The Tigers lost but still clinched the Central League Pennant, and I was saying farewell to Katsuya Kakunaka.

As the season is winding down, I decide to take in some action down on the farm.

Hiroki Kokubo finished his career with 413 home runs, the 17th-most in NPB history. When it comes to power and home runs, 500 is the magic number in America. 28 different players have reached the mile...

The man who always swung with all his might.

The only 3,000-hit batter in NPB history.

The Franimal became the only player in history with multiple 30-homer seasons in both MLB and NPB.

Teruaki Sato and Shota Morishita are making history for the Tigers.

Norihiro Nakamura finished his NPB career with 404 home runs, the 19th-most in NPB history. When it comes to power and home runs, 500 is the magic number in America. 28 different players have reached ...

Lotte's long-time closer finally reaches his 250th career save

Hell in Hiroshima as the Carp's drug scandal won't end.

More things you didn't know you wanted to know, now with the Pacific League.

At 37, Hayato Sakamoto is somehow still the guy you send up when the whole game is riding on one swing.

My favorite player is retiring.

A bus, a zipper, and three hours to Gotemba.

<p>When it comes to power and home runs, 500 is the magic number in America. Twenty-eight different players have reached the milestone in major league history, from Eddie Murray to Harmon Killebrew to...

Rosters are set, two seats remain, and the Home Run Derby bar is lower than you'd think

Nash Walters, Jesus Liranzo, and Jose Quijada threw the first all-foreign combined no-hitter in NPB history

The selections are a lot more varied than last season.

Haruto Takahashi improves to 10-0, threw his first career balk along the way, and still can't stop thinking about a game from seven years ago.

In the middle of a rainy week with half the league rained out, a song from 1949 has been stuck in my head.

Seibu did it with the best winning percentage ever recorded. The Pacific League dominated like it usually does.

Eiji Sawamura is one of the most legendary figures in Japanese sports history (Photo: Number Web). Every baseball fan knows the number 511. It is Cy Young’s career win total, and it has been unreachab...

A year of writing about Japanese baseball, making mistakes, learning, and loving this game.

Hanshin's Shota Morishita is leading in All-Star votes, but one umpire didn't care.

How can you not be romantic about baseball?

The greatest hit-maker in the history of professional baseball.

Pinch-hit heroics lift Seibu to first place for the first time in 768 days and the Pacific League is suddenly wide open.

Rob Fitts loves Japanese baseball and has been writing about it for years. His 10 books on baseball in Japan cover many aspects of the sport in the Land of the Rising Sun. Dr. Fitts joined Gordon and ...

The man standing on one leg who became the greatest power hitter in the history of the sport.

The Shochiku Robins won the first Central League pennant in 1950, scored more runs than any team in Japanese baseball history, and then disappeared.

I spent Golden Week sick in bed. Haruto Takahashi started it by making history.

Taneichi ruptured his Achilles. Maki tore his hamstring. Orix won eleven straight. And the Dragons swept their first series of the year.

The man who became more than the sport itself.

How Yakult's fearless new manager is building the most interesting team in Japanese baseball while Chunichi collapses in the background

Of course they walked him. It couldn’t be helped.

Hanshin looks like the class of the Central League again, the Dragons are already in trouble, and Lotte has a losing record for the first time ever.

The pitcher who refused to change, crossed an ocean, and altered baseball forever

Haruki Hosono did something historic, the Fighters can't stop hitting home runs, the Swallows continue to surprise, and more from the first full week of NPB.