Rakuten Eagles announced on the 17th that former Lotte manager Masato Yoshii (61) will be taking over as their new manager. Yoshii held a press conference with owner Hiroshi Mikitani (61) in Sendai. Wearing number "81" uniform, Yoshii expressed his delight, saying, "As a baseball person, I am very happy to be entrusted with such an important job."

He admitted to having some hesitation about taking on the role, but now confessed his burning determination, saying, "I've made up my mind. I'm ready to fight." He continued, "I want everyone to reaffirm their strong determination to win."

During his playing career, Yoshii experienced three league championships and two Japan Series titles as pitcher with Kintetsu and Yakult. He played for three MLB teams, the Mets, Expos, and Rockies, and recorded a total of 121 wins in Japan and the US. After ending his playing career with Lotte in 2007, he started his coaching career in 2008 as the first-team pitcher coach for Nippon-Ham. He has nurtured top-class pitcher such as Yu Darvish (Padres) and Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers). His skills were so highly regarded that he also served as pitcher coach for Samurai Japan. In 2022, he coached Roki Sasaki (Dodgers) as the pitching coordinator for Lotte. From 2023, he served as the manager of Lotte for three years, and in his first year as manager, he led the team from fifth place the previous year to second place.

Rakuten Eagles was in contention for first place until mid-April this season, but then their performance plummeted. After 63 games, they were struggling with a record of 23 wins, 39 losses, and 1 tie, a deficit of 16 games. From May onwards, they also made changes to the coaching staff. However, no dramatic improvement was seen. At 1am on the 10th, after the game against The Giants (Rakuten Eagles Mobile), when their deficit reached 15 games, they made a surprise announcement that manager Miki would be taking a leave of absence. Since the announcement, head coach Shiokawa has been serving as acting manager. Aiming for further progress, they have brought in Mr. Yoshii as the new manager midway through the season. This marks the birth of a new manager who was brought in from outside the organization at an unusual time.