Japanese Baseball: Pacific League Updates: June, 2015 / May, 2015 / April, 2015
Japanese
Baseball: Central League Updates: June, 2015
/ May,
2015 / April,
2015
JUNE 2015
PACIFIC LEAGUE UPDATE
The Softbank Hawks (43-25-3) moved into first
place in June on the back of a league best interleague winning record,
sweeps
of the Giants and Fighters during June, and 15 wins in their last 20.
The Hawks
are now 4.5 games ahead of the chasing pack and look to be the quality
of the
PL this season. The Seibu Lions(39-30-4) have moved into second ahead
of early
PL frontrunners the Nippon Ham Fighters (40-31-1). The Lions have
surged lately
going 12-6-2 in their last 20, while the Fighters have only managed
.500 ball
at 10-10. The Chiba Lotte Marines
(34-35) hold on to 4th place in the
PL, but with a league worst ERA of 4.27, and hitting just
.267, they appear to be heading down rather than up at this point. The
Rakuten
Eagles (32-35-2) are in 5th place, and
the Orix Buffaloes (28-44-1) remain in last place; 17 games
back from 1st, and
12.5 out of the last playoff spot.
Noteworthy
·
Takeya Nakamura (SEI) is tied with Sho Nakata (NH) of
the Fighters in the PL HR standings with 21HRS apiece. Nobuhiro Matsuda
(SOF)
of the Hawks sits in third with 20HRs.
·
Yuki
Yanagita (SOF)
leads the PL in batting average, hitting .382 16 48 in 267ABs so
far
this year.
·
Two-way Fighters star Shohei Otani leads the PL in
wins with 9 (9-1), and in ERA at 1.47. Otani lost his first game of the
season
on June 6th during inter-league
against
the Tigers. His batting has been less than impressive this year,
currently
Otani is hitting .176 with 3HRS and 10RBIs in 85Abs. Last season Otani
hit .274
10 31 in 212 ABs.
· The Buffaloes poor start to the season resulted in Japan’s first managerial casualty of the season with Buffaloes manager Moriwaki stepped down after almost 3 years at the club.
·
Former CL MVP and HR king Alex Ramirez is back in NPB
as a roving instructor for the Orix Buffaloes.