Baseball

The following is the first of a two-part NPB preview beginning with the 2020 Pacific League. In order of predicted finish: Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Manager: Kimiyasu Kudo 2019 record: 76-62-5 (2nd) The Hawks’ recent success makes it really easy to forget their last PL pennant came two Japan Series titles […]

Yudai Fujioka hit a home run in his home ballpark, but there was no one around to cheer. After an silent trip around the bases, Fujioka walked along the front of the Chiba Lotte Marines dugout with his hand up ready to high-five everyone on the bench. While some of […]

New York – After days of angry exchanges over money between Major League Baseball and the players’ association, Commissioner Rob Manfred started to doubt whether there would be a 2020 season and said as much on national television. He then called union head Tony Clark and offered to fly from […]

Yasuaki Yamasaki was as nervous as he’d ever been during his career. The Yokohama BayStars closer has pitched in All-Star games, the Climax Series and the Japan Series. In November, he took the mound in the ninth inning of the Premier12 final to secure title for Samurai Japan at Tokyo […]

New York – Fresh off a robust round of batting practice in Central Park, softball slugger Todd Montgomery squared up his Mets cap and took a swing at hardball questions involving his favorite team. Would Jacob deGrom be worthy of a third straight Cy Young Award if he goes 4-2 […]

CORNELIUS, NORTH CAROLINA – Longtime Giants pitcher Mike McCormick, who won the Cy Young Award in 1967, has died. He was 81. The Giants say McCormick died Saturday at his home in North Carolina after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. McCormick played 16 years in the majors from 1956-71 […]

Zach Neal knew he was going to be the Seibu Lions’ opening day starter. He just didn’t know for sure there would actually be an opening day. Neal was tapped to start the opener back in February, before COVID-19 rose to pandemic levels, delayed the start of the season and […]

New York – Commissioner Rob Manfred says there might be no major league season after a breakdown in talks between teams and the union on how to split up money in a season delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. The league also revealed several players on big league rosters have tested […]

Baseball is back in Japan. NPB teams have been playing practice games against each other since June 2 and the June 19 start of the regular season is approaching fast. With that in mind here are six players to keep an eye out for in the Pacific League. Shuta Tonosaki, […]

After announcing their first month of games earlier this month, both the Central and Pacific Leagues revealed the remainder of their schedules for the 2020 season on Monday. After opening the year with a three-game series as usual, PL teams were scheduled to then play series featuring six straight games […]