It emerged on September 1, 2026 that Yakult Swallows pitcher Masanori Ishikawa (46) will retire from professional baseball. The left-hander compiled an NPB-record 24 consecutive winning seasons from his rookie year in 2002 through last season. This season, he started against the Giants at Jingu Stadium on August 27, but was pulled after just 1/3 of an inning due to left shoulder pain, having allowed 5 hits and 6 runs in a rough outing. He finishes with 188 career wins, falling short of the 200-win mark generally used as a benchmark for Meikyukai (Golden Players Club) induction. On the thread, many praised the feat of winning 188 games at a height of just 168cm (5’6″), while opinion split over his final outing — coming as it did after he’d struggled to produce results even in the minors — between those who charitably saw it as “giving him a graceful send-off” and those who took a harsher view, suspecting the team of “setting him up to be embarrassed on purpose.”
Nikkan Sports [September 2, 2026, 12:46 AM]
It was learned on the 1st that Yakult Swallows pitcher Masanori Ishikawa (46) will retire from professional baseball. An official announcement and press conference are expected in the coming days.
From his rookie season in 2002 through last year, he racked up an NPB-record 24 consecutive winning seasons. This season, in his first start of the year against the Giants (at Jingu) on August 27, he was forced out with left shoulder pain after 1/3 of an inning, having given up 5 hits and 6 runs. The oldest active left-hander, who energized the sport for a quarter century, has decided to hang up his uniform.
Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
Completely crushing the guy's pride before forcing him out… is the team just cruel or what?
188 wins and 3,000 innings is a monster record.
Masahiro "Ma-kun" Tanaka: "Are you dissing me?"
Well done, and thanks for everything.
> In the Aug 27 Giants game (details omitted), gave up 6 runs in 1/3 of an inning.
Maybe that "1/3" guy should retire too. (riffing on the fraction as if it were his nickname)
What are you even talking about?
You clearly didn't watch the game.
Can't even get what "1/3 of an inning" means, huh.
What a shame.
they should've built his whole schedule around only pitching against the Tigers.
If he'd only ever faced Hanshin, he'd honestly have 200 wins by now.
Sure, he'd drop a game here and there,
but facing nothing but the Tigers every season, he'd rack up like 5 wins a year easy.
Might be even more impressive than Masa Yamamoto (Masahiro Yamamoto, the legendary Chunichi lefty who pitched into his 50s).
Nah, the last few years it's just that the measurement method changed, so the same pitch now reads faster on the gun than it used to.
That's basically confirmed by the fact that guys like Wakui (40) and Karakawa (37) somehow have higher average readings now than they did at their peak in their 20s.
Like Wada Tsuyoshi "setting a new career-best speed in his 40s!" (lol)
He was probably at peace with it himself too.
but that doesn't fly in baseball.
Age always catches up with you eventually.
He had barely any voice left out there — it was hard to watch.
Being a real asset to the team in your 40s is tough in this era.
No matter how careful you are,
physical decline gets you in the end.
188 wins for a guy that short is still impressive.
Masa Yamamoto was actually useless early on — manager Hoshino even shipped him down to the Dodgers' farm system at one point.
Total late bloomer.
After that he couldn't really compete anymore and was drawing crowds purely on the "oldest active player" record.
Well done anyway.
It would've taken another 8 years to reach 200 wins, so honestly this retirement is 8 years overdue.
Thanks for everything.
Just make a special exception and let him into the Meikyukai (the Golden Players Club, for 200-game winners/2,000-hit batters).
If it weren't Yakult, he'd have lost his roster spot ages ago lol
It's exactly because it was Yakult that he got to coast along drawing a paycheck this long.
If the Giants had picked him up as originally planned, he'd have retired long ago.
The Shinji Hamazaki era (an early Swallows-predecessor manager) was way too soft.
That's basically sandlot ball.
Well, back then it was a tough era to keep playing for other reasons too.
If it were easy, a lot more guys would've stuck around that long.
he might've reached 200 wins.
Wasn't happening no matter where he pitched at this point.
Background and Key Discussion Points
Masanori Ishikawa holds the record of 24 consecutive winning seasons — the first of its kind in NPB history — spanning from his rookie year in 2002 through last season. 200 wins, the all-time benchmark generally used as a guideline for Meikyukai (Golden Players Club) induction, was a mark his 188 wins fell roughly 8 years’ worth short of. Where the thread split was over how to read his final start on August 27. Since he hadn’t been producing results even in the minors, some read the chance to pitch in the majors one more time charitably, as the team “arranging a graceful send-off,” while others took a harsher view, calling it “deliberately setting him up to be embarrassed.” His left shoulder is reported to have been partially dislocated, and the injury was likely the direct trigger for his retirement. There were also plenty of comments suggesting the team had been too lenient with how it used him — claims like “if it weren’t Yakult, he’d have been cut long ago” or “if the Giants had signed him as originally planned, he’d already be retired” — but these are pure speculation, and the thread offered no confirmed information about the team’s actual thinking on his usage.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+ board) thread “Yakult’s Masanori Ishikawa Retires, Oldest Active 46-Year-Old Lefty Makes His Decision — Set NPB’s New 24-Consecutive-Win Record Through Last Season.”
