The Saitama Seibu Lions lost to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 7-3 on Thursday for loss No. 85 on the season, setting a new franchise record.
The Lions previous record of 84 losses, which they tied on Wednesday, was set 53 years ago in 1971, when the Saitama Seibu Lions were known as the Nishitetsu Lions.
Seibu’s season started well, as the Lions won four out of their first five games. Their hot start faltered quickly, and the Lions endured a rough 12-game stretch in April that only produced one win.
Since then, Seibu has been the NPB’s bottom feeder and will likely become the first team since the 2017 Tokyo Yakult Swallows to lose 90 games. If the Lions lose 15 of their final 16 games, which is very unlikely, they’d be the first team to lose 100 games in NPB history.
The 2024 season hasn’t been indicative of Seibu’s franchise as a whole. The Lions have won 23 Pacific League pennants, more than any other team. In 2018 and 2019, Seibu won back-to-back pennants before losing to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the Climax Series in both years.
However, the Lions have not been able to hit the ball well and have suffered because of it. Seibu’s .208 collective batting average is the worst in the NPB by a wide margin, and the Lions rank at the bottom, or very close to it, in just about every statistic.
It’ll be a season to forget for the Lions franchise, but unfortunately, it will be memorized in the record books.
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WBN NPB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/japan/
Photo Credit: Infielder Keisuke Mizuta #45 of Saitama Seibu Lions celebrates after scoring during a friendly match between South Korea and Saitama Seibu Lions at Tokyo Dome on March 2, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images)
