Category: Baseball

A thread on 5ch heated up over a hypothetical: if you picked NPB’s all-time “Best Nine” based purely on defense, who makes the cut? It started with the observation that the Golden Glove Award tends to be swayed by batting stats, and while familiar names like Atsuya Furuta, Ryosuke Kikuchi, and Yoshio Yoshida were treated as locks, opinions split over whether active shortstop Sosuke Genda’s glove would actually hold up in MLB. Third base and center field also drew multiple candidates, and the thread never quite settled on a final lineup.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Halpro) thread “If NPB picked a Best Nine based on defense alone.”

On 5ch’s “Morning Musume.” board (the Hello! Project board), a post went up imagining members of the idol group Juice=Juice as baseball players and assembling a batting order for them. The original proposal opened with Kawashima Mifuu batting leadoff at first base, Arisawa Ichika second at catcher, and Inoue Reon third as pitcher — and the thread quickly filled with debate over whether those fielding assignments made sense, plus comparisons to real NPB players like Yoshio Itoi and Kotaro Kiyomiya. Eventually multiple users started pitching their own lineup versions, and the thread turned into a running game of guessing positions from the members’ builds and personalities, on the assumption that nobody involved knew much about baseball to begin with.

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “We tried building a baseball team out of Juice=Juice members (with batting order).”

The Dodgers snapped a two-game losing streak on the 26th (Japan time), beating the Giants 2-0 on the road. Shohei Ohtani, starting his third game since returning from injury, batted leadoff as DH but went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. By contrast, Roki Sasaki turned in a dominant relief outing — his second appearance of the season — throwing a hitless, scoreless inning with two strikeouts. On the thread, posts mocking Ohtani’s slump with the nickname “Owatani” (a jab combining “owatta,” meaning “he’s done,” with “Ohtani”) lined up alongside comments praising Sasaki’s growth and his fit as a reliever, with the contrast between the two players becoming the main topic of discussion.

Dodgers notch 14th shutout win of the season, snap losing streak — Roki Sasaki dazzles with scoreless, 2-K relief inning; Ohtani strikes out three times

◇NL: Dodgers 2, Giants 0 (San Francisco, September 25, 2026)

The Dodgers beat the Giants on the road on the 25th (26th Japan time), stopping their losing streak at two games. Shohei Ohtani (32), who went on the injured list with right biceps inflammation and was playing his third game since returning, started as the No. 1 hitter and DH. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Roki Sasaki (24), making his second relief appearance of the season, was dominant, throwing a hitless, scoreless inning with two strikeouts.

Source: sponichi.co.jp / Original article here

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[MLB] Dodgers notch 14th shutout win of the season, snap losing streak — Roki Sasaki dazzles with a scoreless, 2-K relief inning; Ohtani strikes out three times.”

On the 24th (local time), the White Sox routed the Royals to clinch their first playoff berth in five years. During the postgame champagne celebration, Munetaka Murakami was pulled in front of a local broadcast camera and asked, “On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel?” He instantly fired back “One hundred!”, then screamed “I’m Japanese!”, sending his teammates into a frenzy. On 5channel, many posters welcomed the moment warmly, while others pointed to his underwhelming batting numbers this season and said his celebrating felt out of place — opinions were split.

“Royals vs. White Sox” (24th, Kansas City)

The White Sox routed their opponents to clinch their first playoff appearance in five years. A champagne celebration broke out in the postgame clubhouse, where infielder Munetaka Murakami was grabbed for an interview by the local broadcast crew. He screamed “I’m Japanese!”, drawing roars of delight from his teammates.

The champagne fight kicked off with a speech from manager Venable. When the local broadcast interviewer asked him, “Celebrating here in the clubhouse — on a scale of one to ten, how do you feel right now?” he screamed back “One hundred!” Then, throwing in hand gestures for emphasis, he doubled down: “No ten — one hundred!”, letting his emotions explode.

Source: daily.co.jp / Original article here

34AnonymousSep 25, 2026 23:20

Wasn't Murakami a consolation first-round pick? (a "hazure" pick — when a team loses the lottery for its top target and drafts a fallback player instead) Who are the recent first-rounders who actually turned into stars? Guess "turned into a star" means different things to different people though.

