Baseball

Julio Rodriguez was voted the American League Rookie of the Year on Monday after lifting the Seattle Mariners back to the playoffs for the first time in 21 years. Fellow center fielder Michael Harris II of the Atlanta Braves joined him later in the night by winning the National League […]

Nippon Professional Baseball decided Monday to allow games next season at the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters’ new ballpark, Es Con Field Hokkaido, despite it not meeting regulations for the minimum distance between home plate and stands to the rear. The NPB made the exception at an emergency meeting involving representatives […]

Munetaka Murakami put together a historic season in Japanese baseball in 2022. Still, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger is already looking over the horizon and across the sea at a new challenge. When asked if he wanted to play in MLB one day, Murakami admitted it was on his mind. […]

Munetaka Murakami put together a historic season in Japanese baseball in 2022. Still, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows slugger is already looking over the horizon and across the sea at a new challenge. When asked if he wanted to play in MLB one day, Murakami admitted it was on his mind. […]

The newly crowned Japan Series champion Orix Buffaloes had to make more room in their trophy case as three players were named among this season’s Mitsui Golden Glove Award winners on Monday. Ace pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and third baseman Yuma Mune each won for the second straight season in the […]

Some believe rising baseball star Roki Sasaki’s perfect game against the Orix Buffaloes at Zozo Marine Stadium on April 10 was the greatest game ever pitched. Sasaki didn’t just retire all 27 batters who came to the plate, he struck out 19 of them — the most in a perfect […]

Las Vegas – Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks ace Kodai Senga is uniquely suited to make the jump from Japanese pro baseball to MLB because of the quality of his pitches and character, his agent Joel Wolfe said. Speaking at MLB’s annual general managers’ meetings, Wolfe said the right-hander is well suited […]

Choji Murata, a former pitcher and a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, has died after being taken to hospital following a fire at his house in Tokyo early Friday, police said. He was 72. Murata was found on the burned-out second floor of the house, located about […]

Sapporo – Shota Imanaga struck out 10 and Munetaka Murakami hit his fourth home run in three games for Japan’s national team in an 8-1 win over Australia in their first World Baseball Classic warmup on Wednesday. The game was the first of two ahead of March’s WBC, when Japan […]

Japan Series-winning Orix Buffaloes manager Satoshi Nakajima was named the winner of the Matsutaro Shoriki Award on Tuesday over 22-year-old Triple Crown-winning slugger Munetaka Murakami, who received a special award instead. The Shoriki Award, named after the visionary owner of the Yomiuri Giants who created Japan’s first pro league, has […]