The Pipeline

Founded: 2004, so the Eagles haven't yet developed any kind of rich history.
Owner: Rakuten online shopping mall operator
Home base: Miyagi Stadium, making them the official team of The Karate Kid. Kidding....at first it was known as Kleenex Miyagi Stadium but is now Fullcast Miyagi Stadium. Hold that, they just changed it back this year to Kleenex Stadium Miyagi.
Titles: none yet

While the major leagues in the U.S. spent the '90s diluting pitching league-round by adding the Marlins, Rockies, Rays and Diamondbacks to the ranks, expansion had been a rare commodity in Japan. Then, in 2004, Kintetsu's financial problems became too much to handle and the Buffaloes merged with the Orix Blue Wave to become the Orix Buffaloes. This left a void in the Pacific League that was filled when the Sendai area of northern Honshu Island was granted a franchise that has become the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.

The Eagles made their first splash by stepping out on a limb and hiring American Marty Kuehnert, a longtime Japan resident, former president of the White Sox's Birmingham Barons farm club, and sports management professor and sports bar owner, as the first American general manager in NPB. The Eagles won their first official game in 2005, 3-1, over Chiba Lotte but then lost the second game, 26-0, on a 1-hit shutout, and things went downhill from there. The Kuehnert experiment lasted 27 games until the team was 5-22, then he was demoted and is now an advisor to the team president. The inaugural Eagles team ended up 38-97-1 and 51 games back of first. The team slugged a Royals-like .365 and had a 5.67 team ERA, .305 OAV and 1.59 WHIP. Aging OF Tetsuya Iida hit .331 in 54 games for his best season's batting average since 1997, and SS Yoshinori Okihara came over in a June trade from Hanshin and hit .313 in 67 games but had only 1 HR, which was one more than Iida. OF Manabu Satake also hit .310 for the fledgling Eagles but also hit only 1 HR. The top sluggers on the team were Orix import 1B Takeshi Yamasaki, who hit .266 with a team-leading 25 HR and 65 RBI, and OF Koichi Isobe, who hit 16 HR with 51 RBI and hit the first homer in Rakuten history. He also led the team in runs scored with 65. Yamasaki is an interesting story, as he reportedly saved some people from a burning building in 1990, and in 2005, he promised some elementary school kids he would hit a home run for them and hit a grand slam in that night's game. His best was yet to come for Rakuten, however. 3B Luis Lopez came over from the U.S. and hit 12 HR with 49 RBI for Rakuten in '05 but hit only .223 before heading back stateside after the season. To illustrate the first Ea gles' team's pitching, the ace of the staff was righty Hisashi Iwakuma (right), who led the team in wins at 9-15 and in ERA at 4.99. He was one of only 3 Eagles to log more than 100 innings and batters hit .301 off him. He was also the only Eagle with more than 100 K at 124. The only pitcher with more than 50 IP for Rakuten who logged a sub-4 ERA was RP Kazuo Fukumori, who led the team with 11 saves and had a 3.57 ERA but a 1.57 WHIP in 63 IP. Fukumori would escape Rakuten in 2008 to join the Texas Rangers. Other than that, there were a bunch of guys logging innings with ERAs over 6 and WHIPs over 1.5. The other bright light was a 1.93 ERA, .196 OAV and 1.11 WHIP from lefty Koki Watanabe in 28 IP out of the pen. Watanabe was the team's #2 draft pick in 2005.

With Kuehnert demoted, his managerial pick, Yasushi Tao, also didn't return for 2006 and Nankai legend (see the Softbank Hawks post) Katsuya Nomura was brought in. The result was a slightly better but still bad finish at 47-85-4, 33 games back of first and, again, last in the Pacific League. Team slugging was again poor, and pitching was still bad but improved with a 4.30 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and .279 OAV, although all three marks were good for last in the PL. The team had its first all-stars in 2006 in IF Jose Fernandez and P Fukumori. Free agent signing (from Seibu) 1B/3B Fernandez earned his only Best Nine appearance to date by hitting .302 with a .911 OPS, 28 HR (led team) and 88 RBI (also led team). He also led Rakuten with 33 doubles and 72 RS. Yamasaki followed up his 2005 slugging performance by hitting .241 with 19 HR and 67 RBI. The other big splashes for the Eagles in '06 included American IF/OF Rick Short, who played for Lotte in 2003, came back to the U.S. and chased .400 for the Nationals' AAA team in '05. Rakuten brought him back to NPB in 2006 and he replied by hitting .314 with 27 doubles and set a team record with a 5-hit game in August. OF Teppei Tsuchiya also emerged after coming over from Chunichi to hit .303 with a .748 OPS and led the team with 7 triples. 2B Yosuke Takasu played more than 100 games for only the second season in his career and hit a career high .300 with 16 doubles. Despite the improved pitching numbers as a whole, three pitchers tied for the team lead in wins at a lowly 7. American righty Ryan Glynn led the team in winning percentage in going 7-7 with a 3.96 ERA but a 1.41 WHIP in 127 1/3 IP. He was one of three Eagles to pitch more than 100 innings and, with 121 Ks, was one of 2 with triple digit strikeouts. The other was '05 #1 pick righty Yasuhiro Ichiba, who went 7-14 with a 4.37 ERA and 1.43 WHIP with 151 Ks in a team-leading 193 2/3 IP. He did have 5 complete games for the Eagles. Veteran righty Hiroki Yamamura matched his career high in wins by going 7-10 but had a 5.35 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in his 136 1/3 IP. The pitching trio combined to give up 56 HR on the season. Fukumori had another exceptional year as closer with 21 saves and a 2.17 ERA with a 1.33 WHIP in 58 IP. Batters only hit .231 off of him in '06. Two other pitching highlights were veteran righty relievers Rui Makino and Hisashi Ogura. Makino came over from Hanshin to post a 2.49 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 43 1/3 IP and Ogura was even better with a 2.18 ERA and 1.10 WHIP along with 51 Ks to only 13 BB in 62 IP.

Nomura was back for 2007 and the Eagles were competitive for the first time as a franchise before finishing 67-75-2 for fourth in the Pacific League, 13.5 games out of first. The Eagles had a cadre of 8 all-stars including Fukumori, Tsuchiya, Takasu and Yamasaki (right), and also rookie sensation righty Masahiro Tanaka, the Eagles '07 #1 pick. Tanaka would take rookie of the year honors but it was Yamasaki's year to shine. The 38-year-old became the first Eagle to lead the league in a major category with 43 HR and 108 RBI while hitting .261 with a .936 OPS. He also led the team by striking out 142 times and scoring 86 runs. Short didn't make the all-star cut but did come within 4 percentage points of a batting title by hitting .330 with an .813 OPS. He led the team with 31 doubles. Fernandez followed his '06 by hitting .270 with 22 HR and 79 RBI, which was a distant second on the team in both categories. Tsuchiya hit .254 with 10 HR and 48 RBI; OF Isobe hit .277 to earn an all-star nod; C Motohiro Shima proved the difference in cultures by getting an all-star bid despite hitting .183 thanks to his defense; and Takasu earned an all-star bid before finishing the season at .283 with a career high 26 doubles, although he couldn't match his '06 slugging and OBP rates. Second-year 3B Daisuke Kusano also made a splash by hitting .320 with an .845 OPS with 19 2B and 8 HR, and rookie SS Naoto Watanabe hit .268 in his debut with a team-leading 25 SB. Tanaka (right) was at the forefront of a more potent Rakuten pitching attack by finishing with a team record in wins at 11-7 with a 3.82 ERA and 1.34 WHIP along with a .260 OAV. The rookie also pitched 4 complete games and struck out a team-record 196 batters with only 68 walks in 186 1/3 IP. Righty reliever Akira Matsumoto got an all-star spot but finished the season with a 6.12 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in 32 1/3 IP, and Fukumori also played as an all-star and finished with 17 saves, although his other numbers weren't as good with a 4.75 ERA, .306 OAV and 1.69 WHIP in 36 IP. Righty Shinichiro Koyama ended up being the go-to guy at the end of games with 16 saves, 0.58 ERA, .183 OAV and 1.06 WHIP in 31 IP, which probably made it a little easier to let Fukumori fly stateside. Starter Hideki Asai ended up behind Tanaka in IP at 144 1/3 but finished strong at 8-8 with a 3.12 ERA, .274 OAV, 1.29 WHIP and 107 Ks. '07 #1 draft pick righty Satoshi Nagai was next with 127 IP of a 7-7 record, 3.61 ERA, .249 OAV, and 1.32 WHIP with 98 Ks, and Iwakuma bounced back from an off 2006 to finish with a 3.40 ERA, .269 OAV, and 1.31 WHIP in 90 IP. Veteran righty Hiroki Yamamura also had a decent season at 6-2 with a 3.26 ERA, .255 OAV and 1.21 WHIP in 66 1/3 IP.

Fans had to be hoping the Eagles would take another step forward in 2008 but it was more like Rakuten was in neutral as the Eagles finished 65-76-3 for fifth in the league, 11.5 games out. The team's .272 BA and .340 OBP led the league but, again, a .385 slugging percentage had them tied for next to last. The pitching marks of a 3.89 ERA and 1.36 WHIP didn't hurt the Eagles too bad but also didn't help them overcome their drawbacks, either. There were only 4 Golden Eagle all-stars in 2008, led by Short, Yamasaki and Iwakuma, who brought Rakuten the franchise's first batting and ERA champions. Short hit .332 with an .842 OPS, 62 RS, 31 2B, 12 HR and 71 RBI, but the offensive MVP might have been Fernandez, who in his 3rd year as an Eagle hit .301 with an .843 OPS, team-leading 81 RS, 40 2B, 18 HR, and 99 RBI. Yamasaki continued his late career surge by hitting .276 with 26 HR and 80 RBI. Kusano didn't live up to his 2007 performance by slipping to a .271 BA and .666 OPS. OF Toshiya Nakashima stepped up somewhat by hitting .315 with a .397 OBP and .863 OPS in 81 games. IF Fernando Seguignol came over from Nippon Ham as a free agent in July and hit .324 with a 1.070 OPS for the Eagles in 39 games, including 13 HR and 40 RBI, and Takasu followed up his 2007 by hitting .282. Tsuchiya hit .270 with 29 doubles and 6 triples and Naoko Watanabe had another decent campaign with a .251 BA and 34 SBs, although his weak bat led to only a .283 SLG. Iwakuma was lights out in a triumphant return to the forefront of the Eagles' pitching staff. He finished the season by shattering the team record in wins with a 21-4 record, posted a 1.87 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and .220 OAV, and K'd 159 batters in 201 2/3 IP to put him in contention for the Sawamura. Tanaka followed up his rookie season by going 9-7 with a 3.49 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, .262 OAV and 159 Ks in 172 2/3 IP. Asai wasn't quite as good as in '07 by going 9-11 with a 4.38 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, .285 OAV and 122 Ks in 148 IP, and Nagai went 6-7 with a 4.68 ERA, .267 OAV and 1.43 WHIP with 111 Ks in 117 1/3 IP. Nomura went with a bullpen by committee as Koyama notched only 4 saves and went 3-5 with a 3.72 ERA, .234 OAV, 1.23 WHIP and 71 Ks in 67 2/3 IP. Lefty Kanehisa Arime was solid with 2 saves, a 2.05 ERA, .220 OAV and 1.14 WHIP in 44 IP, and righty Tsuyoshi Kawagishi was also lockdown out of the pen in going 4-3 with 3 saves, a 1.94 ERA, .244 OAV, and 1.24 WHIP in 55 2/3 IP. It's hard to believe with all that together the team didn't fare better than fifth in the league race, but the weak points were equal to the task. Rakuten's mission from here forward is to try to fit the pieces together for more success, as apparently some of the right pieces are on hand.

