Nishiguchi will become a demon. Seibu Lions Lions manager Fumiya Nishiguchi (53) made a New Year's resolution on the 31st, as he enters his second year in the position, 2026, saying, "I guess I have to become a demon."

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."

For the 2026 season, the team has acquired multiple free agents in the same year for the first time in the club's history, with Kuwahara from DeNA and Ishii from Nippon-Ham. Furthermore, they have steadily strengthened their roster with new players such as Lin from Uni-President Taiwan, who won Rookie of the Year in 2020, Wynans, who posted 12 wins and a 1.63 ERA in the Yankees' Triple-A this season, and Canario, who hit 6 Home Run for the Pirates. The team is united in its pursuit of its first league championship since 2019 and its first Japan Series championship since 2008. (Ayami Onaka)