World Baseball Classic - Australia vs. Czech Republic

Earlier this week my family and I traveled to Tokyo to see the WBC and do some sightseeing. Tickets to Monday's games were very affordable and the seating was open so we were able to get nice seats fairly close to behind home plate.

We were treated to a tense game and though it wasn't a big crowd, the fans on both sides were very vocal and there was about an even amount of fans for each team. The Czech fans were very passionate and ignited by the teams first trip to the WBC and also still being alive to advance. For Australia, though they had participated in every WBC they now had their best opportunity to advance to the Final 8, something they hadn't ever done, and their fans were feeling that. 

Australia was the road team and the second hitter of the game hit a towering home run to right field giving the Aussies a quick 1-0 lead. The next hitter then hit another blast, this time to left, but it came up a little short and was caught on the warning track. At this point it looked like things may not go well for the Czech starter, Martin Schneider, who's day job I read is actually a firefighter. But from that point on Schneider locked in and shut down Australia's bats with a gutsy performance that lasted almost six innings before he hit his 65-pitch limit.

Czech Republic evened the score in the 3rd at 1-1 and that score held until the 7th inning when the Australia offense started to click against the Czech bullpen. Australia put up crooked numbers in the 7th, 8th and 9th to pull away from there. The Czech offense had some success in the 8th and put some runners on in the 9th but fell short when a well-turned double play killed their rally and sealed the game for the Aussies.

It was fun to enjoy an entirely different baseball experience with national pride on the line. Both teams gave their all and I was impressed by the heart and grit displayed by both sides.

On the way into Tokyo Dome

Nearly 1st Pitch from our seats

Australian fans celebrating their team's victory

The Czech fans giving their team a well-deserved sendoff

Final Score

The next day's view from SkyTree (Tokyo Dome in the distance)

Western League - Chunichi Dragons vs Orix Buffaloes at Toyohashi Municipal Stadium

It's my first post in almost six years. The last six years have been busy for me with family and career, and over that time the Dragons for the most part have been floundering and frustrating to watch.

My family and I are now in Japan so I wanted share about a recent game experience and may continue to post about random Dragons-related things over the course of our time here.

One item that's been on my baseball bucket list for a long time has been to see a Dragons game in Toyohashi, Aichi. It's my wife's hometown and I've always thought that it's really cool that the NPB plays games at various local stadiums, though it seems that it now occurs less frequently than it used to. It's a great way to showcase for a different audience and in a more intimate setting. Even though the NPB has been doing this less frequently Chunichi has continued to play one ichi-gun game a year in Toyohashi. I've never had an opportunity to go to one of the games and wasn't around for the game that was played here in July. Soon after we arrived in Japan though I was surprised and thrilled to see a poster at city hall advertising an upcoming ni-gun game in Toyohashi. Obviously I had to go and though I still want to see an ichi-gun game here, I would consider this bucket list item officially checked off.

On the night of the game the weather was almost perfect and not nearly as hot as the previous days had been. There was a good-sized and excited crowd, listed as 3,856, significantly more than what Chunichi usually draws of 500-900 for their typical ni-gun games in Nagoya. 

Two Toyohashi natives played in the game and each was honored prior to the start of the game. Chunichi's Mao Hoshino who had two hits that night and played second base and Orix's catcher Takuma Nakagawa.

Most of the offense occured early in the game and Chunichi had numerous opportunities to score but in the end tallied only one run on a Naomichi Donoue solo home run. Chunichi fell 4-1 to Orix that night with all of the runs being scored in the first three innings. Still it was a fun atmosphere and fun, memorable night.

Walking to the stadium from the street car

Nice seats!! (first come, first served)

Starting lineups on the scoreboard

Magic hour

Donoue Solo HR

Dragons Sign Former-Dodger Alex Guerrero

Per yakyudb, Chunichi has signed Alex Guerrero

He's spent most of his recent time at 3B and outfield.
At first glance, I like his swing, I think he could do well

Here is a highlight video (note home runs against Madison Bumgartner and Hisashi Iwakuma)

Here is his Baseball Reference Bio

2016 Draft

The 2016 NPB Draft took place a few days ago with the Dragons taking the following players:

1)  Yuya Yanagi  P  Meiji Univ.
2)  Yota Kyoda  IF  Nihon Univ.
3)  Masami Ishigaki  IF  Sakata Minami HS
4)  Shotaro Kasahara  P  Niigata Iryo Fukushi Univ.
5)  Kento Fujishima  P  Toho  HS
6)  Taisuke  Maruyama  P  Tokai Univ.

