Japan Reacts

Category: Baseball

  • Yokohama High advances to Koshien semifinals, coach rallies team with ‘Mo re! Mi Amore’

    Yokohama High School has clinched a spot in the summer Koshien semifinals, and head coach Hiroaki Murata revealed that he rallies his players before games by singing “Mo re! Mi Amore” on the team bus. On 5ch, comments were split between concern over how to balance this with the mourning mood following the sudden death of former coach Motonori Watanabe the day before, and excitement over the cheer song.

    Dancing Yokohama coach Murata: “I love ‘Mo re! Mi Amore’” — Summer Koshien

    <Team atmosphere is great>

    Well, I’m fighting right alongside them now too. Today again we sang the school anthem on the bus… and lately there’s been a “Murata Call.” So I sang and danced, right there on the bus.

    Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here

    3AnonymousAug 18, 2026 16:40
    This is basically a social phenomenon at this point
    4AnonymousAug 18, 2026 16:41
    It'll be huge if Yokohama wins the whole thing
    5AnonymousAug 18, 2026 16:44
    Well, once you become the coach of a school this prestigious, you've seen every terrifying twist baseball can throw at you, so you're always carrying that 'never let your guard down' mindset
    6AnonymousAug 18, 2026 16:46
    The former coach just passed away, so it's wake mode right now — not really the time to be hyping up 'Mi Amore'

    Former Yokohama coach Motonori Watanabe dies — the legendary manager who developed Daisuke Matsuzaka and others, built an era with five spring/summer Koshien titles
    https://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/highschool/news/202608170000461.html
    12AnonymousAug 18, 2026 17:11
    If Yokohama takes the title — Mi Amore! Champions!
    16AnonymousAug 18, 2026 17:41
    If you want to win it all,
    either the brass band plays 'Mi Amore' up in the Alps stands (Koshien's outfield bleachers),
    or the coach sings it on the bus to and from the game
    take your pick
    17AnonymousAug 18, 2026 17:46
    Jumped ship from Osaka Toin to Yokohama, huh
    18AnonymousAug 18, 2026 18:03
    Toin, just hand your band score over to Yokohama already
    19AnonymousAug 18, 2026 18:09
    Fun fact: Yokohama High School is basically located in Yokosuka
    20AnonymousAug 18, 2026 18:10
    Wait, is the Kanagawa Prefectural Police cheering for Yokohama High?
    21AnonymousAug 18, 2026 18:51
    If Hama-kou (Yokohama High's nickname) makes the final, we should probably go check out the Juice=Juice folks (a Hello Project idol group) too

    Background and Key Points

    Yokohama High School is one of Japanese high school baseball’s most storied programs, based in Yokosuka within Kanagawa Prefecture and part of Kanagawa’s traditionally brutal qualifying gauntlet to reach Koshien, the national summer tournament held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The school’s history is inseparable from Motonori Watanabe, the coach who built its dynasty with five national titles (spring and summer combined) and developed Daisuke Matsuzaka, one of the most famous pitchers Japan has produced. Watanabe’s death was announced the day before Yokohama’s semifinal-clinching win, which is why his passing sits directly alongside the celebration in this story. Current coach Hiroaki Murata, notably a transfer from a rival powerhouse, Osaka Toin, has become known for an unusually loose, performative style — singing and dancing to “Mo re! Mi Amore” on the team bus, reportedly at players’ request via a “Murata Call.”

    The thread’s actual division was narrow: it wasn’t about whether the song itself was appropriate, but about timing — several posters felt that celebrating with a novelty cheer song hours after a legendary former coach’s death clashed with the somber mood the moment called for, while others simply leaned into the excitement of the winning streak and floated the song becoming Yokohama’s championship anthem if they win it all.

    What outside readers may miss is the cultural weight Koshien carries beyond a normal sports tournament — it’s a nationally broadcast, deeply ritualized event where decorum and generational lineage (coach to star pupil to next coach) matter enormously, which is why a coach’s personal style, and the proximity of a founding figure’s death, becomes newsworthy at all rather than a minor aside.

    *This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Hello Project) thread “[Breaking] Yokohama High advances to the summer Koshien semifinals in high school baseball! [Mo re! Mi Amore].”

  • Hanshin’s Ihara Ryuto Hit with Report of Trouble with Woman — Tabloid Alleges Verbal Abuse at Drinking Party; Club Apologizes, Says It’s “Confirming the Facts”

    A tabloid magazine has reported that Hanshin Tigers pitcher Ryuto Ihara verbally abused a woman and pulled her hair at a drinking party this past January. The club’s head of public relations apologized at a press conference, stating that the club is “currently confirming the facts” and that no decision on the player’s future treatment will be made at this time.

    In the thread, comments were mixed: some pointed out that since no police report has been filed, a settlement may have already been reached; others speculated he may have been “set up” — provoked into anger while being secretly filmed; and still others questioned whether the club’s response was too lenient.

    A tabloid magazine has reported on trouble involving a woman and Hanshin Tigers pitcher Ryuto Ihara (26). According to the report, he verbally abused a woman and pulled her hair, among other actions, at a drinking party he attended with teammates this past January.

    [Photo included] Hanshin fans sigh… Ihara gives up 4 runs in one inning for the second straight game

    Club head of public relations Kuniyoshi Onishi, who addressed the press, apologized, saying, “We deeply apologize for the great concern this has caused our fans and everyone involved.” He went on to explain, “We are checking with [Ihara] and confirming the facts. Based on the facts we confirm, we will respond carefully and appropriately. As for his future treatment, that is not something we are in a position to decide at this stage, so going forward we intend to proceed while discussing it within the team.”

    Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:27
    Kind of like the Yonsentoushin thing (a comedy duo also caught in a recent scandal), there's been a lot of this lately.
    Throwing away your career over something this dumb is just idiotic.
    5AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:30
    A lot of these guys get a sense of invincibility from their SNS follower counts and start acting tough, totally misreading the room.
    7AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:32
    Just file the police report already.
    Let the courts sort out black and white.
    9AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:32
    > No police report has been filed
    So no problem then?
    10AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:33
    An arrest could still be on the cards, y'know (´・ω・｀)
    11AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:34
    Funny how they crack down hard when someone verbally abuses a player, but go easy when a player does the verbal abuse — or assault.
    12AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:34
    Getting caught on video like that, he was totally set up.
    Rough story.
    55AnonymousAug 20, 2026 10:14
    Re: #12
    Can't shake the feeling someone deliberately provoked him and baited the whole thing.
    Definitely smells fishy.
    13AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:34
    Whether they can reach a settlement will probably decide everything.
    14AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:34
    Incoming: the Baseball Squadron, "But Soccer This, Soccer That" Rangers
    16AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:35
    Soccer has the World Cup as a goal,
    so the players actually put in the effort.
    "Yakyuu" (a dismissive slang term for baseball) has nothing like that, so you get stuff like this all the time.
    18AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:36
    Former manager Okada: "Baseball players have always been targeted, you know" (´・ω・｀)
    21AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:40
    They need to crack down hard on this now.
    Hanshin players already get spoiled rotten by all their "tanimachi" patrons (wealthy fan-sponsors) as it is.
    23AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:42
    Whatever happened with the Yomiuri Giants' Yamaguchi case?
    25AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:44
    There's the Hiroshima precedent, after all.
    Handle the punishment cleanly and their reputation actually goes up.
    28AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:46
    Re: #25
    Hiroshima botched the handling, though.
    26AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:44
    At least Hanshin responding quickly after getting scooped by a tabloid isn't so bad.
    30AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:48
    Hanshin winning it all again this year?

    They got totally crushed by SoftBank in the Japan Series though.

    Is SoftBank weak against Yokohama (DeNA)?
    I heard with all their parent company's IT/AI backing, SoftBank has insane data management on every opposing player —
    something about AI spitting out multiple answers before each at-bat based on data on the opposing pitcher and catcher?
    88AnonymousAug 20, 2026 12:20
    Re: #30
    Hanshin has its own version too — once the consensus forms in the izakaya grapevine that "we don't need Fujinami," they cut him loose. So their system kind of works too.
    34AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:51
    Cutting him would actually boost their reputation,
    and then SoftBank would just scoop him up.
    39AnonymousAug 20, 2026 09:56
    Re: #34
    Ah, I see — the Yamakawa pattern.
    43AnonymousAug 20, 2026 10:05
    No police report filed means they paid her off to keep quiet.
    So he just walks away scot-free?
    45AnonymousAug 20, 2026 10:05
    Re: #43
    If so, I guess that's a win-win?
    49AnonymousAug 20, 2026 10:08
    What are they gonna do about the weekend starting rotation?
    Both Haruto and Saiki are off the active roster right now.
    51AnonymousAug 20, 2026 10:09
    Re: #49
    Haruto is pitching Sunday.
    They just shifted his start to line up with the Giants series.
    67AnonymousAug 20, 2026 11:06
    What's he even doing pulling this stuff in the middle of the pennant race?
    Sponsors flock to Ohtani precisely because of how disciplined and safe he is — heading straight home after every game.
    69AnonymousAug 20, 2026 11:10
    Re: #67
    This happened back in January, remember.
    77AnonymousAug 20, 2026 11:38
    More shocking to me was Oyama eating rebanira (liver-and-chives stir-fry) alone.
    I want Oyama to explain that one himself.
    80AnonymousAug 20, 2026 11:59
    Re: #77
    He only announced his divorce recently,
    so any new relationship would still be in the early stages.

