Two and a half weeks into the year, every team in each respective league has played each other once. On the whole, no single team is particularly dominant or awful, but their spots in the standings are somewhat startling. (That said, 90% of the season remains, the standings mean very little today! If you are curious, though, follow the link at the bottom of the letter! Here are the past week’s highlights, one day at a time.
Tuesday: Three games were played in the countryside: the Yomiuri Giants downed the Yakult Swallows 3-1 in Kagoshima, the Chiba Lotte Marines shut out the host Saitama Seibu Lions in Omiya, and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters pounded their old mate Kohei Arihara for 4 runs in the first inning in Kumamoto, holding on for a 4-2 win against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
Wednesday: Two big boppers – Takeya Nakamura of the Lions and Leandro Cedeño of the Orix Buffaloes hit late-inning home runs to tie home games for their respective teams, but both clubs ended up dropping the games in extras. The Marines beat the Lions 3-2, and the Rakuten Eagles downed the Buffaloes 5-4.
Thursday: The Buffaloes got solid pitching from starter Shunpeita Yamashita (5 IP 0 ER 6 K), and though he did not get the win, his mates avenged the previous night’s loss, walking off the Eagles 2-1 on a Kotaro Kurebayashi double.
Friday: Last year’s Giants struggled to manufacture runs outside of hitting home runs, but this year they are playing a different brand of baseball. They scored seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning without a single ball going over the fence. (They did have two solo homers earlier in the game, mind you.) They smashed the Carp 9-4.
Saturday: Hawks free agent first baseman Hotaka Yamakawa hit grand slams in back-to-back at-bats, becoming just the second player in NPB history to do so. He did it against his old team, the Lions, in his old ballpark, Belluna Dome, amidst a thorough (and rare) booing from the crowd. Yamakawa was released by the team last season after a sexual assault scandal early in the season.
Sunday: Three players deserve to be highlighted here. Swallows’ slugger Munetaka Murakami hit his first home run of the year (in his 54th plate appearance), helping his team to a 9-0 win over the Baystars. Marines ace Roki Sasaki pitched well enough (7 IP 1 ER 7 K) to lead his team to a 9-2 win over the Eagles. Chunichi Dragons righty Kodai Umetsu did all he could to give his team a chance to win (8 IP 13 K) and extend their win streak to seven, but the Hanshin Tigers scored a late run and won 2-1.
Good Week: Giants (5-0), Hawks (4-1), Dragons (3-1-1)
Rough Week: Baystars (1-4), Lions (0-5)
For standings and leaderboards, check these links:
- NPB Standings
- Central League Hitting Leaders
- Central League Pitching Leaders
- Pacific League Hitting Leaders
- Pacific League Pitching Leaders
