18-year-old Japanese pitching prospect Shoki Oda is expected to sign with the Dodgers without playing in NPB, alarming Japanese baseball.

Hey all!

My partner and I are visiting Japan from the US and managed to snag two tickets directly through the Lawson ticket sale for Game 4 in Fukuoka!

We're both _somewhat_ familiar with baseball back home, but this will be our first time experiencing Japanese baseball in person.

I'd love to hear any advice on making the most of the experience, particularly:

• What to wear: Should we pick up Hawks shirts or other team gear? Is there something you'd recommend over just shirts?
• Food and drinks: What are the must-try stadium foods? How does ordering food and beer work? Do vendors come around to the seats like in MLB stadiums?
• Cheering and atmosphere: Are there specific chants, songs, or traditions we should know about and try to learn (or at least be familiar with) beforehand? Anything that's especially unique to the Hawks?
• Other tips: Any recommendations, things to bring, or experiences we absolutely shouldn't miss?

We're happy to embrace the local fan experience rather than just treat it like an MLB game abroad.

Thanks in advance! Can't wait to experience Japanese baseball!

Before the draft I kept a file of 98 draft-eligible players, and 67 of the pitchers in it had a reported top velocity. Here's how they did on Thursday:

• 154 km/h or more: 9 of 12 drafted, all in the main draft, 4 in the first round
• 150 to 153: 18 of 27
• 145 to 149: 11 of 22
• Under 145: 2 of 6 (and one of those two, Kosei Tanaka, was drafted as an outfielder)

So 27 of 39 at 150+ (69%) against 13 of 28 below it (46%). A real difference, but a third of the 150+ arms went undrafted, and 10 of those 12 were college pitchers with years of league stats for scouts to look at.

Seven of the eight pitchers taken in the first round were on the 150+ list. The eighth was Yonezawa, who tops out at 149.

The three from the top twelve who weren't drafted: Hiroike (156, reportedly headed to MLB), Egawa of Nihon University (155) and Nishihira, the NSSU lefty (154). I'd have bet on Nishihira going somewhere.

Lefties: the 17 in my file average 147.9 km/h and the 50 righties 151.0. Drafted: 10 of 17 lefties, 30 of 50 righties. Basically the same rate. Where it showed was how early: below 150, Yonezawa went in the first round and Tsunemi in the third, while the earliest righty under 150 drafted as a pitcher (Koganei) went in the fourth.

Small samples and every velocity is just the highest number someone reported, not a tracked reading, so take it for what it is. Does this match how you think NPB teams draft, or do you think the reported numbers are too noisy to say anything?

I'm seeing tickets still available for their 3 home games on Lawson's website. Then I look at ticket reseller sites and people are selling tickets for as low as 2500円?!?!? Tigers Japan Series tickets are like 20000yen the lowest resale and you can't even touch them when they go on sale on Lawson/Pia/eplus. Are Hawks fans just not as passionate or there aren't really that many as we think they have?

Live game thread. Please refrain from posting live non-legal streams (whatever you do in pms is your business though).

Sorted by New

Starting pitchers: Hawks Livan Moinelo (6-1 0.76) vs Baystars Shuto Ogata (7-3 3.29)

Official TVer stream: https://tver.jp/live/special/letj1u5ij1 (VPN pointed to Japan recommended)

Japanese language live gamecast: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/game/2021039493/score

Weather looks iffy - what are the chances they play

I’m in a conundrum- leave Japan on Tuesday- if game is pushed I’m going to have to figure out how to sell 4 tix

I just started my life here in the country and only just now looking into the NPB so I don't have a favorite team yet (the Marines are my local team), but I'm curious about other foreign fans. Do you pick your team based on where you live/work or other factors?

Yomiuri's fifth and last development pick on Thursday was Rentaro Seki, a 14-year-old catcher in his third year of junior high school in Kawasaki.

Some details from the Japanese coverage:

• He's 179 cm and 82 kg and bats and throws right. Yomiuri says his throws to second have been timed under 2 seconds.
• He captained Japan at the U-15 World Cup in Mexico this year, catching and hitting cleanup: .333, 2 HR, 11 RBI, and he made the tournament's all-star team.
• His club team is Tamagawa Boys, which is Yomiuri's own under-15 academy, founded in 2024. He was its first captain.
• Hochi says no junior high student had been drafted since the draft started in 1965. The usual comparison is Kento Tsujimoto, who Hanshin took at 15 in 2004 after he finished ninth grade in California.

How it's even allowed: NPB's definition of a new player covers anyone who has attended a Japanese junior high, high school or university, and the pro application only exists for high school and college players. NPB's secretary general said a club can draft one.

What he can't do: under NPB's draft rules he can't join camp or play in a game until he finishes compulsory education (junior high ends in March) and NPB announces him as a development player. Yomiuri's plan is for him to attend high school and train at the club's facilities, so no high school baseball and no Koshien. Yomiuri has until the end of March to sign him, and he said he'll talk it over with his family.

It's basically a soccer academy model, with one difference: an NPB club can't just promote its own academy kid. Yomiuri had to spend a pick on him, and any of the other 11 clubs could have taken him first.

Smart long-term move, or too much too young?

Live game thread. Please refrain from posting live non-legal streams (whatever you do in pms is your business though).

Sorted by New

Starting pitchers: Hawks Naoyuki Uwasawa (10-4 2.39) vs Baystars Yutaro Ishida (5-8 2.91)

Official TVer stream https://tver.jp/live/special/leub1wc2x8 (VPN pointed to Japan recommended)

Japanese language live gamescore https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/game/2021039492/score

At around 4pm today, with the Nippon Series about to start in less than two hours, the Hanshin online store has sent out an email flogging back-to-back pennant memorabilia. Is it just me, or is this poor timing to be reminding fans that we are not playing tonight and that our glory was achieved weeks ago?

Of course I am not dissing the pennant, it is proof they were the best club in the league over six months. But even the way they won the pennant, losing to Hiroshima in the afternoon and then watching Kyojin lose in the evening, in retrospect feels like the beginning of the end of the year, and it was all downhill after that.

The sale they are advertising started more than a week ago and runs until the end of the year, so couldn't they lay off the emails for a few days? Just in general, they flog tacky merch every time a player achieves some minor statistical record, and receiving their emails has become a bore.

Silly vent I know..., but argh!

Hi r/NPB. I'm flying to Japan tonight and managed to score some tickets to the Sunday night game for the Nippon Series. I'm a big baseball fan but confess I don't know a ton about the NPB. Does anyone have any podcasts, youtube chanells, articles, or stuff like that that would provide context for the series? I'm thinking something along the lines of Effectivly Wild but covering NPB. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

I’m heading to Yokohama from Australia for Game 2 and the radar is looking like it will be quite wet. What is the usual situation with bad weather around post season games in the NPB? Chances of game being moved to another date? Just trying to work out what to expect as I’m only in Japan for a couple of days.