    His close friends on the team who are the same age all have wives and kids and prioritize family,
    so nobody invites him out after work, and he ends up eating alone.
    98AnonymousAug 20, 2026 12:51
    Pulling someone's hair is assault.
    This isn't something to brush off.
    Did the woman do something wrong too?
    103AnonymousAug 20, 2026 13:03
    Re: #98
    Well, he's a drunk jock type, after all.
    If no police report gets filed, it'll probably just end with a stern warning.
    99AnonymousAug 20, 2026 12:54
    Come to think of it, didn't "Gashiman" get off scot-free in the end? Guess the move to SoftBank counted as his atonement ritual, lol.
    101AnonymousAug 20, 2026 12:56
    Re: #99
    Kind of like Sugawara no Michizane's exile to Dazaifu, lol (a famous historical exile used here as a joke about being sent away as "purification").

    Background and Key Points

    Hanshin Tigers scandals get filtered through Japan’s weekly tabloid ecosystem (shūkanshi like this one), which specializes in breaking athlete and celebrity misconduct stories before police or leagues act — the club here is reacting to a magazine scoop, not an official complaint. Ihara’s case sits alongside a string of recent NPB precedents readers won’t recognize by name: Hiroshima’s Carp handled a similar off-field incident and, per posters, “botched” the response; Yomiuri’s Yamaguchi and Seibu’s Yamakawa each had different outcomes for comparable trouble; and one poster’s crack about “Sugawara no Michizane’s exile to Dazaifu” references a 9th-century courtier banished from the capital — a stock joke for players quietly traded away as a face-saving punishment, as some suspect happened with Fujinami.

    The thread’s real fault line isn’t whether the incident happened but what “no police report” implies. One camp reads it as evidence of a paid-off settlement, meaning Ihara faces no real consequence beyond embarrassment; another suspects he was baited into losing his temper while secretly filmed, making him the target rather than the aggressor; a third simply thinks NPB and Hanshin go easy on players compared to how harshly abusive fans are treated.

    What outside readers may not grasp is how normalized settlements are in Japan for exactly this reason — paying a complainant to withdraw interest in pursuing police involvement is a routine, culturally accepted way to avoid prosecution and media escalation, not evidence of guilt or innocence either way. The thread also never engages with “tanimachi,” the traditional wealthy-patron system that bankrolls players’ off-field lifestyles, which one poster blames for enabling this kind of behavior in the first place.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “Hanshin’s Ihara Ryuto Hit with Report of Trouble with Woman — Tabloid Alleges Verbal Abuse at Drinking Party; Club Apologizes, Says It’s “Confirming the Facts””.

  • Giants’ Yamato Shiroki throws 5 scoreless innings in first career start, catcher Takuya Kai’s game-calling also becomes a talking point

    In the Giants–Carp game, Yamato Shiroki, making his first official start, pitched 5 scoreless innings in front of a 14-person cheering section that included his parents who had traveled from Ehime, and left the mound with a chance for his first career win. On the thread, praise for Shiroki’s strong outing mixed with divided opinions over regular catcher Takuya Kai’s game-calling and how he should be used going forward.

    1AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:36
    Previous thread
    Giants Acting Manager 109
    3AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:36
    Tokyo Dome
    Starting Lineups
    [Giants] [Carp]
    4 Urata 8 Akiyama
    8 Sasaki 4 Kikuchi
    6 Izumiguchi 7 Fabian
    3 Dalbec 5 Sakakura
    5 Sakamoto 3 Montero
    7 Matsumoto 9 Sasaki
    9 Sasahara 6 Katsuta
    2 Kai 2 Ishihara
    1 Shiroki 1 Tamamura
    4AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:43
    Ishizuka's just not developing into anything, is he. Zero sense of talent from him.
    5AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:44
    If Kai's game-calling today gets weirdly overpraised and he ends up starting more because of it, that's going to be a problem.
    6AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:45
    Well, in terms of raw talent Asano's above him anyway — Ishizuka's more of a 'raw tools' type.
    9AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:46
    Point out that it was just a cheap dome home run and suddenly it's 'oh, so you ARE watching the games' lol
    11AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:47
    Kai's the best at game-calling, no question about it. That's just obvious.
    12AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:47
    19AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:53
    Everyone was dead against drafting Matsu-Go, but 'Unagi' (Eel — nickname for the scout/exec) was desperate to get him. And now look at this performance. Guess Unagi really is a god after all.
    30AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:56
    Re: #19
    Our team's thread really does love flip-flopping, doesn't it
    21AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:53
    If Kai settles in as a high-priced backup catcher, what happens to catcher Kishida?
    22AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:53
    Matsumoto had a season where he hit 5 homers even back in the spacious Sapporo Dome days, so it's not like he's totally powerless.
    25AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:54
    Didn't know a glove that color was even legal.
    26AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:55
    Basama walking a batter who looks like a lifeless zombie up there.
    27AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:55
    The Carp are losing again…

    Do they even want to win?
    29AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:56
    If things keep going like this, are the Dragons (Chunichi) actually gonna climb out of last place?
    31AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:56
    Eh, don't really care either way, though.
    32AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:57
    [Giants] First-time starter Yamato Shiroki roars out of a 5th-inning jam! Pitches 5 scoreless innings in front of a 14-person cheering section, including his parents who traveled from Ehime, and leaves the mound eligible for his first career win
    https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/1a6dd5071079dad24ace4e32ce2634dd456be697
    33AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:57
    Re: #24
    He's still out there playing just fine, isn't he.
    Total success story.
    38AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:58
    Kai: 300 million yen
    Oshiro: 160 million yen
    Is this seriously allowed?
    39AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:58
    A zombie-like Kero lineup (a lifeless, weak batting order) isn't much of a benchmark for anything, but if you want to bag something like a 'first career win,' this is the best matchup for it.
    Get that first win and the weird pressure disappears.
    43AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:58
    Hiroshima's middle infield is seriously done for.
    Kikuchi's about the only one there who'd still have value anywhere else.
    44AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:59
    It's pretty rare to see a Giants FA signing like Kai who isn't even injured but just stopped being used.
    70AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:06
    Re: #44
    Kadokura, Morifuku, Inou…
    48AnonymousAug 22, 2026 15:59
    Yakult's Iwata doesn't seem to be getting into games these days, so maybe he could be had?
    51AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:00
    No idea what type of guy Kai is, but if he's making that kind of salary, I'd grit my teeth and just endure it.
    53AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:00
    George is great, huh.
    Days where he does absolutely nothing are basically gone now.
    71AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:06
    Ryuya Matsumoto (born April 29, 1993) is a former professional baseball player (pitcher) from Miki, Kita District, Kagawa Prefecture. Throws left, bats left.

    Ryuya Matsumoto (born September 18, 1999) is a professional baseball player (pitcher) from Sakurai, Nara Prefecture. Throws right, bats right. Plays for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

    Is that really just a coincidence?
    I mean, it's not his fault it's a coincidence, but I kind of hope this one doesn't stick around too long.
    100AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:09
    imgur.com/a/gD1gVOL
    121AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:10
    Re: #100 ← Isn't this kind of sad, you guys?
    112AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:09
    If the Tigers lose it's only a 2-game gap, right?
    Is that actually okay?
    119AnonymousAug 22, 2026 16:10
    Re: #112
    We don't even know yet if our team's gonna win.

    Background and Key Points

    Giants pitcher and catcher salaries and roles are what a non-Japanese reader needs unpacked here. Yamato Shiroki is a young Giants right-hander making his first official NPB start; the fact that his parents traveled from Ehime Prefecture for a 14-person cheering section reflects the common Japanese practice of family and hometown supporters organizing group attendance (“応援団”) for a player’s milestone game, especially a first start or first win. Takuya Kai is the more relevant background figure: he spent his career as the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks’ Gold Glove-caliber starting catcher before signing a big free-agent deal with the Giants, reportedly around 300 million yen a year (roughly $2 million), a huge sum for a player who, as posters note, is a backup rather than a starter in his new team — an unusual outcome for an FA catcher of his reputation.

    The thread’s actual disagreement is narrow: whether Kai’s game-calling in this particular start should be credited for Shiroki’s five scoreless innings, or whether that’s overreading one clean outing against a weak Carp lineup into a case for making Kai the regular starter over incumbent catcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara/Kishida. Some posters flatly credit Kai as simply the best defensive catcher on the roster; others push back that it’s premature and could unfairly bump the developing catchers.

