2025 Japan Series Preview

2025 Japan Series Preview

Hey everybody, we are back for another great episode of Hansin Tiger Substack News or whatever you want to call it. I am Trey Trevor and with me all the way from Hawaii is Sanjay. What’s up brother? Aloha brother Trey. I am indeed in Hawaii. It’s hot outside. It’s sunny and we’re talking about hunch diggers possibly going all the way. So, life can’t be better. Exactly. It’s the end of October here and tomorrow in about 36 less than 36 hours, we are starting the Japan series game one. Hon Tigers heading to Fukuoka for games 1 and two against the Softbank Hawks. So, we had said if and when, actually, no, we said when the Tigers beat the Bay Stars, we would come back and here we are. And so let’s first start by recapping the climax series, the final stage of the climax series, because we did take down the Bay Stars and neither of us was right. You said they’d get one win, I said they’d get two. They didn’t get a single victory off of our boys. That is so true. And we did go out on that limb and say when, not if. So yeah. Yep. Credit where credit is due. And we are due credit for that. Um, so this is what happened. Game one, uh, the Tigers won two to zero. The first run wasn’t scored until the sixth inning, uh, against Azuma when actually Chikamoto reached first base, was bunted over to second, and then stole third, which I think was his first stolen base of third all season. And that was huge. That was huge. That was a momentum changer. Absolutely. Absolutely. Because until then, the Tigers didn’t have very many chances. The Bay Stars were knocking on the door all night. And then all of a sudden we have this one out runner on third situation. They brought in their infield which is kind of the typical thing and Morisha blasted one through one of the holes in the infield bringing home Chikamoto. And then later in the game uh how did we get the second run? I forget. Oh it was uh no it was the same inning wasn’t it? Um with an RBI. Yep. Uh hit it the opposite way into shallow right and uh somebody scored. So I think it was Sato scored I believe. Um, anyhow, two to zero was the final in that one. Uh, Murakami was good, not great. He was constantly being pushed to his limits and I think he only went five innings, but the bullpen came through, put up all the bagels. Two to zero win. Second game, man, Psyche was on the mound. The Tigers gave him a nice two to zero pad early uh because we were facing I think Tedda, who was the Bay Star’s first round pick last year in the draft. And uh we put up a two spot on him which I’d kind of predicted that he would he would be shaky early in the game because of nerves because of the Koshian crowd. True to form that’s what happened two after one inning and then the Tigers sat back on their laurels and Psyche um allowed the game to be tied and then Maki hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the fifth I believe it was or maybe the fourth. Anyhow uh 3 to2 for the Bay Stars. The rains come down delay the game for 45 minutes or so. Um, so I had to take shelter. I was in the right field stands for this game. And uh, I remember messaging Zorny among others. Zorny, my graphic designer from the age 10 days. And uh, he goes, “Man, I hope the rains just cancel this game now.” And I said, “No, man. It’s a one-run lead. We got this.” Sure enough, uh, you know, like a 45minute delay means the game is going late into the night. But anyhow, in the eighth inning, uh, bottom of the eighth, Sato ties the game with an RBI single through the right side of the infield. and in extra innings. Bottom of the 10th or 11th, I forget. 10th, 11th. Yeah, one of them. Anyways, um I knew it, man. Sasaki coming to the mound. Not Roki, but Chihaya for the Bay Stars. And I was like, as soon as they announced his name, I was like, “This is our chance. This is our chance.” And sure enough, yes, you texted me that. Yeah. Not going to know. Did I? I forgot. I knew I was texting or talking or I was too excited when I saw that name come up. But Nakano with a hit. I think that was his first hit of the game. So it was and that was like maybe the first or second pitch of his at bat and then the first or second pitch of Morista’s at bat. He hits the Sionara home run over the left field wall and Kosen goes nuts. And so for two nights in a row, Morista is the hero of the game. 5 to3 walk-off win. Series is now three to zero. and we bring Takahashi to the mound for game three. This is the first game I was able to watch from the comforts of my home. I was quite grateful for that. And man, Takahashi was in mowdown mode because seven well practically perfect innings, right? The Sato error is the only into the eighth, right? Into the eighth. Yeah. Yeah. Into the eighth. But seven perfect um no base runners except for on Sato’s error. And then in the eighth, I think he got the first out and then they I think they got it to bases loaded eventually. Um but then Ishi, I believe it was, came in and shut the door on that. Well, in the meantime, uh Sato powered us to a three run lead on a home run. First inning against K? I believe it was first inning, I think. So And then later in the game, uh we got one more run. It was an Oyama double off the wall. So four to zero. We finally beat K. And the funny thing is, well, we’d beaten him before, but I mean, we finally scored multiple runs off of him. Um, and so all season we’re worried about Anthony Kay, you know, he’s got our number, he’s got our number, and then boom, we get four runs off of him in less than five innings. Knock him out of the game after four, I believe. Um, and win the game four to zero and sweep the series. We allowed a total of three runs, scoring 11 of our own. Truly dominant against the base. Woohoo. Yeah. And I have to be honest with you, I was kind of worried whether