The final stage of Pacific League Climax Series (CS) has reached Game 6. Which team, Softbank or Nippon Nippon-Ham, will advance to the Japan Series, where they will face Central League champion Hanshin Tigers?
The two teams put up a heated battle from the regular season onwards, but behind the scenes, Rakuten was unable to get involved in the championship race until the very end.
This season, under the leadership of manager Hajime Miki, who returned to the helm for the first time in five years, the team never made a save after early May and finished in fourth place. In September, they came close to overtaking the third-place Orix, but fell short.
On the 14th of this month, Rakuten received some big news. They signed Luke Voit, who joined the team in July, to a contract for next season. Although he struggled with Japanese baseball immediately after arriving in Japan, he has been performing well since August, batting .339 with 10 Home Run runs and 31 RBI. The retention of this foreign player, who was Home Run king in the majors, is surely the best reinforcement the team could have received.
After all, Rakuten suffered from a lack of power hitting this season, finishing with the fewest Home Run in both leagues. The only Home Run to hit double digits was Voit, who only played half the season. If he can play a full season next year, he can expect to hit around 40 Home Run.
However, Rakuten is also facing the risk of losing two of its homegrown key players.
The first player is Takahiro Norimoto. He is a valuable contributor to the team, but his seven-year contract expires this season, and there is a growing possibility that he will exercise his right to free agency overseas. There is also a possibility that he will transfer to another domestic team, so the team would like to do whatever it takes to keep him.
The second player is outfielder Ryosuke Tatsumi. Although he has acquired domestic free agency rights, he has previously expressed his desire to try his hand at the majors, and is currently in negotiations with a team about transferring to the majors via posting this offseason.
If these two players, who are the face of the team, were to leave, it would undoubtedly be a major blow to Rakuten.
However, neither player is irreplaceable. Norimoto has recorded 48 saves in the past two years since becoming a closer, but both players' ERA were in the 3s. strike out rates and WHIPs are also not satisfactory as closers.
In that case, it would be beneficial for the team in the long run to fix Shoma Fujihira, who has 12 saves this season, as the closer and encourage his development. In fact, Fujihira's main stats this season, such as ERA, were significantly higher than Norimoto's.
Tatsumi's speed has remained consistent, having stolen 20 stolen base for two consecutive years, and defense ability, which has earned him the Golden Glove Award for four consecutive years, has not changed, but this season he has not shown any of his usual competitive strength. His batting average has fallen from .294 last season to .240 this season, and his batting average in scoring position has plummeted from .323 to .179.
Even if Tatsumi leaves, it will not be a big blow to the batting lineup, as further growth is expected from remaining player Voit, as well as golden Rui Muneyama and Fumiya Kurokawa, who broke out this season.
Another important "reinforcement" for Rakuten is for the manager to stay next season.
Rakuten is notorious for changing its manager almost every year, but this offseason it has already announced that Manager Miki will continue in his position next season. Manager Miki will be able to approach next season with the lessons learned from this season in mind.
This season, Rakuten has been strong in games decided by one point, with 28 wins and 16 losses. Since the All-Star break, they have been particularly good, with 15 wins and 5 losses. The fact that they have been able to win such close games must have been due in large part to the skill of the manager as well as the performance of the players.
Also, looking at past Rakuten managers, there are many cases where the team's performance improves in their second year. There have been four managers who have been in charge for more than two years, and three of them improved their standings in their second year (Nomura Katsuya 6th → 4th, Hoshino Senichi 5th → 4th, Nashida Masahiro 5th → 3rd).
Rakuten has finished fourth for four consecutive years up until this season, just one step away from making it to the CS. Will manager Miki be able to lead the team to greater heights in his second year, something he failed to achieve last time?
Text by Yu Yagi