    What outsiders likely miss is the roster politics behind that pushback: Japanese teams tend to favor continuity and a catcher’s rapport with specific pitchers, so praising Kai’s calling after one game touches a real tension between paying for a proven veteran and developing younger talent like Kishida, not just a stats debate.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Giants Acting Manager 110”.

  • Koshien Final: Chiben Wakayama Rallies in the 8th to Beat Kendai Takasaki, Claims 4th Title in 5 Years

    In the summer Koshien final, Chiben Wakayama defeated Kendai Takasaki 4-3, taking the lead for good in the bottom of the 8th to claim their 4th championship in 5 years. On 5ch, discussion went beyond the game itself to cover differences in how the two schools recruit players and comparisons of broadcast ratings.

    Kendai Takasaki　　0 0 0　 0 1 0　 0 2 0｜3

    Chiben Wakayama　0 2 0　 0 0 0　 0 2 X｜4

    [Battery]

    Source: baseball.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

    6AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:06
    [High School Baseball] Summer 2026 Koshien Goes Beyond a 'Poor Crop' to a Full-On 'Bad Harvest'… Pro Scouts Point to the Cause of the Anomaly

    Even in the final, it was obvious both teams' defense had really dropped in level.
    It was a low-level game.
    These days the guys still playing 'yakyu' (mocking spelling of baseball) are just soccer's rejects.
    50AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:08
    Re: #6
    If even Koshien is 'over,' baseball's really in trouble now.
    84AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:10
    Re: #6
    You can really tell the athleticism has dropped.
    It's a clear sign that baseball club membership has plummeted.
    151AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:12
    Re: #6
    Baseball is just the dumping ground for soccer, basketball, and track-and-field rejects.
    28AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:07
    Why send in a bench player for his very first at-bat in that situation?
    91AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:10
    Re: #28
    'Went to Koshien' and 'actually played at Koshien' are completely different things on your résumé afterward.
    Still, I think they should've used him before it got to that moment…
    187AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:14
    Re: #28
    The guy who got subbed out is a pinch-runner specialist who hadn't batted all tournament.
    Everyone else on the bench is a pitcher — they wouldn't hit even if they got an at-bat — so they say he's the one with the most power at the plate.
    72AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:09
    Re: #50
    https://tval-now.switch-m.com/
    The ratings are amazing.
    Too bad (for the other side).
    122AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:11
    Re: #72
    Bragging about ratings that only old folks are watching doesn't mean much.
    74AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:09
    Re: #1

    Gunma Prefecture representative, Kendai Takasaki — players' junior high schools

    1 Ishigaki Satoshi · Okinawa, Ishigaki Dai-Ni JHS
    2 Ōiwa Shoto · Shizuoka, Ōsuga JHS
    3 Satō Maon · Gunma, Tomioka Minami JHS
    4 Iwai Yurai · Gunma, Tomioka Minami JHS
    5 Ishida Shodai · Chiba, Nanatsukadai JHS
    6 Kanzaki Shoto · Aichi, Suenohara JHS
    7 Hagiwara Yudai · Gunma, Haruna JHS
    8 Ishida Yūsei · Tochigi, Sano Jōtō JHS
    9 Kano Ren'i · Aichi, Ōbu JHS
    10 Kitada Riku · Chiba, Tōyama JHS
    117AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:11
    Re: #74

    Even after recruiting this many players from other prefectures, they still can't win lol

    Takasaki lol
    172AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:13
    Re: #74
    Still, there are 3 local guys.
    377AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:24
    Re: #74
    Chiben Wakayama is much the same.

    1 Wake Shota, 3rd yr, Osaka — Taishō Higashi JHS / Nakamozu Boys
    2 Yamada Rinko, 3rd yr, Aichi — Ōe JHS / Tōkai Chūō Boys
    3 Arai Yūsei, 3rd yr, Chiba — Toyoshiki JHS / Toride Senior
    4 Kusumoto Ryūsei, 3rd yr, Wakayama — Tōyō JHS / Nanbu Senior
    5 Kurokawa Ridairō, 3rd yr, Osaka — Yamada JHS / Senshū Hankai Boys
    6 Kawahara Kazumasa, 3rd yr, Wakayama — Iwade JHS / Wakayama Uchida Young Tigers
    7 Yamashita Kōhei, 3rd yr, Yamaguchi — Fukugawa JHS / Iizuka Boys
    8 Nagatomo Yūsei, 2nd yr, Okayama — Ishii JHS / Lions Okayama Pony
    9 Imoto Yōta, 2nd yr, Wakayama — Nisshin JHS / Kashihara Shiki Senior
    10 Matsumoto Kotarō, 3rd yr, Nara — Tawaramoto JHS / Kashihara Shiki Senior
    11 Kuba Ryōta, 3rd yr, Hyōgo — Nagasaka JHS / Kobe Chūō Senior
    106AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:10
    Well, that's gotta hurt.
    https://n.picvr.net/2608221150095021.gif
    137AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:12
    Re: #106
    So the pitch missed the bat completely and hit him directly?
    110AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:10
    Re: #1

    [Sad News] J.League Opening Match TV Ratings: 2%

    112AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:11
    Ratings are dirt low.
    That's Kirin Cup soccer-level.
    No, even lower than that.


    143AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:12
    Re: #112
    Already over 11% by the morning, huh.
    Meanwhile the J.League opener only got 2% in primetime.
    154AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:13
    Re: #112
    Lol, comparing a high schoolers' club tournament to a pro national team match.
    176AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:14
    Re: #112
    Wouldn't be surprising if it hits 15% on TVal from here lol
    163AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:13
    They've got so few team members, so why are they so strong?
    Their builds are totally different too.
    219AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:16
    Re: #163
    Well, by that logic, Y-Gakuin, the storied Kanagawa powerhouse, has around 100 members every year,
    but they struggle just to make the round of 16.
    251AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:17
    Re: #163
    Probably the practice is so brutal that people keep quitting.
    So the ones who stick around end up all ripped.
    284AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:19
    Re: #163
    Small and elite through tryouts.
    Not taking in more than they can properly coach is a reasonable philosophy, honestly — even if it's not my style.
    242AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:17
    Soccer World Cup Final
    Argentina vs Spain — rating 22.1%
    ↑
    4am kickoff
    A match with nothing to do with Japan

    And 'invincible' Koshien just got demolished lol
    274AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:18
    Re: #242
    Bragging about a split-broadcast number doesn't mean much.
    308AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:20
    Re: #242
    It's wild that you're this proud of a once-every-4-years pro world tournament with tens of billions of yen in prize money 'beating' a domestic Japanese high school tournament.
    268AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:18
    Re: #251
    Chiben Wakayama only takes in 13 players a year.
    Used to be just 10.
    286AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:19
    Re: #268
    Ah, I see — so it's a full-on elite training school.
    They're selecting talent from the very start.
    330AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:22
    Re: #268
    That's few.
    Guess they're confident they can develop every single one of them.
    405AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:27
    Re: #268
    This style is honestly better.
    Other schools should hold tryouts like this too.
    Schools like Osaka Toin recruit a ton of players, but the ones who don't make the bench spend all three years just cheering from the stands.

    It's brutal to think that those kids cheering in the stands were probably told by a scout back in ninth grade something like 'You could become a Koshien star!'

    And yet schools still poach players early just so rivals can't get them.
    Koshien is warped from top to bottom.
    372AnonymousAug 22, 2026 12:24
    That's gotta hurt.
    https://n.picvr.net/2608221148574379.jpg

    Background and Key Points

    Koshien is Japan’s national high school baseball tournament, held twice a year at Hanshin Koshien Stadium; the summer edition is the more prestigious of the two and functions as a de facto national spectacle, drawing broadcast attention that rivals professional sports. Chiben Wakayama’s win gives them a fourth title in five years, making them a genuine dynasty in a sport where single-elimination, no-tiebreaker formats usually produce more variance. Teams nominally represent their prefecture, but rosters are commonly built through nationwide recruiting of middle-schoolers, a practice both finalists’ rosters illustrate.

    The thread’s real disagreement was less about the game than about what that recruiting system means. One camp read Chiben Wakayama’s small annual intake (as few as 10-13 players) as an admirable meritocratic model – scout carefully, coach intensively, don’t over-recruit – implicitly contrasting it with powerhouses like Osaka Toin that stockpile talent and leave most recruits benched for three years. Others pushed back that both finalists field heavily out-of-prefecture rosters, so the “hometown pride” framing of Koshien is itself questionable regardless of squad size.

    A separate strand argued past each other over ratings, pitting Koshien’s numbers against a J.League opener and even the soccer World Cup final, without settling on comparable measures – broadcast platform, time slot, and audience age skew all differ. Readers should know TVal is a real-time, cross-platform ratings service distinct from traditional Video Research household ratings, so headline percentages from different sources aren’t directly comparable, which undercuts most of the ratings one-upmanship in the thread.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “[High School Baseball] Final: Kendai Takasaki 3-4 Chiben Wakayama — Another Comeback in the Bottom of the 8th! Chiben Wakayama Wins Their 4th Title in 5 Years!”

