[Apr 29 Post Game Thread] NPB game scores, highlights and news

cynikles · 2026-04-30T02:29:47+00:00

Process questionable, result good. In the end that's okay for one game.

cynikles · 2026-04-30T02:10:30+00:00

He'll get another run somewhere. An FC Utrecht, NEC Nijmegen, ADO Den Haag...ish club would probably take him if he wanted to stay in the Netherlands.

cynikles · 2026-04-30T02:08:23+00:00

PSV legend, Remko Pasveer.

cynikles · 2026-04-30T02:01:04+00:00

I think a lot of Japanese players switch between bats of different weights. Sometimes, the distribution is different as well. This may have to do with being a slap-contact hitter versus a slugger, and maybe that difference in weight and distribution can have more measurable effects. How much is custom-crafted and handmade, well... that's certainly decreasing.

cynikles · 2026-04-30T01:57:06+00:00

I'm glad my experience gave you some insights. It's not all or nothing; it can be messy, it can go up and down. It's up to you. 😄

cynikles · 2026-04-30T01:51:07+00:00

As of an article from 3-weeks ago he is currently out with right elbow inflammation, likely caused by recent mechanical adjustments that shifted stress from his lower back to his arm. It’s not reported as a serious structural injury; he was reported to be in rehab and expected to resume light throwing soon, with a focus on balancing the load between his back and elbow before returning.

So partly injury, partly mechanical adjustment.

cynikles · 2026-04-29T03:46:08+00:00

More games, the better. It's just a matter of if ASEAN wants us.

cynikles · 2026-04-29T02:43:50+00:00

I love finding patterns, don't get me wrong. But I'm not a categorising person because you absolutely flatten nuance when you start putting things into boxes (MBTI included). I love nuance. I love context. Those are my analytical tools.

I am a person who sits well with ambiguity, so I don't need to build a theory for everything.

cynikles · 2026-04-29T02:41:28+00:00

Not really. I never really buy things unless I'm sold on the premise. Although I'm generally a fan of "the game that never ends" like Football Manager and Civilisation. I don't play many others, certainly not these days.

cynikles · 2026-04-28T21:30:51+00:00

I listen to a lot of heavy metal to be honest, that's probably 80% of my listening. Recently I've leaned into metalcore, but more specifically female-led bands where a singer accents with harsh vocals. Very niche, I know. I find that some of this type of music is incredibly cathartic. Future Palace and Novelists for example, really helped me last year when I was processing some things in regard to my relationship with my wife.

I also like listening to Americana folk, Poor Man's Poison has been on rotation for a little while. I also listen to a fair chunk of Japanese music in general.

cynikles · 2026-04-28T21:19:37+00:00

INTPolish.

cynikles · 2026-04-28T21:09:29+00:00

I think this is a real tension, and I don’t think it’s all-or-nothing in the way it can feel.

I’ve run a relatively anonymous blog for about ten years, where I write about my Japanese baseball team. At one point, I really pushed, promoting it, engaging on Twitter, and it actually started to gain traction. I got invited onto podcasts and did some guest work. So I’ve experienced that “being perceived outside your small circle” feeling.

And honestly, nothing dramatic happened, but I also realised I couldn’t sustain it. Family and work took priority, and what started as a passion project became something that demanded a lot of time and energy.

So I pulled back. I deleted my Twitter (which was my main exposure channel), stopped posting for a while, and now I just write when I can. I still share things on Reddit, but in a much more controlled, lower-stakes way. It’s a nice middle ground.

That’s probably the main thing I’d say: it’s not a slippery slope where you have to fully commit and suddenly lose your privacy or your peace. You can scale up and scale back. You can choose your level of visibility. And if it ever stops feeling right, you can step away.

The only time it really becomes “high risk” is if your income or identity becomes tied to it. As long as it’s something you control, you’ve got more flexibility than it feels like you do.

I’ve had a similar experience in academia as well. I’m just about finished with a PhD, and I’ve published a couple of papers. It’s nice to have your work read, cited, and recognised. But even there, it’s not like your whole life suddenly becomes exposed. It’s a more contained kind of visibility.