Founded: 1950 as the Taiyo Whales by the Taiyo Fishing Company. The Shochiku Robins were merged into the Whales in 1953 and the team played as the Taiyo Shochiku Robins for one season and the Yo-Sho Robins for one season before returning to the Taiyo Whales from '55 to '77. With the move to Yokohama Stadium in 1978, the name changed to the Yokohama Taiyo Whales until 1992, when the Taiyo company changed its name to Maruha Corp. and the Whales became the Yokohama BayStars.
Owner: Maruha Corp. (that's the mascot, Hossy, at right)
Home base: Yokohama Stadium, a few blocks from the waterfront in Yokohama. The stadium features a 16-foot outfield fence and somewhat small dimensions.
Titles: 2 Central League pennants, 2 Japan Series titles (1960, 1998)

The Pipeline's sentiments for Japanese teams are pretty much split three ways (I've never been a big one-team-and-one-team-only guy). Number 1 would be the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, because I have respect for any team in a city that survived an atomic bombing. Number 2 would be the Orix Buffaloes (more toward the former Kintetsu Buffaloes, the lovable losers of the Pacific League), and number 3 would be the Yokohama BayStars, the lovable losers of the Central League most often compared to the Chicago Cubs. The BayStars are another Tokyo-area team, and after a winning record in their first season as the Taiyo Whales in 1950, the franchise struggled with losing records throughout the rest of the 1950s. The main highlight of the team's first decade was three CL home run titles from 2B/3B/CF Noburo Aota, who came over from Yomiuri in 1953. Aota was a four-time all-star and was named to 2 Best Nines for Taiyo and won the HR titles in 1954, 1956 and 1957 for the Whales. He retired with 265 lifetime homers that was a NPB career record until 1963. The team's first pitching standout was righty submarine-style pitcher Noboru Akiyama, who debuted in 1956 and started his career with four straight 300-IP seasons and then logged 5 200-IP seasons in a row after that. According to the Japan Baseball Daily site's entry on Akiyama, his college head coach made him throw up to 1,000 pitches a day to help develop that "rubber arm". A back injury kept him from becoming a Yomiuri Giant and Taiyo got him instead. In 1956 Taiyo won 43 games. Akiyama got the win in 25 of them en route to the Rookie of the Year award. He also lost 25. Akiyama would win both games of a doubleheader five times in his career and is the only man in the two-league NPB era to throw shutouts on consecutive days. He was a 9-time all-star but was named to only 1 Best Nine for Taiyo. His list of titles reads like both sides of a coin. On one hand he won one ERA title (1960) and a K title (1957) along with 2 complete game titles, 3 IP and 4 appearances titles. On the other hand, he led the league in losses from 1956 to 1959 with more than 20 losses each season (thanks to a sub-par Taiyo offense) and led the league in HR allowed in each of those seasons. He retired with a career ERA of 2.60, career WHIP of 1.11 and OAV of .227 with 6 20-win seasons and 1,896 Ks under his belt for Taiyo. He was inducted into the NPB Hall of Fame in 2004. A good example of the Whales' first decade is lefty P Masatoshi Gondo, who won Rookie of the Year in 1953 with a 15-12 record and 2.77 ERA. Two years later he was 3-21, then in 1956 he went 0-13, then in 1957 he was 12-17. In that time frame he lost 28 consecutive decisions and the 13 straight in one season is a CL record. Still, he was a two-time all star for Taiyo and retired with a career WHIP of 1.23 and a 2.78 ERA.

New manager Osamu Mihara was brought in in 1960 and, for at least one season, the Whales' fortunes turned. Taiyo went 70-56-4 and won the CL pennant by 4 1/2 games over Yomiuri. Akiyama led the way with an MVP and Best Nine season of a 21-10 record, 1.75 ERA (good for CL ERA title), 1.05 WHIP and 183 Ks in 262 1/3 IP. The season began with him taking a fungo in the head in warmup on opening day, but he recovered after missing a few games and, in June, won both ends of a doubleheader against Yomiuri in 12 inning sayonara victories. Gondo chipped in a 12-5 mark with a 1.42 ERA in 158 IP. Taiyo all-star C Kiyoshi Doi must have been a hell of a defender because he put up paltry numbers at the plate despite making seven straight all-star teams for the Whales, including in '60 when he hit .212 with a .569 OPS. 1B Kazuhiko Kondo had a breakout season in the first of six .300 BA seasons with a .316 BA and .812 OPS and was named to the first of nine all-star teams and seven Best Nines as a Whale. On the other hand, 3B Takeshi Kuwata followed up a 31-homer Rookie of the Year season in 1959 by hitting .300 the only season of his career at .301 with an .869 OPS but only 16 HR en route to his second of six all-star apperances. Joining Akiyama and Gondo on the mound for Taiyo were all-star P Gentaro Shimada, who was 19-10 with 203 Ks, 14 CG, 8 shutouts (led CL) and a 2.29 ERA in 247 1/3 IP and threw a perfect game in August against Hanshin; and P Takashi Suzuki, who followed up a combined 27-34 record in 520 IP in '58 and '59 with a 5-11 mark and 2.91 ERA in 160 IP in the last of his three all-star apperances. Pitching propelled Taiyo in 1960 as the team posted a CL-best 2.33 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP along with a league-leading 836 K.

The Whales' well-earned CL victory put them in the Japan Series versus the Daimai Orions, who had gone 82-48-3 en route to a 4-game win over Nankai for the PL pennant. Taiyo ended up sweeping the Orions, but it wasn't easy as each win came by only 1 run. Akiyama shut down Daimai in a 1-0 game 1 win as OF Hidenori Kanemitsu provided the winning margin with a solo homer. He had hit only 5 in a ho-hum regular season. Game 2 was a 3-2 Taiyo win with Shimada picking up the victory, but Game 3 had some dramatics as Gondo got the win in a 6-5 Taiyo triumph on a ninth-inning solo homer by rookie 2B Akihito Kondo, who had hit only .226 with 4 HR in the regular season. Rookie Kondo came through again in game 4 with the only RBI in a 1-0 Taiyo victory as Akiyama shut the Orions down again. The rookie was named series MVP despite hitting only .200 as his 2 RBI in the series came at just the right times. Kanemitsu and Kazuhiko Kondo stepped up to hit .400 in the series with Kanemitsu driving in 4 runs. OF Kiyoshi Watanabe also hit .364 in the series for the Whales. On the mound, Akiyama pitched in all 4 games and allowed 1 ER in 16 1/3 IP while Shimada allowed only 2 ER in 11 2/3 IP as the duo stymied the Daimai bats.

Unfortunately for Taiyo, the good times didn't last long. They ended up in the cellar in 1961 with only 50 wins as the pitching was as poor relative to the league as it had been good in 1960. Kuwata did earn the CL RBI title in that season at 94. The Whales rebounded in '62 to finish 71-59-4 but ended up 4 games back of Hanshin despite the improved showing. After another drop near the bottom in '63, the roller coaster continued as the Whales posted the franchise-best win total of 80 victories in 1964 but lost out by a game to Hanshin. The Whales led at the all-star break but couldn't hold the league lead, and Taiyo wouldn't see a 70-win season again until the late '90s. As the Giants dominated the CL through the 1960s and 1970s, the Whales made little noise. Kazuhiko Kondo continued to rack up all-star appearances; in 1966, a new standout was found in Taiyo in 3B Makoto Matsubara, who would be an 11-time all-star in a long Taiyo career in which he hit over .300 only twice but clubbed 331 homers (including two 3-homer games), helped set a Japan record when the Whales turned 146 double plays in 1972, set a CL record with 45 doubles in 1978, and hit 405 doubles in his career for 8th all time in Japan; C Isao Itoh was a five-time all-star despite not much output at the plate; and the new Whales pitching stud came along in the form of P Masaji Hiramatsu. Hiramatsu spent his entire career with the Whales and broke out in 1969 with a 14-12 record and 2.56 ERA in 245 2/3 IP. He followed that with a Sawamura season in 1970 of a 25-19 mark (leading CL in wins), a 1.95 ERA and sub-1 WHIP with 23 complete games and 6 shutouts in 332 2/3 IP. The eight-time all-star followed that Best Nine season with another one in '71 at 17-13 (again leading league in wins) with a 2.23 ERA in 279 IP. He never again won 20 games in a season but finished with a 1.20 WHIP, 3.31 ERA, 2,045 Ks and 201 wins. He won his only ERA title in 1979 at 2.39. The team's first sustained successful Western import was 2B John Sipin, who came over in 1972 and played six seasons in Taiyo. Sipin hit over .300 three times as a Whale and averaged nearly 28 homers a year with a peak of 34 in 1975. He was a four-time all-star for Taiyo and was named to 2 Best Nines while winning 2 Gold Gloves in Japan. He later moved on to Yomiuri to finish his career in NPB but ended up with 218 career HR in 9 seasons while becoming notorious late in his career for starting a couple on-field brawls. SS Daisuke Yamashita joined Taiyo in 1974 and would make his bones with his glove with only pedestrian output at the plate. Yamashita won 8 Gold Gloves for the Whales from '76 to '83 and was named to one Best Nine in 1981 when he hit .278 with 31 doubles (led CL) and 16 HR en route to a .790 OPS. He was a four-time all-star and had a stretch of 302 chances without an error from 1977 to '78. OF Masayuki Nakatsuka also made a name for himself with Taiyo in the '70s with four all-star appearances despite unspectacular offensive performance.