  • Baseball Legend Slams Declining High School Ball — 5ch Claps Back: “Pitch Speeds Are Clearly Up, Come On”

    Ahead of the summer Koshien final, baseball veteran Hirooka criticized the state of high school baseball, saying “the level has dropped” and “are we never going to see another Kiyohara or Matsui again?” He pointed to home runs on pace for an all-time low, power-harassment allegations, and excessive parental interference as factors that are ruining coaches.

    On 5ch, users pushed back hard against the generational argument itself, with comments like “it’s just that the shrinking birthrate has shrunk the talent pool,” “pitch speeds are clearly higher than in the past,” and “the bat regulations changed.” The discussion branched out to cover buzzcut hairstyles, coaching methods, and changes in equipment.

    “High school baseball has gone downhill. Are we never getting another Kiyohara or Matsui?” Baseball’s elder statesman criticizes the “Summer Koshien”…

    Home runs at risk of an all-time low of just 7, errors sitting at 117… “Power-harassment allegations and excessive parental involvement are ruining coaches”

    The final of the 108th National High School Baseball Championship takes place today, the 22nd, at Koshien Stadium, pitting Chiben Wakayama against Kendai Takasaki.

    Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

    6AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:14
    https://www.tsogen.co.jp/img/cover_image_l/7046.jpg
    32AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:18
    Hitting is purely a talent thing, so with the player pool shrinking, that kind of talent is just getting siphoned off to soccer and basketball instead.
    44AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:20
    Re: #32
    Equipment just changed for safety reasons.
    Make the bats fly again and monster hitters will show up easily enough.
    35AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:19
    First thing to fix is the buzzcut rule — that could happen today.
    Forcing a shaved head on guys right when they're starting to care how they look is rough.

    Well, most guys aren't exactly popular with girls anyway, so unless you're good enough to make a living off baseball for life, maybe staying buzzed and grinding at your studies is actually the smart move lol
    75AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:24
    Re: #35
    True. Scrap the buzzcut rule and the talent pool definitely grows.
    37AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:19
    By the way, Hirooka himself never made it to Koshien back when he was at Hiroshima Prefectural Kure Mitsuta High School. (Written by Satoru Komazawa, sports writer)

    LMAO
    50AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:21
    Re: #37
    Is this the Satoru Komazawa who used to do commentary on Radio Nippon? Must be pretty old by now.
    61AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:22
    Re: #37
    Probably a bit after Hirooka's time there — Mitsuta's peak came a little later, when it was apparently a prep school sending 30+ students a year to Tokyo University. Sounds like it's fallen off since then though.
    57AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:22
    Times change, but you're not going to see another guy dominate everyone the way Egawa did.
    71AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:24
    Re: #57
    Egawa also played in the last days of wooden bats. If metal bats had already taken over, he wouldn't have put up numbers like that. Whether or not you can consistently hit the sweet spot makes a huge difference in hitting.
    68AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:23
    "Get square in front of the ball" (lol) (mocking a stock coaching cliché)
    83AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:26
    Re: #68
    That's exactly why, when Japanese infielders go to MLB, they all get told their fundamentals aren't there.
    119AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:29
    Re: #83
    Surely coaches who insist you catch fly balls two-handed are extinct by now, right? Modern gloves are designed assuming you'll catch one-handed.
    70AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:24
    If Sadaharu Oh were young again, could he hit 60 home runs in today's game?
    82AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:25
    Re: #70
    Probably not, since Korakuen Stadium — famous for its 85m foul lines — doesn't exist anymore. Though he'd obviously still put up solid numbers.
    74AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:24
    Parents who went through brutal hazing in their own baseball days probably don't want to put their kids through that unless they're seriously baseball-obsessed themselves. Power-harassment-type parents are on the decline too. Honestly, studying hard, getting into a good university and a good company, and living a decent life might make you happier than chasing a baseball jackpot.
    126AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:30
    Re: #74
    Exactly this. A lot of guys in the parent generation were forced into baseball by their own parents, went through the power-harassment hazing, and now hate baseball — or at least hate guys who get cocky about playing it.
    156AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:34
    Re: #74
    Programs that fail to modernize and can't shake off that old Showa-era culture end up with bullying scandals like the one at Koryo.
    91AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:26
    Re: #75
    That's not even the issue — numbers are dropping right from the entry point at the elementary school level, where there's no forced buzzcut rule at all. Nobody starts baseball from scratch in high school except maybe as a last-resort reinforcement player.
    104AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:28
    Re: #91
    High school isn't the only level with the buzzcut rule, you know.
    100AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:27
    High schoolers today are throwing 150 km/h (93 mph) with room to spare. Guys throwing that hard back in that era couldn't even make it as pros lol
    109AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:28
    Re: #100
    Tricky issue. You could say the level of the entire sport has been raised across the board.
    125AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:30
    Re: #100
    Guys from before the radar-gun era can claim they were secretly hitting 160 or even 170 km/h all they want, but once measurement started, you can't fudge the numbers anymore.
    102AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:27
    Knew it was Hirooka right away — this guy's been off lately, probably partly his age.
    108AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:28
    Re: #102
    He's older than Trump, so I mean, that's kind of to be expected.
    106AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:28
    This guy clearly isn't watching the games at all lol. Just from pitch speed alone you can tell the level's gone up a ton compared to the past. Does he even know the bats changed?
    162AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:34
    Re: #106
    Of course speeds look faster — back then they measured end velocity, now they measure release velocity.
    118AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:29
    Throwing 4,000 pitches a day — that used to be totally normal. Eat white rice until you're stuffed, build your body through endless throwing and running drills. That was considered the ideal training regimen for the Japanese body.
    190AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:38
    Re: #118
    Doing dumb stuff like that is exactly why 90% of pitchers got their arms wrecked in elementary, middle, and high school.

    Every kid in the local schools who got called "amazing" basically broke down and couldn't pitch past high school. The one pitcher who didn't break went pro, sure.

    But the players of the old days were just the 10% who survived after the other 90% got weeded out and wrecked — plenty of that 90% probably would've developed into great players too, if they hadn't been broken first.
    130AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:30
    All this Matsui worship, when Murakami and Okamoto blew right past him without even trying (Murakami and Okamoto are current NPB sluggers who've topped Hideki Matsui's numbers)
    142AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:33
    Re: #130
    Next they'll start complaining about low batting averages — and this in the age of sabermetrics, no less.
    136AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:31
    Thanks to better training, power and speed are higher now, but I feel like the number of players with real natural instincts has dropped. With fielding especially, if you don't have the instincts, no amount of practice makes you good.
    141AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:33
    Re: #136
    What even is "instinct" supposed to mean here? Like having a unique, individual form or playing style?
    153AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:34
    Re: #136
    Outfield is where the talent gets neglected — it's brutal. A little wind and they can't catch a fly ball, and the relay throws get sloppy too.
    176AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:36
    Re: #136
    Even in today's final I was stunned to see a routine foul fly get dropped. Can't believe a team like Kendai Takasaki, which made both the spring and summer finals, is making that kind of basic error. Guess all the talent's getting funneled into pitching.
    138AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:32
    Why did they even adopt low-repulsion bats?
    149AnonymousAug 22, 2026 11:33
    Re: #138
    Probably because faster batted balls were causing more comebacker injuries to pitchers, plus Japan wasn't winning international games after Koshien with the old bats.

    Background and Key Points

    Koshien refers to Hanshin Koshien Stadium, home since 1924 to Japan’s National High School Baseball Championship (natsu no Koshien), a summer tournament run by the Japan High School Baseball Federation that draws prefectural qualifiers from nearly 4,000 schools and functions as the country’s de facto scouting pipeline into NPB. Hirooka Tatsuro is a veteran of that older NPB generation, a former Yakult and Seibu manager, which is why his lament for sluggers like Kiyohara Kazuhiro and Matsui Hideki reads as generational nostalgia to younger fans. Two changes the article’s home-run figure obscures: in 2018 the federation mandated low-repulsion metal bats specifically to reduce comebacker injuries to pitchers and improve Japan’s competitiveness in international play with wood-bat rules, which mechanically suppressed power numbers overnight; separately, Japan’s 18-year-old population has shrunk by roughly a third since the 1990s, thinning the talent pool that once fed baseball almost exclusively.

    The thread didn’t split on whether something has changed, but on what “level” even measures: Hirooka points to a stat (home runs, on pace for a historic low) as proof of decline, while posters countered with a different stat, pitching velocity, now measured at up to 150 km/h regularly, as proof the sport has actually improved.

