Baseball

Sapporo – The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on Friday named colorful former outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo as their next manager after the Pacific League club fell short of the postseason for the third straight year under outgoing skipper Hideki Kuriyama. The 49-year-old Shinjo began his career with the Central League’s Hanshin […]

Nagoya – The Chunichi Dragons named former star infielder Kazuyoshi Tatsunami as new manager of the Central League club on Friday. The 52-year-old, whose club record 2,480 hits is the eighth-most in NPB, accepted an official offer from the club, which is looking to shore up its lackluster offense after […]

Los Angeles – Shohei Ohtani’s extraordinary season as both a dominant pitcher and elite offensive performer was recognized Thursday with two Players Choice Awards, including the top prize, as voted on by the Major League Baseball Players Association. The players’ union selected the Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar as Player […]

There was nothing more for Yoshinobu Yamamoto to do — so he rested. The Orix Buffaloes’ brilliant 23-year-old pitcher carried the team to the brink of the Pacific League pennant with a shutout in the club’s season finale on Monday, but the rest was out of his talented hands. The […]

Houston’s Jose Altuve connected on a home run and scored twice to spark the Astros’ bats in a 7-2 rout of the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of the World Series in Houston on Wednesday. The series is tied at 1-1and will head to Atlanta for Game 3 on Friday. […]

The Orix Buffaloes captured their franchise’s 13th Pacific League pennant on Wednesday and the first since Ichiro Suzuki led the Orix BlueWave to the title in 1996. Orix completed its regular season with a 4-0 shutout by ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That win required the second-place Lotte Marines to win two […]

Jorge Soler smashed a home run on the first swing of the game and Adam Duvall blasted a two-run homer as the Atlanta Braves rolled over the Houston Astros 6-2 in the opening contest of the World Series on Tuesday. The Braves, who are in their first World Series since […]

Atsunori Inaba, the manager of Japan’s gold-winning Olympic baseball team, has been appointed general manager of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, the Pacific League club said Wednesday. The front office change means Hiroshi Yoshimura will step aside from his role as general manager and focus on his other responsibilities leading […]

Houston – Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani received a special award for his two-way performance in 2021 from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred before Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday in Houston. The award, called the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award, is not handed out on an annual basis […]

The Tokyo Yakult Swallows captured their eighth Central League championship, and first since 2015, on Tuesday in manager Shingo Takatsu’s second season at the helm. The title marked the second time in team history that the Swallows have won the pennant a year after finishing last, a feat they also […]