In 1978 the Whales said sayonara to Kawasaki Stadium and moved into the new Yokohama Stadium. The team responded with its first winning season since third-place finishes in 1970 and '71. After another winning season in '79, the Whales then went 16 seasons before finishing above the .500 mark. Puerto Rican IF Felix Millan came over to play for Taiyo in 1978 and, in 1979, became the first non-Japanese player to win a CL batting title with a .346 mark for his only Best Nine in three seasons in Japan. Accolades for other Whales occurred here and there. P Osamu Nomura went 17-11 in 1978 to capture the wins title. P Kazuhiko Endo was the franchise's next mound standout with a career WHIP of 1.19 and ERA of 3.49 over 15 years for the Whales. Endo went 18-9 with a 2.87 ERA and 17 CG in 238 1/3 IP for his only Sawamura and Best Nine in 1983 and followed that up by leading the CL in wins and losses in '84 with a 17-17 mark. Endo was a five-time all-star, led the league in complete games 4 times and in Ks 3 times. OF Keiji Nagasaki earned his only Best Nine and all-star nod in 1982 with a batting title at .351 as he added a .911 OPS, 11 HR and 21 doubles in a career year. His 8 triples in 1978 tied a club record. C Hisaaki Fukushima played seven seasons for Taiyo before becoming even a semi-regular and responded with three all-star appearances. P Akio Saito also stood out as Rookie of the Year in 1977 (with a 4.40 ERA and 8-9 record in 141 1/3 IP) as he started a long career that ended in the team's first season as the BayStars. He led the league in Ks and CG in 1978, and losses in '80 and '81, but bounced back to claim the CL ERA title in 1982 at 2.07. His career had an Eckersley/Smoltz curve to it as he was the first righty with 100 wins and 100 saves in NPB history. The six-time all-star finished with more than 1,300 Ks, a career ERA of 3.52 and career WHIP of 1.29. He won three save titles and two Fireman of the Year awards. Switch-hitting 2B/SS Yutaka Takagi emerged in the mid-80s as he hit over .300 eight times as a Whale. He set a CL record in 1987 with a .997 fielding percentage at 2B but didn't win the Gold Glove that year as it went instead to Hiroshima's Kozo Shoda. Takagi did win one in 1983. He was also a three-time triples champ, an eight-time all-star, was chosen for 3 Best Nines and set the club record in combined BB and HBP with 757 in his career. He finished with a .297 career BA and .789 career OPS. Another Puerto Rican made an impact for the Whales in the late 1980s as OF Carlos Ponce spent five years with Taiyo and, while making one all-star appearance, led the league with 159 hits in 1987, 33 doubles in '89, 7 triples in '89, 33 HR in '88, topped the league in RBI in both '87 and '88, slugged .656 in '87 and was named to 2 Best Nines. He hit over .300 twice and both times was over .320. Ponce faded quickly in 1990 while teammate and Michigander 1B Jim Paciorek led the league in hitting at .326. Paciorek played 4 seasons for Taiyo and hit over .300 each year with slugging percentages over .500 in three of the seasons. He led the league in hits twice as a Whale and also earned 2 of his 3 Best Nine nods for Taiyo. Virginian Larry Sheets made his one year in Japan count for Taiyo in 1992 as he hit .308 with a .915 OPS, 32 2B, 26 HR and 100 RBI to win the league RBI title and earn a Best Nine selection. The next semi-standout at pitcher for the Whales was lefty Hiroki Nomura, who was named to three all-star teams and posted his best season in 1993 when he went 17-6 (led CL in wins) with a 2.51 ERA in 179 1/3 IP in the team's first year as the BayStars. He was also 15-8 with a 3.16 ERA in 182 1/3 IP in 1991. P Koki Morita polished off a comeback from brain surgery in 1988 to lead the league in ERA for Taiyo at 2.05 in 1992 and went on to post ERAs of 2.48 in 72 2/3 IP in '94 and 1.97 in 73 IP in '95. He was a two-time all-star for the franchise.

With Taiyo's name change to Maruha Corp. in 1993, the 40-year association with the Whales name also was left behind as the team became the Yokohama BayStars. According to the BayStars' Wikipedia page, new restrictions on the actual whaling industry helped pressure the change. The new name didn't do much for the team's on-field performance as former Whale Akihito Kondo came back to manage the team 33 years after being named MVP of the team's lone Japan Series appearance and win. The BayStars went 57-73 in 1993 and followed that up with a 61-69 cellar-dwelling season in 1994. A new and probably the most widely known (because of his MLB stint) face of the franchise appeared in the 1990s as RP Kazuhiro Sasaki debuted. He picked up 2 saves in an otherwise unremarkable rookie season in 1990 but then racked up at least 10 saves in every year of the '90s thereafter. His worst ERA over the remainder of the decade was 3.24. He appeared in a league leading 58 games in 1991 and earned his first Fireman of the Year award with 21 saves and a 2.46 ERA in 1992. As Yokohama appeared to turn the corner in 1995, Sasaki continued to pitch very well. In Kondo's third season as manager in 1995, the team had a winning record for the first time since 1979 at 66-64 and finished fourth in the CL. Sasaki nailed down 32 saves with a 7-2 record and 1.75 ERA in 47 games and 56 2/3 IP for his first saves title and second Fireman of the Year Award. Nobody other than Sasaki would lead the league in saves or win a CL Fireman award until 1999 when Sasaki had elbow surgery and pitched in only 23 games. He also became the first 500 million yen player over this time, which roughly equates to 4ドル.5 million. The BayStars replaced Kondo in 1996 and the team dropped back to 20 games below .500 but recovered in 1997 to go 72-63 for second place in the CL. A group of players keyed the resurgence. Pitcher-turned-outfielder Hitoshi Hatayama earned three all-star selections in the mid-90s for Yokohama; American import OF Glenn Braggs earned two all-star picks in four years with the BayStars including 35 homers and 91 RBI in 1994 and a career OPS of .941 in Japan -- he earned a Best Nine selection in '94 as well; and American 2B Bobby Rose spent 8 years with Yokohama and built a reputation as one of the best foreign players in league history. Rose hit .325 with a league-leading 33 2B and 94 RBI in his debut season in 1993 for the first of 6 Best Nines. His numbers slipped in '94 but he earned the first of four all-star selections with a .315 BA and 32 doubles, 22 HR and 97 RBI in '95. 1994 would be the only season he drove in less than 90 runs in Japan. In '96 he led the league with 6 triples and set a CL record with 12 sac flies. Rose followed that with a CL-leading .444 OBP and third Best Nine selction in 1997. SS Takuro Ishii debuted in 1989 and became a position player at short in 1992. Over the next 16 years and counting he has racked up 9 150-hit seasons, been named to six all-star teams, received 5 Best Nine selections, and picked up 4 Gold Gloves. He also holds the team records for hits, triples, and steals. OF Takanori Suzuki hit the scene for good in 1993 and racked up the first of two batting titles and Best Nines in 1997 by hitting .335 with 21 HR and 83 RBI. That season kickstarted a stretch of three straight .300 BA seasons and six overall .300 seasons for Suzuki. P Takashi Saito would also make his name known for Yokohama after debuting in 1992. He racked up steady 3-point ERAs every year until missing 1997 with elbow surgery.

Pitching coach Hiroshi Gondo moved up to manager for the 1998 season and the pieces came together. Sasaki won his 4th straight saves title and Fireman of the Year Award along with his only Best Nine and MVP to help lead the BayStars to a 79-56-1 record and 4 game CL title win over the Chunichi Dragons. The reliever followed a 0.90 ERA in 1997 with an even more miniscule 0.64 ERA and sub-1 WHIP in 51 games and 56 IP as he went 1-1 with 45 saves to set a Japan record in saves for a season. Rose earned his only Gold Glove and fourth Best Nine selection in 1998 as he hit .325 with a .939 OPS, 29 2B, 19 HR and 96 RBI; Suzuki won his second straight batting title and Best Nine pick at .337 with a .920 OPS, 92 RS, 30 2B, 16 HR and 87 RBI; Ishii (pictured at right) won his fourth (and last...so far) Gold Glove while hitting .314 with an .820 OPS, 103 RS (led CL), 174 hits (led CL), 34 2B and 39 SB (led CL) in his second Best Nine season; 36-year-old 1B Norihiro Komada, who had come over from Yomiuri in 1994, won his 9th Gold Glove and sixth straight overall with his sixth all-star selection as he hit .281 with a .690 OPS, 25 2B and 81 RBI; and C Motonobu Tanishige won his first Gold Glove and only Best Nine selection by hitting .254 with a .745 OPS, 23 2B and 14 HR. 3B Tatsuya Shindo also picked up a Gold Glove to make it 5 BayStars picking up fielding hardware. Saito returned from surgery in 1998 and went 13-5 with 1 save and a 2.94 ERA in 143 2/3 IP to help feed Sasaki save opportunities. P Takeo Kawamura also stepped up after posting a 3.32 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in his rookie season in 1997. He threw a 1-hitter on opening day 1998 and went on to go 8-6 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.26 WHIP in 146 1/3 IP in the first of his two all-star seasons. Six years after his CL wins title, Nomura proved still effective in going 13-8 with a 3.34 ERA in 177 2/3 IP. Up and coming P Daisuke Miura had a 3.35 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with a breakout 10-3 record in 142 1/3 IP in 1997 and followed with a 12-7 record, 3.18 ERA, and 1.25 WHIP in 158 2/3 IP in '98.

In the Pacific League, Seibu had outlasted Nippon Ham to earn a berth in the Japan Series to face Yokohama. The BayStars would find the going a little rougher than their Whale ancestors had faced in 1960 but the end result would be the same. The home BayStars won game 1, 9-4, on their home field as Nomura picked up the win and Sasaki closed out the game. They also won game 2 at home, 4-0, as Saito picked up the shutout win. The series shifted to Seibu Dome for game 3 and the Lions responded with a 7-2 win with Miura taking the loss and BayStar pitchers walking 11 for a Japan Series record. Game 4 saw the Lions knot the series at 2 games each with a 4-2 win as Nomura got touched for the loss. The BayStars cranked up the offense for a 17-5 win in game 5 as Saito got the win and Yokohama set a series record with 20 base hits. Komada had a 3-run double in the win. Game 6 back in Yokohama was scoreless going into the 8th inning before Komada hit a 2-run double. Sasaki came in to save the game for P Hideyuki Awano in the 9th and allowed a run before getting the final out to lock down the BayStars' series win. Takanori Suzuki was named co-MVP for hitting .480 with a homer and 8 RBI in the series. Ishii and OF Takahiro Saeki hit .364 each as Saeki drove in 4 runs. Komada hit .280 with 7 RBI and Rose hit only .190 but did have 5 RBI. Saito also earned co-MVP honors with 2 ER allowed in 16 IP for a 1.13 ERA and 0.81 WHIP while going 2-0. Nomura had a rougher go with a 6.17 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in 11 2/3 IP but did go 1-1. Kawamura was the only other BayStar with more than 5 IP as he pitched a scoreless 7 1/3 innings in the series.

Unlike in '61 when the Whales mounted little defense of their Japan Series title, the BayStars had a good 1999 season in posting a 71-64 record for third place in the CL. Sasaki suffered a nerve injury that needed elbow surgery but was still named an all-star for the seventh time with 19 saves and a 1.93 ERA in 23 1/3 IP. Rose had a monster year by hitting .369 (batting title) with a 1.094 OPS, 93 RS, 192 hits (led CL, set new CL record), 34 2B (ditto), 37 HR and 153 RBI (led CL) in 134 games. He was the first player in Japan history to have 100 RBI by the all-star break and got those RBIs in 81 games as the fastest ever to that mark. He had 10 RBIs in one game in the season and also became the only player in Japan history to hit for the cycle three times in a career. He was an all-star for the third time and earned his fifth Best Nine pick. Ishii hit .292 with a .775 OPS, 108 RS, 157 hits, 24 2B and 39 SB (led CL) with his 4th all-star selection and his third straight Best Nine. Suzuki also was solid offensively with a .328 BA, .897 OPS, 110 RS, 178 hits, 31 2B, 17 HR and 92 RBI. Tanishige also had another all-star year by hitting .295 with 23 2B and 11 HR. Kawamura was 17-6 with a 3.00 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 183 IP in his second and last all-star season, Saito was 14-3 with a 3.95 ERA in 184 2/3 IP in his third all-star season, and RP Naoya Shimada earned an all-star selection. In 2000 the BayStars continued their winning ways but their record continued to slip. Sasaki was among the first of the 1998 team to leave when he signed with the Seattle Mariners for the 2000 season. Rose rounded out his Japanese career in 2000 with a .332 BA, .957 OPS, 168 hits (led CL), 31 2B, 21 HR and 97 RBI and the last of his Best Nine and all-star picks. Komada also quit after hitting .258 in 2000 and racking up his 10th Gold Glove in 1999.