    What the thread never flags is that the mandatory buzzcut is not a federation rule at all, it’s an individual-school custom left over from stricter decades, so blaming Koshien itself is imprecise. Also unmentioned: Hirooka himself never played in a Koshien tournament as a student.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread ““High school baseball has gone downhill. Are we never getting another Kiyohara or Matsui?” — Baseball veteran criticizes the sport: “Power-harassment allegations and excessive parental involvement are ruining coaches”.”

  • Koshien Bans Fans From Holding Up Player Name Signs — “Treating Players Like Heroes Isn’t Desirable” Sparks Debate

    Yomiuri Shimbun reporting has revealed that tournament organizers at Koshien Stadium, site of the 108th National High School Baseball Championship, have been cracking down on fans who hold up boards bearing individual players’ names. Citing the “educational purpose” laid out in the Japan Student Baseball Charter, organizers say “cheering that treats an individual player as a hero is not desirable” — though voicing support itself is not a problem.

    On 5ch, users traded a range of reactions over just how blurry that line is — from the finger-pointing pose players strike after winning the title, to towels printed with individual names, to how TV broadcasts stage their coverage.

    High School Baseball: Koshien Says “Cheering That Treats an Individual as a Hero Is Not Desirable”… Holding Up Signs With Players’ Names Is Banned, Cheering Itself Is OK : Yomiuri Shimbun

    By Seigo Ota, Kohei Yamauchi

    The 108th National High School Baseball Championship (Koshien Stadium) reaches its final on the 22nd. Forty-seven games have been played so far, each greeted with passionate cheering. However, tournament organizers have put a stop to cheering that involves holding up boards printed with players’ names. This is banned under the “educational purpose” defined by the Japan Student Baseball Charter, which holds that “cheering that treats an individual as a hero is not desirable.” Spectators unaware of the ban have been left confused, while cheer squad leaders are struggling with how to get the word out. (By Seigo Ota, Kohei Yamauchi)

    Source: yomiuri.co.jp / Original article here

    3AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:47
    What if it's like Yamada-kun from Aomori Yamada (a school whose name already has 'Yamada' in it)?
    6AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:49
    They should probably ban the 'Nettō Kōshien' highlight show (NHK's nightly recap program) too
    Heck, maybe the whole TV broadcast while they're at it
    175AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:25
    Re: #6
    It'd be cleaner if they just showed the game progress plainly like they used to. Apparently they switched to the current style because ratings dropped, but now the show focuses way too much on individual players.
    10AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:49
    Take it up with the trash media ("masugomi") that manufactures a new hero every single year
    14AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:50
    They should ban that thing too, where the second a commentator shows up the talk turns straight to "so-and-so-kun"
    16AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:51
    More importantly, get rid of the old geezers who try to whip up a one-sided mood cheering for just one school
    17AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:51
    Treating them like heroes is fine, isn't it? Just ban the boards with individual names on them
    19AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:51
    "Once-in-a-decade talent" — do they still find one of those every single year?
    106AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:10
    Re: #19
    Once-in-a-decade pitcher, once-in-a-decade catcher… keep stacking labels like that and it's not weird to get one every year
    20AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:51
    The media should stop broadcasting this stuff so over-the-top
    21AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:51
    So then reporting with individual names attached should be banned too, right?
    23AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:52
    Guess from now on we'll just have to chant "Go get 'em, Minor A!" (a term normally used for anonymous juvenile crime suspects)
    24AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:52
    Who knows, Japan might produce its own Virat Kohli someday
    28AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:53
    What's even the issue here? They just cheer for whoever's up at bat in turn, so it's uniform either way
    37AnonymousAug 22, 2026 09:55
    What is this, some kind of authoritarian control? Such an old-fashioned mindset — just scrap it already
    66AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:01
    Re: #37
    Old-fashioned, sure, maybe — but lately, thanks to "oshi-katsu" fan-support culture and the like, there are people who'll casually do stuff that would normally count as excessive cheering. I think there's at least some reason they feel they have to crack down
    58AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:00
    Cameraman: "Who cares about the players" https://n.picvr.net/2608181337485797.jpg
    https://n.picvr.net/2608181338109213.gif
    68AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:02
    Re: #58
    Pretty modest, lol. Only taking home one little bottle's worth?
    94AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:07
    Re: #58
    Thought it was ABC but it's actually NHK? That's one more reason to refuse to pay the license fee
    99AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:09
    I guess the point is: don't do this "oshi-katsu" fan-worship stuff to high school ballplayers, right?
    103AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:09
    Everybody's a hero
    112AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:11
    Re: #103
    No way that's true
    104AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:09
    I hate that thing where everyone raises their index finger together after winning the championship. When did that even start? Seriously, ban it
    117AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:12
    Re: #104
    That really is obnoxious. At the very least, I think the Federation should ban doing it on the mound before the players line up. If they want to do it, do it in front of their own cheering section after the lineup and greetings
    134AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:16
    Re: #104
    Komazawa University Tomakomai started it. It's been over 20 years since then, and the only team that's never done it is Chukyo Daichukyo
    148AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:19
    Re: #104
    It's not like they're broadcasting this for old guys who worship high school baseball. If it bothers you, don't watch. I didn't even watch the final myself
    125AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:14
    It's like something straight out of wartime
    126AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:14
    This kind of dumb self-censorship is exactly why the whole country is in decline
    132AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:16
    Back in middle school, it was the Federation and the media hyping up "Handkerchief Prince" (nickname for star pitcher Yuki Saito, famous for wiping sweat with a handkerchief)

    Same sloppy stuff now as then, lol
    138AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:17
    Re: #132
    Sure, the media made a fuss — fine. But "the Federation hyped it up" makes no sense. What exactly did the Federation actually do?
    141AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:17
    https://www.towel-itohide.co.jp/SHOP/NM400-SL-01.html

    There are even companies that make towels printed with individual players' names
    Go complain to them
    179AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:26
    Re: #141
    It's not spectators unfurling big towels and waving them during the Koshien game — it's more that the players themselves or their families order them made, to hand out to people back home who supported them. They even trade custom towels with players from other schools
    165AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:23
    Every school's cheering is just a knockoff of the Yomiuri Giants (mocking nickname "Kyokasu") or the Lotte Marines style — zero originality anywhere
    176AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:26
    Re: #165
    That "Age Age Hoi Hoi" chant (a Lotte Marines cheer song) is gross too
    174AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:25
    See? Told ya it's just "yakyuu" (a mocking, dumbed-down way of writing "baseball") (lol)
    No wonder people are tuning out (lol)
    180AnonymousAug 22, 2026 10:27
    Re: #174
    https://tval-now.switch-m.com/
    The Koshien final's TV ratings are insane, lol

    Background and Key Points

    Koshien is the summer National High School Baseball Championship, held at Koshien Stadium since 1915 and co-run by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and Asahi Shimbun. Enforcement here traces back to the Japan Student Baseball Charter, a postwar code (formalized in 1950) meant to keep school baseball framed as character-building education rather than the commercial spectacle Japanese pro sports had already become. That “amateur ideal” is why organizers periodically police things that make Koshien look too much like NPB — hence banning cardboard signs bearing a single player’s name, even while insisting cheering itself remains fine. It’s a distinctly Japanese institutional tension: a tournament that draws NHK’s full broadcast machinery and enormous ad revenue, governed by a charter that pretends stardom isn’t the point.

    The thread’s actual disagreement wasn’t over whether individual-hero worship is bad — most agreed it happens — but over who’s responsible and whether the sign ban addresses it at all. Posters kept pointing to the finger-pointing victory pose (traced to Komazawa Tomakomai two decades ago), personalized cheering towels, and NHK’s Nettō Kōshien recap show as far bigger drivers of hero-narrative culture than any spectator’s homemade sign, calling the crackdown hypocritical or performative.

    What the thread never addresses is that the Federation has no jurisdiction over broadcasters or towel manufacturers — its authority extends only to conduct inside the stadium. That structural limit, not inconsistency of principle, is why enforcement looks so selective: it can ban a fan’s sign but not NHK’s editorial choices or a family’s souvenir order.

    *This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “[High School Baseball] Koshien: “Cheering That Treats an Individual as a Hero Is Not Desirable”… Holding Up Signs With Players’ Names Is Banned, Cheering Itself Is OK.”

  • Miyagi High School Baseball Union Moves to Retire Violent Terms Like ‘Kill’ and ‘Death’ — 5ch Says the Replacement ‘Suki Ari’ Is Just Too Lame

    It’s come to light that the Miyagi Prefecture High School Baseball Federation is considering revising baseball terminology that contains violent-sounding words like “kill” (殺), “death” (死), and “steal” (盗), sparking a wave of discussion on 5ch. Proposed replacements such as “suki ari” (roughly “opening spotted”) and “kōken bunto” (“contribution bunt”) drew a chorus of complaints that they’re just lame. Meanwhile, some more technical commenters pointed out that the very definitions behind stats like putouts and assists don’t make much sense either, and the thread took off in an unexpected direction.