My first impression of Chunichi's haul is a positive one.  They picked up a highly-rated pitcher with their 1st pick, who may be able help sooner rather than later.  I was happy to see them pick up some position players with their second and third round picks, they need to spend more of their resources on that part of the team.

Chunichi's fifth round pick is of specific interest to me.  Kento Fujishima hails from Toyohashi, Aichi, my wife's hometown.  He is also the same age as my nephew, who played against him in Little League.  He will be a developmental player, but I hope he can progress.  I was a little surprised he chose not to go to college, but fortunately he was drafted even if it was late.  

If you would like more info on the draft and specific prospects, Yakyudb recently did a live stream on those topics, as well as some others.  You can access it below:

Dragons Finish Up Season in Dead Last

Chunichi's season has come to a close.  The club finished off the season on a six-game losing streak, falling far behind the 5th-place Tigers.  The Dragons had hopes for a better outcome, at the All-Star break they were in 4th place, only a game out of playoff position.  Things went horribly wrong from that point on.  There was a clear lack of depth from the beginning, and we all know that if injuries occurred to some key players it would become very difficult.  While the pitching staff remained relatively healthy it was the complete opposite for the position players.  Of the position players on the team that I consider key, Yohei Oshima was the only one who didn't miss significant time over the course of the season.  Hirata battled injuries all season and Viciedo, Nanita and Takahashi missed a lot of time.  Good teams can overcome that, but the Dragons just aren't that good, there was no one on the roster to replace those guys and the lineups they were running out over the last month or so of the season were just atrocious. 

Looking ahead to next year, things don't look all that bright.  The team just announced that Mori will be back for next season as manager.  I'm not on board with this at all.  I felt that it was time to turn the page to Ogasawara or someone else.  Obviously it's a rebuild, but let the team build with what is hopefully it's future manager.  I just don't understand the point of having Mori as the manager.

Despite the gloom of a last place finish, there were some bright spots for the team this year:

Shinji Tajima: Tajima took over the reigns of the closer position that it seemed no one wanted.  He had an outstanding season though he faltered some near the end, at that point it hardly mattered.  I have to assume he's cemented his role as the closer to start next year.

Shota Sugiyama:  Sugiyama took over the duties of the every-day catcher for the team and had very solid season with a .260/.340/.357 slash line and good work behind the plate.  He shows promise, much more so that than Chunichi's catching prospects of the last few years.

Dayan Viciedo:  He started out on a tear and came back down to earth as the season progressed.  Still he put up good numbers and has interest in coming back next year, so I'll call that a good thing.

Kazuki Yoshimi:  It was just good to see him put in a full season.  He looks a lot older out there than he did pre-injury, but he did some good work this year.  Hopefully we can count on him next year.

Ryosuke Oguma:  Oguma really did well with his opportunities, he ended up with the best record of Chunichi's starting pitchers with five wins and two losses and a 2.80 ERA.  Hopefully he's not just the lastest of Chunichi's young pitchers to put up a good year only to suck the next.

Shinnosuke Ogasawara: Though his record didn't show it (which means next to nothing anyways) he pitched pitched well enough in his rookie season to give Dragons' fans hope.  He finished the season with a 3.36 ERA over 72-1/3 innings.

Overall, pitching wasn't really a problem for the team.  They will have to find a way to score more runs next year if they want to stay out of the cellar in 2017.

An Unfortunate Series of Events

We just returned from our trip to Japan, and while I'd hoped to post some things on the trip, I was unable to because of some computer access issues.  In my previous post I had mentioned that I hoped that the Dragons would still be relevant in the Central League race when I got to Japan.  I guess I should have been more specific, as the Dragons were still in the race when I arrived in Japan, but immediately fell on their face and by the second week of my stay were dead in the water and then decided to fire their manager.  Chunichi was 6 and 14 while I was in Japan has been 10 and 25 since the All-Star break after playing close to .500 ball for the first half of the season.   Fortunately Ichiro's chase for 3,000 hits and Koshien were also going on too, so there was no lack of interesting baseball stuff to follow.