In 2001, the BayStars' record stabilized before the bottom dropped out in 2002. Former SS Daisuke Yamashita managed unsuccessfully for a couple years and after Kazuhiko Ushijima took over in 2005, Yokohama has hovered around the .500 mark a couple times in recent years but the BayStars haven't contended. Takuro Ishii continues to play as he hit .302 in 2000 and led the league in hits and doubles in 2001 and earned the last of his five Best Nines that year. He picked up his 2,000th hit in 2006 and played his 2,000th game in 2007. Takanori Suzuki is also still active for Yokohama but hasn't played more than 100 games since 2003. He batted .311 with 30 2B and 19 HR that season after hitting .315 in 2001 and earning his last all-star pick. Tanishige earned 5 all-star selections as a BayStar but hit free agency after the 2001 season and signed with Chunichi, where he is still playing. Saito put up a 5.52 ERA in 2000 and, with Sasaki in Seattle, took over the Yokohama closer's role in 2001. He amassed 27 saves with a 1.67 ERA in '01 and 20 saves with a 2.45 ERA in 2002. The BayStars brought in American Eddie Gaillard in 2003 and he took over the closer's role with 22 saves as Saito moved back into the rotation. Saito was 6-7 with a 4.18 ERA in 103 1/3 IP in 2003 then bottomed out with a 7.71 ERA in '04 before coming back with a 3.82 ERA in '05. He earned a ticket to the U.S. when he signed to close for the Dodgers, which he has done successfully for the last couple seasons. Sasaki returned to Japan in 2004 after asking the Mar iners for an early release from his contract to deal with marital problems. He rejoined Yokohama and notched 19 saves in '04 before retiring after the 2005 season with a career WHIP of 1.01 and ERA of 2.38. Kawamura endured a rough stretch from 2000 to 2003 but moved to the pen in 2004 and responded with 3.07 and 2.31 ERAs in '04 and '05. He recorded 3 saves in 2006 and was 3-1 with a 3.60 ERA out of the pen for the BayStars in 2007. Miura (right) has continued his climb among the league's pitchers as he was 11-6 with a 3.22 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 164 2/3 IP in 2000 and then put up a 3.23 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in 119 2/3 IP in 2002. After 2 years of ERAs over 4, he came back in a big way in 2005 with an ERA title at 2.52 while going 12-9 with a 1.02 WHIP, .215 OAV and 10 CG in 214 2/3 IP. The last 2 seasons he has posted ERAs of 3.45 and 3.06 with WHIPs in the 1.2 range. Yokohama brought over American 1B Tyrone Woods in 2003 and he earned back-to-back HR titles for the BayStars with 40 and 45 in the '03 and '04 seasons. His 87 RBI in '03 was also good for a CL title. He was an all-star in 2003 and earned a Best Nine selection in '04 before heading to Chunichi in 2005. The BayStars also found another good player in switch-hitting OF Tatsuhiko Kinjo, who earned Rookie of the Year honors in 2000 with a batting title at .346 to become the first true rookie to win a batting title in Japan. He endured a .170 season in 2002 after setting a Yokohama record with 43 sacrifices in 2001. In 2003 he returned with the first of 3 straight .300 seasons and displayed new found power with a combined 41 homers over those seasons. He had 191 hits with 30 doubl es and 87 RBI in 2005 and also picked up his first Gold Glove. His production has dropped slightly the last 2 years but the three-time all-star has picked up his 1,000 hit already, as well as a second Gold Glove in 2007. The BayStars traded for IF Hitoshi Taneda in 2001 and the odd-batting-stanced infielder (pictured at right) produced with 2 .300 seasons for Yokohama. The BayStars drafted 3B Shuichi Murata in 2002 and he debuted with power and Ks in 2003. He clubbed 25 homers with 111 Ks in 2003, added 15 HR with only 84 Ks in 2004, hit 32 2B and 24 HR with 124 Ks in 2005, hit 30 2B and 34 HR with 114 RBI and 153 K in 2006, and hit 30 2B and 36 HR with 101 RBI and 117 K in 2007. He has put together an .834 career OPS thus far. C Ryoji Aikawa became the starter in 2005 and finished 8th in the CL in batting in 2007 at .302. The BayStars picked up 2B Toshihisa Nishi from Yomiuri after the 2006 season and Nishi rebounded from a .185 BA in '06 to hit .270 with 27 2B and 10 HR in 2007. OF Hitoshi Tamura joined the Yokohama outfield full time in 2004 and hit .305 with 40 HR and 100 RBI that season before hitting .304 with 31 HR and 26 doubles in 2005. He played only 39 games in 2006 before playing in 2007 with Softbank. 1B/OF Yuki Yoshimura broke into the lineup in 2006 with a .311 BA, .909 OPS, 24 2B and 26 HR and followed it up in '07 with a .274 BA, 21 2B, 24 HR and 85 RBI.

On the mound, the BayStars imported American RP Mark Kroon, who took over as closer for Sasaki in 2005 and notched 26 saves with a 2.70 ERA and .216 OAV in 53 1/3 IP. Kroon racked up another 27 saves with a .207 OAV, 3.00 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 48 IP in 2006 and then saved 31 games with a 2.76 ERA, .222 OAV and 1.18 WHIP in 42 1/3 IP in 2007. He was named an all-star all three years and was the first pitcher to be clocked at 100 mph in Japan. SP Hayato Terahara was brought into the fold in 2007 from Softbank and finished in the top 10 in the CL in ERA at 3.36 while going 12-12 with 163 Ks in 184 2/3 IP.

The BayStars have reportedly set a goal to be back in contention by 2009 but there is work to be done to bring Yokohama its next wave of good fortune.

NOTE: After a couple-week hiatus, I think I've rested up enough to do some more posting. The Royals are staggering their way to another 90-loss season, so the more things change for the better, the more they stay the same in many ways. At least Buddy Bell's days until retirement are numbered. Now it's in Dayton Moore's hands to improve the franchise some more. I figured I'd start the late/off season reports with the resurrection of the NPB Notes. The defending '06 champs from Nippon Ham are once again atop the Pacific League this season and have qualified for the playoffs (known as the "Climax Series" in the PL, make your own joke) along with Softbank, Lotte (detailed here) and Yomiuri (lone CL clincher) thus far. On to the Lotte Marines....


Founded: 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, the team became the Mainichi Daimai Orions in 1958, the Tokyo Orions in 1964, and the Lotte Orions in 1969. With the move to Chiba Marine Stadium in 1992, the team name changed to the Chiba Lotte Marines. I think I liked Orions better.
Owner: Lotte, a Korean confectionary company that now has grown to own restaurants, hotels and a theme park, among other things.
Home base: Chiba Marine Stadium in Chiba, just southeast of Tokyo. It opened in 1992 and is the fifth stadium the franchise has played in. To sum it up, it's like the Japanese Candlestick Park, complete with cold, strong bay winds.
Titles: 5 Pacific League titles, 3 Japan Series titles (1950, 1974, 2005)

Chiba Lotte is the team most known by Americans for producing Hideki Irabu, perhaps the biggest dud among Japanese imports to MLB, and also as the team of Bobby Valentine (pictured on the Japanese beer can above), who became the first foreign manager to win a Japan Series in 2005. The team's history, however, includes several legendary players and the first Japan Series title in 1950. The franchise has had its share of winning teams with a .506 all-time winning percentage but has also seen some low times before the run to the series title in 2005. Those times haven't helped in terms of attendance with the Marines competing with the Tokyo teams for people to fill seats.

The Orions started with a big bang in 1950 as manager Yoshio Yuasa guided the team to a 81-34-5 record and coasted to a 15-game final advantage in the PL race. The team's first star was OF Kaoru Betto, who hit .335/.397/.671 with 43 HR and 105 RBI in 1950 to earn the PL MVP award after coming over from the Osaka Tigers. He would later manage the Orions from '54 to '59 and was named to five all-star teams and earned a run of six straight Best Nines. 2B Yasuya Hondo earned his only Best Nine selection in '50 as he hit .306/.346/.434 with 12 HR and 84 RBI and C Takeshi Doigaki earned a Best Nine selection by hitting .322/.387/.479 with 15 HR and 72 RBI. He finished his career as a two-time all-star and six-time Best Nine selection. Meanwhile, on the pitching mound, rookie lefty Atsushi "Jun" Aramaki posted a 2.06 ERA and just over 1-point WHIP with a 26-8 record in 274 2/3 IP to earn the Rookie of the Year award, wins and ERA titles and his only career Best Nine selection. He would post 10 straight years of sub-2.50 ERAs for the Orions in a hall-of-fame career. P Takeshi Nomura chipped in 217 1/3 IP of a 3.34 ERA in compiling an 18-4 record and the Orions moved on to face the Shochiku Robins in the first Japan Series. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the series, Mainichi lost games 3 and 4 to even the series at 2 games each. They came back behind Nomura to win both games 6 and 7 by 1 run to capture the title. Betto was named series MVP for hitting .500/.586/.833 in 29 PA with 6 doubles in the series while Hondo hit .273 with a homer and OF Shosei Go hit .182 but led the team with 4 RBI. Nomura put up a good argument for MVP with 21 1/3 IP of a 0.42 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in going 3-0 in the series. Aramaki, however, strugged with an 8.68 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in 9 1/3 IP.

The Orions faded in '51 but finished a game back of Nankai in 1952 and wouldn't get that close again in the 1950s. Despite some good records that decade, the Orions struggled to finish any higher than third as Nishitetsu (now Seibu) and Nankai (now Softbank) ruled the league. In the mid-'50s the team's next star emerged as OF Kazuhiro Yamauchi put up the first of his 10 Best Nine seasons in 1954. The future hall-of-famer won RBI titles in 1954 (97 RBI) and '55 (99), a batting title at .331 in 1957, four doubles titles from '55 to '62 (47 in 1956 were a NPB record at the time), HR titles in 1959 (25) and 1960 (32), two more RBI titles in 1960 (103) and 1961 (112) and would enjoy his lone MVP season in 1960, when the Orions made their next run at the Japan Series. After wrapping up his career with Hanshin and Hiroshima, Yamauchi retired in 1970 with lifetime averages of .295/.378/.521, 396 HR and 1,281 RBI. He was the first Japanese player to 300 HR, was a 16-time all-star and three-time all-star MVP and had 2,271 lifetime hits. In the mid-'50s, he was joined in the Orions lineup by 1B/OF Kihachi Enomoto, who at 18 in 1955 won Rookie of the Year honors by hitting .298 with a .410 OBP and .873 OPS, 16 HR, 67 RBI and 87 BB compared to 55 K in 139 games. Enomoto kept up the good stats over 17 seasons with the Orions as he racked up 409 doubles, 246 HR and 1,062 walks compared to 645 K in his career. He set a PL record with 9 Best Nines at first base and posted a league record .999 fielding percentage at first while setting the record for consecutive error-free chances in 1968. The 12-time all-star won two batting titles and four hits titles in his career. With the addition of career years from IF Takao Katsuragi in the late 1950s, the Orions made a run at a league crown in 1959 only to come up short by 6 games to Nankai. Katsuragi slugged over .500 for the only two times in his career and led the PL in RBI in 1958 and '59.