    2AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:06
    3AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:06
    6AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:08
    Re: #3
    There's already the term "okuri bunto" (sending bunt) for a sacrifice bunt — why isn't that good enough?
    18AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:15
    Re: #3
    Sacrifice bunt → "sōda" (*short for "okuri bunto," sending bunt)
    Stolen base → "tokuri" (*carries a nuance of "earning" a base)

    How about that?
    111AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:04
    Re: #3
    Just go with "Suki, hakken!" ("Opening detected!")
    That works fine.
    4AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:06
    Why not just switch the whole thing to English at this point
    41AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:24
    Re: #4
    English would honestly be even worse, come on
    8AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:09
    Re: #3
    Terms like "tōkyū" or "isshō" might grow on you once you're used to them, but "suki ari" is just way too lame
    Couldn't they have come up with something a little cooler?
    9AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:10
    Re: #6
    Newspaper copy has strict character limits, that's why
    13AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:11
    Re: #9
    That's no different from "contribution bunt"
    10AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:11
    Does the squeeze play stay as "squeeze"?
    What would that even become in Japanese?
    16AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:13
    Re: #10
    Maybe "sakusō" (squeeze-run), since you're squeezing the runner home?
    12AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:11
    So pointless
    If the federation's got time to debate stuff this dumb, they should just disband
    14AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:12
    No sense of style at all — they should take a page from Masaoka Shiki (the Meiji-era poet credited with coining many of Japan's baseball terms)
    19AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:15
    Re: #18
    Oh, this one fits way better
    22AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:17
    Fix Sendai Ikuei's "kick" first before worrying about this
    32AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:22
    Making baseball terms sound less alarming is a fine goal in itself
    But the results they came up with — "suki ari," "kōken bunt" — are just lame
    If you're gonna coin new terms, at least don't make them lame
    35AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:23
    Re: #32
    They should get an actual wordsmith on this
    Copywriters, sports reporters — there must be people with baseball connections
    They should be asking folks like that
    37AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:24
    Re: #32
    Exactly
    If they'd picked words that felt natural, they wouldn't be getting dragged like this
    42AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:24
    "Dead ball" means exactly what it says though?
    Guess we need to fundamentally reform English itself
    Should we start by filing a complaint with America?
    45AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:26
    Re: #42
    Reminder: "dead ball" is Japanese-made English to begin with
    Reminder: in actual English it's "hit by pitch"
    Reminder: someone got confused because the ball becomes dead after a hit-by-pitch, and that's just how the name "dead ball" stuck
    50AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:28
    Re: #42
    "Dead ball" itself was coined by Japanese people in the first place, you know
    60AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:33
    Re: #42
    This is genuinely hilarious
    Is this really how people who watch baseball think it works?
    58AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:32

    72AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:40
    More importantly, fix "slugging percentage" first
    Though honestly I'm fine with it as-is
    74AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:42
    Re: #72
    Batting average is weird too

    Batting average → "hit rate"
    Slugging percentage → "base rate"

    That works, just call it what it literally is
    82AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:46
    I think a lot of people mixing up "assist" with "putout" comes down to a bad translation
    Just calling it "assist" in English would be way clearer — soccer and basketball both have assists too, so it'd be even more intuitive
    86AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:50
    Re: #82
    Honestly the definitions of putout and assist are backwards to begin with
    Like on a shortstop-to-first groundout, the first baseman gets the putout and the shortstop gets the assist — but intuitively the shortstop's the one who got the out, and the first baseman just helped, so it's flipped
    As a result, a putout earned entirely solo (like catching a line drive) and a putout that's just catching a throw get recorded as the exact same stat, even though their value is totally different
    They should record "out earned" for whoever first touches the ball, and "out assist" for everyone else involved
    91AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:53
    Re: #86
    A. Assist ← valuable
    B. Putout earned solo ← valuable
    C. Putout that's just catching a throw ← not worthless, but pretty low value

    That's basically it
    And since B and C both get recorded as the same "putout," the stat's value gets muddled
    Making A and B the "new putout" and C the "new assist" would definitely make the record clearer
    92AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:53
    Re: #86
    Yeah, this makes sense
    115AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    Come to think of it, soccer was pretty quick to update its terms too
    Like "suicide point" (own goal) and "sudden death"
    120AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:16
    Re: #115
    The Escobar killing was probably just too shocking (Andrés Escobar, the Colombian player murdered after scoring an own goal at the 1994 World Cup)
    121AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:16
    Re: #115
    It's because they use English terms
    Having a properly built organizational hierarchy really matters
    132AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:36
    So if you get thrown out stealing, does that become a "suki ari" fail?
    133AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:41
    Re: #132
    Guess that'd be "suki nashi" (no opening) instead
    137AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:55
    So is this just going to be a Miyagi-only dialect?
    139AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:59
    Re: #137
    Starts in Miyagi, then the national high school baseball federation, then NPB

    Background and Key Points

    Japanese baseball vocabulary was largely built from scratch in the Meiji era, when American baseball terms had to be rendered in kanji rather than borrowed as loanwords the way many other sports terms later were. Figures like the haiku poet Masaoka Shiki (mentioned in the thread) are credited with helping coin much of this vocabulary around the 1890s, and the compounds that resulted lean on martial-sounding kanji: 刺殺 (sassatsu, “stab-kill,” the term for a putout), 補殺 (hosatsu, “assist-kill”), 併殺 (heisatsu, “double-kill,” a double play), 死球 (shikyū, “death ball,” a hit-by-pitch), and 盗塁 (tōrui, “steal a base,” using the kanji for theft). The Miyagi Prefecture High School Baseball Federation is one of 47 prefectural bodies under the national high school federation that runs Koshien, Japan’s most-watched amateur sports institution — so a wording change here is a local pilot, not a done national policy, even though posters speculate it could spread upward.

    The thread isn’t really split on whether toning down violent kanji is worthwhile — that idea gets fairly broad, if grudging, support. The actual fault line is over execution: whether the specific proposed replacements, “suki ari” (opening spotted) and “kōken bunto” (contribution bunt), sound natural or just clumsy and juvenile compared to the terms they’d replace.

    One thing foreign readers might miss: “dead ball” isn’t real English at all but wasei-eigo, English-looking vocabulary invented in Japan — actual English uses “hit by pitch.” So part of what’s being “fixed” here is Japanese-coined terminology being second-guessed by Japanese speakers, not a translation import gone wrong.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyō G) thread “Miyagi Prefecture High School Baseball Federation: “Reconsider baseball terms 💢 Stop using kill, death, steal 💢”.”

  • Hiroshima’s Morishita Reaches 1,000 Career Innings, Holds Giants Bats to Just One Run

    The live-thread for the Giants–Hiroshima game at Tokyo Dome was buzzing. Hiroshima starter Morishita held the Giants offense to just one run while notching his 1,000th career inning pitched, and posters flooded in hoping he wouldn’t be pulled early so he could pick up the win — while also firing off questions about the Giants’ bullpen management and batting order.

    1AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:51
    Previous thread
    Giants Acting Manager 108
    3AnonymousAug 21, 2026 19:52
    Tokyo Dome
    Starting Lineups
    【Giants】　　【Hiroshima】
    4 Urata 　　　　8 Akiyama
    8 Sasaki 　　　4 Katsuta
    6 Izumiguchi　　　 　7 Fabian
    3 Dalbec 　5 Sakakura
    2 Oshiro　　　 　3 Montero
    7 Matsumoto　　　　 9 Sasaki
    9 Nakayama 2 Ishihara
    5 Ishizuka 　　　　1 Morishita
    1 Howard　 6 Nishikawa
    6AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:03
    So it's Nakagawa for the 8th, huh
    Get some insurance runs before that though
    11AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:05
    Nice that NHK BS let us hear "Tōkon Komete" (the Giants' team fight song)
    15AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:07
    Re: #11
    The commentary team's great too
    12AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:05
    Thought some big slugger had stepped up… it was just Nakayama
    14AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:06
    Even for him, this is a rare outing — 1 run through 8 for Morishita, so he's just got to close it out
    16AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:08
    If they end up winning this 1-0, I guess that error up the middle turns out to be the fatal blow
    18AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:08
    Congrats to Morishita on 1,000 career innings pitched
    19AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:08
    I really want them to get Morishita the win…
    22AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:09
    Morishita's rookie year was his best one
    23AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:10
    Morishita's looking like he could hit free agency soon?
    24AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:10
    Why throw Eight at three lefties in a row?
    25AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:10
    Morishita probably wants to go to the majors too
    Does Hiroshima allow posting?
    29AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    They're burning through the bullpen too — tomorrow's probably a throwaway game with Shiroki and Kai
    30AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    Eight's fine as long as he doesn't start walking guys
    32AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    Why isn't Nakagawa the one going in this spot?
    34AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    Could've just gone with Nakagawa today too, no?
    35AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:11
    By the way, our team's first-round pick the year Morishita was drafted was Hotta
    39AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    Re: #35
    The high-school draft class with Roki (Sasaki) and Okugawa
    38AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:12
    If they'd used Nakagawa and gone as far as Fabian, Eight would've been fine
    Guess they're overusing the bullpen
    40AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    Surprising it's only a .012 gap between sides (.200 vs. Batting .212 left)
    45AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:14
    Re: #40
    Feels like a 20% difference to me lol
    44AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:13
    They're being so careful with Nakagawa's workload,
    but Eight's getting worked hard
    though I guess Eight's also the type who wants the ball
    56AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:17
    Re: #44
    He's just a guy they picked up off the scrap heap anyway — if he breaks down, that's that
    61AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:18
    Against righties he can jam them with the sinker for a double play, but…
    66AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:20
    Fabian's scary
    I'll happily take a single there
    219AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:40
    Thought it was just a weak grounder to second… turns out nobody was even there lol
    231AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:41
    Re: #219
    Was that a shift?
    243AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:42
    Re: #203
    Sold out until yesterday, but no draw today huh
    249AnonymousAug 21, 2026 20:42
    Re: #243
    It's the heavy rain

