Japan Today
baseball

Neuse, Aoyagi lead Tigers to 1st Japan Series title in 38 years

30 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© KYODO

©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.

30 Comments
Login to comment

Hot dog! The Tigers deserve this win (because they won it) with their almost Chicago Cubs history. Terrific. They were my pick all along anyway.

14 ( +15 / -1 )

"I had two strikes with runners in scoring position and I was just trying to get a base hit," said Neuse, who got the series final put out with a catch in left field.

"Put out?" In baseball terminology a "putout", one word, not two, is typically seen as "PO" in the box score of the game and not usually used written nor spoken.

It's too "wordy" used here, and should just be "the series final out"

-13 ( +4 / -17 )

Hats off to the mighty Tigers! Thumping win! It was definitely their time. Commiserations to the Buffaloes on the best Japan series of all time.

They'll be partying and dancing in the streets of Osaka for a week! Must be an amazing atmosphere there!

14 ( +16 / -2 )

Congratulations to the Tigers

There were thousands of Police and barricades to stop anyone in Shinsaibashi from jumping into the river.

It was actually the tightest security event I’ve ever seen here.

Kind of perplexing, but it was funny to see.

11 ( +15 / -4 )

It's rather a bit funny and ironic that the people will dancing in the streets of Osaka when it's actually the Buffaloes that are actually based IN Osaka while the Tigers are based in Nishinomiya in another prefecture Hyogo.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

I love it when a Series goes to 7 games.

My only disappointment is discovering that there are no stories in the news about the Colonel getting tossed into the Dotonbori. Would have been nice to see that tradition continue....

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Heard lot about Hanshin Tigers fans being wild and crazy but nothing on YT.

Hotels in Osaka must be packed but make sure to have a safe night.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Banzai Tigers!

The flying Tiger

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Great pitching and amazing postseason for Chikamoto!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Was a fantastic game to watch as a Tiger's fan.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Kaowaiine: “Was a fantastic game to watch as a Tiger's fan.”

it was NOT a fantastic game. A fantastic game are the nail-biters like the 5-4 win a couple games back. This was a great result for Tigers fans, absolutely, but when you cream the other team and it’s pretty much a shutout that’s not a “good (great) game” at all. But I hear this all the time… Hanshin could win 40-0 and fans would call it a great game, but a neck-and-neck on-the-edge-of-your-seat game, say, with the Tigers losing 7-6 or something would be called “terrible”.

again, and I root for the Tigers… great final result to the series, and the fact that it went to seven instead of being a sweep makes it a good final, but nothing particularly “great” about this game except that they won.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

And wasn’t there a woman who was drowning in the Dotonbori and was saved by a foreigner? I haven’t heard a peep about that anywhere in the news.

-9 ( +1 / -10 )

Ugh! The most insufferable fan base in Japan is about to become even more so.

See you in 2061!

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

smithinjapan

Kaowaiine: “Was a fantastic game to watch as a Tiger's fan.”

it was NOT a fantastic game. A fantastic game are the nail-biters like the 5-4 win a couple games back. This was a great result for Tigers fans, absolutely, but when you cream the other team and it’s pretty much a shutout that’s not a “good (great) game” at all. But I hear this all the time… Hanshin could win 40-0 and fans would call it a great game, but a neck-and-neck on-the-edge-of-your-seat game, say, with the Tigers losing 7-6 or something would be called “terrible”.

again, and I root for the Tigers… great final result to the series, and the fact that it went to seven instead of being a sweep makes it a good final, but nothing particularly “great” about this game except that they won.

Agreed. Games 3, 4, and 5 at Koshien were all great games, even if Hanshin lost game 3. They fought back from behind in all three games, winning two of them.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

DaveAllTogether

Ugh! The most insufferable fan base in Japan is about to become even more so.

See you in 2061!

The most devoted and lively fan base in all of baseball, including the US. I dare you to find a more energetic crowd at any ballpark, anywhere in the world. The closest in the US in terms of devotion (not noise, none are noisier) would probably be Mets, Cubs, or Red Sox fans.

The "insufferable" fans are the fans of perennial winners, like the Giants in Japan or the Yankees in the US. Or, the Phillies. But, that's just Philadelphia sports fans in general...of any sport.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

There were thousands of Police and barricades to stop anyone in Shinsaibashi from jumping into the river.

Didnt stop some people from jumping in at Dotonbori, which had even more cops!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Nary a peep?

The lass in question took up half a page in the inner part of that fine newspaper, Nikkan Sports. They downplayed it, calling it a puchi dive of 1 meter, so it seems doubtful that any charisma men needed to follow her in. Could have made the situation worse if the gent was drunk.