Despite posting an 82-48-3 record in 1960 that was very similar to the 82-48-6 record in 1959, the Orions and former Orion and new manager Yukio Nishimoto took advantage of a Nankai team that wasn't as good as the '59 version and won the Pacific League by 4 games. The Orions pitched their way to the title with a league-best team ERA of 2.66 and 1.12 WHIP while also leading the league with a .262 team BA, .706 team OPS and 547 runs scored compared to only 433 allowed. Several Orions stood out over the season, including PL MVP Yamauchi, who hit .313 with a .975 OPS, 93 RS, 31 2B, 32 HR (leading the league for a second straight year), 103 RBI (also led league), and 67 walks with only 40 K in 133 games. Enomoto led the league with a .344 batting average and also posted a .939 OPS, 94 RS, 37 2B, 11 HR, 66 RBI, 67 BB and only 33 Ks, also in 133 games. 32-year-old OF Kenjiro Tamiya also stood out by hitting .317 with a .401 OBP and .890 OPS, 28 doubles, 9 triples for his 4th Best Nine and first as an Orion. Shoichi Ono was the ace on the mound for Daimai as he posted the third sub-2.00 ERA season for the franchise. Ono's miniscule ERAs of 1.73 and 1.77 in '57 and '58 weren't enough for the PL title in that stat but his 1.98 ERA in 1960 was, and Ono added a 33-11 record for the league wins title, pitched 13 complete games and 5 shutouts, and struck out 258 while walking 101 in 67 appearances and 304 IP. The performance was good for the only Best Nine appearance of his career. Providing the second punch in the combo was righty Katsumi Nakanishi, who pitched a career high 214 2/3 innings in 40 games and went 16-10 with a 2.13 ERA, 11 CG, and a better WHIP than Ono (0.96 compared to Ono's 1.09) for his only all-star appearance. Other solid pitchers in '60 for Daimai were righty Tomoo Wako and lefty Haruki Mihira, as Wako was 13-8 with a 2.15 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 44 games and 196 1/3 IP and Mihira was 12-10 with a 2.81 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 45 games and 188 2/3 IP. The Japan Series would pit the Orions versus the Taiyo Whales, who went 70-56-4 in beating out Yomiuri for the Central League crown.

The franchise's second Japan Series appearance would be nip-and-tuck, but Taiyo got the breaks with four straight 1-run wins for the sweep. Taiyo got a 1-0 win in game 1 as OF Hidenori Kanemitsu homered to hand Nakanishi the loss. Game 2 was 3-2 Taiyo as Ono took the loss despite an Enomoto homer. Game 3 was a 6-5 shootout with Nakanishi again taking the loss and giving up a homer to 2B Akihito Kondo. The Whales finished it off on Daimai's home field in Tokyo with a 1-0 game 4 win as Ono took the loss. Kondo was named MVP despite hitting only .200 in the series. While Enomoto hit only .200 and Yamauchi hit only .182 in the 4 games, Tamiya pulled his weight with a .357 BA. The Orions hit .208 as a team in the 4-game sweep. Ono and Nakanishi combined to pitch 22 1/3 innings in the series with Wako and Mihira combining for 7 IP. The quartet allowed all 11 Taiyo runs in the series.

The rest of the 1960s saw Daimai (then Tokyo starting in 1964 and Lotte in 1969) become an also-ran in the Pacific League but Enomoto won a batting title in 1966, Yamauchi was dealt to Hanshin for '62 Sawamura winner Masaaki Koyama (aka the "Precision Machine") in '64 and Koyama responded with a 30-win season for the first of 3 20-win seasons. Koyama pulled a Niekro in '65 and won 20 and lost 20. Despite Koyama's mound pyrotechnics in '64, teammate Yoshiro Tsumajima won the ERA title at 2.15, but the Orions finished fourth, 6 games out behind Nankai. The team's first successful foreign import helped turn things around for Tokyo/Lotte as the '60s came to a close. 1B/OF George (Daddy Long Legs) Altman came to Japan at age 35 in 1968 and would play 7 years for the Orions, starting by hitting .320 with a .950 OPS, 34 HR, 100 RBI (for the league lead) and smacking 33 doubles (led league) in 139 games in '68. Altman led the league in six categories in his debut season. The team finished third in both '68 and '69 as P Masaaki Kitaru won the '69 ERA title at 1.72 and fellow P Fumio Narita pitched a no-hitter that season, but Lotte rebounded to make it the third year ending in "0" in a row with a Japan Series appearance in 1970.

Altman and Kitaru led the way for Lotte in 1970 as Kitaru earned PL MVP honors by going 21-10 with a 2.53 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 20 CG (!), 4 shutouts, 161 Ks and 42 BB in 42 games and 278 IP. Altman slumped to a .788 OPS in '69 but had a resurgent 1970 by hitting .319 with a .965 OPS, 19 2B, 30 HR and 77 RBI in 122 games for his second Best Nine. As he finished the season at age 36, Koyama also chipped in a fine year in his seventh season for Lotte with a 2.30 ERA and 0.98 WHIP while going 16-11 with 18 CG, 4 shutouts, 141 Ks and 40 BB in 38 games and 242 2/3 IP. Narita made a good #3 pitcher as he went 25-8 to lead the league in wins and posted a 3.21 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 195 Ks and 66 BB in 38 games and 277 2/3 IP. Offensively, Altman's season was supplemented by a Puerto Rican import, OF Art Lopez, who followed up a 23-homer, .301 BA, .840 OPS in '69 by hitting .313 with an .839 OPS, 21 HR and 69 RBI. 3B Michiyo Arito, who had posted an .863 OPS with 21 HR to earn Rookie of the Year honors in 1969, followed that up by hitting .306 with a .922 OPS, 25 2B, 5 3B (led league), 25 HR and 80 RBI. Enomoto was in decline but, in his last substantial season, he hit .284 with an .849 OPS and 15 HR. As the Orions (80-47-3) blazed to a 10 1/2 game win of the league over Nankai, Yomiuri squeaked past Hanshin in the CL to earn its sixth straight Japan Series berth and eighth in 10 years. The Giants would also win the next three CL titles.

Unfortunately for Lotte, the '70 trip to the Japan Series would turn out much like the '60 trip did as Yomiuri won the all-Tokyo series in 5 games. Game 1 was a 1-0 Giants win over Kitaru as the similarity to the 1960 opener and finale was obvious. Yomiuri won game 2, 6-3, as Sadaharu Oh homered and Narita took the loss. The Giants defeated Koyama, 5-3, in game 3 but Lotte pulled out a 6-5 win to keep the series alive in game 4 with Motohiko Sato getting the win. The teams combined for 5 homers in the game with 4 coming from the Giants, including 2 from 3B Shigeo Nagashima. With the Orions' backs against the wall, Kitaru couldn't keep the comeback rolling as the Giants clinched the title with a 6-2 game 5 win. Nagashima earned MVP honors with a .421 BA and 4 homers in the series. The Orions were worse than in 1960 as they hit only .197 in the '70 Japan Series. Altman hit .200 but did put up a .455 OBP, Arito hit .190, Enomoto hit .429 but only played in 3 games, and Lopez was 1-13 for a killer .077 BA. The main offensive force for Lotte was OF Reiji Iishi, who hit .500 in 9 ABs with 2 HR and 6 RBI. Kitaru and Koyama combined for 33 IP of 11 ER and Narita had an ugly 11.81 ERA in 5 1/3 IP. The loss was likely tough to take for Lotte after the 10-year struggle to get back to the Japan Series, but the Orions would bounce back sooner next time.

1971 was similar to 1970 for Lotte as the Orions went 80-46-4 but the Hankyu Braves were better in beating Lotte by 3 1/2 games in the PL pennant race. Lotte's offensive standout that year was Shinichi Eto, who hit .337 with a .969 OPS to become the first Japanese player to win a batting title in both leagues. Eto also added 25 HR and 91 RBI while Altman wasn't far behind at .320 with a .670 slugging percentage, 1.048 OPS, 39 HR, 103 RBI and his third and final Best Nine in Japan. Lopez was also steady at .301 with an .839 OPS, 21 doubles, 24 HR and 77 RBI while Arito earned another Best Nine selection by hitting .285 with an .855 OPS and 27 HR. Kitaru earned a wins title in '71 at 24-8 with a 3.45 ERA and Koyama was again steady at 17-8 with a 3.21 ERA and 1.21 WHIP at age 37. Narita had an off year but P Choji Murata stepped up to post a 3.34 ERA and 12-8 record in 43 games. Murata would go on to post a hall-of-fame career with Lotte with 215 career wins, a 3.24 lifetime ERA and 1.25 career WHIP. The Orions had an off year in '72 but bounced back to go 70-49-11 in 1973 for a third-place finish behind a PL-leading 21 wins, 178 Ks and 7 shutouts from Narita as he pulled down his only Best Nine appearance and Gold Glove of his career.

1974 was a landmark year for the Orions as they squeaked out a PL title for a fourth Japan Series berth behind an MVP season from P Tomohiro Kaneda, who was brought over from Toei in '74. Kaneda compiled a 16-7 record to lead the league in wins, and posted a 2.90 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 36 games for the only Best Nine selection of his career. Murata was right beside his teammate at 12-10 with a 2.69 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in 32 games and Narita had a 3.29 ERA in 37 games. Kitaru also pitched in at 13-6 with a 3.09 ERA in 36 games. With only 5 Pac Leaguers only .300 batting on the season, it wasn't a heavily offensive season and Lotte's leading batter was OF Sumio Hirota, who hit .295 with a .757 OPS and an inside-the-park grand slam in August. 2B Hiroyuki Yamazaki hit .278 with a .765 OPS, 32 2B and 11 HR and Altman fought injury problems and played only 85 games but hit .351 with a 1.095 OPS, 15 2B, 21 HR and 67 RBI. Fellow American import IF Jim Lefebvre followed up his Lotte debut in '73 (.265/.841 OPS, 29 HR) with a .283 BA and .840 OPS but only 14 HR in 82 games in '74. Arito was again steady for Lotte by hitting .263 with an .830 OPS, 22 2B, 20 HR and 83 RS while chipping in 22 SB and garnering his sixth Best Nine and third Gold Glove. While the Orions beat Hankyu by half a game for the PL title, Chunichi stopped a run of 9 straight Japan Series berths by Yomiuri to advance to face the Orions for the NPB title.

The '74 Japan Series would include 3 1-run games as the Dragons defeated Murata in game 1, 5-4, despite a Hirota homer. Lotte evened the series with an 8-5 win in game 2 behind pitcher Haruo Narishige as Yamazaki and Arito clubbed homers. The Dragons regained the lead, however, with a 5-4 game 3 win as Narita took the loss and Chunichi 1B Kenichi Yazawa hit 2 homers. Lotte knotted the series again with a 6-3 game 4 win as Kaneda got the win, Murata picked up a save and Hirota and Arito homered for a second time for each. Kitaru shut down the Dragons, 2-0, in game 5 and Murata pitched the Orions to a 3-2 win in game 6 to clinch the franchise's first Japan Series title in 24 years. Hirota was named MVP after hitting .400 with a .720 slugging percentage, 2 HR and 7 RBI in the series. Arito held his own at .429 with a .714 SLG and 2 HR, altho those were his only 2 RBI of the series. OF Tadayoshi Iwasaki hit .375 in the series for Lotte and Yamazaki hit .364 with 3 doubles and a homer as the Orions washed away their paltry hitting performances in the '60 and '70 series by hitting .282 as a team. Narita and Kaneda struggled on the mound in the series but Kitaru and Murata stepped up with ERAs of 2.03 and 1.76 and WHIPs of 0.60 and 0.91, respectively, in 29 combined IP.

