Editor’s Note: Production of this episode started before the end of the regular season. Many of the predictions made in the article below, and the accompanying podcast, have since been shown to be right or wrong (but mostly right). The 2007 final standings below are an example of the information not available to us when we recorded this installment of TPR Spotlight.

OK, here come some of the teams that you may have heard about before.

If you haven’t listened to the podcasts that accompanied the first two NPB installments, you can give them a listen by clicking here and scrolling down.

The Central League is home to the most powerful team in Japanese baseball. Not powerful because they’re the best (at least not since the ’60s and ’70s), but rather because they have the most money and their owner basically controls the league. Not that I’m bitter or anything.

We’ll get to them later. Again, let’s proceed in alphabetical order so as to avoid as much bias as possible.

Central League

Chunichi Dragons

Remember Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball? This is the team he played for. The Dragons are based in Nagoya and are a strong club most years. They don’t have a strong track record of getting it done in the Japan Series (they actually hold the record for most consecutive trips to the Japan Series without winning the title: seven), but at least they’ve gotten there a couple of times recently. They won the central league pennant last year but lost in the Japan Series to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

Manager Hiromitsu Ochiai is a batting legend in Japan, and he is either loved or hated by most people in Japan. It has been reported that he had a very relaxed attitude about practice back in the days when he was a player, but was able to lead the league consistently when he was in his prime. He rarely shows any emotion as he watches his team play, although sometimes he starts to smirk when the Dragon’s make an error.

Chunichi has three starters with at least 12 wins this season. Asakura, Kawakami, and Nakata are all solid pitchers that can give the team seven or eight innings each start. However, as with most pitchers, they are prone to having shaky outings. Nakata leads the league in both strikeouts per nine innings and walks. However, closer Hitoki Iwase is often able to erase any missteps that occur before his entrance.

The Dragons’ offense isn’t half bad either. The Dragons are one of only two teams in the central that has scored more than 600 runs this season. They lost slugging great Kousuke Fukudome to injury, but players like Tyrone Woods, Morino, Ibata, and Nakamura (who is playing for peanuts this year after several teams overlooked him as a “has-been”) club enough base hits in Nagoya Dome (a ballpark of MLB dimensions) to bolster the longevity of the team’s starters.

Hanshin Tigers

The Hanshin Tigers of Osaka have awakened from a long period of ineptitude. Backed by a crowd of amazingly rambunctious supporters, the Tigers make their home in the holy-land of Japanese baseball, Koshien Stadium.

The Tigers have won the central league pennant twice this century (2003 and 2005). Like the Dragons, they have won only a single Japan Series title since the two-league system was implemented in 1950.

However, Hanshin is a strong ballclub again this year. They are currently in third place in the central league, and they have already clinched the third and final playoff spot.

Hanshin sports the central league’s best team era. The power is not found in their starting rotation. The only category that a Hanshin starter leads the league in is balks. The true heart of the team is the vaunted JFK trio of relievers that makes its way into most games.

The J stands for Jeff Williams, the F for Fujikawa, and the K for Kubota. I don’t know why they are called JFK because they never pitch in that order. The order should be KJF. Whatever, they can shut an opposing team down in a hurry, and they are the lifeblood of the Tigers’ win column.

Prediction: The JFK trifecta will again lead the league in appearances (Williams has pitched in 60 games, Fujikawa in 70, and Kubota has already appeared in 89!), and they will again get hit mercilessly during the postseason due to fatigue.

Hanshin complements its league-leading team era with a league-worst team batting average. Akahoshi is Hanshin’s only player ranked in the top-20 hitters in the central, but he hasn’t been a consistent contributor this season like he has been known for in the past. Tanishige, Hanshin’s veteran catcher, is having a decent year.

Manager Akinobu Okada definitely has his work cut out for him as the post-season looms. Only a complete team performance will get them past both the Dragons and the Giants this month. It should be interesting to see if he plays it safe (smart) and rests his pitchers in preparation for a struggle to make it to the Japan Series.

