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The story
The Giants edged out the Yakult Swallows 8-6 in a game that got the thread talking, with the lineup racking up 8 runs behind Dalbec’s go-ahead 3-run homer. Comments described Tetsuto Yamada’s hit as “the flare of a candle right before it goes out,” while others worried about the Giants’ bullpen after they burned through seven pitchers, and attention also turned to just how tight the Central League standings are, with only 2.5 games separating 3rd from 6th place.
Giants 3 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 | 8
Swallows 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 | 6
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Source: nikkansports.com / original article here
What people said
Hey, quit copying!
Thanks for your continued patronage
thanks to you all buying, the sales go straight into Yamada's salary
Chicago fans' despair, and their dreams
Fans do an about-face after his "2-for-24, 11 K" slump
8/25 (Tue) 17:43
How, exactly? lol
Huh?
It was obviously intentional
as punishment for Yoshimura
Yakult's still fighting for a Climax Series spot too, lol
Nah, when you get torched for 5 runs right at the start of game one of a 3-game set, of course you stick with your starter even while losing — you've got the next two games to think about.
And unlike Norimoto, who's basically a sacrificial start for the Giants after Iori Yamazaki's last-minute injury, Yoshimura is (nominally) their Opening Day starter, so he's expected to at least do a starter's job.
Though the half-hearted comeback ended up burning through their bullpen anyway.
50-61 Yakult
50-65 Chunichi
45-60 Hiroshima
Dog: "Woof."
Dalbec: "Hey dog, that's not it.
It's three. Three times."
Dog: "Woof woof woof."
Dalbec: "Awww~ good boy, good boy."
Pitcher decisions
Win: Giants' Akaboshi (6-2, 0 SV)
Loss: Yakult's Yoshimura (4-9, 0 SV)
Save: Giants' Martinez (3-3, 35 SV)
Didn't realize Akaboshi already had 6 wins.
Without that 3-run homer, they lose this game.
He was getting hit even in the minors — he only got called up this time to fill out the bullpen.
He just ended up starting on short notice because Iori landed on the injured list.
is the staff gonna hold up until Sunday?
No time to worry about that this late in the season.
The Giants are the ones chasing, so their pitching staff has no choice but to go full throttle.
Agreed.
Can't believe a team playing like that is sitting in 2nd place.
Saw the flare of a candle right before it goes out.
the Giants are running on fumes.
Come September, they could end up like Hiroshima did last year.
Still, credit where it's due for building up a cushion with this roster.
They're just aiming for a Climax Series spot at this point.
As long as they can win it all in the end, that's fine.
Just when it seemed like the rotation was coming together, it's a mess again.
They're scraping by rotating position players too, but it's rough.
The rotation from when they won it all two years ago:
Sugano → MLB
Togo → injured
Iori → injured
Griffin → MLB
Inoue → the lone survivor, now the ace
Yokogawa → surgery
Okamoto's gone to MLB too
Taisei, Yoshikawa, and Kishida are all out hurt
That's honestly too much to overcome.
This is basically a rebuilding team that's had to pivot to the young guys.
Hashigami's doing a great job.
Whitley's hurt too, and there's no timetable for Nishidate's return.
Thank god they picked up Ogasawara when they did.
Background and Key Points
The Yomiuri Giants are Japan’s most storied and commercially dominant franchise, and the Yakult Swallows are owned by Yakult Honsha, the probiotic-drink company — which is why beating them triggers the recurring gag of Giants fans “toasting” the win with Yakult’s own products (Joa, Yakult 1000, Pirukuru). Japan’s Central League has no divisions; six teams play one table, and the top three advance to the postseason Climax Series. That structure is why the thread fixated on the standings line — with only 2.5 games separating 3rd and 6th place this late in the season, essentially the whole bottom half of the league is still alive for a playoff spot, which is unusually tight for August.
The actual disagreement in the thread was whether Yakult’s bullpen management — starter Yoshimura left in through an early battering, then a flurry of bunts — was a deliberate tank job or just conventional strategy. Accusers framed it as “敗退行為” (intentional losing), a loaded term in NPB with echoes of past game-fixing scandals, not a casual complaint. The pushback (post 47) offered a mundane baseball explanation: Yoshimura is Yakult’s nominal ace, so managers stick with him in game one of a series rather than burn the bullpen, even while trailing.
What outside readers likely miss is the depth of the Giants’ pitching crisis behind the box score: several relievers who anchored their 2023 championship rotation are gone to MLB (Sugano, Griffin, Okamoto) or injured (Togo, Iori, Yokogawa, Taisei, Whitley), forcing a seven-pitcher night just to hold on — the thread’s real subtext beneath the joke posts.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Central League S 6-8 G [8/25] Giants score 8 runs including Dalbec’s go-ahead 3-run homer, Yakult strands 11 runners, Central League tightens to 2.5 games between 3rd and 6th.”
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