With Tomohiro's brother, Masaichi Kaneda, at the helm, from '72 to '78 the Orions reached the pinnacle of Japanese baseball but also had a losing season in '75 despite an ERA title for Murata at 2.20. After winning 69 games in '74, the Orions wouldn't surpass 65 wins again until 1995, which happened to be Valentine's first year as Lotte manager. Lotte's best American import was brought across the Pacific by now-coach Lefebvre in 1977 as Leron Lee (uncle of Cubs 1B Derrek) made his presence felt quickly by hitting .317 with a .977 OPS, 30 doubles (led league), 34 HR (led league), 109 RBI (led league), and the first of 4 Best Nines. Over 11 seasons in Lotte, Lee would amass 1,579 hits, 220 doubles, 283 HR (all-time leader for foreigners in Japan until Tuffy Rhodes broke it in '03), 912 RBI, .320 lifetime BA and .924 lifetime OPS. Lee won a batting title at .358 in 1980 and was a 4-time all-star. Teammate Arito won the batting title at .329 in '77 and Murata added a second straight ERA title in 1976 (1.82) and a wins title in '81 (19). Another budding legend joined the Orions in 1979 as IF Hiromitsu Ochiai debuted. He started making a big impact in '81 as he won the first of three straight batting titles and he became the only player ever to win 3 Triple Crowns by completing the feat in '82, '85 and '86. In his first full year in '81 he hit .326 with a 1.052 OPS, 19 2B, 33 HR and 90 RBI; in '82 (age 29) he hit .325/1.037 with 32 2B, 33 HR and 109 RBI; in '83 he hit .332/.982 with 25 HR; in '84 he hit .314/1.017 with 32 HR and 94 RBI; and in the big years of '85 and '86 he hit .367/1.244 (.367 was highest BA ever for righty in Japan) with 52 HR/146 RBI ('85) and .360/1.233 with 50 HR/116 RBI ('86). After all that, the Orions traded him to Chunichi after '86 for 4 players and he played through the '98 season after 3 seasons with Yomiuri and 2 with Nippon Ham. He posted 6 of his 10 Best Nines with Lotte and both of his MVP awards with the Orions ('82 and '85). Despite Ochiai's superstellar hitting, the Orions struggled through the 1980s. A 64-51-15 record in 1980 led them to just miss the Japan Series as Kintetsu won the PL by 1/2 a game and Lee won the batting title. Leron's brother, Leon, also played for Lotte from '78-82 and did well in hitting .300 each season from '78-81. He hit .340 with a 1.039 OPS in '80 while his brother won the batting title and earned the first of 2 Best Nines that season. He finished his career with Taiyo and Yakult from '83 to '87 and had lifetime numbers of a .308 BA and .902 OPS with 214 2B, 268 HR and 884 RBI. He later became the first black man to manage a Japanese baseball team, in Orix in 2003. Losing seasons in '82 and '83 (including last place in '83) were followed by second place finishes in '84 and '85 but then a 9-season streak of losing seasons began in '86 as Ochiai moved on via the trade with Chunichi, Leron Lee retired and the Orions never had either the pitching or the hitting to make a difference.

After last-place finishes in '88, '89 and '91 highlighted only by a batting title by IF/OF Hideaki Takazawa at .327 in '88, an ERA title by a 40-year-old Murata at 2.50 in '89 and batting titles from OF Norifumi Nishimura (.338) and OF Mitsuchika Hirai (.314) in '90 and '91, the Orions moved to Chiba Marine Stadium in '92 and became the Chiba Lotte Marines. The newly dubbed Marines responded with a last-place finish in '92 and next-to-last finishes in '93 and '94. Valentine crossed the Pacific to take over managerial duties in 1995 and the Marines responded with their best season since '85 at 69-58-3 to finish second -- 12 games behind the Ichiro-powered Orix Blue Wave. During the team's dark years, a new star began to emerge in P Hideki Irabu, who submitted sub-4 ERA seasons in 4 of his first 5 seasons before getting a bigger shot in '93. Irabu responded with a 3.10 ERA and 1.29 WHIP, 160 Ks and 58 BB in 142 1/3 IP in '93; finished second in ERA in '94 at 3.04 while going 15-10 (leading league in wins) with a 1.27 WHIP, 16 CG (led league), 239 Ks (led league) and 94 BB (also led league) in 27 games and 207 1/3 IP; and under Valentine's guidance in '95 went 11-11 with a league-leading 2.53 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 239 Ks (led league) and 72 BB in 203 IP. He used a 2.40 ERA for another ERA title in '96 along with a 12-6 record and 167 Ks in 157 1/3 IP to leverage a move to the U.S., where he fantastically flamed out and was called names by Yankees officials. He had Best Nines with Lotte in '94 and '95. The Marines also reaped the benefits of a career season from IF/DH Kiyoshi Hatsushiba in '95 as the poor-fielding Hatsushiba hit .301 with a .904 OPS, 27 doubles, 25 HR and 80 RBI to tie for the league lead in ribbies. He earned his only Best Nine of his career for his efforts. With Valentine's departure to come back stateside for the Mets' job in '96, the losing returned for Lotte as the Marines ran off another streak of 8 losing seasons -- finishing last in '97 and '98 and never any higher than fourth during the string. The highlights for the franchise over this time were a batting title from emerging star 1B Kazuya Fukuura at .346 in 2001, an ERA title from P Satoru Komiyama at 2.49 in 1997, a tie for the wins title from P Tomohiro Kuroki at 13 in 1998 and an ERA title from Texas import P Nate Minchey at 3.26 in 2001. Minchey followed that up with a 2.85 ERA in '02 as he went 15-14 and led the league with 7 CG. Fukuura is often compared to Mark Grace as he has posted batting averages over .300 each year since 2001. Over 10 years with Lotte, Chiba native Fukuura has slugged more than 280 doubles with a .304 lifetime BA and .809 lifetime OPS.

Valentine returned in 2004 and led the Marines back to respectability with a 65-65-3 mark and fourth place finish that season. Fukuura hit .314 with an .847 OPS, 42 2B, 11 HR and 73 RBI over the campaign and Valentine brought OF Benny Agbayani with him only to see Benny hit .315 with a 1.043 OPS, 31 2B, 35 HR and 100 RBI in 130 games. A new tandem of pitchers started to have an impact for Lotte as righty Naoyuki Shimizu went 10-11 with a 3.40 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 23 games and righty Shunsuke Watanabe supplemented that by going 12-6 with a 3.59 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 23 games. Another American import, 3B/OF Matt Franco, also had an impact in '04 by hitting .278 with an .839 OPS, 35 2B, 16 HR and 65 RBI. All those impact players would be joined by a couple others in 2005 as Valentine returned for another year as manager and led the Marines to the franchise's most wins since 1956. Chiba Lotte went 84-49-3 in '05 to finish 4 1/2 games back of Softbank but swept Seibu in the first round of the playoffs and beat Softbank in 5 games in a best-of-5 series to reach the Japan Series for a fifth time in franchise history. 3B Toshiaki Imae had a breakout season in hitting .310 with an .804 OPS, 35 doubles and 71 RBI while longtime Lotte 2B Koichi Hori hit over .300 for the first time since 1996 by hitting .305 with a .760 OPS. Franco moved to the outfield and hit .300 with an .868 OPS, 28 doubles, 21 HR and 78 RBI; Fukuura hit .300 with a .766 OPS, 25 2B and 72 RBI; Agbayani hit .271 in 98 games with 22 doubles, 13 HR and 71 RBI; Korean 1B/LF Seung-Yeop Lee added 25 doubles and 30 HR with 82 RBI; and 2B/SS Tsuyoshi Nishioka also broke out by hitting .268 with a .714 OPS, 22 doubles, 11 triples and plus defense up the middle. Pitching-wise, Watanabe finished second in the ERA race at 2.17 while going 15-4 with a 0.96 WHIP in 23 starts; American Dan Serafini stood out at 11-4 with a 2.91 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 27 games; P Hiroyuki Kobayashi rebounded from a 4.26 ERA in '04 to go 12-6 with a 3.30 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 23 starts; Shimizu went 10-11 with a 3.83 ERA in 23 games; and P Masahide Kobayashi posted 29 saves and a 2.58 ERA in 46 games to lead the league in saves.

Lotte hosted the series versus Seibu in round 1 of the playoffs and the Marines scored an 8th inning run to get a 2-1 win with reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta picking up the W. Closer Kobayashi nailed down the save. Game 2 was more of the same as Hiroyuki Kobayashi shut down the Lions and Masahide Kobayashi closed it out for a 3-1 win and a sweep of the best-of-3. The win set up a best of 5 with PL champ Softbank with the Japan Series berth on the line. The series took place at the Fukuoka Yahoo! JAPAN Dome but Chiba Lotte conquered the home field advantage with a 4-2 win in game 1 as P Soichi Fujita got the win and Masahide Kobayashi picked up yet another save. C Tomoya Satozaki homered in the win. A 3-run 6th in game 2 propelled the Marines to a 3-2 win behind Shimizu and Kobayashi. Lotte was up, 4-0, in the 9th in game 3 but the Hawks scored 4 runs to send it to extras and won it off Shingo Ono in the 10th to stay alive. The Hawks took a 3-2 lead in the 4th in game 4 and held on to beat Hiroyuki Kobayashi to force a deciding game 5. Satozaki homered for the Marines in the losing effort. Going into the 6th in game 5, the Marines were down, 2-0, but scored a run in the 6th and 2 in the 8th to take a 3-2 lead with Yabuta getting another win and Kobayashi picking up his 5th save in 5 chances and 5 playoff wins as Chiba Lotte moved on to its 5th Japan Series. In the CL, Hanshin ran away for a 10-game win to clinch a Japan Series bid as the CL didn't institute playoffs until this season. The Japan Series didn't end up being that much of a series as the Marines showed no signs of fatigue from the showdown with Softbank. Game 1 saw Lotte bash 4 homers in a 10-1 rout behind Shimizu with Kei Igawa taking the loss for the Tigers. Game 2 was a 10-0 shutout for Watanabe as the Marines piled on 3 more homers and game 3 was 10-1 again for Lotte as Fukuura smashed the Marines' 8th homer of the series in support of Hiroyuki Kobayashi. Game 4 wasn't quite as easy but the Marines picked up the sweep for their 3rd Japan Series title with a 3-2 win behind Serafini. Lee smashed his 3rd homer of the series as Masahide Kobayashi saved yet another Lotte win. Imae earned MVP honors by hitting a remarkable .667 on 10-15 hitting with 2 doubles and a homer. Lee wasn't far behind by hitting .545 on 6-11 hitting with 2 doubles, 3 HR and 6 RBI; Agbayani hit .444 with a double and homer; Fukuura hit .364 with a double, homer and 4 RBI; and Franco hit .300 with a double and homer as the Marines hit .326 as a team. Pitching in the series was a team effort for Lotte as the Marines had a 1.06 ERA and 0.85 WHIP and only Serafini had an ERA above 1.50 at 3.38.

2006 didn't exactly go as Valentine likely hoped as the Marines posted a losing 65-70-1 record to finish 4th in the PL. Fukuura hit .312 with a .752 OPS and 20 doubles while Agbayani hit only .281 but clubbed 17 homers to lead the offense. Shingo Ono led the pitching staff with a 7-7 record, 2.66 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 22 starts. Hiroyuki Kobayashi was right behind by going 10-7 with a 2.78 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 20 starts and Shimizu was 10-8 with a 3.42 ERA and 1.25 WHIP while leading the team with 178 Ks in 25 starts. Unfortunately, the rest of the offense and pitching staff wasn't solid and the record showed. The Marines have turned it around nicely, however, as through Thursday they were 70-60-7 and clinched a likely first-round playoff berth versus Softbank. The Marines' newest star may have broken through this season in P Yoshihisa Naruse, who got a win Thursday to move to 16-1 with an ERA under 2. Hiroyuki Kobayashi and Watanabe have also posted fine years with ERAs under 3 and a combined 19-9 record. Nishioka has the best batting average on the team at .298 while OF Daisuke Hayakawa is hitting .285. The regular season wraps Oct. 5 so the Marines may soon have a 6th Japan Series bid in hand.

