Sports News

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 […]

New York – Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani was named a finalist for this season’s American League MVP award on Monday along with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Houston Astros big hitter Yordan Alvarez. The two-way star last year became only the second Japanese to win the […]

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, whose legacies were tainted by allegations of steroid use, were given another chance at making the Baseball Hall of Fame after being among the eight players named on Monday to the Contemporary Baseball Era player ballot. Any candidate who receives votes on 75% of the […]

Yordan Alvarez smashed a three-run homer and the Houston Astros captured their second World Series in six seasons on Saturday with a 4-1 victory over Philadelphia. The Cuban slugger’s sixth-inning blast off Phillies relief pitcher Jose Alvarado gave Houston the lead for good as the Astros took Major League Baseball’s […]

Triple Crown winner Munetaka Murakami hit one of the three home runs belted by Japan’s World Baseball Classic team in its 5-4 win over the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in an exhibition game Saturday. Slugging catcher Tomoya Mori turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead for Japan with a […]

Houston Astros rookie Jeremy Pena had a home run and a run-scoring single and star pitcher Justin Verlander battled through five innings as the Astros edged the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 to move to the brink of another World Series title on Thursday. The Astros took a 3-2 lead in the […]

Miyazaki – Sadaharu Oh, Japanese pro baseball’s career home run leader and chairman of the Pacific League’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, has been hospitalized as a precaution due to the coronavirus, the club said Friday. Oh was admitted to a hospital in southwestern Japan’s Miyazaki Prefecture, where the Hawks are currently […]

Philadelphia – Cristian Javier and three Houston Astros relievers combined on the third no-hitter in postseason history, leading the teamto a 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the World Series on Wednesday. Houston evened the best-of-seven series at two wins apiece. In a time of both […]

Osaka – Nippon Professional Baseball’s champion Orix Buffaloes would be willing to make star slugger Masataka Yoshida available to MLB teams depending on conditions, a source familiar with the matter said Wednesday. The 29-year-old, a two-time Pacific League batting champion who led Orix to the franchise’s first Japan Series title […]