The 2024 Japan tour has come to an end! It was an amazing two-and-a-half weeks filled with great games, great people, and great memories. Thank you to all of you for following us on this incredible journey! Check out our Instagram and Facebook for a recap of the tour. And if you’d like to join in the future, the 2025 tour schedule is already out!
In other news, veteran outfielder Nori Aoki announced his retirement at the end of the 2024 season. He won three batting titles with the Yakult Swallows between 2004 and 2011 before jumping over to MLB. He recorded 774 hits with a .285/.350/.387 slash line in 758 career MLB games with the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, and New York Mets. He returned to the Swallows in 2018 and was still a regular until 2021 when he won his first Japan Series title. In 15 seasons in Japan, the 42-year-old has batted .313/.392/.445 with 1949 hits and 145 home runs. He’s expected to play his retirement game on October 2 at Meiji Jingu Stadium. What a legendary career! Happy retirement!
Now, let’s look at the top NPB storylines from this week.
SoftBank Hawks Close to Clinching
Slugger Hotaka Yamakawa set the tone on Tuesday by hitting his NPB-leading 31st homer of the year, and the Hawks went on to outscore their opponents 34-7 in a perfect 5-0 week. With an 80-45-3 record and a ten-game lead on the second-place Fighters, their magic number to clinch the Pacific League is down to seven. With a first place finish, SoftBank will get a first-round bye and automatically book a spot in the PL Championship Series.
Munetaka Murakami is on Fire
Yakult Swallows superstar Munetaka Murakami went on a tear this week, crushing four home runs to bring his season total to 27. On Friday, he hit a three-run moonshot to center field at Meiji Jingu Stadium (with the JapanBall tour in the audience!), and on Saturday, he demolished a ball off the deep ceiling of Tokyo Dome by the billboards (estimated at 460-470 ft). He’s slashing .236/.376/.443 this season with a 141 OPS+. It’s not outstanding, by his lofty standards, but he’s still on pace to reach the 30-homer mark for the fifth time in his young career.
Roki Sasaki Outshined by Tatsuya Imai
With Texas Rangers GM Chris Young (and presumably other MLB scouts) in attendance at Saitama Belluna Dome on Sunday, Roki Sasaki (Marines) pitched six innings on 82 pitches, allowing three earned runs and punching out four. He was ejected in the 7th inning after drilling Daiju Nomura in the head on a forkball. Though it wasn’t intentional, NPB has a rule that leads to automatic ejections on any hit by pitch around the head. Sasaki was impressive with his fastball averaging 96-98 mph, but Seibu Lions starter Tatsuya Imai outshined him while throwing a very respectable 95-97. Imai set a season-high in strikeouts with 12 across eight innings of one-run ball, helping Seibu to just their third win against Lotte this season.
Giants/Tigers Rising, Carp Crumbling?
The Yomiuri Giants entered Hiroshima with a one-game lead for first place in the Central League. After taking the series opener by a 6-1 score, the Giants remarkably rallied for nine runs in the 9th inning of game two – including six off star closer Ryoji Kuribayashi, for a stunning 9-2 win. They completed the sweep on Thursday thanks to ace Shosei Togo’s six scoreless innings, outfielder Yoshihiro Maru’s two-run homer, and Taisei’s four-out save.
Hiroshima then lost both games against Hanshin to drop their sixth straight contest. They beat DeNA on Sunday behind a solid NPB debut of Hayato Tsunehiro but are just 3-10 in September. They risk falling out of the playoffs after being in first place for much of the season. Conversely, the defending Japan Series champion Tigers are 9-3 this month and are just two games back of the pennant leader.
DeNA BayStars Continue Playoff Push
The BayStars have been chasing the Tigers, Carp, and Giants for most of the year, but they’re one final push away from finding themselves in the postseason picture. On Tuesday, the Hanshin Tigers ended ace Katsuki Azuma’s quality start streak at 32 games. Still, they bounced back the following day with a crucial 4-3 win behind Shugo Maki’s 20th home run. He’s now hit 20+ HR each year since debuting in 2021! On Friday, Anthony Kay struck out nine Dragons in a dominant performance to get the team within one game of the three-seed, but they dropped the next two games. As things stand, they’re two games out with a 63-61-2 record and 17 left to play.
This Week’s Team Records
SoftBank Hawks (5-0)
Hanshin Tigers (4-1)
Yakult Swallows (4-2)
Yomiuri Giants (4-2)
Nippon-Ham Fighters (2-1)
Lotte Marines (3-2)
Rakuten Eagles (2-2)
DeNA BayStars (2-3)
Chunichi Dragons (2-4)
Seibu Lions (2-4)
Hiroshima Carp (1-5)
Orix Buffaloes (0-5)
- NPB Standings
- Central League Hitting Leaders
- Central League Pitching Leaders
- Pacific League Hitting Leaders
- Pacific League Pitching Leaders
- Yuri’s NPB Pitcher Rankings
- Yakyu Cosmopolitan’s Website