It's hard to say how much of the blame falls on Tanishige, Chunichi's fired manager, I would say that the team's lack of depth has been the biggest factor in their mid-season collapses the last several seasons.  Certainly a portion of the blame should fall on General Manager Ochiai, who has to this point failed to rebuild the depth of team to the neccesary level.  Of course rebuilds are never easy and Chunichi had a string of poor drafts prior to Ochiai coming back onboard.  Still the coming offseason is a big one for Ochiai.  There is talk that top Dragons' players Hirata and Ohshima are tired of Ochiai's miserly ways, and yearly contract disputes.  Both players will be domestic free agents this offseason for the first time, and if Ochiai fails to bring them back for next season, he will have pretty much torpedoed the team's chances to build a team in the near future.  Ochiai has a lot of support from the front office for previous success as a manager and likely also for cutting payroll, but if Ochiai can't keep Chunichi's core together for next season he will certainly lose my support. 

View from the Outfield Panorama

Dragons Hanging Tough

Chunichi's big win last night clinches at least a series win against the Giants at Tokyo Dome, always sweet! The win was highlighted by Dayan Viciedo's 2 home runs in one inning, per YakyuDB, he's only the second Dragon to do that. 

The Dragons currently are tied for third, but only one game out of first place.  So far, outside of their struggles against the Carp, Chunichi has played very solid ball.  I feel though that they may be at a bit of a crossroads.  Going into the season I saw depth as a major concern for this team.  Injuries are starting to pile up already, but to this point they have weathered some key ones.  Of the best players on this team: Yoshimi, Ohno, Hirata, Viciedo, Takahashi, Oshima and Nanita, over half have already been affected by injury.  Ohno and Takahashi will be out for a while, Hirata is back now and Yoshimi is being treated very delicately (for good reason).  Not to mention Issei Endo, who was supposed to be a contributor on this team, but struggled out of the gate and then got banged up.  He's now back playing with the ni-gun team.  The good news is that Chunichi hasn't lost anyone for the season, the question is can they keep things going in the right direction until they get guys back. 

I think they can, but we will have to see if they will.  Since rejoining the team Hirata has been red-hot, that has covered the loss of Takahashi so far, who was off to a very promising start to the season.  Hirata along with Viciedo and Nanita , who have been mashing to say the least, will have to stay health and productive to power the offense.  The back end of the bullpen, last year's Achilles heal, has been good, especially Fukutani and Tajima.  They need to keep that going and hopefully get a bit of improvement from some of the middle relievers.  The starters just need to tread water for the most part, a good bullpen can make up for a lack of depth there, plus they may have found something special with Jordan Norberto.

We will see, but interleague play may prove to be a blessing as well.  If the Pacific League dominates again, the Central League teams will likely stay packed together like last year.  If they can hang in it until late-summer, then anything can happen down the stretch.  This is a team that was pegged for last by a lot of the media, but thus far they are looking improved. I'm hoping for a competitive season and really hope they will still be relevant this summer when I will be going to Japan.  Maybe the re-build will be short lived, I do see a young core coming together. Let get fired up for 2016 and beyond Dragons' fans!

There is a New Dragons Blogger in Town

Chunichi is off to a respectable start at 3-3 after losing their first series of the year at Hanshin and following it up with a series victory at home versus the Carp.
Dayan Viciedo and Shuhei Takahashi have been doing a lot of the damage offensively, with Takahashi hitting a huge Grand Slam late in the Dragons' most recent game propelling them to a comeback win.  It was exciting week of baseball, get fired up Dragons fans!

Following all the action is a new Dragons Blog in English called Dragon Soul.  It already has a lot of good information on it, including some write-ups on Chunichi's first series and coverage of the Ni-gun team's Western League games.  I'm excited to have a new source of Dragons information in English and will surely be checking in on it frequently.