    Background and Key Points

    Hiroshima’s centralized farm-team pitching model, run out of the club’s Miyoshi and Kōbō no Sato facilities, has produced a run of durable arms over the last decade, and Morishita — a mid-round pick rather than a headline draftee — fits that pattern: he debuted well but has been a steady mid-rotation innings-eater since, which is what makes 1,000 career frames a notable but not flashy milestone. Japanese teams track innings pitched closely as a durability and workload marker (unlike NPB’s more commonly cited win totals or ERA), so posters flagging the number alongside “his rookie year was his best” is a real, if backhanded, form of respect. The Giants, as Central League leaders, drawing a rain-thinned crowd at the Tokyo Dome against a middling Hiroshima side also reflects a season where Yomiuri’s home gate has been softer than usual, which the thread notes almost in passing.

    The actual disagreement in the thread isn’t about Morishita at all — it’s about Giants bullpen usage. Posters split between wanting reliever “Eight” (Yamazaki Ittetsu, a journeyman who throws with high effort) protected from a stretch of left-handed batters, and others wondering why setup man Nakagawa wasn’t used instead, with a few dismissively noting Eight was a scrap-heap pickup whose arm is expendable if it gives out.

    What’s likely to be missed by non-Japanese readers: the “1,000 innings” figure is being read here as a career-service and trust marker rather than a stat that predicts this start’s outcome, and the throwaway remark about Wednesday’s probable starters (Shiroki, Kai) signals the poster believes Hiroshima, already out of contention shape, is prioritizing bullpen rest over winning this series.

    *This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Giants Acting Manager 109.”

  • Seibu Draws Mixed Reactions After Idol Group Wears Kazuhisa Inao’s Retired Number 24

    At the first-pitch ceremony before the Seibu–Orix game at Tokyo Dome, the idol group “ME:I” wore Kazuhisa Inao’s permanently retired number “24” — and it’s causing a stir.

    The team explained it was simply because it was the guest’s lucky number, but on the thread the conversation spread from criticism of that flimsy reasoning and doubts about the team’s judgment, to comparisons with other teams’ quasi-retired numbers.

    Published 8/21 (Fri), 10:53

    Sankei Shimbun

    Before the professional baseball Seibu–Orix game held at Tokyo Dome on the 18th, the idol group “ME:I” (Mī Ai) performed the ceremonial first pitch wearing uniform number “24” — the number worn by legendary pitcher Kazuhisa Inao during his Nishitetsu days, and now the team’s permanently retired number — sparking both support and criticism on social media. Responding to an inquiry from the Sankei Shimbun, the team said, “We are aware that we’ve received a great many reactions on social media.”

    Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

    2AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:25
    What's the connection between ME:I and 24 anyway?
    26AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:31
    Re: #2
    Because on Fuji TV's show "Totsuzen Desu ga Uranatte Ii Desu ka" ("Sudden, But Can I Read Your Fortune?"), a fortune teller told them 24 was their lucky number.
    37AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:33
    Re: #26
    The fact a retired number can get overridden for a reason that flimsy is wild.
    158AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:56
    Re: #26
    If this is really the reason, Seibu fans have every right to be furious.
    14AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:29
    What kind of explanation is this?
    They need to explain why they said yes to that request in the first place — otherwise this explanation is meaningless.
    The reporter's just parroting the team's PR line anyway.
    ↓

    The team's PR department told the Sankei Shimbun, regarding why the guest wore number 24:
    "The guest who performed requested to wear the number 24 uniform, as 24 is their personal lucky number."
    121AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:49
    Re: #14
    ME:I's management better not be under some kind of delusion. The baseball game doesn't exist for their sake — they exist because of the baseball game.
    17AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:29
    Couldn't the team have said, "Sorry, that's a retired number, we can't do that — how about a different number, or maybe 0024?"
    123AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:50
    Re: #17
    It's rough for fans to think the people running the team's PR have neither the flexibility to suggest something like that nor any respect for the players who came before.
    25AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:31
    Feels like the Pacific League doesn't have many retired numbers.

    Do SoftBank or Orix have any?
    66AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:39
    Re: #25
    For the Hawks, 15 and 89 are effectively retired numbers.
    82AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:42
    Re: #25
    For Rakuten it's
    10 and 77.
    129AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:50
    Re: #25
    For the Hawks, the quasi-retired numbers are 15 and 89,
    and for a stretch in the past, 90 was also treated as quasi-retired out of respect for manga artist Shinji Mizushima…
    36AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:33
    Re: #1

    There's no "for or against" here —

    there's not an old-timer left alive who even remembers Inao lol
    44AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:35
    Re: #36
    Unfortunately, he's still famous lol
    43AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:35
    Wait, wasn't it Koji Akiyama who wore 24?
    49AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:37
    Re: #43
    I thought the same and looked it up —
    apparently it became a retired number in 2012,
    so it looks like there were players who wore it before then.
    104AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:46
    Re: #43
    Read the article first.
    50AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:37
    Is it Sashihara's idol group causing trouble again?
    60AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:38
    Re: #50
    That's ≠ME, not ME:I, lol
    71AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:40
    Meanwhile in MLB, everyone wears Jackie Robinson's number together during the game.
    80AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:42
    Re: #71
    Over there it's a league-wide retired number, so imported foreign players tend to pick 42 for themselves.
    72AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:41
    That's a completely different thing from making an active player wear it lol. Anyone can tell this was just a bit of fun.
    89AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:44
    Re: #72
    Even so, I don't think it should've been allowed.
    It's not the idols' fault though — it's on Seibu.
    87AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:43
    There was a mini live after the game,
    but most people left.

    Part of it was that they weren't there for that,
    but honestly the pre-game ceremony rubbed people the wrong way too —
    same with the other group.
    120AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:48
    Re: #87
    I left too.
    But back in the Shigeru Matsuzaki and Hiromi Go days, a lot more people used to stick around.
    88AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:43
    Seibu should retire numbers 1, 3, and 39.
    95AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:44
    Re: #88
    Personally I'd add 47 too.
    108AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:47
    Re: #88
    Depends on whose number you mean it as.
    I associate 24 with Akiyama.
    If Yamazaki's number gets retired, then Akiyama, Kiyohara, Ishige, Ito, Kudo, and Tsuji should all get theirs retired too.
    105AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:46
    It just shows Seibu doesn't take Inao seriously.
    115AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:48
    Re: #105
    Baseball itself isn't taken seriously anymore.
    119AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:48
    Re: #105
    When Seibu formed the team, they actually cut ties with their Nishitetsu identity.
    Owner Tsutsumi hated Nishitetsu.
    128AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:50
    Re: #82
    Oh, Rakuten has one too, from the old Kintetsu days?
    138AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:51
    Re: #128
    77 is Sen'ichi Hoshino.
    143AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:53
    Re: #128
    Kintetsu's retired numbers got wiped once the team changed hands.
    137AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:51
    Both Seibu and SoftBank have relocated their home bases, so calling them "Nishitetsu this" or "Nankai that" doesn't really land anymore.
    151AnonymousAug 21, 2026 18:54
    Re: #137
    For Nankai, after Nomura passed away his family reconciled with the team,
    and his memorabilia is now displayed at Namba Parks.
    That happened thanks to Emoto's efforts.

    Background and Key Points

    Seibu’s uniform “24” has been out of circulation since 2012, when the club formally retired it to honor Kazuhisa Inao, the Nishitetsu Lions right-hander who won 42 games in his 1956 rookie season and anchored three straight Japan Series titles (1956–58), including four wins by himself in the legendary 1958 comeback against the Giants. Nishitetsu itself no longer exists as a franchise identity — the team was sold and became the Lions under Seibu ownership in 1979, and, as one poster notes, Seibu’s founding owner Yoshiaki Tsutsumi reportedly wanted distance from the Nishitetsu name, which is part of why institutional memory of Inao runs thin inside the organization now. Unlike MLB’s Jackie Robinson 42, which is retired league-wide and worn by everyone once a year, NPB retired numbers are a team-by-team, informal honor with no commissioner’s rule behind them — clubs can and do bend their own conventions, which is exactly what happened here.

