On November 23rd, the "LIONS THANKS FESTA 2025 supported by Olive" was held at Belluna Dome. Under this year's theme, "Connecting at close range," players and fans interacted with each other, while players also appeared at the main event ground, livening up the venue.
On Hiroshi Kaino 's stage, bullpen will face off in a game!
At the opening ceremony, pitcher Haruki Sugiyama, who sang on the rookie stage last year, performed at the Dome for the second year in a row. His fellow pitcher Taiga Ueda also appeared dressed as an assistant director and introduced the contents of the event using cue cards. The event ended with an opening declaration by the two players.
At the "Hiroshi Kaino pitcher Stage," producer Hiroshi Kaino, pitcher pitcher Ryota Itokawa, Haruto Yamada, pitcher Shinnosuke Hada pitcher appeared. pitcher may have hurt his throat playing golf, but his entertaining nature remains unchanged. This year, he appeared in a flashy leopard print set, and the audience erupted.
The first game was "Where's the Joker?". The rules were Old Maid, and the winner was the person who had the Joker until the end, but the negotiations became heated towards the end. In the end, it was a one-on-one battle between pitcher pitcher and Itokawa, with pitcher emerging win. The three losers had to endure a penalty game... This was a stage that showed the close friendship between bullpen members.
Next up was the "Ii Jan! Visual Collection." Based on the theme of what they wanted to show their fans, players Yuto Koga and Keisuke Nakata appeared in their "game uniforms," while Takayoshi Yamamura and Manaya Nishikawa appeared dressed as the Miya brothers, twin players from the anime "Haikyu!!."
After a showdown between the Koga/Nakata pair and the Yamamura/Nishikawa pair, Koga and Nakata lost and, as a penalty, had to say a "heart-warming line" chosen by drawing lots. Koga said, "Just watch me," and Nakata said, "Leave it to me." What did they say? Check out the video.
Will this become a regular occurrence?! On the rookie stage, Seiya Watanabe and others will be performing their dance!
The "2024 Draft Rookie Stage" featured the second-round draft pick, Seiya Watanabe, who showed great performance as a rookie this season, as well as Hiroto Saito, Shoma Kariu, pitcher, Hibiki Shinohara, pitcher, Haruki Tatsuyama, Teruki Koga, and Katsumi Hayashi, who performed a dance to SnowMan's "Charismax.
After the dance, the audience was challenged to participate in a project. In the project to find a fan with a card with a theme written on it, the audience got "overwhelmingly close" to the fan. The event concluded with a talk about their aspirations for the next season, and the audience was able to get to know the rookies a little better.
After the stage event, there will be baseball match for the first time in about 20 years, "Overwhelming Entertainment Baseball!" Click here to see the outcome of the match between Team Tonozaki and Team Genda!