we could do this because by all rights we should have been this dominant but there’s always a nagging thing about the base stars and and like having our number in Kosian and so I was so happy that we like I don’t know exercise the demons whatever. Okay, put it this way. This is the first playoff series ever that we beat the Bay Stars at home. We’d won two playoff series in Yokohama, both first rounders, uh, first round serieses, I believe. I think it was two, but they also beat us in 2017 at Koshen in the first round and 2024, right? We beat them in 2019 and 2022. So, it was we we were it was always the road team that was winning those series. And then you factor in the Bay Stars when they’re hot. I mean, they’re not the best team out there, but when they get hot, they are the hardest team to beat, right? Yeah. And they just came off of a great series for them against the Giants. And so, there was Yeah, I was a bit worried, too. You know, our team was definitely was definitely going to have some rust issues and it kind of showed in game one like we kind of struggled to score those two runs that we did, but two was enough on that day and then from there the floodgates open for us. So, yep. Amen. Yeah. So, what do you think went well for Hansin in this series? I mean, obviously, you know, we got the runs that we needed when we needed them, but what do you think? What do you boil this final stage down to as far as like what was the difference between Hansin and Yokohama in this series? I’m thinking that Yokohama wasn’t playing the kind of ball that they normally play, which, you know, I’m I’m not that well um into how they play normally, but it seemed like they they weren’t on their game and we were and we played good defense, good pitching, good hitting when we needed it. It was again that the thing that Kuji says all the time, you do the things that you do normally, properly, and well, and that’s how to me won the games. You know, it’s funny that Okada and Qi kind of had this have the same mindset, right? Like um Okada’s I guess Japanese would be like, right? If we just do things as usual, we’ll win. And then there’s like a specific phrase and I’m going to let you if you know it in Japanese like what was Yeah. Yeah. Right. Which is basically like let’s let’s focus on getting the simple things right. Yeah. Do the normal things and do it well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, I I’m in agreement with you. Um the other thing is like so last time when we talked about what um what would be the key for both of these teams and we said the starting pitching has to get off to good starts for the Tigers and I really think like well outside of Psyche kind of floundering in game two Murakami did well enough for those five innings and like we said that was kind of all we needed because our bullpen is so stellar right and also I had said that well then Takahashi was also outstanding as a starter and I also said that for the base stars. What they would need to do to win the series is hit home runs because that’s what they do well. And we Yeah, sure. Uh I think Tuso had an RBI double. And I know Maki had the solo home run, but that was their only home run, right? Yeah. And I had said, well, they won’t be able to string together hits to score multiple runs. But they did get the two runs in the one inning. So they did string together hits in that one inning, though out of 27. So, I was kind of right. Yeah. There you go. There you go. And then Heinstein actually, I mean, we, you know, we scored um the two most important runs of game two on a home run and also really the three most important runs of game three on a home run as well. So, I was kind of wrong in that respect. Like, I think that’s what went well though is that our cleanup guys got her done. You know, Maurice had a hero two days in a row. Sato, I mean, there was no hero interview after game three, right? Because it was just the the Kuji interview. Oh, okay. Yeah. But yeah, they they came through in a big way. Yeah. And then the other big run that we scored was was kind of the uh the final nail in the coffin was Oyama’s big double off the wall. So like our three cleanup hitters got her done. Yeah. And I think that’s a big difference. But again, we can’t you we can’t say enough about that uh stealing of third base by Chikamoto in game one. Yes. that momentum shifter totally. Cuz like I said, yeah, he’d never done it all year and nobody expected that he would do it then. And that’s one of the things I love about Chikamoto is he kind of I think he’s got like um he’s just got great vision for how to play the game and he he’s not predictable, right? Like he could say, “I’m going to hit the ball uh through the hole like between short and third.” And that’s what he’ll do. and he’ll say, “I’m going to work the count in this game and try to get some walks and then he’ll do that.” Or, “I’m going to attack early and then he’s successful at it.” Like, he’s got these different things. So, so teams can’t say, “Hey, beware cuz that first pitch, he’s going to do something with it if you don’t uh if you’re not careful.” Maybe or maybe not. He might work the count instead. He might choke up on the bat even more and go opposite. you know, like he’s just got different tools in his box that make him really hard to stop. So, that begs the question, what what do we do with him with the free agency thing? Give him what he wants. Well, I don’t you know though, like I’ve been thinking about this. We’re kind of sidetracking here and that’s fine. Um, I know personalitywise he’s kind of saying, well, it’d be really interesting to explore other waters, but at the same time, like it takes a lot of guts to leave a team that has won two of the past three championships, especially if we win the the Neponichi here, you know, two Neponi in three years and you’re going to go see what it’s like to play for another team. Like, why? I’m saying agreed. So, I kind of feel like Especially if we win this series, I don’t see a scenario in which he leaves. Knock on wood. