On October 26th, Motonobu Tanishige and Tomoya Satozaki appeared on the Persol Pacific League TV official YouTube channel's "Monday is Pa-Tele Time" and discussed the reasons why Hokkaido Nippon-Ham struggled against Fukuoka Softbank.
The two looked back at each team's "arch-nemesis" and "favorite opponent" in this season's head-to-head records. While the champions, Fukuoka Softbank, dominated Hokkaido Nippon-Ham with 18 wins, 5 losses, and 2 draws, they struggled against Tohoku Rakuten Eagles with 13 wins and 12 losses. Satozaki explained why the team that dominated the 3rd place team struggled against the bottom-ranked team.
The matchups between Hokkaido Nippon-Ham and Fukuoka Softbank followed a pattern of 3-game series starting on Fridays in the first half, and 3-game series starting on Tuesdays from July onwards. Satozaki said, "Since the opponent (in the title race) becomes The Fighters, The Hawks have to put all their energy into beating them. They are lining up (good pitchers) specifically to win against The Fighters." In fact, opening day pitcher Naoyuki Uwasawa pitched in 7 games, and pitcher Moinelo pitched in 3 games, resulting in many matchups against top-tier pitchers.
This influence was reflected in matchups with other teams as well. Tohoku Rakuten Eagles and Saitama Seibu Lions, who had many matchups against the so-called "back rotation" starters, fought well with records of 12 wins and 13 losses, and 11 wins and 14 losses, respectively. On the other hand, Chiba Lotte Marines, who had many series scheduled on the same days of the week as Hokkaido Nippon-Ham, ended up with a significant losing record of 7 wins, 17 losses, and 1 draw. While he noted that winning isn't guaranteed, he argued that such a trend exists.
The Fukuoka Softbank lineup recorded a .291 batting average, 31 Home Run for 155 runs. As Tanishige remarked, "They were hit too much," indicating the pitcher staff struggled, but there was also a gap in the lineups. Satozaki pointed out the cause of the heavy losing record, saying, "(The Fighters) had the same number of home run, but their runs (87 runs) were nearly half, so they weren't getting on base. It was either an out or a home run."
Their ERA in head-to-head matchups this season was 5.70, and in the Persol CS Pacific League Final Stage, they allowed 6 runs in all three games, matching their regular-season figures. When Satozaki encouraged them, saying, "They have no choice but to go all out next year," Tanishige responded, "Fukuoka Softbank spends six months properly devising countermeasures. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham also needs to spend six months working on how to fight them." Will they get their revenge next season? That battle is also worth watching.
LIVE Streaming Program "Monday is Pa-Tele Time"
・Streaming Date: Every Monday from 21:00 (Scheduled to stream until October during the season)
・Streaming Platform: Persol Pacific League TV Official YouTube Channel
・Performers: A rotating pair of former professional baseball OBs
(Ryota Igarashi & Sho Nakata / Ginji & Yuji Kaneko / G.G. Sato & T-Okada / Motonobu Tanishige & Tomoya Satozaki)
Thank you for watching this season as well!