I am just waiting for FFS to report what it was like at his alleged Minami stomping grounds, but without any snide U-Cs tacked on please. Or is he off on a long trip again?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Kyocera Dome is hosting the corporate league championships from Wednesday. My suspicion is that many fans of those teams are employed by the participating companies and got time off and comped tickets to reward the better employees. Joking but you never know.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Really pleased for Hanshin and their fans. I'm a now distant one. I knew it was thirty-eight years, but the "second time ever" text on the screen still made me laugh. Aren't they the second oldest team in Japan?

I used to watch Okada play in person, but he looks very old for 65. I hope he's okay and doesn't have a medical problem.

If its 38 years to the next one, then yes, 2061. If MIT and Limits to Growth are correct, civilization will have collapsed by then, so party hard Hanshin fans. You may not get another chance.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@kohakuebisu--yes, founded in 1935, around the time Babe Ruth and other all stars held exhibition games.

That long history does not help much if their corporate backing is a single department store and a regional rail line. Hard to justify raising player pay to compete with the Softbanks and Yomiuris of the league.

Lowest payroll team these days is Fighters, owned by a processed meats maker. Would like to see how creative they get with the Ni-Ham team cafeteria menu.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

TorafusuTorasan

That long history does not help much if their corporate backing is a single department store and a regional rail line. Hard to justify raising player pay to compete with the Softbanks and Yomiuris of the league.

Hankyu Hanshin Holdings owns TWO major Kansai area railway companies, Two major department stores brands, numerous supermarket brands including Kansai Supa, Izunomiya, and Oasis, a chain of hotels, multiple theaters and entertainment properties including the famous Takarazuka Review and TOHO movie company, several regional cable TV and ISP's, global freight services, and, yes, the Hanshin Tigers and Koshien stadium.

In addition to the money from their corporate owners, they have many sponsors, including their largest , the Kansai electronics retailer, Joshin.

Lowest payroll team these days is Fighters, owned by a processed meats maker. Would like to see how creative they get with the Ni-Ham team cafeteria menu.

Those horrible Fighters, with such terrible recent players as Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@garypen--in that case, the team must rank the same place in their list of priorities as you put them to have had such long bouts of mediocrity. And it was not a knock against the Fighters, who have amazing young talent such as Manami. Just stating a fact that I saw reported earlier this year, to illustrate why the team is in last place. I think their most talented staffer may be in the sartorial section--some of those jester unis could temporarily blind rival teams.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TorafusuTorasan

-some of those jester unis could temporarily blind rival teams.

I assume you're referring to the Fighters uniforms, as the Tigers uniforms are pretty traditional. White pinstripes at home. Gray on the road.

As for the Fighters' look. There's nothing jester-like about their uniforms. They're quite reminiscent of the Toronto Blue Jays uniforms. A little softball-y, sure. But, nothing blinding or jester-ish. A lot of NPB teams have softball-y uniforms.

Let's not forget some of the winning styles over the years in the MLB: the old bright green and yellow Oakland A's uniforms, the old bright orange Orioles uniforms, those ridiculous Pirates uniforms with the old-timey hats, the bright-striped Astros uniforms, etc.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Let's not forget some of the winning styles over the years in the MLB: the old bright green and yellow Oakland A's uniforms, the old bright orange Orioles uniforms, those ridiculous Pirates uniforms with the old-timey hats, the bright-striped Astros uniforms, etc.

Add the Chicago White Sox playing in shorts in the 70s when the fantastic Bill Veeck owned the team.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Fighters new look not jesterish? One leg black, the other red. Big unneeded collars that time traveled from the 1970s. And Shinjo, bless him, hamming it up as the lil boss. Even his sports car has the same migraine-inducing paint job. Are you and I talking about the same team?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sending out an APB to the fashion police. A meat-themed team from the north has been infiltrated by imposter Kimetsu no yaeba cosplayers.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TorafusuTorasan

Fighters new look not jesterish? One leg black, the other red. Big unneeded collars that time traveled from the 1970s.

I had no idea what you're talking about. I had to Google it. Their standard uniforms are blue and white, with BlueJays style lettering, introduced a coupla years ago.

That garish deal is their alternate. I had never seen them play in that alternate uniform. Granted, I don't watch much Pacific League. But, I had never seen it in any of the weekend sports roundups or evening news clips, either. I would certainly remember it. My guess is they rarely wore it.

It looks like ownership and fans never took to it, either. They currently only offer the BlueJays style replicas in their estore. (The owners apparently making Shinjo stop using BIGBOSS on his jersey, as well.)

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites