Yakyu Doodle

Michael Cox

A mess of Major League ballplayers arrived in Tokyo Wednesday to play the (supposedly) biennial series against Japan's best in a series beginning today. For some reason, folks just aren't getting all that excited about it here in the States, and that's a shame. In fact, anyone who tries to follow Japanese yakyu has a hell of a time unless they have some knowledge of Kanji and the appropriate operating system installed.

Since our readership hasn't declined one bit since the season ended (and for that, domo arigato), we'd love to take this opportunity to whet the appetite of all of you who obviously need your baseball fix with the details of the Super Dome Series '98. (MLB is calling it the Japan All-Star Series, but until they start hosting games here, the Japanese name applies.)

First, the teams. While the Major League Baseball team is a collection of the best players who'd volunteer to play, Nippon Professional Baseball will be fielding the cream of the crop. Perhaps thinking that one day he'd play pro soccer, Orix Blue Wave OF Ichiro Suzuki goes simply by the name Ichiro, and is a five-time batting champion...at the age of 25. His .348 career batting average is the highest of all time in NPL, and in 1994 he hit .384, which most American players would be happy with as an OBP.

Yomiuri Giants OF Hideki Matsui led the Central League and all of JPB in homers (34 -- remember that Japanese players who play every day get about 20-25% fewer at-bats than their American counterparts) and OPS (.984). Matsui aside, however, the Japanese team's batters aseem to be weighted towards the Pacific League, including Ichiro, IF Kazuo Matsui (.331 BA) and OF Naoyuki Ohmura.

The top pitchers in both Japanese leagues will also appear. the Chunichi Dragons' one-two punch of LHP Shigeki Noguchi (2.15 ERA, 120 K in 167 IP -- pitchers average about 65-75% of MLB starters' innings) and RHP Kenshin Kawakami (2.61 ERA, 99 K) will appear, as will top the country's top closer, possibly of all time, RHP Kazuhiro Sasaki of the champion Yokohama BayStars. Sasaki had a 0.64 ERA and set the new all-time record of 45 saves this year, beating his own past record of 38.

Meanwhile, don't think that the American team is a bunch of also-rans. With a potential outfield of like the Cubs' Sammy Sosa, Padres' Greg Vaughn and Indians' Manny Ramirez, it could be a great series to watch. Just hope that Red Sox SS Nomar Garciaparra gets more playing time than Mets SS Rey Ordonez, who will be starting today (yep, Rey Ordonez, spreading the love and hitting skills worldwide).

The MLB (lest we not be clear, this is not a US team, with Latin stars competing as well) pitching staff is anchored by Phillies RHP Curt Schilling and Mariners LHP Jamie Moyer, with none other than Padres closer Trevor Hoffman in the pen, with the Red Sox' Tom Gordon and Astros' Billy Wagner to back him up. the flipside: Blue Jays LHP Dan Plesac and Rangers RHP Rick Helling? Wha'?

A final word on the teams: the MLB team will not be playing the NPB team every game -- they will face the legendary (like the Yankees here, revered by their own fans but reviled by many others)Yomiuri Giants in today's game. Why we're not sure, because the Giants were the Japanese equivalent of the Mets in 1998, finishing third in the Central League with a 73-62 record.

The schedule looks like this (all times local, check your cable listings for TV):

Today - MLB All-Stars vs. Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome, 6:00 pm
Nov. 7-8 - vs. JPB All-Stars at the Tokyo Dome, 6:00 pm
Nov. 10 - vs. JPB All-Stars at the Fukuoka Dome, 6:00 pm
Nov. 11-12 - vs. JPB All-Stars at the Osaka Dome, 6:00 pm
Nov. 14 - vs. JPB All-Stars at the Tokyo Dome, 1:00 pm
Nov. 15 - vs. JPB All-Stars at the Tokyo Dome, 12:00 pm

The teams will take turns batting as the "home" team, and games will go nine innings, even if tied.

Fun Facts:

- As anyone who's watched European football (no, not the World League...okay, that too) already knows, American sports don't come close to the commercialism of foreign games. Most Japanese teams are not known by their city names, but by the name of the company that owns them. In fact, only the Yokohama BayStars use only their city name.

- Most terms in Japanese baseball are directly derived from the American terms. A ball is a boru, a strike is a sutoraiku, a double play is a daburu pure, and a forkball is a foku boru. You might not want to repeat that last one on the bus home from work tonight, though.

- Japanese players have gradually become more flamboyant than their American counterparts, with some of their post-homer antics (including the gattsu pozu, or "guts pose") raising the eyebrows of some of the transplanted gaijin (each team can have up to four foreigners).

- MLB and NPB briefly exchanged umpires recently, with Japanese umps working spring training while an American worked league games in Japan -- until he was roughed up during a game and came home.

- You've probably heard that they allow ties in Japanese League regular-season games. It's only half-true nowadays: in the Pacific League, a tie game ends after 12 innings. However, in the Central, if a game is tied after 15 innings, it will be replayed (not that same night, silly).

- Yes, Japanese fans yell through megaphones, they bang stuff together, they eat dried squid. I haven't made sure of this, but I think they even avoid "YMCA."

For more, visit are the MLB official site, which has the lineups and more info about the series (but no TV information...dang). Also, to get more acquainted with Japanese ball, a transplanted American runs the Yakult Swallows Home Page, but it's oh so much more, including info on all the NPB ballparks and all the Japanese phrases you need to get by if you actually decide to head over there.

Until later, Dareka ga korosareta nante iyadesu yo, tada chiketto ga hoshii dake (I don't want someone whacked, I just want tickets).

 

about the author

Michael Cox would go cover the series in person, but he's heard about big cockroaches. No, really big cockroaches. Otherwise he'd be glad to join your office drinking binge, to which you can invite him at mc@strikethree.com.