New L.A. Dodgers Spring Training Caps get the Dragons some U.S. Pub

Above is the new cap the Los Angeles Dodgers will be wearing for this year's Spring Training in Arizona.  From what I've read the Dodgers have never worn a script "D" like this ever before. 
There is though another team that has, that team being your Chunichi Dragons.  Since it was announced several American blogs (Uni-Watch & True Blue L.A.) have picked up on the fact that it has been worn before, mainly though from the Hollywood movie that we all know and love "Mr. Baseball."

This photo has been tied to it showing Tom Selleck's approval:

Here's a baseball card showing Chunichi's version:

The Chunichi version can be purchased from New Era Japan.
The L.A. version should be available very soon.

Article on Former WSU Wheatshocker and Current Hiroshima Carp Kris Johnson

Nice article here on Hiroshima Starting Pitcher Kris Johnson from the L.A. Daily News.  Interesting that his Grandmother is Japanese.

Jordan Norberto Highlights Comp

Some highlights of the newly signed Dragons pitcher from his stint in the Major Leagues.
Posted by Youtube member Pisty Chan

Japanese Baseball Cards Blog Masahiro Yamamoto Tribute

Check out NPBCardGuys' Masahiro Yamamoto post here.
He's got card's of him from nearly every year of his career.

Uniqlo Comes to Seattle

Uniqlo, the Japanese clothing company, opened it's first store in the Northwest (U.S.) earlier this month.  The store is located in Bellevue at the Bellevue Square Mall across Lake Washington from Seattle.
We went down there the first weekend it opened to check it out.  There was actually a line to get into the store, but it moved quickly as did the long line to the register.  We didn't try the line to the fitting room, that one didn't appear to be moving much at all.  Other than that it seemed pretty similar to the locations I've been to in Japan.
Certainly, the store made a ton of money that first weekend and I'm sure it will do well in Seattle, with the area's large Asian population and Seattle's style in general.
Their Heattech shirts do make good baseball undershirts.

Free Agents of Interest

NPB free agency is now open, and as usual only a handful of players filed.  The few free agents available are supplemented though by a number of guys who have been let go by their former teams.
Here are a few guys of interest:

Bryan Bullington - Was with Orix last year and Hiroshima previously.  Has been consistently solid and Chunichi needs rotation depth.  He's 34, I would think he could be had for a reasonable price.

Matt Murton - The price would have to be right, but he could help in replacing some of what Chunichi lost in Wada.  Defense and speed is not great and coming off a subpar year, but he's been solid performer in the NPB.  Would be worth it in a buy-low opportunity.

Jason Standridge - 36 but eats innings, been dependable for 6 years in Japan.  Again, Dragons need depth.

Tomotaka Sakaguchi - Hasn't produced much in the last several years, but may do well in fresh situation.  Dragons need outfielders, but unfortunately Yakult looks like they've already scooped him up.  I haven't seen yet what they signed him too.

Andrew Brown - This guy was recently released from Korea's SK Wyverns.  The former Nebraska Cornhusker and MLB player hit 28 home runs in the KBO last year and could maybe add some pop to Chunichi's outfield situation. 

Chunichi Ends Mediocre Season on a Positive Note, Eliminate Hiroshima from Playoff Hunt and Avoid Last Place

The 2015 season ended for the Dragons as their third straight losing year.  They got off to a decent start, but began to slide after the end of Interleague play.  The bats were fairly solid, though the home run power was lacking.  Starting pitching was decent, but not spectacular, Chunichi finished third in the Central League in team ERA and Yudai Ono's performance was strong and Shunta Wakamatsu was a nice surprise.  Had the Dragons had any semblance of a bullpen I think they could have competed for a playoff spot in a very mediocre Central League this year.  Instead they fell to the bottom of a pack of average to bad baseball teams. 

Despite being a bottom-feeder this year the Dragons did have a couple of things to play for in the last week of the season.  They were playing to avoid last place and were able to do so. DeNA fell below the Dragons as the Baystars ended their season winning only one of their last seven games while Chunichi finished 3-3 in their last six games. The Dragons now have played 19 seasons since their last sixth place finish. Finishing fifth isn't much to be excited about, but it's so much better than last place.  Last place just sucks, plain and simple, and in the NPB it doesn't even get you the first pick in the draft. 