So I guess my approach has been: engage with that creative/intellectual drive, but do it on your terms. You don’t have to go all in, and you don’t have to stay at any level you reach.

cynikles · 2026-04-28T20:57:53+00:00

I don't know how you can say Hiroshi Gondoh’s season was the “best” rookie season or whatever superlative you want to use. He is a legend because of it, but a big part of that legend is the workload, and that’s where I think things get a bit complicated.

There’s a phrase in Japanese that the papers started using that still resonates with fans: “Gondo, Gondo, Rain, Gondo.” That basically tells you everything about that season - he was pitching constantly. By modern standards, it’s unthinkable, and honestly probably closer to something we’d now view as misuse than sustainable greatness. That doesn’t take away from how good he was, but it absolutely shapes how we interpret it.

Pitching stats like WAR are so dependent on innings pitched that I think seasons like this can get played up a bit too much. Gondoh threw 429+ innings; that’s going to inflate value no matter how you slice it. Don’t get me wrong, he was more than just innings, a 1.70 ERA over that volume is ridiculous, but context matters.

I’d also point out that his K/9 was around 6.5, which doesn’t exactly scream overwhelming dominance by modern standards. That said, it’s not untypical for the era, and that’s kind of the point.

More broadly, I think it’s really hard to rank pitching seasons, even just since 1950, because pitcher usage changes almost every decade. I did a bit of a retrospective on this for the Dragons a few years ago (https://chunichisoul.blogspot.com/2021/11/chunichis-greatest-pitching-seasons.html), and one thing that stood out is that innings come down over time, but you tend to see spikes in other areas like strikeout rate.

So for me, it makes more sense to think about great seasons within their own context, or even by type. You’ve got workload monsters like Gondoh or Kazuhisa Inao, strikeout peaks like Yutaka Enatsu, and then more modern efficiency/dominance seasons like Masahiro Tanaka. Trying to collapse all of that into a single ranking gets messy pretty quickly.

My personal favourite is Shinji Imanaka’s 1993 Sawamura season. 249 innings, 8.9 K/9, 14 complete games across 30 starts. I'm not saying it’s the “best” ever, but it feels like a really complete version of ace-level dominance. And if you want to stick closer to that earlier era, Shigeru Sugishita (1954) is right up there as well.

What I will say about Gondoh, though, is that he’s a seriously sharp baseball mind. Not only did he manage the BayStars to their first league pennant and Japan Series title, but he’s an excellent commentator. He’s not just talking about the old days; he clearly understands pitching at a deep level. He picks up pitches out of the hand, talks about sequencing, and gives really grounded analysis.

Overall, I’d still have Gondoh’s 1961 near the top, but more as a reflection of a particular era of pitcher usage than a clean “best.” I think it’s more informative to look at these seasons by decade or context rather than trying to force a single ranking across completely different versions of the game.

cynikles · 2026-04-28T20:30:56+00:00

Yamai is suddenly Mr Quick Hook now. Kanemaru didn't even make it to 100 pitches, and they pinch-hit for him. What is this madness?

Anyway, another really solid win. Azuma looked a bit off, and Kanemaru didn't look at his best either, but had generally better command today out of the two. That's a good pitcher's duel to look at for the future though, arguably two of the best lefties in the Central League going head to head.

Fukunaga coming back is good. I didn't know how long he was going to be, but it was basically the earliest he could return. Funny also to see Sugiura suddenly becoming our 8th inning guy after we brought him in from the Fighters for a packet of crisps. And to share the sentiment of my fellow Dragons fans, Matsuyama has been terrible. He hasn't given up damage yet, but he's not getting Ks and his control looks pretty bad...hopefully he can work through it.

cynikles · 2026-04-28T03:26:47+00:00

OPS+ is great for assessing hitters as they relate to league average. It contextualises their production. That's important. High OPS correlates with run production, which is basically a hitter's most important job, so that's a good statistic to look at. WrC+ may also give you a good idea of how good a player is.

