The "Pacific League 2025 Opening Press Conference" was held on the 27th at Mizuho PayPay, with Lotte manager Yoshii Masato in attendance along with Softbank manager Kokubo Hiroki.
Manager Yoshii once again announced that Kojima would be the opening pitcher for the game Softbank on the 28th (Mizuho PayPay), and expressed his expectations, saying, "He's pitcher who has been maintaining the rotation the best over the past few years. I hope that the team will revolve around him this year and that he will perform well."
Regarding Softbank, he expressed his caution, saying, "I have the impression that they are a mature team.Each player knows exactly what to do, and they execute that in the game.I think they are a formidable team."
Now in his third year in charge and with the team aiming to win the league championship for the first time in 20 years, he said, "The team doesn't have any set regular players yet, so I'm hoping that someone, especially a young player, will stand out and perform well. I want to play lots of games that will excite the baseball world," expressing his hope for the emergence of new talent, with first-round draft pick Nishikawa (Aoyama Gakuin University) and others in mind.
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