On the 25th, Rakuten Eagles win Seibu Lions 2-0 in a game (Rakuten Eagles Mobile). Starting pitcher Kenta Maeda pitched brilliantly, allowing only 3 hit no runs over 7 innings, earning his first win since returning to NPB.

On the CS Fuji TV ONE program "Pro baseball News 2026" aired on the 25th, Kenta Maeda 's pitch that day was a hot topic. Kenji Tomashino, who appeared as a commentator, praised him, saying, "Today, he was able to throw fastballs that he could really push. He was also able to evade or push his breaking ball, and he was throwing good pitches with determination, like he was closer his batters with splitter."

Program MC Hiroki Nomura commented, "In today's pattern, he was able to get strikeouts with breaking ball and overpower batters with fastball. When he's not doing well, he tries to get ahead in the count with breaking ball but it doesn't work... and he ends up throwing a lot of pitches, but today it seemed like he was doing well."

Commentator Akio Saito also commented, "His straight arm motion was excellent. It looked like he was skillfully using his arm motion to change the ball's movement. He started by swinging his arm as hard as he could to show his straight pitch, and then pitched as usual. splitter was dropping well, and he threw slider with good control. He also seemed to have a good view of what was going on around him. I think he pitched calmly."

Regarding the fact that he took mound seven times in a row, Tomashino commented, "In the sixth inning, fastball started to get hit back, so I thought it was a warning sign, and I wondered what Manager Yoshii would do about the timing of pitcher change... but he told him to go. He pitched in response to that decision." Saito commented, "I thought that was typical of Manager Yoshii. It seemed to me that letting him pitch one more time at that point revived Kenta Maeda."

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