Hiroshima Carp

The Carp were established only five years after the atomic bombing of the city during the war. The citizens of the city have a strong connection with the team and bailed the team out financially by making donations back in 1951.

The team has never really had a strong financial footing. They routinely lose their best players to free agency (Kanemoto and Sheets, for example, now play for Hanshin), and they haven’t won a title since 1991.

But they play hard, have great fans, and a very excitable coach in Marty Brown. He likes to throw things.

The pitching corps is led by Hiroki Kuroda. Masayuki Hasegawa and Kan Otake are two other starters who were dependable this season. Fifth year player Katsuhiro Nagakawa looks like he will make about 60 appearances this season, as does veteran reliever Ryuji Yokoyama.

The Hiroshima offense is led by the impressive Kenta Kurihara who at 25 is already in his eigth year with the team. Big bats are also carried by Takahiro Arai, Shigenobu Shima, Tomonori Maeda, Alex (who was brought on part-way into the season), and Eishin Soyogi.

The Carp look set to settle for either 5th or 6th place in the Central League this year. The good news is that coach Marty Brown is slated to come back again next year. The bad news is that ace pitcher, Kuroda, could declare free agency at the end of the season. I would imagine that any number of MLB teams would be interested in seeing him at spring training next season.

Tokyo Swallows

The Swallows are the second most successful team in Japan during the past two decades (after the Seibu Lions of the Pacific League). They are often an afterthought as they share downtown Tokyo with the vaunted Yomiuri Giants, but they have quietly fielded a number of strong teams over the years.

Atsuya Furuta, geeky glasses and all (they covered half his face when he was drafted and prevented him from being drafted earlier), is partly responsible for the success of the team up until now. His rookie season was 1989, and he helped bring about a lot of celebrating in that old stadium called Jingu. Several MVP awards, All Star selections, golden gloves, and championships later he was named player-manager of the Swallows at the end of the 2005 season.

The last two seasons haven’t been all that pretty (the Swallows are all but guaranteed to end up in 5th or 6th place this season), but on paper the team is quite strong. Seth Greisinger has led the pitching staff, and the league, in wins so far this season, and guys like Kazuhisa Ishii, Ryou Kawashima, Masanori Ishikawa, and Shugo Fujii are capable of putting together six or seven solid innings when they are dialed in. The bullpen is full of guys who go hot and cold throughout the season, and several relievers have loss/save ratios that opposing teams love.

Offense is rarely an issue for the Swallows. The team routinely ranks near the top of the league in team batting average and runs scored. This year they have the second best team batting average in Japan behind the Yomiuri Giants.

The two best hitters in Japan are now playing for the team (although that could change during the off-season as Ramirez will be a free agent). Alex Ramirez and Norichika Aoki are neck-and-neck in several offensive categories, and it should be interesting to see who comes out on top. Ramirez recently became only the third player in Japanese baseball history to record 200 or more hits in a single season (the other two are teammate Aoki, and some guy named Ichiro). Aoki, the speedy and versatile center-fielder, looks poised to secure the CL’s highest batting average, and his new tendency to hit the ball out of the park has been a welcome development for the Jingu faithful.

13 year veteran (and Player’s Association president), Shinya Miyamoto is having another solid season at shortstop, and 25-year-old Hiroyasu Tanaka has really come on strong at the end of the season. Ryuji Miyade, Yasushi Iihara, Aaron Guiel, Mitsuru Manaka, Yuuichi, and Ryohei Kawamoto also made solid contributions this season.

This is Furuta’s last year as manager (at least for a while), and there are rumblings that the pitching coach will leave with him to take responsibility for the shaky performance of the bullpen over the past two years. It should be interesting to see if the new crew can create the type of pitching consistency that will see Tokyo ascend back into the “A class” next season.

Yokohama BayStars

Yokohama made a lot of adjustments this season, and they look like they are guaranteed a 4th place finish in the CL rankings. Fourth place might not sound like much, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of when considering that the team finished in 6th place in 2006.