After the Dragons had "clinched" fifth place earlier in the week they played their final game of the season in Hiroshima in a game with playoff implications.  The Carp were tied for third and their final game against Chunichi was a de facto one-game playoff, if they won they would continue to the Climax Series, if not their season was over.  Masa Yamamoto started for Chunichi and ceremonially retired the first batter in what would be his last game prior to retirement.  Kenta Maeda started for Hiroshima in what may be his last game for the Carp, if he goes to MLB next year.  The game played out much like a playoff game, Maeda and Yudai Ono, who took over for Yamamoto, locked into a pitchers' duel and the game remained 0-0 into the 8th inning when Chunichi scored 4 against Hiroshima's bullpen.  Shunta Wakamatsu who had taken over for the Dragons in the seventh inning finished the game and picked up the win.  While Chunichi's season was over either way, they played like it meant something, maybe that experience will mean something for some of the younger players down the road.

Looking forward to next season, Motonobu Tanishige will be back as manager.  Hopefully he can do something to get more consistency out of the team next year.  Prolonged late-season losing streaks have sunk the team the last two years.  Finding someone who can close a freakin' game should be priority number one.  I think Yamai should remain in the bullpen next year, while he struggled as as a starter this year, he did perform pretty well as a reliever and has been one at times in the past.  More pop in the lineup and more starting pitching is always welcome, but as always their probably won't be much available on the free agent market.  Chunichi's foreign players: Luna, Hernandez, Nanita and Valdes did well this year and I think will be back, and it sounds like Drew Naylor will be back as well, so I don't know that much will change in the foreign lineup.  If the Dragons are to improve it will likely have to be done with the players they already have.  Some veterans are retiring and it will be up to the youngsters to step up if the Dragons are to succeed in 2016.

Dragons Bid Farewell to Yamamoto, Wada, Ogasawara and Tanishige (As a Player)

Over the last few weeks several Dragons from the over-40 crowd have announced their retirements, including long-time Dragons Masa Yamamoto, Kazuhiro Wada and Motonobu Tanishige.

Yamamoto, the oldest of the group, was unable to contribute much this year though continues to set records each time he pitches due to his age.  News reports suggest that he will make his final appearance in Chunichi's final game this week.  Yamamoto made his NPB debut back in 1986 and was a consistent member Chunichi's rotation from the late 80's until 2008.  He's pitched infrequently for the last several years with varying degrees of success.  He will be remembered as a Dragons' legend and is one of my favorite Dragons players.

Wada, who I believe should be a future Hall-of-Famer, will retire at the age of 43 after 10 years with the Lions and 8 years with the Dragons.  He is the newest member of the meikyukai, reaching 2000 hits this summer.  He finishes his career still being a productive offensive player, and as one of the more consistent and clutch performers in recent Dragons history.  He grew up in Gifu and had always hoped to be a Dragon.  His dream became a reality when he signed as free agent prior to the 2008 NPB season.  He immediately replaced the production of the departed Kosuke Fukudome and has been one Chunichi's best hitters since.  He will be missed.

Tanishige, Chunichi's current player/manager, will retire as a player but continue in his role as manager.  He is currently under contract for two more years as a manager.  He played in a limited role as a player this year, but finished offensively on a high note, posting his highest batting average since 1999.  He was supposed to play a limited role last year as well but was forced into action by the ineffectiveness of Chunichi's other catchers.  He's had amazing longevity as a catcher, and a very impressive career.  He's also a member of the Meikyukai, due mainly to his longevity, but to do so as a catcher is still extremely impressive.  Hopefully with a focus only on managing he can get the Dragons turned around next year.

Ogasawara joined the Dragons only two years ago after long stints with Nippon Ham and Yomiuri.  He's been an extraordinary pinch-hitter in those two years, matching his average career numbers in batting average and on-base percentage as a pinch-hitter, something not easy to do.  He's an NPB legend based on what he did for other teams, but was certainly a useful player for the Dragons in his role. 