    The thread didn’t split over whether ME:I did anything wrong — posters agree the idols themselves aren’t to blame. The real fault line is over Seibu’s front office: whether handing out a permanently retired number for a guest’s televised “lucky number” reflects simple carelessness or a deeper institutional indifference to Inao’s legacy, with several posters contrasting it against how seriously other Pacific League clubs (Hawks’ 15/89, Rakuten’s 10/77) guard their own quasi-retired numbers.

    What outside readers likely miss is that “retired number” in NPB carries no formal enforcement mechanism at all — it’s an internal club gesture, not a league statute, so there was never a rule technically broken, only a norm.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “[Pro Baseball] Seibu’s Kazuhisa Inao Retired Number “24” Worn by Guest Idol Group ME:I at Event — Mixed Reactions on Social Media“.

  • Shintaro Fujinami to Start vs. Giants on the 20th Chasing First Win of the Season, Vows Fiery Pitching: ‘I Want to Be a Real Man’

    It’s been reported that DeNA’s Shintaro Fujinami will start against the Giants on the 20th (in Yokohama), vowing to pitch with the same fiery spirit as his words, “I want to be a real man,” as he chases his first win of the season. On 5ch, discussion ranged widely over why a pitcher once mentioned in the same breath as Shohei Ohtani keeps struggling with control problems — from running gags like “Genocide Throw” and “the hand grenade” to commentary from former catcher Akihiro Yano.

    August 19, 2026, 5:55 PM

    DeNA pitcher Shintaro Fujinami (32) will start against the Giants on the 20th (in Yokohama) as he aims for his first win of the season. On the 19th, he tuned up at Yokohama Stadium. “The main thing is just to attack the strike zone. I’ve been throwing pretty well in the bullpen, so now it’s just about whether I can bring that into the game,” he said.

    The 20th is the final game of a three-game series billed as the “Yokohama Men’s Festival.” Fujinami said, “I’m the type who wants to be a real man. I don’t dislike a style that wears its fighting spirit on its sleeve, so I want to keep a cool head and a hot heart,” vowing to close out the festival with a fiery performance.

    Source: chunichi.co.jp / Original article here

    6AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:19
    Never thought Fujinami would be the one to give Sakamoto his last rites
    Sorry, boy
    37AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:38
    Re: #6
    Give him back
    Give me back my dad
    7AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:19
    Here comes the Genocide Throwwww!!! (his nickname for the wild fastball that endangers batters)
    9AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:20
    Just pitch like you always do
    Like you always do…
    13AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:24
    Back when he first came up, Fujinami was actually outperforming Ohtani.
    How did he end up like this?
    People blame the manager or that game against the Carp, but maybe he just had a weak mentality to begin with.
    99AnonymousAug 19, 2026 19:43
    Re: #13
    Fujinami drowned in indulgence, Ohtani didn't.
    It's the Ant and the Grasshopper (Aesop's fable).
    100AnonymousAug 19, 2026 19:44
    Re: #13
    He just doesn't practice enough to begin with.
    17AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:26
    Don't really care at this point.
    Why not just decide to retire already?
    Before talking about being a 'real man.'
    60AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:51
    Re: #17
    You say you don't care but you opened the thread and posted anyway lol
    18AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:27
    Trying to crush the Giants and assist the Tigers?
    21AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:28
    Everyone should wear football pads.
    22AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:28
    No one left for him to break though
    Who's he gonna wreck this time?
    25AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:29
    I wish the Dodgers would sign him.
    If Ohtani ever gets targeted with beanballs, they could send Fujinami straight in as a deterrent, and he'd probably pitch more freely too.
    26AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:29
    As long as he gets 10 wins by the end of the season, it's fine.
    27AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:31
    A true man fearlessly keeps going up and in.
    29AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:33
    Some of you used to rank Shintaro Fujinami right alongside Roki Sasaki, you know.
    30AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:33
    Yomiuri leads the league in hit-by-pitches, so Fujinami needs to punish them for it.
    31AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:34
    'Real man' my ass
    Get some decent control first.
    32AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:34
    3 innings, 4 walks, 2 hit-by-pitches, 5 earned runs
    Yeah, that sounds about right.
    33AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:35
    A man who could be a hero if you just let him throw hand grenades (his wild fastballs).
    101AnonymousAug 19, 2026 19:45
    Re: #33
    Retiring his number is only a matter of time.
    114AnonymousAug 19, 2026 20:05
    Re: #33
    It might slip out of his hand and fly at his own teammates instead.
    35AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:36
    Honestly
    impressive he made it back from the majors without getting punched.
    39AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:39
    How is a pitcher with this extreme lack of control even still a pro?
    41AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:39
    Bet everything on a single pitch!
    Put your whole soul into it — and lose it! (a twist on the classic baseball motto 'one pitch, one soul')
    43AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:41
    Just play it fair and square.
    44AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:42
    The Tigers get mad when their own guys get hit by pitches, but they have no problem using this guy — what's up with that?
    54AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:48
    Re: #44
    Take it up with DeNA.
    55AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:49
    Re: #44
    That doesn't really make sense.
    67AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:56
    Re: #44
    The 'it wasn't on purpose so it's fine' theory.
    45AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:42
    According to Akihiro Yano, Fujinami never actually had control to begin with — he was getting by purely on pitch velocity, but pro hitters adjusted to that.
    People talk like something went wrong with him along the way, but apparently he hasn't changed at all since day one — he just never developed.
    53AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:47
    Re: #45
    Yeah, we know.
    Even in his first three 'good' years, he led the league in wild pitches as a rookie, led in hit-by-pitches in year two, and won the 'triple crown' of walks, hit-by-pitches, and wild pitches in year three.
    Even his BB/9 was only ever decent in year one.
    69AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:57
    Re: #45
    Re: #53

    Re: #43
    Re: #1

    Fujinami:
    "If they want to be intimidated all on their own, they're welcome to be intimidated all they like (laughs). I just figured that since the lineup had left-handed batters again, I'd need to change how I use my pitch types."


    Mac Suzuki:
    "Fujinami needs to take responsibility for his own pitching. He should be more careful about what he says and how he acts toward opponents."
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/L3198bnPVfI
    47AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:44
    Actually the real problem is right-handed batters
    Lefties are no problem at all
    That's why a guy like Sato Teruaki has zero trouble with Fujinami
    Morishita's living in hell though
    48AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:45
    I can already picture the bench-clearing brawl if he beans Dahlbeck.
    49AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:45
    Huh? It's already almost the end of August this year too, with less than two months left in the season, and he still hasn't gotten a single win?
    51AnonymousAug 19, 2026 18:47
    With so many soft ballplayers around these days, if you're talking real men, it's Jose Ramirez in the majors, and just Shintaro Fujinami in Japan.
    89AnonymousAug 19, 2026 19:25
    Why is it that Giants vs. Tigers games are always the most exciting?
    91AnonymousAug 19, 2026 19:28
    Re: #89
    If you're asking why, isn't it because there's no other pitcher around to fill the gap in the rotation?

    Background and Key Points

    Shintaro Fujinami was Hanshin Tigers’ first-round draft pick in 2012, the same draft class in which Shohei Ohtani went to the Fighters, and for years the two were mentioned in the same breath as generational talents throwing well over 155 km/h. Hanshin and the Yomiuri Giants are Japan’s oldest and fiercest rivalry, which is why a Giants series carries extra weight even now that Fujinami has moved on: he spent time pitching in MLB before returning to NPB with DeNA (Yokohama), and at 32 he is still chasing his first win of the 2026 season as he starts the finale of a marketed “Yokohama Men’s Festival” set.

    The thread doesn’t really argue about whether Fujinami is talented — everyone concedes the arm strength — it splits on why his control never came together. Some blame mental weakness, poor work habits, or a specific bad outing against Hiroshima that supposedly broke his confidence. Others, citing former catcher Akihiro Yano, argue there was never anything to fix: he got by purely on velocity in his best years, and his own early-career numbers (rookie wild-pitch leader, year-two hit-by-pitch leader, a “triple crown” of walks/HBP/wild pitches in year three) show the wildness predates any decline.

    Readers outside Japan should know the nicknames “Genocide Throw” and “hand grenade” are dark 5ch gallows humor about pitches that endanger batters, not literal endorsement, and that his self-styled “real man” persona is partly a deflection from a control problem that has followed him his entire career rather than something new.

    *This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[DeNA] Shintaro Fujinami to Start vs. Giants on the 20th Chasing First Win of the Season, Vows Fiery Pitching: ‘I Want to Be a Real Man’.”