Founded: 1950 as the Kokutetsu Swallows, became the Sankei Swallows in 1965, the Sankei Atoms in 1966, the Yakult Atoms in 1970 and, in 1974, the name changed to the Yakult Swallows. They now go by the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, which started in 2006.
Owner: Yakult Corp., a beverage company. Yakult, the drink, is a "probiotic yogurt-like beverage" that has a citrus taste and is said to be good for the digestive system. That's according to its Wikipedia page.
Home base: Meiji-Jingu Stadium in Tokyo, one of the oldest parks in Japan. The park was built in 1926 and renovated in 1982. The Swallows moved in in 1964.
Titles: 6 Central League titles, 5 Japan Series titles (1978, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001) -- at 5-1, the Swallows have the best Japan Series winning percentage of any team with at least 6 appearances.

The Swallows are perhaps most comparable as the Mets to the Yomiuri Giants' Yankees, only without the big spending habits of the Mets. They share Tokyo with the Giants but have comparably little TV exposure other than games vs. Yomiuri and have a smaller base of fans. Most seasons have been losing ones for the Swallows, but when the team has won it has cashed in and won big. From 1950 through 1976, Kokutetsu/Yakult had one winning season -- 67-60-3 in 1961. Some other seasons saw the team close to .500 through that time but always under the break-even point. The team's .468 winning percentage through 2006 is third-worst among active teams. The first breakout player for the Swallows was OF Yukihiko Machida, who cranked 31 homers as a 21-year-old in 1955. He only hit 129 in his career, so it was a big year for the OF. He was a three-time all-star and was also the first Swallows player to hit for the cycle in 1959. The '55 season was his only Best Nine year and he also took the HR title that year. The first great Swallows pitcher is one of Japan's greatest, if not its best pitcher ever. P Masaichi Kaneda's NPB record 400 career wins included 14 straight 20-win seasons and 2 30-win seasons. In three of the 20-win seasons, though, he didn't even have a winning record. He pitched 6 seasons for Kokutetsu in which he posted a sub-2 ERA and his last 20-win season in 1964 was also his last season for the Swallows as he finished his career with Yomiuri. When the dust settled on Kaneda's career after the '69 season, he had amassed 4,490 Ks, 82 shutouts, 365 complete games, 5,526 2/3 IP, 1,808 walks and 298 losses, all of which are records except for his shutout total. At the plate he also hit 36 homers to lead Japan's pitchers for a career. He pitched 34 complete games in 1955 for a NPB record and also won a NPB-record 10 K titles. Kaneda holds the Hershiser record in Japan with 64 1/3 consecutive shutout IP in 1958. His 16 Ks in a game in 1967 is a CL record. Kaneda was a 17-time all-star and took all-star MVP honors three times. He finished his career with a 1.07 WHIP overall, pitched a no-hitter in 1971 and a perfect game in 1957, won 3 Sawamuras but was named to only 4 Best Nines, perhaps because of his walk totals. Despite Kaneda's exploits the Swallows couldn't piece together a winner, as even in 1961 the team still finished 5 1/2 games back of first as Yomiuri ruled the CL.

The losing continued after the move to Meiji-Jingu Stadium in '64 and Yakult took over in 1970, but the team's arguably best position player ever was on the horizon. OF Tsutomu Wakamatsu had a solid rookie season in 1971, including a record 3 sayonara homers, and would spend his entire career with Yakult before retiring in 1989. Over that time, the "Little Big Hitter" as the 5-6, 162-lb. Wakamatsu would come to be known, would lead the team to its first Japan Series and Central League title, and compile lifetime numbers of .319 (league record)/.375/.481 with 220 HR and 884 RBI and less Ks (463) than walks (574). He won 2 Gold Gloves and set a record in 1980 with 11 outfield putouts in a game. Consistency was a key for Wakamatsu as he finished in the top 10 in batting nine years in a row and 12 years overall. He hit for the cycle in '76, hit 8 sayonara homers lifetime for a CL record, was the MVP of the team's first Japan Series run (and first Kokutetsu/Yakult MVP ever), was named to 11 all-star teams and won 2 all-star MVPs. Wakamatsu won two batting titles ('72, '77) and was named to 10 Best Nines. The Swallows' steady losing came to an end with a 62-58-10 season in 1977 under manager Hiroshi Arakawa but Yakult finished 15 games back of the Giants for second in the CL. The Giants would sink, however, in 1978 and the Swallows would be there to take advantage with a 68-46-16 record that was good for a 3-game hold on the CL title.

The 1978 run saw Wakamatsu and three other Swallows named to the CL Best Nine. American OF Charlie Manuel, in his third season with Yakult, hit .312/.372/.596 with 39 HR and 103 RBI and tied a NPB record with hits in 10 consecutive official ABs in '78. Fellow import 2B Dave Hilton, in his first year with Yakult, hit .317/.381/.509 with 19 HR and 76 RBI while cracking 37 doubles and 8 leadoff homers. Joining them was Gold Glove C Akihiko Oya, who hit .268/.316/.362 so apparently did a great job behind the plate in earning his first Best Nine. Wakamatsu, meanwhile, hit .341/.408/.539 with 17 HR and 71 RBI with a Gold Glove in the OF to take CL MVP honors. Doing the job for the Swallows on the pitching mound was career Swallow Hiromu Matsuoka, who went 16-11 with a 3.75 ERA and 4 shutouts in 199 1/3 IP and captured his only Sawamura. He would be instrumental in the Japan Series with 2 wins and 2 saves but another player would win MVP honors for the series. 1B Katsuo Osugi had a fine regular season in hitting .327/.391/.558 with 30 HR and 97 RBI but stepped it up in the 7-game series win over the Hankyu Braves by hitting .310/.355/.724 with 4 HR and 10 RBI. The performance included 2 game 7 homers with the first setting off a 1 hour, 19 minute tirade by Hankyu manager Toshiharu Ueda, who claimed the ball was foul. The homer stood and Osugi crushed another one in his next AB that left no doubt to be fair. Wakamatsu would hit .333/.438/.444 in the series while Manuel clubbed 3 homers. Hilton even had a day in the sun in the series with a clutch 2-run homer late in game 4 to keep Yakult in a game it eventually won, 6-5, to even the series at 2 games each. Yakult returned home with a 3-2 lead in the series but got clubbed, 12-3, in game 6 before Matsuoka shut the Braves down in game 7 as Osugi did the rest (Manuel also homered) for a 4-0 clincher.

The good times were somewhat short lived for Yakult fans as the team completed a first-to-worst turnaround by finishing 48-69-13 in 1979. The Swallows bounced back to second in 1980 but wouldn't enjoy another winning season in the '80s. The retirement of Wakamatsu in 1989 and the hiring of Fukuoka legend Katsuya Nomura as manager for 1990 would close out a bleak 1980s for the franchise and usher in a great decade for Swallows baseball that would see Yakult take home 4 CL titles and 3 Japan Series crowns. Signs of life began in the late '80s with the emergence of SS Takahiro Ikeyama, who was named to consecutive Best Nines in 1988 and 1989. Ikeyama, known to fans as "Boom Boom Maru", spent his entire career ('84-'02) with Yakult and wrapped up his career with a .262 lifetime BA, 304 HR and 898 RBI. He would become the first Japanese shortstop with 4 straight 30-homer seasons and posted a record fielding percentage for CL shortstops at .994 in 1991. He hit for the cycle in 1990 and was the 24th NPB player to 300 career HR. American 1B Larry Parrish came to Yakult for the 1989 season and left with 42 HR for the HR title and a Best Nine season. He would be gone to Hanshin for 1990 but would mark the first of several foreign exports to slug for the Swallows. OF Katsumi Hirosawa also emerged in the late '80s as a standout player for Yakult. He played in every game from 1987 to 1993 for the Swallows and was named to 4 Best Nines for Yakult while capturing RBI titles in 1991 and 1993. C Atsuya Furuta would also debut in 1990 and prove to be one of the franchise's treasures as he started his career with an all-star selection and became player/manager for Yakult in 2006 (the first since Nomura in 1977) at the age of 40. More on his numbers later.

After Nomura guided the Swallows to a 58-72 record in 1990, Yakult moved to third in 1991 before taking the CL title at 69-61-1 in 1992 behind the franchise's second MVP, American 3B Jack Howell. Howell became the first foreigner in NPB history to take the MVP in his first season by hitting .331/.402/.685 with 38 HR and 87 RBI, which was good for 2/3 of the Triple Crown for BA and HR. He hit 13 HR in August 1992 for a team record and was named to his first and only Best Nine in Japan. Furuta followed up a .340/.429/.500, 11 HR, 50 RBI, batting title season in 1991 with his first and only 30 HR season in 1992 by hitting .316/.422/.576 with 30 HR and 86 RBI. He picked up his 3rd Gold Glove and 2nd Best Nine in 1992 and threw in the first-ever cycle in an all-star game in Japan. Meanwhile, Ikeyama threw in his 4th Best Nine and only Gold Glove with 30 HR and 79 RBI and 2B Tetsuya Iida, who had moved from C to make room for Furuta, capped his 2nd of 7 Gold Glove seasons and only Best Nine season with a then CL-record 27 straight steals, league leading 8 triples and .294 BA. Hirosawa chipped in with 25 HR and 85 RBI as well. P Yoichi Okabayashi helped lead the pitching staff with a 15-10 record and 2.97 ERA in 197 IP and P Akimitsu Itoh was 7-5 with a 2.77 ERA in 146 IP. 1992 was also the rookie year of P Kaz Ishii, who would go on to the U.S. in the 2000s but didn't have his first great year in Japan until '95. The Swallows moved into the Japan Series to face Seibu and, after 3 games, were down 2-1 to the Lions. Okabayashi took the tough loss in a 1-0 defeat in game 4 to put Seibu up, 3 games to 1, but the Swallows fought back with a 7-6 win in game 5 and 8-7 win in game 6 with both wins notched by Itoh to force a game 7. In another close game, Okabayashi took his second loss of the series as Seibu took the championship with a 2-1 win. Only Iida produced greatly with the bat in the series as he batted .367. Howell batted only .133 but hit 2 HRs, Hirosawa batted .179, Ikeyama hit .233 with 2 HR and Furuta hit .250. Okabayashi pitched well but got no run support as he threw 30 innings in the series and posted a 1.50 ERA and 0.83 WHIP. Itoh pitched 10 2/3 innings and posted a 3.38 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in the series.