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So, there you go. Now, as far as this Japan series goes, um 2025 means we’re in an oddnumbered year, which means that the Pacific League gets homefield advantage. This is the way that NPB works for those of you who are unaware. So last year the Central League got homefield advantage which means the third place Bay Stars last year got home field advantage over the first place SoftBank Hawks and well I wouldn’t say they worked that to their advantage. In a way they did but they actually lost games one and two at home if you remember. Okay. And then they won three straight in Fukoka and then won game six in Yokohama to take the series last year. So this year though it’s the opposite. Games one and two will be in Fukuoka at the dome. Games three, four, and five will be at Koshien. And then games six and seven if necessary. Of course, game five as well is an asterisk if necessary. Um, anyways, six and seven will also be in Fukuoka. And if I’m not mistaken, it’s a 6:30 start in Fukuoka and a 6:00 start at Koshian. Yeah, I’m not sure I understand the whole late start thing on all the games, but you know, I got to stay up later. That’s all. It’s I think to make sure that any working employee of any company that wants to catch more of the game has a better chance to do so. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And then 11 or 11:30 p.m. But okay. So the good news the good news for those in Japan getting into like how they can view these games. The good news is that I think NHK is actually broadcasting quite a few of the games which means that we’re not going to get the nine o’clock cut 9:00 cut off which we sometimes get from the other stations. Nice. Yeah. So, in Japan, um obviously they’ll be on network TV and if they’re on NHK, that’s of course a huge bonus. No commercials and no early exit from the game. The other stations will do their usual probably and they’ll have like some famous somebody talking nonsense alongside former baseball players that actually know what they’re talking about. But anyhow, um if you’re overseas, what are your options? So, I’m going to ask you first cuz you are overseas and you have a way of watching the game. So, what do you do to make sure that you can tune into these games live? So, there are two viable options. One of them is this Hong Kong company that sells a video streaming service that if you want to look for it, it’s called Unblock. and and you can buy a modem or it’s actually a modem actually. Yeah, it’s a modem that you subscribe and you can watch stuff free or the um can I say this? The H10 Tigers um game day Facebook group always posts a link to the live feed within minutes of the game starting. It may or may not be legal. It may or may not be. Yes. So, yeah. Are you still posting those links though? Because I I I thought that they had stopped doing that. They are. Okay. Well, I’m no longer there and not that that matters anyways, but yeah. Um, so those are a couple of ways that you could do it. The other way, I guess, is that like I think Zorny, who’s out in uh Dubai, I think he’s got a VPN and then he’s using the Tever service, which is also a Japanese uh streaming group or whatever. They’re showing the games as well. I think tever and then there’s one more live stream that’s in Japan. Uh you next maybe. Anyways, um those are other options that are out there. Um with a VPN service, you should be able to tune in in that way. Um and that’ll make it good and legal uh well, as much as VPNs are, and you’ll be able to watch the games that way. So, I know that for people that are states side, this is a really big ask because it’s basically like before the crack of dawn, but the option is there for you to watch these games live. I don’t know about watching them uh on demand. I think maybe if if you have the VPN, I think Tever might be able to do on demand or to I don’t think is doing the any of the games because it’s Oh, really? Yeah. They could do Climax because that’s still a central league hosted uh game. Gotcha. Yeah. So, I’m pretty sure Torah is out of the mix for this whole thing. So, hopefully anyways, the more of you that are out there watching and cheering, the better. And uh let’s talk now about the actual series. So, as we said, it’s the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks up against the Honing Tigers. And I looked back in the history books or just back on my writings and I found that the Honin Tigers and this Hawks team have faced each other three times previously in the Japan series. Two of them before I was a Hanin fan. So the first one was in 1964 when it was the Nankai Hawks based in Osaka against the Hashin Tigers. Hashin had homefield advantage, lost the series three games to four with uh American Joe Stanka throwing I believe backto-back complete game shutouts in games six and seven to ensure the Hawks the series. So a little known story there there was a trophy in my high school in Coobe Uhhuh. It’s called the Joe Stanka trophy. Mhm. um in honor of him being s sort of the stud pitcher that he was. And it celebrated high school students who were worthy of the I don’t know male athlete of the year award or something like that. That’s interesting. That’s cool. Oh, so that was way back in the day, of course. Um, and it took another almost 40 years for the next uh matchup between these two teams to happen in 2003. Now the Nongai Hawks are in Fukuoka and they’re known as the Dier Hawks and it was our Honin Tigers featuring Kanimoto and manager Hoshino up against a superstar team, right? That include includes future major leaguers