The Orix BlueWave finished ahead of the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Pacific League in 1995 before losing to the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in the Japan Series. The BlueWave won the PL again in 1996 and then finished the job against the Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Series.
The Orix Buffaloes edged the Marines for the pennant last season before losing to the Swallows in the title series. Now the Buffaloes, led by pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and outfielder Masataka Yoshida, will try to match the 1996 team by getting back to the Japan Series and winning it.
The Marines, runners-up the past two seasons, and the rest of the Pa League, however, have other things in mind.
The following is the second of a two-part NPB preview ending with the 2022 Pacific League.
In order of predicted finish:
Chiba Lotte Marines
2021 results: 67-57-19, 2nd
After back-to-back second-place finishes, the Marines enter 2022 looking to clear the final hurdle.
Young pitcher Roki Sasaki seems ready for primetime after getting his feet wet with 63⅓ innings last season. Sasaki’s fastball topped out at 158 kph in 2021 and he’s already gone above 160 multiple times this spring. Sasaki’s secondary pitches have also been sharp and this could be the year fans get a real, prolonged glimpse at the “Monster of the Reiwa Era.”
The rotation will also feature Ayumu Ishikawa, who was limited by injuries last year, 10-game winner Kazuya Ojima and veteran Manabu Mima. Kota Futaki is coming off a tough season, but has shown what he can do in the past. Naoya Masuda, who led the PL with 38 saves in 2021, is on a run of three really productive seasons, and the Marines have another strong reliever in Chihaya Sasaki.
Lotte led the league in runs scored, with Brandon Laird (29 home runs and 95 RBIs) and Leonys Martin (27 homers and 75 RBIs) doing most of the heavy lifting. Twenty-one-year-old Koki Yamaguchi may be in a position to contribute this year, and the Marines would really get a boost from Kyota Fujiwara and Hisanori Yasuda stepping up.
Lotte was in the race until the end and narrowly missed out on last season’s pennant. They’ll be trying to finish the job this time.
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
2021 results: 60-62-21, 4th
As confusing as it sounds, the Hawks’ record did not quite match up with what they actually did on the field last year. The team finished with a .492 winning percentage and was fourth in the final standings. SoftBank, however, also had a league-best plus-71 run differential and an expected winning percentage of .567.
That suggests the Hawks didn’t take a huge step back in 2021 and instead had a year in which they were terrible in close games (8-19 in one-run encounters) and heavily impacted by injuries.
If that’s true, then the revenge tour starts with ace pitcher Kodai Senga, who only pitched in 13 games due to an injury but was strong down the stretch and 10-3 with a 2.66 ERA overall. A banged-up Nao Higashihama only pitched in 14 games, while reliever Livan Moinelo and closer Yuito Mori also missed time. The Hawks had the best team ERA in the PL even with those players missing time, and should still be formidable with them all healthy again.
The Hawks lost pitcher Nick Martinez to MLB, but reinforced the staff with Colin Rea, who pitched in six games for the team last year before returning to the U.S. for family reasons, and Tyler Chatwood. The bullpen was also strengthened with the acquisition of free agent reliever Katsuki Matayoshi.
Yuki Yanagita is still one of the best position players in Japan and fellow outfielder Ryoya Kurihara is a fast-rising star. Yurisbel Gracial is another dangerous hitter and young slugger Richard Sunagawa may get more playing time.
New manager Hiroshi Fujimoto has big shoes to fill after Kimiyasu Kudo’s departure, but his time as the farm team manager should give him a good top-to-bottom grasp of what he has at his disposal. Kudo won the pennant in his first season, in 2015, now Fujimoto will be trying to do the same.
Orix Buffaloes
2021 results: 70-55-18, 1st
The Pacific League’s rags-to-riches story fell short of its storybook ending in the Japan Series, but the pieces are in place for a sequel.
Orix has one of NPB’s stronger starting rotations, and it’s led by ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto. If the reigning Sawamura Award winner only gives the Buffaloes 75% of his brilliant 2021 campaign — he was 18-5 with 206 strikeouts and a 1.39 ERA — he’ll still be one of the best pitchers in Japan. The club’s former No. 1 pitcher, Taisuke Yamaoka, is healthy again after only throwing 69⅓ innings, and the Buffaloes will be counting on Hiroya Miyagi, last season’s PL Rookie of the Year, to turn in another strong season.
While Yamamoto and Miyagi hogged the spotlight last season, Daiki Tajima quietly had a solid year, posting a 3.58 ERA and 2.87 fielding independent pitching in 143⅓ innings, and will be trying to build on that.
The bullpen, however, is the club’s potential fatal flaw.
Sustainability is the major question at the plate, as a lot of things went right for Orix, which led the league in home runs and batting average, but did not steal many bases or draw many walks.