Yakult would have its best year yet at 80-50-2 in 1993 behind Furuta's first MVP season. The C batted .308/.381/.462 with 17 HR and 75 RBI, titles in both hits and runs, his 3rd Best Nine and 4th Gold Glove. Hirosawa claimed his fourth and final Best Nine selection with an RBI title at 94 plus 25 HR and a .288 BA. Ikeyama posted his fifth and final Best Nine as well with 24 HR and 71 RBI and helped lead a team that gave its fans a scare at times but set a record with 9 walkoff homers in the season. Howell followed up his MVP season by hitting .295/.420/.551 with 28 HR and 88 RBI and fellow American Rex "The Wonder Dog" Hudler ended up with a title in his only Japanese season and hit .300/.358/.480 with 14 HR and 64 RBI for the Swallows. P Kenjiro Kawasaki helped on the mound with a 10-9 record and 3.48 ERA in 139 2/3 IP, Itoh was good for a 13-4 record with a 3.11 ERA in 173 2/3 IP and future export RP Shingo Takatsu earned his first 20 career saves in his third season in NPB while putting up a 2.30 ERA and 72 K in 78 1/3 IP. The team would get a rematch with Seibu in the Japan Series and the two teams would clash in another epic battle. Yakult jumped out to a 2 games to none lead and, after Kawasaki and Takatsu shut down the Lions, 1-0, in game 4, held a 3-1 lead. Seibu forced a game 7 by outscoring the Swallows, 11-4, in games 5 and 6 but Kawasaki came out for game 7 ready and pitched Yakult to a 4-2 win and their second Japan Series title. Takatsu picked up his 3rd save of the series in the clincher. Kawasaki earned series MVP honors with a 1.20 ERA and 0.87 WHIP in 15 IP, Takatsu was lockdown with a 0.00 ERA and 0.60 WHIP in 5 IP and RP Tsugio Kanazawa pitched well with a 0.96 ERA and 0.75 WHIP in 9 1/3 IP. Iida followed up a poor regular season by hitting .400 in the series while Furuta hit a lowly .222, Hirosawa hit .241 but chipped in with 5 RBI, Howell hit .292 with 2 doubles and a homer, Hudler hit .167 in his lone series appearance, and Ikeyama hit only .217.

The Swallows sank to 4th in 1994 but again rebounded to take a league title in 1995 at 82-48. More Americans would lead the way as 1B Tom O'Malley earned an MVP award and P Terry Bross took an ERA title. O'Malley followed 4 great years with Hanshin by coming to Yakult for 1995 and hitting .302/.429/.570 with a career-high 31 HR and throwing in 87 RBI. The season marked his 4th straight OBP title and only Best Nine selection. Furuta was the team's other Best Nine pick as he followed a poor 1994 with a resurgent .294/.357/.464 season that included 21 HR and 76 RBI. Iida, who by that time had moved to the OF, added a career high 35 SB along with a league-leading 7 triples and his 5th straight Gold Glove, and Ikeyama cranked 19 HR and added 70 RBI. American 3B Hensley Meulens came over from Lotte for 1995 and hit 29 HR with 80 RBI. Bross led a cadre of pitching talent by making a splash in his first season in Japan with a 14-5 record (his only winning season in Japan), 2.33 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 139 K in 162 1/3 IP. Bross pitched a no-hitter against Yomiuri in September to become the third foreigner ever to do so. Ishii broke out with a 13-4 record, 2.76 ERA and 159 K in 153 IP, P Masato Yoshii (future export and Met) came over from Kintetsu to throw 147 1/3 innings for Yakult and posted an ERA of 3.12 in a 10-7 campaign, and Takatsu posted his third straight season with a sub-3 ERA with 28 saves, a 2.61 ERA and 36 K in 49 1/3 IP. The Swallows would face Ichiro and the Orix Blue Wave in the Japan Series but would take the series in 5 games. O'Malley was series MVP by hitting .529/.667/.941 with 2 HR and 7 BB in 5 games. Meulens hit .300, OF Mitsuru Manaka hit .545, Iida hit .261 and Furuta hit only .174 in the series. Bross finished the series 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA and 11 K in 16 IP and Takatsu was 1-0 with 2 saves in posting a 0.00 ERA and 0.50 WHIP in 4 IP.

Yakult fans would continue their roller-coaster ride as the Swallows dropped back to 4th in 1996 but, as was the custom, stormed back to post a franchise best 83-52-2 record in 1997 for an 11-game margin of victory in the CL pennant race. Furuta was once again the key to the run with his second MVP season as he hit .322/.413/.446 with 32 2B, 9 HR and 86 RBI. The season would mark his 5th Best Nine and 6th Gold Glove. Another American would chip in as OF Dwayne Hosey caught lightning in a bottle by hitting .289/.371/.594 with 20 SB, 38 HR (for the HR title) and 100 RBI. It was his only Best Nine season as his numbers dropped in 1998. OF Atsunori Inaba followed up a good 1996 by experiencing a dropoff in BA and OBP but hit the ball harder with 21 HR and 65 RBI. His impact would be felt even more in the Japan Series. 2B Katsuyuki Dobashi hit over .300 (.301 to be exact) for his first year over that mark and knocked in 61 runs, 3B Ikeyama hit 18 HR and drove home 79 runs in his last 500 AB season, SS Shinya Miyamoto emerged to win his first Gold Glove and hit .282 with 16 SB and American 1B Jim Tatum hit .309/.390/.640 with 13 HR in 51 games in his only Japanese season. The pitching staff was led by Kazuya Tabata, who put up a 15-5 record with a 2.96 ERA in 170 1/3 IP. Ishii recovered from shoulder surgery in 1996 to post a 1.91 ERA and 10-4 record with 120 K in 117 2/3 IP, Yoshii went 13-6 with a 2.99 ERA in 174 1/3 IP in his final season before jumping to MLB, RP Tomohito Itoh usurped Takatsu as closer to earn 19 saves and went 7-2 with a 1.51 ERA and 53 K in 47 2/3 IP, and Takatsu pitched 79 1/3 innings and held a 7-4 record and 2.04 ERA with 68 K. A familiar foe awaited Yakult in the Japan Series as the Swallows had their third run-in with Seibu but this time polished off the Lions in 5 games. Ishii struck out 12 in the opener and combined with Takatsu on a 3-0 shutout in game 5. Furuta was series MVP by hitting .316 with 2 doubles and a homer. Inaba was 10-20 to put up a .500 BA while Dobashi hit .429 with 9 hits, Ikeyama hit .313, Manaka hit .333, Miyamoto hit .313, Hosey hit .200 and Tatum hit .125 with a HR. Ishii was 2-0 in the series in 11 IP with a 0.00 ERA and 0.82 WHIP with 15 Ks, Takatsu was 1-0 with a save with, again, a 0.00 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 5 2/3 IP, and the staff combined to post a 1.59 ERA in the series.

The 1997 Japan Series would mark the team's pinnacle of success with 3 titles in 5 seasons but Nomura would leave after a 66-69 1998 and lifelong Swallows legend Wakamatsu returned to take the helm. The team hung at 66-69 through 2000 with the biggest development being the import of 1B/OF Roberto Petagine, who hit 53 2B, 80 HR and drove home 208 runs combined in '99 and '00. His 44 HR in '99 were good for the league title in that category. He would be the second foreigner to post four consecutive .300-30 HR seasons in the NPB. The 2000s have been kind to the Swallows as the team started a string of 70-win seasons in 2001, which would also reap the team its 5th and most recent title. The Swallows finished 76-58-6 to overcome Yomiuri for the CL crown and Petagine would be the main catalyst. Petagine hit .322/.466/.633 with a league-leading 39 HR and 125 RBI in an MVP season. He drew 120 walks in 138 games and earned the second of 4 Best Nines and 3 Gold Gloves. Furuta supplemented those numbers by hitting .324/.390/.478 with 15 HR and 66 RBI along with his 9th and final Gold Glove and 8th and final Best Nine. OF Inaba added averages of .311/.379/.533 with 25 HR and 90 RBI and led the league in triples with 5 in his only Best Nine year thus far. Despite Petagine's pyrotechnics, Inaba was voted the team MVP at year's end. Another Swallow star emerged in 2001 in the form of 3B Akinori "Gun" Iwamura, who followed a fine 2000 by hitting .287/.329/.452 and clubbing 18 HR while driving in 81 runs. He also won his 2nd Gold Glove. He will be more familiar to American fans in 2006 as the Devil Rays signed him to a contract recently. Miyamoto didn't do a lot at the plate but did win his 4th Gold Glove and Manaka hit .312 to help on offense. Venezuelan OF Alex Ramirez became the most recent hitter brought in to Yakult as he hit .280 with 29 HR and 88 RBI in his first season. Young P Shugo Fujii emerged as the staff ace with a 14-8 record and 3.17 ERA in 173 1/3 IP while Ishii was 12-6 with a 3.39 ERA and 173 K in 175 IP in his last season before giving the U.S. a try. P Satoshi Iriki was 10-3 with a 2.85 ERA in 129 1/3 IP and Takatsu won his 3rd Fireman of the Year award and 3rd saves title with 37 in 51 2/3 IP that included a 2.61 ERA and 39 Ks. The Swallows met Kintetsu in the Japan Series and, for a third time, won it in 5 games. Furuta was named the MVP by hitting .500/.618/.857 with a homer, Inaba hit only .200 but drove home 4 runs, Iwamura hit .450 with 5 RBI in his only series appearance, Manaka hit .316 with 2 HR and 5 RBI, Miyamoto hit .474, Petagine hit .365/.565/.438 with 4 RBI and Ramirez hit only .167 with a HR and 3 RBI. Ishii picked up a win and didn't give up a run while putting up a 0.75 WHIP in 8 IP, Iriki picked up another win and Takatsu saved 2 games while holding his series ERA at 0.00 for the fourth time.

Since 2001, the Swallows have competed but have finished between second and fourth each season. P Kevin Hodges led the league in wins with 17 in 2002, Ramirez doubled up with 40 HR and 124 RBI to lead the CL in both categories in 2003 and, most recently, OF Norichika Aoki led the league in batting at .344 in 2005. As 2006 comes to a close, the Swallows enter their second season under Furuta as manager. He hasn't played more than 100 games since 2004 as a stellar career slowly draws to a close. Counting the '06 season in which he hit only .244, his lifetime numbers include a .294 BA, .367 OBP, 217 HR, 1,009 RBI, 367 2B and 111 HBP. Furuta made news in 2004 as the head of the players' union that went on strike for the first time in league history after Orix and Kintetsu merged. The strike led to the formation of the Rakuten Golden Eagles, which began play in 2005. He has been selected to 16 all-star teams, set a CL record with 8 Best Nines at C, set the CL record for most consecutive chances without an error at catcher at 867 in 1995 (the streak ended at a CL record 1,046 in 1996), and is the fourth Japanese catcher to hit 200 HR. He is also only the second catcher to get to 2,000 career hits and sits at 2,091 entering '07. He also holds an NPB record for catchers with 8 seasons of hitting over .300. Iwamura closed out his Yakult career for the time being by hitting .311 with 32 HR and 77 RBI as the Swallows finished 70-73-3 in 2006. Aoki followed up his batting title by hitting .321 with 13 HR in 2006 and IF Adam Riggs joined IF Greg LaRocca as the latest foreign imports to make an impact for Yakult. Riggs has hit .299 with 53 HR and 138 RBI (including 39 HR and 94 RBI in '06) over the past two years and LaRocca hit .285 with 18 HR for the Swallows in '06 before getting released. Ramirez has kept slugging for Yakult as he hit .267 with a paltry .289 OBP in '06 but hit 26 HR with 112 RBI. Miyamoto and Manaka join Furuta as holdovers from the championship years and are still plying their trade for the Swallows. Miyamoto hit .305 in 2006 while Manaka hit only .246. Ishii returned home to Yakult for the '06 season and responded by pitching well with an 11-7 record, 3.44 ERA and 170 Ks in 177 2/3 IP. Two other native sons have returned from MLB as Takatsu picked up 13 saves and went 1-2 with a 2.74 ERA and 31 K in 42 2/3 IP and Masao Kida returned to pitch 58 1/3 innings and post a 3.09 ERA and 3-5 record this season. American Rick Guttormson posted the team's best ERA this season among starters at 2.97 in 166 2/3 IP. He finished 9-10 with 119 Ks but batters hit only .231 off him.

JapanBall on the Swallows
Japan Baseball Daily (great resource)