uh and Jojima I think were on that team, right? the Hawks team. Yeah. And again, the Hawks won that one four games to three. That one um once uh No, that one actually was so it was the the Hawks that had homefield advantage and in that series the home team won all the games. And then most most recently, and this was actually in my first year as a Tigers fan, in 2014, the Tigers finished in second place, but they swept the the Giants in the final stage of the Climax series and made it to the Japan series against the Hawks. Um, after sweeping the Giants, we actually romped the Hawks in game one. I think it was like 5 to1, something like that. And then after that, the series kind of fell apart on us and we lost all the next four games. So it was a four to one. All the games were close except for one though. Uh they had a walk-off home run. They had a bottom of the eighth um go-ahead single in one of the games and I forget the other one, but they all came down to like the last inning basically. So it’s closer than the 4 to1 sounds. Yeah. Um so that’s that. Um that’s how the Japan series history goes. Obviously, all of that gets thrown out the window because I think maybe Yanagita was part of their team then, but not a big figure on the team. And then for us, Umeino was a rookie, Iwazaki was a rookie as well, but he was a starter and I don’t think he started. And uh I was also a rookie and I don’t think he started a game either. So they were they were all parts of the process but not meaningful parts. Right. Right. And actually in some ways well obviously uh Iaki is probably the biggest factor out of the three of them now in 2025. But yeah they’re all kind of getting towards the tail end of their careers. So it’s kind of interesting. Anyhow um all time against the Hawks in regular season play. Uh this is all in inter league of course. The Tigers are 2941 and4. So, not great. This is The Hawks are the toughest team for the Tigers to beat in the regular season and we have not won a season series in inter league against the Hawks since 2012. So, you can throw all that out though because playoff baseball is a different animal. And you can also throw this out, but I’ll add it in. Anyways, this season the Hawks won the season series two games to one. It was at Koshen. So, if you consider that we’ve got a three-game series at Koshien next week, uh, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, it better not go two to one Hawks. Anyhow, um, in that series though, uh, it was Murakami against Moello in game one and the Hawks won 2 to1. It was 3-0 Tigers in game two with Otake beating Uasawa. And then it was 3 to1 for the Hawks in game three. It was IHara for us, our rookie, and Matsumoto for them. Actually, both of those guys are now relievers uh for their respective teams. So, that’s how it went down. Um but I will say this, the Tigers were probably at their worst at that stage of the season cuz they had just come off of a sevengame losing streak. Yeah. Actually, they they had just broken out of it a couple of days prior to coming up against the Hawks. So, the bats still were not doing their thing. And like while the pitching was, if you look at it, I mean, we only gave up five runs in those three games. I’ll take that. Yeah. Yeah. So, the Hawks had a better overall record than the Tigers in the regular season. Uh 8752 and four versus the Tigers 85 54 and four. Twoame difference. Obviously, the Tigers had less to play for down the stretch than the Hawks. So, I would say that as far as team records go, these teams are pretty equal. And even if you look at a lot of the stats, these teams are pretty equal in a lot of ways. Um so, you look at like some of the strengths of these teams. Well, the biggest or one of the big quote unquote strengths of the Tigers is that they led all of NPB in sacrifice bunts. You can laugh all you want, but those a lot of those led to runs being scored. And I know you don’t like that, but Yeah. Yeah. I don’t I don’t, but at the same time, like I’m not going to argue with the fact that the Tigers led the league in runs scored, and some of that came because of the bunt. And could we have scored more without the bunt? We’ll never know. So 136 for us in that category. the the South Bank Hawks actually led the Pacific League in bunts with 95. Oh, I didn’t know that. So, significantly fewer than the Tigers, but nevertheless, you know, you think about the fact that we didn’t have the DH all year. And I would wager that probably 30 to 40 of our sack bunts were from our pitcher. Mhm. That’s probably right. From our number eight hitter before a pinch hitter coming in. So anyways, I would say these teams probably bunt all things said about equally as far as frequency. Um, we also have the Tigers leading the well all of NPB and walks with 441 and the next best team was the Hawks at 436. So that’s pretty close. Both very selective teams in that respect as well, right? And so you definitely have these similarities between the teams. Um, not to mention the colors of the unis. Colors of the uniforms are similar. Um, both teams had roughly the same number of stolen bases. The Tigers, I think, had 100 and the Hawks had 98, I want to say. Yeah, 100 versus 98. Um, home runs. The Hawks had 101, the Tigers had 93. that could also be attributed to the ballparks in which they play, right? Um, so there are quite a few similarities. Um, both teams have very good starting rotations and we’ll get to that soon. And I I think I’m not even going by numbers. Sometimes I like going by numbers and sometimes I don’t, but I think probably we have the superior bullpen and I’m just saying that off of my hunch. I can’t back it up with the figures. I like our bullpen. I’m I’m I’m with you. Me too. Me too. Well, let’s get into then um what we expect maybe the starting pitching matchups to be