Nishiguchi will become a demon. On the 31st, Seibu Lions Lions manager Fumiya Nishiguchi (53) made a New Year's resolution, saying, "I think I have to become a demon," as he enters his second year in office, 26 years later.
In his first year in charge, the team finished fifth in the league with 63 wins, 77 losses, and 3 ties. Early in the season, the batting line-up worked well together and at one point they were within 0.5 points of the lead, but after the interleague games, there were noticeable instances where they couldn't get that "one more hit" and they were unable to make a comeback. "I don't have any biggest regrets. I'm not that type of person," he said in his usual nonchalant tone, but he also calmly reflected, "Overall, it was a lot of things. Reading the pitching strategy was the hardest part. It's not that I trusted the players too much, but maybe I should have done things like squeeze or moved runner around a bit more."
With 2026 approaching, the team has acquired multiple free agents in the same year for the first time, with Kuwabara from DeNA and Ishii from Nippon-Ham. Furthermore, the team has been steadily strengthening its roster with Lin from Uni-President Taiwan, who won Rookie of the Year in 2020; Winans, who recorded 12 wins and a 1.63 ERA this season with the Yankees' Triple-A team; and Canario, who hit six Home Run with the Pirates. The team will work together to win the league championship for the first time since 2019, and become Japan's number one team since 2008. (Oonaka Ayami)
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