Yutaro Sugimoto won the PL home run title, while Yuma Mune’s year ended with a spot on the Best Nine team and a Golden Glove. What they produce as encores to their breakout campaigns may go a long way toward deciding the team’s fate. As far as Masataka Yoshida, who slashed .339/.429/.563 and hit 21 homers, the only question is whether he’s at full strength again.
Even with weak spots in the bullpen and defensively, there’s still enough here to prove last season’s surprising pennant run was no fluke.
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
2021: 66-62-15 (3rd)
Masahiro Tanaka probably finished 2021 feeling like the baseball gods owed him a few more wins after managing just four in 23 starts despite a 3.01 ERA in 155⅔ innings in his first year back from MLB.
The star right-hander, who suffered from a lack of run support, was probably very happy when the Eagles signed Chris Gittens, who like Tanaka played for the New York Yankees in the majors. Gittens hit .301 with 14 home runs in Triple-A last year and could help jumpstart the Eagles at the plate.
Kazuhisa Ishii, who serves as both the general and field manager, gave himself another weapon in Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters castoff Haruki Nishikawa. In addition to being a quality leadoff man, Nishikawa adds a stolen base threat — he swiped 24 bases last season — to a team that brought up the rear in the PL with 45.
Hideto Asamura had a down year by his standards, but is usually one NPB’s top offensive players. Hiroaki Shimauchi gives the Eagles another weapon at the plate, and Rakuten also added former Seattle Mariners player Jose Marmolejos.
Aside from Tanaka, who had one of the best 4-9 seasons you’ll see, Takahiro Norimoto and Takayuki Kishi, when he’s healthy, help makeup a formidable trio of pitchers. All three threw over 140 innings last year, with Kishi’s 3.44 ERA the highest among them. The trio could become a quartet depending on how lefty Takahisa Hayakawa fares after a promising rookie season.
The total sum of last year’s Eagles was just high enough to get the club into the postseason. The Eagles added pieces during the offseason in hopes of climbing a little higher up the pecking order this year.
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
2021: 55-68-20 (5th)
In one of the more low-key moves of the offseason, the Fighters hired former star Tsuyoshi Shinjo to manage the team after 10 seasons under Hideki Kuriyama. Shinjo wasted no time in stepping into the spotlight, asking to be referred to as “Big Boss,” watching games from an elevated “Big Boss Stand” and from his hotel balcony, leaving his lineups up to lotteries and allowing players to manage.
While it is anyone’s guess what Shinjo will do when the games count — he announced his opening day starter via Instagram and Twitter — the Fighters may have the makings of a good starting rotation under the big top.
Naoyuki Uwasawa was 12-6 with a 2.81 ERA last year. Hiromi Ito, in addition to single-handedly propping up the rosin bag industry, helped Japan win an Olympic gold medal and made a strong push for rookie of the year by going 10-9 with a 2.90 ERA. Kazuaki Tateno, Ryusei Kawano and Takayuki Kato can also give Shinjo quality innings and will need to do so on a more consistent basis. The Fighters were third in team ERA in the PL last season and have room to build.
Of course, it won’t matter much if the team continues to field the worst offense in the league.
Chusei Mannami caught fire during the spring and hit five home runs, and new foreign player Renato Nunez hit the ground running. Shinjo has tried to mold Kotaro Kiyomiya into a lean, run-scoring machine, while Kensuke Kondo is one of the club’s few reliable hitters. Still fans may be wondering where the runs will come from.
The dawning of the Big Boss era should be entertaining. If Shinjo and his staff can unlock the potential in players like Mannami and Kiyomiya, the new skipper’s first year could also be somewhat successful.
Saitama Seibu Lions
2021: 55-70-18 (6th)
The Lions’ Achilles’ heel is usually pitching, but their offense also abandoned them last year.
Seibu has not changed much, so manager Hatsuhiko Tsuji will hope last season’s slump was just a one-off.
Tomoya Mori was a bright spot with a .309 average, but hit just 11 home runs. Hotaka Yamakawa is a home run threat, but the former league MVP had a boom-or-bust season with 24 homers and a .232 average with 101 strikeouts. Takeya Nakamura has shown he still has some power, but the veteran infielder is also turning 39 this year. Nothing would help the team more than for Shuta Tonosaki to shake off two down years and perform the way he did in 2018 and 2019. New foreign player Brian O’Grady could also help reverse Seibu’s recent malaise at the plate.
The Seibu pitching staff was the worst in the league last season — as is tradition — with a 3.94 team ERA. The starters posted a 4.16 ERA and unless Kona Takahashi, Tatsuya Imai and others find more consistency, the club will deal with the familiar problem of trying to prevent runs.
Seibu has gotten away with poor performances on the mound in the past thanks to a hard-slugging attack at the plate. If they can’t whip the offense back into shape, fans at the newly renamed and recently renovated Belluna Dome will be in for a long summer.
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times