Overview
The Empire of the Rising Sun had an improved season last year and will, with just a little wah, will compete with Mexico and Canada in the Pioneer Division next year. All improvements that need to be made are on the offensive side of the game. Any problems with the defense were with the men who were actually in the field, not on the mound. Okay, the mound is in the field. Quiet.
Retirements
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None
Code:
85-77, .525 PCT 5th, 12.0 GB
Home 42-39, .519 PCT
Road 43-38, .531 PCT
X-inning games 9-5, .643 PCT
One-run games 31-19, .620 PCT
Versus LHP 17-16, .515 PCT
Versus RHP 68-61, .527 PCT
April 6-10, .375 PCT
May 15-12, .556 PCT
June 10-21, .323 PCT
July 19-13, .594 PCT
August 18-12, .600 PCT
September 17-9, .654 PCT
Batting Average .264 - 9th in AA
On-Base Percentage .317 - 8th in AA
Slugging Percentage .352 - 8th in AA
On-Base + Slugging .669 - 8th in AA
Runs Scored 694 - 10th in AA
Hits 1500 - 10th in AA
Extra-Base Hits 341 - 6th in AA
Home Runs 36 - 9th in AA
Bases-On-Balls 434 - 6th in AA
Strikeouts 435 - 2nd in AA
Stolen Bases 165 - 6th in AA
Earned Run Average 3.52 - 3rd in AA
Runs allowed 718 - 3rd in AA
Hits allowed 1600 - 8th in AA
Opponents AVG .278 - 8th in AA
Home Runs allowed 24 - 3rd in AA
Bases-On-Balls 360 - 3rd in AA
Strikeouts 652 - 1st in AA
Pitching
As stated, the pitching staff did a fantastic job. They didn't have a lot to show for it due in part to the Tokyo "divine whirlwind" strategy of using as many pitchers as they could so that each member could pitch to utter exhaustion, but the quality was there. Pay particular attention to Tatsu Ki****a, who would have been a Rookie of the Year candidate if it wasn't for that expansion. Come to think of it, Shinsaku Iwasaki was pretty good too.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA
Kunimatsu Yoshida 31 18 18 0.500 38 38 0 311.1 358 114 7 34 132 3.30
Tatsukichi Ki****a 27 18 8 0.692 38 27 1 229.2 221 76 1 66 136 2.98
Yasujiro Ishida 25 8 14 0.364 27 25 0 182.2 208 71 3 72 63 3.50
Shinsaku Iwasaki 25 13 8 0.619 22 22 0 176.2 195 52 2 10 73 2.65
Mitsuoki Katayama 26 9 12 0.429 26 26 0 173.2 201 82 3 58 79 4.25
Takaaki Takahashi 24 6 7 0.462 23 11 0 121 131 49 2 32 79 3.64
Takiji Fujihara 32 3 5 0.375 29 10 4 94.2 117 46 3 37 39 4.37
Shunso Ishii 24 7 0 1.000 37 0 2 76 64 14 0 15 34 1.66
Eisuke Sato 39 2 4 0.333 19 2 1 48 52 36 2 24 8 6.75
Shoji Tanaka 23 1 1 0.500 5 1 1 16.2 31 13 1 6 6 7.02
Shuichi Onishi 28 0 0 0.000 8 0 0 15.2 22 13 0 6 3 7.47
Team Totals 27.6 85 77 0.525 272 162 9 1446 1600 566 24 360 652 3.52
Batting
Outside of A/A batting champion Hiro Sato, the hitting was... not good. This problem is, shall we say, enhanced by the poor fielding. We would add Moto Mori****a to the list but even though he hit .321 he also allowed more men to steal bases on him than anyone in the league save the clown the New York Giants are using at the position. Granted, he was 2nd in baseball in baserunners killed but that's a small consolation for a man who was 3rd from the bottom of the list in runner thrown out percentage. Oh, who needs stats anyway? We believe that the only way out of this is through lots and lots of drilling. Repetition will lead to more baseballs being hit as well as more baseballs being caught. We are sure of it.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
C *Mototsune Mori****a 24 137 135 514 64 165 12 7 6 72 0 0 48 15 0.321 0.376 0.407
C Hiroya Sugiyama 35 85 27 166 18 44 7 4 0 20 1 0 10 18 0.265 0.307 0.355
1B Nobuhiko Kobayashi 26 113 79 291 28 80 10 1 3 36 1 0 25 18 0.275 0.328 0.347
1B *Tsuyoshi Yamada 25 112 79 280 21 75 7 0 0 27 1 1 20 26 0.268 0.328 0.293
1B Jiro Sanu 24 16 4 23 1 5 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0.217 0.250 0.304
2B Tokuma Yamaguchi 25 123 110 454 54 129 22 6 2 54 7 5 18 23 0.284 0.311 0.372
2B Yasutoki Yosano 37 92 46 175 18 44 10 0 0 31 0 0 5 13 0.251 0.274 0.309
2B *Naomi Yano 26 32 12 60 6 13 4 0 1 10 1 4 2 7 0.217 0.254 0.333
3B Ichiro Kiyomizu 24 141 115 379 32 94 13 5 1 34 4 7 9 65 0.248 0.269 0.317
3B Tsuneyo Yoshizawa 24 73 39 140 16 26 2 2 2 17 1 1 11 20 0.186 0.248 0.271
SS Katsuhito Honda 29 141 112 436 63 98 11 11 1 26 48 17 23 34 0.225 0.265 0.307
SS Takahiro Takeda 26 79 52 160 8 29 4 0 0 13 0 0 14 21 0.181 0.244 0.206
LF *Kata Matsumoto 25 101 67 274 42 77 12 7 4 36 14 4 37 27 0.281 0.364 0.420
LF Mitsuhide Shiraishi 27 125 41 224 42 62 8 1 3 27 4 1 40 11 0.277 0.390 0.362
LF Aki Kobayashi 24 91 36 166 18 40 2 3 1 22 2 5 15 12 0.241 0.299 0.307
CF Azumamaro Sakei 24 133 99 425 86 136 19 18 1 42 72 24 19 13 0.320 0.345 0.456
CF *Akihito Watanabe 35 110 46 237 15 59 10 1 1 27 0 0 18 6 0.249 0.305 0.312
CF *Harunobu Goto 26 78 58 235 51 67 12 8 8 33 5 2 36 30 0.285 0.382 0.506
RF *Hirofumi Sato 30 147 139 542 81 190 36 7 2 70 4 0 72 9 0.351 0.425 0.454
Team Totals 27.3 2201 1458 5675 694 1500 220 85 36 633 165 71 434 435 0.264 0.317 0.352