On the 17th, marking the 31st anniversary of the Great Hanshin Tigers-Awaji Earthquake, Orix Buffaloes held a minute of silence at Sugimoto Shoji BS in Maishima, Osaka, from noon. About 30 people, including team president Udone, general manager Fukura, manager Kishida, and players, quietly closed their eyes, facing the direction of Kobe.

After the earthquake, Orix Buffaloes BlueWave, based in Kobe, achieved back-to-back league championships in 1995 and 1996 with the slogan "Let's do our best, Kobe." At the time, manager Kishida was a first-year junior high school student and experienced the violent shaking at his home in Suita City, Osaka.

"I was woken up by a big tremor early in the morning. I still remember seeing on TV images of the collapsed highway and fires. I prayed for the repose of the souls of those who passed away, and this year I remembered the time of 'Ganbarou Kobe' and observed a moment of silence with the intention of trying even harder," he said with a solemn expression. "No matter how many years have passed, I think there are still many people who are suffering. I want to create more time for those people to forget their pain, and more time for us to be passionate about baseball," he said, renewing his resolve.

GM Fukura, who was a key player at the time, recalled, "January 17th is a day I can never forget. I can never forget it. When I saw the state of the town, I wondered if we could really start the season, if it was even okay to play baseball..." Nevertheless, many fans came to the home stadium in Kobe every day. "When I saw that, I was really happy. Everyone was going through something much harder than I was, but they still cheered us on like that. It wasn't just the players' strength. I think there was some kind of (invisible) force at work," he said, reaffirming the power of the support.

Six games are scheduled to be held at Hotto Kobe in 2026: against Rakuten Eagles on June 27th and 28th, and against Seibu Lions on July 3rd and 4th, and September 9th and 10th. Based on the 2025 season in which they finished with 2 wins and 3 losses in 5 games, the manager declared, "We have to go into each game with the intention of winning." He added, "We have to win so that we can make our fans happy," looking ahead to a championship parade in Kobe for the first time since 2023.