On the 20th, Softbank Hawks manager Hiroki Kokubo made a reversal of his verbal stance against Nippon-Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo. On that day, he attended a manager's meeting of the 12 professional baseball teams held in Tokyo. While the managers of the first and second teams attended and confirmed rule changes for this season, there was also a moment of conversation with the manager of the opposing team who fought for the championship last season.
The manager, who received a personal declaration of war from Manager Shinjo at the start of 2026, saying, "I want to defeat Hiroki Kokubo," grinned and said, "Manager Shinjo said, 'I'm glad you named him,' so I replied, 'Yes, that sounds like you.'" Arihara, who served as the opening pitcher in both of his first two years in charge and also won the most wins consecutively, has now transferred to Nippon-Ham. He will join a powerful pitcher that includes Ito and Kitayama, and he didn't forget to snap back at the opposing manager, saying, "You have too many pitcher."
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