Nippon Nippon-Ham pitcher Koki Kitayama commented on catcher Yuya Gunji 's "tea-making pose" on the 20th. The "tea-making pose," which became a hot topic during the WBC Samurai Japan tournament, was devised by Kitayama at the instruction of Shohei Ohtani.

In the game against DeNA on the 18th (at Escon Stadium), Gunji hit a home run and then performed the "tea-making pose" in front of the dugout. He said, "I thought (Kitayama) had come up with a really good idea, but we unfortunately lost, so if things continue like this it might get buried in obscurity. I'll take over the idea so that it doesn't get forgotten."

Kitayama revealed with a smile, "In the locker room (before the game on the 18th), he said something like, 'I don't really do that much, do I?' and when I said, 'It's popular, you can use it,' he used it, so I think he really wanted to do it (laughs). I think when he said it wasn't popular, it was probably just the flip side of wanting to use it, so I told him he could use it anytime."

When asked about the possibility of him doing the tea-making pose, he said, "Since I'm pitcher, it might be perceived as me egging on the batter. I really want to do it, but I think it would be fun to do it in the dugout when one of my teammates gets a hit. If everyone is doing it together, I'd like to go along with it."