Nippon-Ham win Orix Buffaloes 5-1 in their game at Escon F on the 1st. Trailing by one run in the bottom of the 3rd inning, Castro hit a 3-run homer to take the lead, and in the 4th inning, they added another run with squeeze by Chusei Mannami. In the 6th inning, Manami hit a solo home run, securing win with Shinjo's style of baseball, which makes full use of both big and small plays.

On the CS Fuji TV ONE program "Pro baseball News 2026" aired on the 1st, program MC Motonobu Tanishige reflected, "This year, if anything, Nippon-Ham has been relying more on big plays home run. Until last year, they had several scoring patterns because they were able to execute small plays properly... This time, it felt like they were able to execute small plays for the first time in a while." Commentator Masashi Saito added, "Manager Shinjo has always been a manager whose moves are unpredictable, so in that sense, I think Nippon-Ham is starting to become more like themselves."

Commentator Tomotaka Sakaguchi also expressed optimism for the future, saying, "The bigger players are coming on strong this year, so if they can execute the finesse like they did last year, the opponents will have to think for themselves, and I think the team will move in a positive direction."

☆ Cooperation: Fuji TV ONE "Professional baseball News 2026"