Akihiko Oya, the Baystars’ 59-year-old manager, has made a lot of right calls this season and gotten a lot of good performances out of a team full of veterans. Starter Kimiyasu Kudou is 44 years old! Infielders Toshihisa Nishi is 36, and Takahiro Saeki and Takurou Ishii are both 37. Regular starters Tatsuhiko Kinjou, Ryouji Aikawa, and Taka Suzuki are also all in their 30’s. 35 isn’t really all that old in baseball unless you’re a pitcher, and it seems that Yokohama has benefitted from the experience that is carried by its starting lineup. However, Yokohama definitely has one of the oldest starting lineups in Japan.

So where are the youngsters? Glad you asked. Infielders Shuichi Murata and Yuki Yoshimura are both formidable on offense and look to be the future of the team alongside young starting pitcher Hayato Terahara who is really coming into his own.

Ace pitcher Daisuke Miura is having another decent year and led the league with three complete-game-shutouts. Closer Marc Kroon rewrote the Japanese record books with a fastball of 161 kph (100 mph). He should finish the season with at least 30 saves.

Yomiuri Giants

The Yomiuri Giants, also known as “Japan’s Team”, are having a decent season this year. They look poised to win the regular season pennant race, and there’s no doubt that that’s exactly what they expect to do. With (by far) the largest payroll in Japan, anything less would be a huge disappointment. With the advent of the new two-stage playoff series to decide who will face the best team from the Pacific League in the Japan Series, Giants fans have to like their chances of getting through.

A strange thing happened over in Yomiuri-land…their shaky pitching staff found its feet this season. Hisanori Takahashi assumed the role of ace pitcher after Kouji Uehara settled comfortably into his new role as closer (Kiyoshi Toyoda was moved to set-up man). Pitchers Tetsuya Utsumi, Hiroshi Kisanuki, Masanori Hayashi, and rookie Norihito Kaneto have all made enormous contributions to the team’s success in 2007. The Giants actually had the second best team ERA in the CL this season.

The offense wasn’t bad either. The Giants are basically the Pacific League Allstar team because they buy all the best from around Japan. Last year’s PL MVP, Michihiro Ogasawara (formerly of the Nippon Ham Fighters), led the team in several offensive categories this season. Seung-Yeop Lee (formerly of the Chiba Lotte Marines) struggled a little bit with an injured thumb this year, but he has played through the pain much more successfully as of late. The other guy who makes up the top three offensive players on the team is also from the PL. Yoshitomo Tani, who used to play for the Orix Buffaloes, led the team with a .318 batting average.

Guys like catcher Shinnosuke Abe, Tomohiro Nioka, and outfielder Yoshinobu Takahashi also provide plenty of firepower in a lineup that hit about 50 more home runs than the next best offensive team in the CL (Tokyo Swallows). The Giants bats are able to send opposing pitchers to the showers in a hurry.

Despite all of its merits on paper, the team has not established itself as the hands-down favorite to win the league this season. Their pitching is starting to show weaknesses that weren’t as readily apparent before the allstar break. Getting past the Chunichi Dragons and into the Japan Series should not be an easy task at all (the Hanshin Tigers shouldn’t be much of a threat). If they finish in first place, then they will enjoy home-field advantage during the entire five game series that decides which team heads to the Japan Series. No matter what Giants fans tell you, that will likely be their most potent weapon during the playoffs.

Manager Tatsunori Hara, a lifelong Giant, is under immense pressure to make it to the Japan Series this season. The team’s 4th place finish last year was looked at as a “rebuilding year”, but it was reported that finishing in the “B class” again in 2007 would spell the end for Hara’s second stint as manager of the club. A mercilessly overcoached (and underachieving) player when he was on the field, it will be interesting to see if he can get everyone on the team to contribute all at the same time.

So that’s the Central League of the Japanese Professional Baseball League! Stay tuned as we work on production of a NPB playoffs episode. Thanks for listening!

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