Dragons Now Resembling a Last Place Team

Chunichi's current poor stretch is pushing them out of the CL race, what was only a few game gap between them and playoff position has now stretched to 7.5 games as the Dragons have lost their last six games.  A freefalling BayStars team may be the only thing that prevents the Dragons from their first last-place finish in a long time.

The season started promisingly as the Dragons remained in the top three for a good portion of the first half of the year.  But with all of the CL teams bunched together so tightly it didn't take much of a stumble for Chunichi to fall to sixth.  Pitching has been their main problem, the offence has been surprisingly good with even some sizable contributions from younger players.  Early in the season the bullpen was the main culprit, costing the Dragons several games that they should have had in hand.  Since then the starting pitching has faltered as well.  Ohno has been steady, but the rest of the rotation has been uneven to bad since the start of interleague play.  Again Yoshimi, who was excellent when available, has been out for a while.  They should probably keep him on the shelf for the rest of the year at this point anyway. 

Honestly, I've been surprised by the performance of the bullpen this year.  I expected some potential shakiness out of rotation, there was uncertainty there, but I was hopeful.  The Chunichi bullpen now has 22 losses, games when the Dragons had the lead and lost it in the late innings.  That's the most in the Central, DeNA is the next highest with 17, Yakult only has 5.  Closing has also been an issue for the Dragons, long-time closer Hitoki Iwase who is still on the roster hasn't pitched this year at ichi-gun or ni-gun.  Koji Fukutani has been chosen to be the next closer and was solid early in the season, but has had some difficulties since.  Still he has been one of the better arms in the pen and may turn out to be great closer, but he's not there yet.  Takuya Asao appears to no longer be a closing option as it sounds that we will potentially transition into being a starter.

So Dragons' fans, it doesn't look good right now, but if the Dragons do turn things around it will have to start with the pitching.  They've just signed two foreign pitchers, Rafeal Perez and Drew Naylor, hopefully they will help, either way it's nice to see the front office at least making an attempt to improve the team's fortunes midseason.

30-Minute Version of the 30-day NPB Challenge

It's been a while since I've posted anything, it was a very busy spring.  The season is about half over already and the Dragons are still hanging around, though currently in last place, they are only a few games out of playoff position.  It's been an interesting season so far with a lot of new faces.  I'm planning to do a recap at the All-Star break. 

In the meantime I noticed that Deanna at Marinerds, etc. has been participating in a 30-day twitter challenge that was originally posted by a Tigers fan.  It seemed like a fun idea and a good way to break my streak of not posting.  I don't use twitter so I will post my responses here.

