Nippon-Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo revealed that he made a "pilgrimage" to his hometown of Fukuoka, the venue for the opening game of the season.

At the pre-season press conference held at Mizuho PayPay alongside Softbank Hawks manager Kokubo, the manager began by saying, "Yesterday, I arrived at Fukuoka Airport at 9am, drove a Prius I had rented in advance to eat Nagasaki champon at Noma-Oike, visited the house in Terazuka 1-chome where I enjoyed playing baseball as a child, then went to Nagaoka Elementary School, Nagaoka Junior High School, and finally to a shrine called Anakannon, where I prayed—something I rarely do—that I would be able to have a good game against my beloved manager Kokubo."

Manager Shinjo, who drove himself around the elementary school route and other places, headed to Anakannon as his final destination. It is a place where he has fond memories of catch with his father when he was a child, and he said, "It has nothing to do with (good fortune) or anything like that. I went to see the place where I grew up, the place that raised me, and Anakannon is the shrine I trust. There are no such shrines in Tokyo or anything like that. I used to go to Anakannon with my dad and play catch there a lot."

In his first year as manager, Fukuoka suffered three consecutive losses to start the season. Now, as he begins his fifth season as manager, he returns to Fukuoka and, unusually, expressed strong determination, saying, "This year, I don't think of the opening game as just one out of 143. I have a strong feeling that this year is the year. I'm really going to play with the intention of winning six straight games from the start." When asked about his aspirations, he replied, "I don't go to shrines to pray or anything like that, but that's my aspiration."