants (Mazda Stadium) 3:00 PM ← day game
▽ Announced starters for Wed. 9/23
(S-T) Yasunobu Okugawa (RHP) vs. Haruto Takahashi (LHP)
(C-G) Hiroki Tokoda (LHP) vs. Kazuyuki Takemaru (LHP)
6:00 PM
CBC Radio
Analyst: Kazuyoshi Tatsunami / Play-by-play: Toshihito Nishimura
TOKAI Radio
Analyst: Yukinaga Maeda / Play-by-play: Yuji Senkawa @ Nippon Broadcasting
and it'll all end with the worst possible outcome: watching the championship toss (the traditional manager-toss after a pennant clinch) go down over at 'Chin-tei' (a derisive nickname fans use for Koshien, the Tigers' home stadium)
118 games, .271, 0 HR, 27 RBI, 36 SB, OPS .641
Takemaru
20 appearances, 116 IP, 10-9, 3.49 ERA
Kudo
51 appearances, 54.2 IP, 3-0, 12 holds, 11 saves, 0.99 ERA
Urata
Steady production from opening day, but sidelined late in the season
2nd year
Takemaru
Opening-day starter with a strong full season, though he had a stretch on the shelf due to a slump
1st year
Kudo
Started the season on mop-up duty but got promoted to bullpen ace by midseason
Basically zero failures
2nd year
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/10924954e2cea4034d1a97b2a2dcc2afed9ca2e5
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/e9edfaae236ce2b930777dbe92ac604c8fe4729e
Who even thinks about losing before the game's even started?! (Back in the day that kind of talk would've earned you a slap — though I guess that's not allowed in the Reiwa era)
▽ 1988 — Jose Canseco (Athletics), 42 HR / 40 SB
▽ 1996 — Barry Bonds (Giants), 42 HR / 40 SB
▽ 1998 — Alex Rodriguez (Mariners), 42 HR / 46 SB
▽ 2006 — Alfonso Soriano (Nationals), 46 HR / 41 SB
▽ 2023 — Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves), 41 HR / 73 SB
▽ 2024 — Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers), 54 HR / 59 SB
So 'the Kintetsu Canseco' (an old nickname for a Japanese player, comparing him to Jose Canseco) was named after a guy who was actually this good, huh lol
@yuta_nakano7
Good morning.
Light rain falling at Jingu Stadium ☔
https://x.com/yuta_nakano7/status/2102579007577604168
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HS3cdScboAAd4Zi.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ljajBfxzXlY
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/222c0af50be5c54ef5990cb01c8791aac11c539b
Looks like the win streak's about to end, and 100 wins might be out of reach too
Well, he did hold them scoreless, so…
Is there even any point getting fired up now?
Swing through a meatball like that and anyone besides Urata or Kadowaki is hitting it out.
Oshiro grounds out with a chance to score, then it cuts to commercial
Nakamura Shosei homers
So now they're up 1
Background and talking points
Urata, Takemaru, and Kudo, the three names mentioned in the Rookie of the Year discussion, are all in their first or second pro seasons. Because the award is decided by a media vote after the regular season based on that year’s performance, individual stats tend to draw attention independent of how a player’s team finishes. The “40-40” mentioned in the thread refers to hitting 40 home runs and stealing 40 bases in the same season — a rare feat achieved only a handful of times in history, including by Shohei Ohtani in 2024. The “magic number” is the fewest wins a team needs to clinch the pennant, and it shifts day to day depending on other teams’ results, so the figures quoted in the thread reflect only the standings as of the end of play on September 22. With the Giants’ losing record continuing to grow and a title run on their own now nearly out of reach, posts in the thread showed a mix of lingering hope and resignation as fans look toward the end of the season.
*This article was compiled from excerpts and summaries of the 5ch (posted on the Hello! Project sub-board) thread “Giants Acting Manager Thread 149.”
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