in this series. Um so Qi has said he’s not revealing his uh starting rotation or his plans to anybody, but I think we can probably guess. Yes. That said, you just never know because Psyche did struggle um in his start against the Bay Stars and he didn’t pitch against the Hawks. So, I wonder if he’s going to still be the game two starter. But this is what I see. I see Murakami going in game one because he was our opening day pitcher. He was our opening day pitcher for the playoffs. And why not be our opening day pitcher for the Japan series? Agree. agree that that would put him pitching games one and six, you know, on a weak rest if there is a game six. On the flip side, um Levon Moelo is the Hawks ace pitcher. However, he had to pitch game six of their series against the Fighters. Thank you Shinjjo and friends for stretching that series out to its limit. And why couldn’t you guys have won it? I wish they had. But anyhow, that’s neither here nor there right now. The point is that Moelo pitched on Monday, which means that he’s probably not going to be good to go on Saturday. I I mean, if they wanted to, they could, but I would, if I were them, and this is what I think they’re probably going to do, they’re going to use him on Sunday, and then if there is a game seven, I mean, they they’ve essentially got like the this the league’s Yamamoto basically, Yoshino Yamamoto in their game seven if it comes down to that. Anyhow, game one, I think they’re going to have Kohi Adihara, who is their other, I guess, quote unquote, ace this year. Uh, he had 14 wins. I think he that ties them for the NPB lead in wins. So, it looks like it’ll be Murakami against Aihara in game one. I think it’ll probably be Psyche against Moell in game two. So, those will be in Fukuoka with the DH. And then at Koshen game three I would guess would be Takahashi who threw game three of the series against the Bay Stars versus Uasawa who um hey aren’t we essentially facing the fighters here. I mean Uasawa we’ll get to their hitters. They’ve got Kondo as well. Anyhow, USA probably will get game three and then game four I could see us using Duplante because he was kind of penciled in as the uh game four starter if our series had needed a fourth game. And he’s been looking good in his uh kind of warm-up games or practice games or whatever. So, I think he could be the game four starter against um probably Ozaki for them who’s again like they had they had four pitchers with 12 or more wins. Ozaki went 13 and five on the year and he didn’t look great against the fighters, but they’ll probably give him that uh fourth game. Oh, and and I love Duke, so I I like to see him there, but it’s also possible that Otto gets the call. Right. Right. And actually, like I’m secretly hoping that it will be Duke in game five because I’m going to be in attendance at game five if there is a game five. Um so I’d rather see him on the mound in person just because I never have. Uh, but I’ve got a site that says it might be Itto Masashito uh against Dioske. Um, okay. So, yeah, there I mean when when it comes to the fifth starter for both teams, this is where things get a little bit thin Yeah. And when we get to this point now, it really becomes kind of a question mark like is Itto our best option? How long of a leash do we give him? Who do we have in the bullpen as long? And before we hit record, I think I had an interesting suggestion that, you know, assuming the first four games go without a hitch and our four starters actually pitch reasonably deep, that fifth day could just be a bullpen day, right? Where you got you got So, for example, if Duke goes in game four, in game five, you would have Itto, Otake, IHara, and Nelson. They’re all That’s a pretty formidable formidable option. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then even I mean if if need be just depending on how the game uh plays out and the series plays out, you maybe only use three of them or you use them for less than two innings each and then you just bring in your bullpen to just like throw everything at the Hawks that you can just depending on again where the series is at at this point. And I have sort of full faith in Kuji that he will do what’s necessary to pull out the W. I mean, I have so much faith in him. You know, it’s interesting as a as a first year manager, you’d think maybe he would fall victim to some of the typical manager managerial mistakes or decision mistakes, but I agree with you. I see him as the type that he doesn’t look at, well, if he can get over this, you know, if he can get himself out of this jam, he’ll have a shot at the win. Or if he can, it’ll be it’ll mean extra confidence for him going forward. There’s no going forward here. And I think Qi knew that even in the first well the the final stage I should say of the playoffs for the Tigers. Um he didn’t hesitate to pull Murakami after five innings. I think Psyche I don’t even remember if he made five innings. I think fourth I mean four four and change. Yeah. Well he yeah he gave up the home run to Psyche and then I think he allowed a hit to to Suzuk next or not Psyche to Maki. Um and then I think Anyhow uh oh Yamamoto was next anyways but anyhow um yeah you’re right. don’t think that he has got the long leash for any of his starters. And so I have confidence that whatever happens in game five is going to be way better than any plan that I could possibly have. But anyhow, uh games six and seven, if necessary, would probably be a repeat of the starters that we saw in games one and two, assuming that there’s no injury and assuming that there’s no major breakdowns for any of those pitchers. So that would again be Murakami against Aihara for game six and then Psyche against Moelo for game seven. What an epic game that would be if it came down to a game seven. I would be losing sleep. Yes