46AnonymousSep 25, 2026 23:38

Re: #34
Well, the headliner of that draft class was Kotaro Kiyomiya from Waseda Jitsugyo High School.

Even so, he was rated highly enough that multiple teams fought over him as their "if we miss out on Kiyomiya" fallback pick.

52AnonymousSep 25, 2026 23:45

Re: #46
Wait, is Murakami seriously the only guy from that draft class who's thriving right now?

77AnonymousSep 26, 2026 00:43

Re: #46
Guess Yasuda was also fought over by three teams in the lottery.

※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[MLB] Munetaka Murakami’s hilarious champagne-fight interview: “I’m Japanese!” “One hundred!”“.

Former NPB star Hiromitsu Ochiai shared his views on MLB’s pitch clock in a recent video on his YouTube channel. He said that if the pitch clock had been in place during his playing days, “guys like me would’ve been absolutely finished,” and argued that shortening game times would be a “major blow” to ballpark food and drink sales. On 5ch, this drew pushback: commenters pointed out that in MLB, shorter games actually boosted attendance and revenue, and that NPB attendance is already at record highs. The discussion broadened into whether Japan and the US have different reasons for introducing a pitch clock in the first place.

Hiromitsu Ochiai on the pitch clock: “Guys like me would’ve been absolutely finished” — “It’s a major blow for the ballparks”

Hiromitsu Ochiai (72), a three-time Triple Crown winner as a player and a manager who led the Chunichi Dragons to four league titles, posted a new video on his YouTube channel “Ochiai Hiromitsu no Oreryu Channel” on the 25th.

In it, he shared his thoughts on what it would have been like if the pitch clock had existed during his playing career.

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

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuhou+) thread “[Baseball] Hiromitsu Ochiai on the pitch clock: “Guys like me would’ve been absolutely finished” — “It’s a major blow for the ballparks. Drink sales will drop”.”

According to viewer ratings data released by Video Research on the 25th, the friendly match between the Japan national soccer team and Uruguay, broadcast on the Fuji TV network, drew a household average rating of 4.1% in its first 20 minutes and 9.1% from 7:05 p.m. onward. That same day, the 24th, the table tennis team event (men’s and women’s) at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games also aired on terrestrial TV, with ratings climbing from 8.4% to 9.9%. On 5ch forums, comments piled up questioning soccer’s popularity with lines like “lost to table tennis,” while others pushed back with “not bad for a friendly” and “the competing timeslot didn’t help,” touching off a full-blown ratings comparison war that dragged in baseball and volleyball numbers too.

9/25 (Fri) 19:28 — Nikkan Sports

Viewer ratings for the Japan national soccer team’s international friendly against Uruguay and for the 24th’s Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games broadcasts were revealed on the 25th in a Video Research survey.

The Uruguay match, aired on the Fuji TV network starting at 6:45 p.m., posted a household average rating of 4.1% in the first 20 minutes of the broadcast, and 9.1% from 7:05 p.m. through to the end.

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

67AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:05

Soccer topped its timeslot thanks to two late goals.

73AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:07

Re: #67
It drops off sharply at halftime.

85AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:14

Re: #67
Looking at this, table tennis's gold medal decider got totally crushed by soccer.

91AnonymousSep 25, 2026 21:17

Re: #67
Huh? By this chart soccer's clearly higher no matter how you look at it.
What kind of numbers magic is this?

*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[TV] Japan national soccer team vs. Uruguay draws 4.1%→9.1% rating, Asian Games table tennis team event (men’s/women’s) draws 8.4%→9.9%.”

Central League games were played across the circuit on September 25. At Mazda Stadium, the Giants faced the Carp in a showdown, starting Makoto Kadowaki for the first time in about two months, with Darbec, Ohshiro, and Sasaki forming the cleanup trio in hopes of a comeback. Around the same time, Hanshin’s Morishita was hit by a pitch — his 20th of the season, tying him for 8th all-time in NPB history — sending a stir through the stadium. Meanwhile, the Yakult-Chunichi game at Meiji Jingu Stadium turned into a slugfest, with comments flying in the live-thread about the interim manager’s performance, including takes like ‘a 3-3 record would be a solid result.’

10AnonymousSep 25, 2026 17:53

Central League pennant race magic-number chart (as of Sept 24)

16AnonymousSep 25, 2026 18:00

Re: #10
A 3-3 record would be a solid showing for an interim manager

*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Giants Interim Manager Thread 152.”