1: The first NPB game you watched:
    On video: Game 1 of the 2006 Japan Series: Chunichi vs. Nippon Ham
    In person: Chunichi vs. Hanshin at Nagoya Dome in 2007
2. Your all-time favorite NPB player:
    Toyohashi's own Atsushi Fujii of the Dragons
3. Favorite CL team:  Dragons without a doubt
4. Favorite PL team:  Rakuten Eagles
5. The moment you became the fan of a player:
    Masa Yamamoto the first time I saw him wind up
6. Favorite pitcher
     Kenshin Kawakami
7. A batter you'd put all your bets in:
     Kazuhiro Wada, at least a few years ago
8. A fielder you enjoy watching:
     Kenta Imamiya, I enjoyed Hiro Ibata during his time with the Dragons as well, he seemed   to always do everything right.  I don't see the Hawks play often, but Imamiya has blown my mind a few times.
9. A player you think is the most difficult to play against:
     I can't imagine what it would be like to face Yu Darvish
10. Favorite battery:
     Masa Yamamoto and Motonobu Tanishige, an amazing amount of experience between those two
11. A reliever/closer who gives you shivers when he takes the mound:
     Scott Mathieson of Yomiuri, some good old country hardball, he seems to blow the Dragons away every time
12. A pitchers duel you enjoyed or think you would enjoy:
   I have to agree with Deanna on Game 5 of the 2007 Japan Series, Fighters' Darvish vs. Dragons'   Yamai/Iwase perfect game.  Hands down my favorite NPB game ever.
13. Most impressive moment in an NPB game:
   See No. 12, when Iwase finished off the perfect game and championship season all in one.
   Another favorite moment was last year when Atsushi Fujii hit a game-ending extra-inning home run in  Toyohashi.
14. Most disappointing moment in NPB game:
   Sayonara loss in game 5 of the 2012 Climax Series, Chunichi vs. Yomiuri, when it became apparent that the Dragons were not going to pull off a major upset in that series.
15. Funniest scene in an NPB game:
   At a game I was at in 2011 pitcher Soma Yamauchi hit a ball that bounced several feet in front of   the plate off the bounce into right field for an RBI hit.
16. Favorite team anthem:  Moeyo Dragons obviously
17. Favorite team logo:  BayStars before they got DeNAed
18. Favorite mascot: 
      Doala, I know there is some hate out there, but it's amazing he's ever able to land a twisting backflip with that giant head on.
19. Favorite uniform:  Rakuten's 2012 Eagle Star pinstripes, Favorite Cap: BayStars '90s-era
20. Favorite stadium or dome:
     I've only been to Nagoya Dome, Koshien and the stripped-down Nagoya Baseball Stadium.
     Koshien was special.
21. Coolest chance theme:
     Probably sacrilegious, but I'm not really that into the organized cheering, not exactly sure what this means.
22. Favorite cheering song:
     Seems like the one for Tae-Kyun Kim was catchy, from a non-expert I think the Marines ones are often good.
23. Manager you trust the most:  Hiromitsu Ochiai
24. A coach you wish was yours:  I have a good impression of Koji Akiyama
25. A young player you have expectations on:  Shuhei Takahashi
26. Favorite farm player who you hope makes it to the first team:  Chunichi has given almost everyone a try already, I hope one of the young catchers will run with the starting job
27. A player you wish was on your favorite team:  Shohei Otani, such an amazing talent
28. Favorite rivalry between two NPB players:  I don't have an answer for that one
29. A player you wish he was your friend that you'd be proud to show around:
     Shohei Otani:  Can I be his agent? Can he come play for my Mens' League Baseball team?
30. Your dream team:  I need more time to consider that one

DeNA Showroom

Thanks to the kind people/person at the NPB Reddit page I'm enjoying today's game along with a bunch of digital DeNA fans via the Baystars Showroom page.  I don't know too much about Showroom, but it's a good stream and free for the time being.  According to the NPB Reddit page it shows all of the DeNA home games and will be free until the end of May.  The Dragons and Baystars will go at it again tomorrow at 1PM Japan Time.

2015 CL Predictions: Will the Dragons Finish in Last Place?

The 2015 season is off and running, here's how I think the standings will end up:

Yomiuri Giants
Hiroshima Carp
Hanshin Tigers
Chunichi Dragons
Yakult Swallows
Yokohama Baystars

According to some of the articles and message boards I've been seeing, many think this will be a dreary year for the Dragons.  Some are even picking them to finish in last place, something that hasn't happened since 1992  (since 1992 Chunichi has finished lower than 4th only once, which was in 2001).  Somehow I'm not seeing what they're seeing, barring some very serious injuries (something Chunichi's already been dealing with the last two years when they've missed the playoffs, Yoshimi, Asao, etc.) I don't see this year's team being the worst in the Central League.  Sure, they are old and have some holes, but this looks to me like another ho-hum middle-of-the-pack Dragons team.  Certainly they are not the only team with holes.

This year's team likely isn't going to score a ton of runs, but is their lineup much worse or even worse at all than their recent pitching-driven playoff teams?  I don't think so, it includes two all-star quality players in Oshima and Luna, and Hirata is just coming into his prime.  Outside of the catching position, the rest of the lineup was no worse than average last year.  Then we get to the pitching, I like the bullpen, they have some good young arms there.  Starting pitching shouldn't be a problem either, Valdes is looking like he could be a great pick up to go with Yamai and Ono and maybe even Yoshimi at some point, plus plenty of servicable guys in the back end of the rotation.  I'm just not seeing a last-place team here.  There is no doubt that the Dragons lineup needs to get younger for future success, but statistics-wise last year wasn't a bad year for guys like Morino, so why is this the year that everyone goes in the tank? 

Get fired up Dragons fans, it's a new season, we don't have to listen to the haters! ;-)