indeed. Yes indeed. That said, I mean I look back on the 2023 Tigers and I think this is a relevant point even though it’s a different team. You know um we did a number on Yamamoto in game one. Everyone’s going, “Yamoto is unhitable and he’s going to the majors and he’s three-time Saomura winner and how are we going to score any runs on him?” And then we put up an eight spot against him in game one. And then in game two, we only got one run or not game two, game six, his second start. So when it comes to Moello, I know he is an absolute ace, but I wouldn’t put it past these Tigers to put up some runs against them. Just got to get hot. Yeah. And I think the key for him is to jump on him early because once he gets into a rhythm, he’s hard to beat. Like I’ve from what I’ve the the very little I have seen um if he gives up runs, it tends to be early and I’m putting a plural on that. You know, he might give up one run in the later latter innings of his start, but not multi tends to be the way with him. So anyhow, um those are the starters. And then as far as the position players or the starting lineups, obviously with the Tigers, we’ve been through this before, so we can just quickly kind of fly through this. I think all of our listeners know anyways. Chikamoto will be leading off, Nakano will be batting second, Morisha third, Sato fourth, Oama fifth, and Sakamoto will probably be seventh or eighth. But it’s the left field and shorts stop slots that are going to be kind of the question marks even moving forward. any thoughts on who you think might get action depending on if it’s a lefty or righty or depending on various things. So if it’s a lefty pitcher then it won’t be my GAWA but my GAWA has been in my opinion um sort of trying to raise his profile with QG like dude play me I can do this so there’s that but between my gawa and and then the righty hitters who play left field or who who are not in outfielders but play left field anyway. Yep. Nakagawa or Kumagai or Nakaga Kumagai. Y I mean that’s that’s sort of where I’m seeing stuff. And then at shortstop, I know we talked about this last time and I thought Kumagai was the shortstop dour with a righty lefty pitcher. Mhm. But I’m kind of like liking Kinami. I’m liking Kinami enough that we want to start Kinami in short and left. See, I’m still an obatarian and I believe in Obata. I love Obata. I’m an obatarian. He He made There was one play that was a game saver in one of those games. I can’t remember which game. I can’t remember the exact scenario, but that diving catch he made on a ball that should have gotten through the infield. He did that more than once. That’s the thing. Yeah. Yeah. And for myself, like as far as defense goes, I trust uh Obata more than I trust Kinami. And also as a pinch hitter, I would rather have Kinami there, especially for a possible bases loaded scenario as opposed to um Obata as a pinch hitter. Like I think even opposing pitchers like if they load the bases and it just happens to come around to that scenario and it could happen just even once in the series is enough. Once in that series, a bases loaded Kinami pinch hit scenario. That’s enough, man. That could change the series. I I would not want to be that pincher. Right. Yeah. Right. I agree. I agree 100% with that. Yeah. So, on that note, we haven’t talked about what what do we do in games one, two, and possibly 6, seven for the DH? Like, do you see anybody uh who is kind of fit for that role that you would want to give four at bats to um in against any of those pitchers? So Ahara is a righty, Moelo is a lefty. And so we would be seeing them possibly twice each. So I I’ve seen writeups about Toyota. Yep. I’m not sure that that’s the answer, but it seems like he’s one of the potentials for DH. Mhm. As a righty hitter, right? Yeah. And then as a lefty hitter, I mean, we just spoke about Mayawa being a possibility there. So, and then recently, you know, recency bias notwithstanding on was not um horrible. So, we could possibly see him, too. I don’t know. But DH is like a tough position to play. You got to have the right mindset. You got to be able to I don’t I I don’t know how you say this, but it’s like not anyone can be a DH. No, I agree. I agree. And I think that’s where up until this point and really moving forward through the end of 2027. Um, I think that’s going to be the issue with Central League teams in the Japan Series and in Inter League and so on until we get used to having somebody that is the DH or even just the mindset of, hey, you could be the DH on any given day, which is something that’s going to take a long time to get used to, which is why I say even in 2027, I don’t think CL teams are going to magically have outstanding hitters in the DH slot. It’s going to take a couple years for that to happen. But anyhow, I think in this series, like looking at the Tigers roster, I don’t see anyone that I would say, “Oh, that guy’s going to hit the cover off the ball.” Boy, I’m glad we don’t have to put him in the field. Like, we don’t no such player exists on our team, right? Well, I’d use him as a pinch hitter, but not as a starter. Like, I don’t really see anybody that fits that role. I mean, you might have like a Magawa whose defense is not great, but he’s also right now not an awesome hitter either, right? So there’s nobody that I would say, “Oh, that’s instant offense.” Yes, they are better than the pitcher 100%. Okay, that’s a low bar to clear. Yeah. Um I I do want to mention Hernandez. Yeah, that’s a possibility. Yeah, on the mighty side. I’m in agreement with that. I just I don’t I mean, he’s kind of the X-factor because he hasn’t really been clutch this year. I mean, he hasn’t had a ton of time, but he also hasn’t really shown himself to be a scary uh player for opposing pitchers to face. Yeah. I think he had one or two um shiny moments. Yeah. Um but, you know, go back two years again. I was not high on Sheldon Noisy, but boy am I glad he was in the lineup in game seven especially, right? So, all it takes for Hernandez to earn his 2026 contract is one big hit in the series. