◆Pre-season game Rakuten Eagles 3-3 Lotte (21st, Kin Town)

Lotte caught up in the seventh inning with two runs Hiromi Oka outfielder running Home Run and Kyota Fujiwara outfielder solo Home Run to end the first open game in a tie.

Fujiwara, who played as the sixth batter and right fielder and hit a home run into the right field stands to tie the game, was a chance maker who batted first in 81 games last season. Manager Saburo, who took over as manager this season, explained his intention behind batting sixth, saying, "I only had the image of him as the first or second batter, but I thought I needed to change my way of thinking a bit. I thought, 'What if I made him a point scorer?' and put him in sixth. He didn't get many chances, but I realized that he can hit in pretty much any batting order."

Additionally, catcher Ryusei Terachi, who started as the fifth batter and catcher, was assigned to third base from the fourth inning. Seeing him handle the situation safely, including fielding a ground ball that came flying in shortly after he was substituted, the new manager smiled and said, "We can do it." The 20-year-old is a young warrior with a reputation for his batting ability, as seen in his selection as the fifth batter. "If last year we were attacking with around six or seven players (because weaker players were in the batting lineup), maybe we can attack with around eight or nine players," Terachi said. By increasing the number of games Terachi is at bat even when he is not playing as catcher, Terachi hopes to improve the team's scoring ability, which was fifth in the league last season with 441 points.