Meet the Pacific League

Maybe you are still on the fence with NPB, still not convinced that it isn't what the XFL was to the NFL, but at the same time you are a traditionalist and you feel that MLB has changed to much. I bring you good news, despite only having 12 teams, NPB divides them into to leagues and their is no interleague play. Teams from the Pacific and Central leagues only meet in the Japan Series. So without further adieu here's the Pacific League

Lotte Marines 千葉ロッテマリーンズ
The Marines play in Chiba, which is to Tokyo what Bellevue is to Seattle. They are owned by the Korean Food Giant Lotte and are managed by Bobby Valentine, he too demands a separate post.

Soft Bank Hawks ソフトバンクホークス
The Hawks changed ownership this past year when internet service provider, Soft Bank, purchased them from Daiei. Managed by Sadaharu Oh (the Babe Ruth of the PBL with 868 career HRs), they are the only team in Kyushu, playing their home games in Fukuoka.

Nippon-Ham Fighters 北海道日本ハムファイターズ
Just as it sounds, the Ham Fighters are owned by a meat company. The off season they moved from Tokyo to Sapporo, thus putting a team on the island of Hokkaido, and finally putting teams on the three main islands of Japan. Former NY Met and Giant, Shinjo is the face of this franchise

Orix Buffaloes オリックスバフローズ
The Buffaloes play in Kobe and are owned by Orix, a large company offering everything from financial services to rental cars. Much more to comment on, but that will be saved for a future post.

Seibu Lions 西武ライオンズ
The Lions play in Saitama, which is where the Sonics and Clippers played two games in 2003. Seibu is a large department store along the lines of Macys or Nordstroms

Rakuten Golden Eagles 東北楽天ゴールデンイーグルス
The Golden Eagles are an expansion team playing in Sendai. Rakuten is an internet company along the lines of a hybrid between Amazon and Expedia.

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8th to 500

Yesterday, Friday in Japan, Kazuhiro Kiyohara 清原和博 became the 8th player to hit 500 career home runs in the NPB. Leading off the 8th inning, Kiyohara connected against Koji Hiroike of the Carp. The Giants also received blasts from Hiroki Kokubo 小久保裕紀 and Shinnosuke Abe 阿部 慎之助 to snap a 7 game losing streak. Despite the win, the Giants still remain in last and trail the Dragons by 7 games. The win was also the first of the year against the Carp and helped wash away the bad taste of the season opening series when the Carp swept the Giants in Tokyo.

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Meet the Central League

By now one of the first things you probably noticed is most of the teams lack the name of their city in their name. Instead 10 of the 12 team names include their corporate ownership as part of their name. This makes it harder for foreigners to identify with the teams. It would be very similar if MLB had the Yahoo! A's, Gateway Twins or the Oscar Meyer Mets (thought the Weinermobile would make for a better mascot than Mr. Met). So consider this topic a double feature, not only will you learn more about NPB but you will also have a much better understanding of Japan's geography.

Let's meet the Central League:

Chunichi Dragons 中日ドラゴンズ
The Dragons play in Nagoya and are owned by a media group. Currently Nagoya has Expo 2005

Hanshin Tigers 阪神タイガース
The Tigers are owned by a railroad company and play in Koshien Stadium which is located between Osaka and Kobe

Hiroshima Carp 広島カープ
The Carp are owned by a group including the city of Hiroshima and the Toyo Tire company.

Yakult Swallows ヤクルトスワローズ
The Swallows call Tokyo home and are owned by the Yakult corporation, famous for it's yogurt.

Yokohama Bay Stars 横浜ベイスターズ
Like the Atlanta Braves, the Bay Stars are also owned by TBS - Tokyo Broadcasting Station that is

Yomiuri Giants 読売ジャイアンツ
Commonly referred to as the Tokyo Giants, arguably the Yankees of Japan for their national popularity (I'll elaborate in a later post). The Giants are also owned by a huge media group.

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Tuffy Tired of Losing

Remember last summer? The M's dropped 99 games, chances are they failed to meet your baseball needs. This year, if the hometown 9 sink in the standings, rather than cheat on them with another MLB team, turn your eyes west, west all the way to 日本 (Japan) and Japanese Baseball aka Nippon Professional Baseball.

Worried that NPB isn't good enough? Place the Royals, Devil Rays or Rockies in Japan and they still wouldn't win half their games, plus their road schedule would be a bummer. If ｲﾁﾛｰ (Ichiro) hits .400 in MLB but didn't do it in Japan what does that say about the pitching in the US?

Over the course of the summer, we will explore the PL (Pacific League) and CL (Central League).

Until next time, enjoy this bit of drama from 東京(Tokyo)

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