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. So, maybe he’s the guy. Okay, let’s look at the Hawks lineup. Um, because they are a team that we don’t often see and maybe our listeners don’t often see either. I don’t know. But, um, I’m looking at who they had in their lineup in game six against the Fighters and I’m using that as my as my basis. But I also will say that um Kinsuke Kondo uh speaking of former fighters, right? Um he is apparently ready for the Japan series. I see. Okay. He’s a Samurai Japan player, so he’s an outstanding hitter. He’s also a pretty good fielder, but I get the feeling they’ll probably put him in as DH in games one and two. And then if he’s healthy enough to play the field at Koshen, he will. But so I don’t know what they’re doing for batting order. I’ll I’ll list who they’ve got in game six as their starting nine. And let’s keep in mind that they’ll do some shuffling in order to make room for um for Kondo cuz I guarantee you don’t leave a guy like that on the bench. If he says he’s ready to go, you put him in. So they had batting lead off uh Shuto who’s like their equivalent of right played center field very fast not a ton of power but very fast again u they had batting second Kawas at shortstop batting third playing right field was Yanagimachi batting fourth and in left field was Yanagita batting fifth and playing first base was Kurihara batting sixth at DH was Yamakawa. Batting seventh at third base was Nomura. Batting eighth at catcher was Umino. And batting ninth at second base was Makihara. Um so pretty good lineup there. I mean like um you just look at like past or present Samurai Japan. You’ve got Shuto, you’ve got Yanagita, you’ve got Kurihara, you’ve got Yamakawa. Yeah. And I think maybe even Makihara might have been like a bench guy on a samurai Japan. But that’s a pretty formidable lineup. And you add in Kondo, right, who didn’t even play in that fighter series. Y. So I would assume then that um DH would be Kondo, first base would be Yamakawa, and then Kurihara would move to maybe third base, and Nomra would be on the bench. That would be my guess as to what they’d do. That’s a formidable lineup. Yeah, it certainly is. Um, but our pitchers can handle it and our catcher Sakamoto, I think, is going to be the key to this series. and his ability to call the game for our pitchers to limit this Hawks lineup. That said though, you know, like the Hawks did not score a ton of runs against the fighters in this series overall. I don’t have all the numbers in front of me, but it seems like every game they won was close and low scoring, and the three games they lost, they got blown out. So, I’m liking that. Yeah. Well, actually, let me let me pull this up right now. So, they they won the last game two to one. It was okay. So for game one they won two to1. Game two they won 3 to zero. Game three they lost 6-0. Game four they lost 9-3. Game five they lost 71. And then game six they won 2 to1. And so the most runs they scored was three in any game. You look at those bats. And you know with all due respect to the fighters I mean they’ve got some really good pitchers too but that good I don’t know. So maybe I don’t know if if if our pitchers can keep that lineup in check, I think we’ve got a really good chance of winning this series here. Here. Yeah. So, um I I don’t know that we need to necessarily talk bullpen. I guess all we could do is talk about like who is their who is their closer because that’s kind of the main the main thing, right? Like who do they have as their um and I think it’s is his name Sugiamyama? Is that his name? He’s been really good this year. Sugyama Kazuki has been outstanding. Um, and so he, again, I don’t have numbers. I don’t even know what kind of pitches he throws, but I just know that in the uh regular season, he had 65 mounds and a 1.82 RA with a strikeout rate of almost 12 per nine innings. That’s pretty nasty. Yeah. So, he’s got the stuff obviously. Um he’s thrown, you know, he had at least one strikeout in each of his last five mounds. Um and he’s been really really good. He did pitch in in both wins that the Hawks had against the Tigers in the regular season. And it looks like he struck out four, gave up just two hits and no runs. So we got our work cut out for us as if if uh the Hawks have the lead late. So we don’t want to get to that point, right? So the that being said then what do you think is the key to this series for the Tigers uh in order to beat the Hawks? I don’t care what the key is for the Hawks to beat the Tigers. I’m not even going that way with today’s talk. Like we talked about the Bay Star’s key, but what is a key for the Tigers um in your opinion? So it’s it’s the same as we discussed before. Don’t make any stupid mistakes on defense. Um just make the plays that you were supposed to make. You don’t need to be a hero. And um the bats, I just hope that between sort of our number one draft picks, they come through. Mhm. And and that’s all we need. We we don’t need we don’t need 12 runs in a game. We just need them to like each each guy Morisha Oyama and and Sato will each have a home run in one of their games and we’ll be fine. Interesting. Yeah. Uh I’m going to definitely agree with you on that. I really think that like our lineup is not the type that can get shut out very easily. Like we just have that one through five is just too lethal. at some point during the game in one of their four times around or whatever it is four or well if it’s five then it’s all the more true but um at least one of those times they’ll click and they’ll score a run or