Japanese Baseball (NPB): News, Notes, and Where to Watch

As the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) season progresses, here is a look at the top news and notes from the past week in Japan’s highest level of professional baseball.

Seibu Lions Lose Eighth Straight Game

The Saitama Seibu Lions remain the worst team in NPB this season. On Tuesday, they lost 6-1 to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, their eighth consecutive loss. Their last win was 7-0 over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on Saturday, August 3.

The Lions’ current eight-game losing streak is the fourth time they have lost eight or more consecutive games this season. According to NPB on Reddit on X, the Lions are the first team in Pacific League history to have four eight-game losing streaks in a season, a record no organization wants to accomplish.

The Lions will attempt to avoid a 10-game losing streak by winning one of their next two games against the Hawks, who lead NPB with 67 wins.

Yomiuri Giants Outfielder Fractures Wrist

Former Texas Ranger and current Yomiuri Giant Elier Hernandez suffered a wrist fracture fielding a ground ball in Sunday’s game against the Chunichi Dragons, reported Yahoo! Japan. Rui Okoye replaced Hernandez in center field after his injury.

Hernandez is a former Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers farmhand who made his MLB debut with Texas in 2022. The 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic signed a contract with Yomiuri in May, hitting eight home runs with 30 RBI and a .798 OPS before his injury. According to Yahoo! Japan, there is no timetable for the outfielder’s return.

Okoye will undoubtedly receive more playing time while Hernandez is on the injured list. He is playing his second season with the Giants and has only 100 plate appearances in 40 games this year. Okoye’s mother is from Japan, and his father is from Nigeria.

1954 NPB Star Passes Away

Motoji Takuwa, a former pitcher with the Nankai Hawks and Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, died on August 4 at 89 due to pneumonia, reported Yahoo! Japan. Takuwa played eight seasons in NPB from 1954-61.

In his rookie season with the Hawks at 18 in 1954, Takuwa led all qualified NPB pitchers with 26 wins, a 1.58 ERA, and 275 strikeouts. He threw a career-high 329.2 innings in 1954 but did not throw more than 78.2 after 1956. Takuwa’s marvelous season in 1954 led him to earn NPB Rookie of the Year honors.

Multiple injuries, perhaps caused by throwing a tremendous amount of innings early in his career, limited Takuwa to a combined ten games in the final three seasons of his career.

This Day in Japanese Baseball History

On August 13, 2007, Japanese pitcher Masumi Kuwata played the final game of his short-lived MLB career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. August 12 was also the final game of his 21-year professional baseball career, spent almost entirely with the Yomiuri Giants.

In a 10-3 loss in the first game of a doubleheader between the Pirates and San Francisco Giants, Kuwata allowed five earned runs on five hits in one inning. Kuwata,  the first Japanese player in Pittsburgh Pirates history, was designated for assignment on August 14 and rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A Indianapolis.

In NPB, Kuwata won the 1987 Eiji Sawamura Award, NPB’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award, and the 1994 Central League MVP.

NPB Standings as of Tuesday, August 13

Central League

1. Hiroshima Toyo Carp (54-42-5)
2. Yomiuri Giants (55-45-6)
3. Hanshin Tigers (54-48-5)
4. Yokohama DeNA BayStars (50-53-2)
5. Chunichi Dragons (44-56-7)
6. Tokyo Yakult Swallows (43-57-4)

Pacific League

1. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (67-33-3)
2. Chiba Lotte Marines (55-43-6)
3. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (53-43-7)
4. Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (49-51-2)
5. Orix Buffaloes (45-55-3)
6. Saitama Seibu Lions (29-72-2)

You can stream all NPB games on DAZN.

Photo Credit: Players of Rakuten Golden Eagles and spectators pay their respects to the victims of the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, ahead of their Nippon Professional Baseball league game. (Photo by JIJI PRESS / AFP) / Japan OUT (Photo by STR/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images)