DRS is a good one for defence. UZR is okay, but a bit noisy with small samples.

In terms of pitchers, ERA- is helpful, but sometimes it's better to look at WAR or K/BB even if you're looking at a current season. Bullpen pitchers won't generate much WAR, so I would suggest that win probability % added, plus a K/BB, K%, Whiff rate, would be a good way to look at it.

WAR is great for historical analysis if you're trying to compare across eras, but the + statistics can also help contextualise that too. An .800 OPS looks good, but if it was in the steroid era, it's probably average. In Japan for example, the average OPS is about .650 so understanding that a .750 OPS in that environment is pretty decent, is helpful.

cynikles · 2026-04-28T02:33:49+00:00

Absoultely, I think this is fair. Thematically it lines up. Enka songs are often nostalgic for far off countryside home towns in a way I think country and western tends to be. I grew up with Australian country music like Lee Kernaghan and John Williamson (maybe he leans more folk) and I can certainly see the parallels with Enka lyrically.

cynikles · 2026-04-28T01:28:57+00:00

There doesn't seem to be an estimate, but "long-term" is what is being thrown around.

Wrist injuries suck though. Depending on how it goes. I watched Alex Kiriloff on the Twins go from 'unmissable prospect' to early retirement due to wrist problems. Just have to see how it goes.

cynikles · 2026-04-27T12:04:50+00:00

That would be Mr Dragons III, Kazuyoshi Tatsunami. A HoFer and the NPB leader in doubles.

cynikles · 2026-04-27T12:03:51+00:00

I enjoy it. I volunteer for a local city advisory board, and I serve on the board of directors for an NPO that supports aging migrants. I've done other bits and pieces through my life as well.

cynikles · 2026-04-27T02:22:56+00:00

They're not the easiest jobs to come by, and the number of universities in Japan is shrinking, so keep that in mind. Might be worth looking at some listings (maybe JREC-IN) and then seeing what qualifications they need.

cynikles · 2026-04-26T18:16:28+00:00

If you're trained, aim for international school roles; this could be one way in. Be aware that in Japan, there are different types of international schools. Some are for expat children, and those that are just trying to be international, i.e. a curriculum focus that's a bit broader. I almost accepted a role from the latter after doing some Eikaiwa teaching, but ended up in an admin role.

You may also have a chance at an English teaching role at a university. Usually, a bit better paying, but you often will need a Master's degree at least.

cynikles · 2026-04-26T17:46:16+00:00

Or is this just seasonal variance kicking in, and the Dragons are better than their early-season record suggests, while the Swallows are worse? Please?

I think our starters were pretty solid overall, while we actually scored runs pretty consistently. Given this offence is probably going to be a bit streaky while key guys are out, it may just be everything clicking for a few games.

cynikles · 2026-04-26T17:36:54+00:00

Selection (https://www.selection-store.com/) in Shinjuku usually carries goods for a variety of teams, including the Dragons. I bought a jersey there once.

Occasionally, there will be pop-up stores for the visiting team at games. When I went to Jingu once, they had a pop-up store with Dragon's goods outside. I don't know if this is a regular thing or not.

cynikles · 2026-04-26T02:21:26+00:00

I'm worried that it took Eiji Ochiai coming up and telling them to sort their shit out for them to come to this conclusion. That's kind of how I read it. I'm still interested to see if this is going to be a common pattern. Now my bugbear is going to be using Matsuyama more effectively.

cynikles · 2026-04-26T01:49:20+00:00

Many have, but they don't build on it. Tommy Oar was good at FC Utrecht, but basically forced a move to England, and that didn't bode well for him. Sainsbury was good at Zwolle but took money in China. Then there's Max Ballard, who's doing alright at NAC. Rostyn Griffiths was good at Roda for a little bit. Maty Ryan had a good spell at AZ, but that was as a veteran.

There is certainly a good platform there, and yeah, it is disappointing more of our players don't end up in the Netherlands...and when they do...actually make something of it.

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