two or more right and then you get your six seven eight nine and just depending on the scenario like they’ve come through in different ways as well like you look at Onoa he came through in in the one game um and so I really think though that the key is like you said, “Just just play Tigers baseball.” And I have yet to see them make any really stupid plays on defense. I can’t think of a game in which they committed two costly errors in the same game. Um, you know, errors will happen. Yes, it’s inevitable. Um I think two years ago if you remember like with the Tigers and Buffaloos there were a lot of errors in that series but our team was also I think a lot more errorprone then and also everything was new to them like Japan’s series was a first time affair for everybody. Yeah. And now we’ve been there done that and been champions whereas the Hawks have been there and done that last year and they came out losers. And I think that might be one of the factors as well is just to um just to stay level-headed like you said like the Hawks might be coming in with that kind of chip on their shoulder or like hey we’ve got unfinished business because last year we somehow let the Bay Stars come back on us and win and we’ve got to do it this year. But I still just think like manager manager-wise, managerially, um I don’t know Koko that well, but I feel like Cuji still got the leg up on him. I agree. There’s just something about him that he I he knows how to win games. He’s just got such a great head for the game. He he to me he’s thinking at a different level. Yeah. He’s watching the game and and that you and I are watching and he’s saying different things. I think he’s a chess master and beyond that he’s also um he’s also the the psychiatrist, psychologist, all those ologists um and I think he’s just got it all. Like he he can tell what’s going on and he can read uh the field and how to make the best decisions in the moment to get the best out of his players. And I think honestly that might be the key to the series. Yeah, both of these teams, if they both play their best baseball, it’s going to be a hard series to win and it might come down to managerial decisions. And the other thing is that um I hate to kind of say this in some ways because I don’t like when people use this argument when they’re anti-dh, but a manager that has played without the DH or has managed without the DH has an advantage over the manager that isn’t used to that. when it comes to when to pull the pitcher, when to use a pinch hitter, um maybe to make those the swaps instead of just throw plugging the pinch hitter into the uh pitcher spot, like all that stuff. QG’s done it for the whole season. Koko hasn’t done it. Yeah. So, those types of decisions are going to come naturally to QGI and they may not for Coco. And I don’t know if like you and I as uh regular viewers of baseball, we’ll be able to pick a moment where we’re like, “Ha, Coco made this mistake.” Like it may not be obvious to us, but it might just be that subtle mistake that Coco makes that QG doesn’t that might decide this series. I’m with you on QG is greater than Coco. Awesome. Well, I’m glad we’re in agreement on something finally. Just kidding. We’re in agreement on everything, but that’s okay. We’re both Tigers fans. So, um, let’s land this plane. And obviously, um, I’m closing this call if you pick the Hawks to beat the Tigers. And I don’t think you will, and neither will I. So, what’s going to happen? Tiger’s in buys. Yes, we agree on something at last, he says for the second time this minute. Yeah, actually I’m gonna agree with that. And part of that is my heart saying I want to be at the last game. That’s the biggest reason I say Tigers in five. But also, I don’t know if it does go back to Fukuoka. I know that we won game seven at Kyos Dome in a Pacific League park with the DH, but I just kind of there’s a little bit of fear in me that if it does go back to Fukuoka, you just don’t know what’s going to happen. Like we don’t want to go there again. 03 means nothing in 2025, but in 03 we were up three games to two going back to Fukuoka and lost the series. So all that said, like I just want us to wrap it up at Koshien and I think we can. And I think because we don’t have the DH in those three games at Koshien, I kind of believe that we can win all three of those. So take one out of two in Fukuoka and come home and sweep them at Koshien. Tigers win. Okay, we got this. We got this. So everybody else um if you are accessing this on Substack or on YouTube or wherever, write in your comments, write in our comments, I should say who you got in this series and in how many games. And talk to us. We would love to hear more from you. We appreciate all the listens that we get and all the feedback that we get and so on. So thank you for listening to this episode of Hunting Tigers Substack News, whatever we want to call it. It’s the Grand Japan series. Great preview. Tune in because tomorrow all the fun begins. Bring it on. Let’s go Tigers.

It’s time for the grand finale to the 2025 NPB season! The Hanshin Tigers (Central League) will face the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (Pacific League) for the title of “Nippon Ichi”.

JJJ (Sanjay) and I (Trevor/T-Ray) discuss the previous round – Hanshin’s sweep of the Baystars, then how viewing the Japan Series games from overseas might be possible (though most options aren’t free), and of course, we break down both teams, their strengths/weaknesses/projected starters and lineups, and predict how many games it will take for the Tigers to win.

(Come on, you didn’t honestly expect either of us fanboys to pick the Hawks, didja?)

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit trevorraichura.substack.com/subscribe (https://trevorraichura.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)