At Tochigi baseball powerhouse Sakushin Gakuin, it has emerged that head coach Takahiro Kobari (43) made about 20 first-year players kneel in seiza on the ground for roughly an hour starting around 9am on August 20 — a fact that surfaced through an anonymous tip sent to the Japan High School Baseball Federation, and which has now led to the coach being pulled from coaching duties. While the school called it “inappropriate coaching by today’s standards,” it also offered the excuse that “he simply forgot to tell them they could relax into a more comfortable position.” On the forum thread, discussion ranged from how weak that excuse sounds, to fact-checking that the weather that day was actually cloudy with a temperature around 28°C rather than blazing sun, to the fact that the same coach had broken a player’s finger last year by having him field the ball bare-handed.

It was learned on the 25th, through reporting on the school, that Takahiro Kobari (43), head coach of the baseball team at Sakushin Gakuin (Tochigi), has been removed from coaching duties over inappropriate coaching — making about 20 first-year players kneel in seiza for roughly an hour during practice in August.

The matter came to light via an anonymous tip sent to the Japan High School Baseball Federation. After confirming the facts with Coach Kobari and others, the school concluded that coaching out of step with the times had taken place, and said it would decide how to handle the coach in line with the federation’s judgment.

According to the school, the incident in which roughly 20 first-year players were made to kneel in seiza for about an hour took place around 9am on August 20. At the time, the second-years were away watching a Koshien broadcast, leaving only the first-years to handle grounds maintenance and practice prep. Sensing a lack of focus — the first-years working too slowly and sloppily on the grounds, with balls even left lying around the field — Coach Kobari gathered them beside the dugout to tighten up their attitude, said “let’s sit down here for a moment,” and had them kneel in seiza on the dirt infield.

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

*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[High School Baseball] Sakushin Gakuin’s Coach Takahiro Kobari removed from coaching duties after making players kneel in seiza for about an hour, deemed “inappropriate by today’s standards” — last year he had a player catch bare-handed.”

The White Sox lost 101 games in 2023, a franchise-record 121 in 2024, and 102 more in 2025 — three straight years near the bottom of the league. But a win over the Royals on the 24th (25th JST) clinched their first postseason berth in five years. Munetaka Murakami, who joined the team this season, has posted modest numbers of his own — batting around .200 — and on 5channel opinions split between those crediting him with “giving the team momentum even while injured” and “joining at just the right time,” and others arguing “Murakami barely factored in — the real driver was the young players stepping up.” The discussion also branched into the AL’s uneven divisional strength and comparisons with Shohei Ohtani and Kazuma Okamoto.

Sports Hochi, September 25, 2026, 5:45 AM

◆MLB: Royals 1–9 White Sox (Sept. 24, Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri)

The White Sox clinched a postseason (PS) berth on the 24th (25th JST) for the first time since winning the division in 2021, cruising to a road win over the Royals. A division title is still possible, but their playoff spot is now locked in regardless.

Source: hochi.news / Original article here

51AnonymousSep 25, 2026 07:04

※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[USA] White Sox pull off MLB’s biggest reversal ever — miracle playoff run from 101→121→102 losses, franchise’s first in 5 years, Murakami’s arrival awakens young talent.”

In the Pacific League clash between Rakuten and Nippon-Ham, Rakuten cruised to a 6-0 win behind Kenta Maeda’s walk-free complete-game shutout, two hits and two RBIs from Murabayashi, and a bases-clearing double from Ota. Nippon-Ham fell to their latest loss in a growing skid. On 5ch, while plenty of posters praised Maeda’s outing, opinion split over Nippon-Ham’s shaky defense, whether manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo’s announcement that he’ll stay on was the right call, and his lack of a pennant title.

Rakuten　　　0 0 0　 0 0 0　 0 4 2｜6

Nippon-Ham　0 0 0　 0 0 0　 0 0 0｜0

[Batteries]

Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here

*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Pacific League F 0-6 E [9/24] Rakuten’s winning streak continues — Kenta Maeda: 2 hits allowed, walk-free complete-game shutout; Murabayashi: 2 hits, 2 RBI; Ota: bases-clearing double — Nippon-Ham’s losing streak continues.”