===
The Saitama Seibu Lions won their first pennant since 2008 on Sunday night thanks to a loss by the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks against the Chiba Lotte Marines. They held the lead in first place since Opening Day an never relinquished it minus one day of being tied with the Fighters in the middle of the year.
While the clinching day itself felt backed in, the Lions had to earn their way with a 12-game win streak in September and holding off a hot Hawks team. Prior to September 30, the Lions had no help from another Pacific League team beating the Hawks since September 7. They had to defeat the Hawks themselves five out of six times in the month to help lower that magic number.
There were a number of factors into this after the Lions had been a B-class team for three consecutive years prior to Hatsuhiko Tsuji as manager. In a lot of ways, this season has been rewarding as a result of some bad times.
Here, we will explore some reasons on how it happened:
Sosuke Genda
The Lions took a shakaijin in the third round of the 2016 NPB Draft, a position that wasn't stable for the team under Norio Tanabe. Genda has since broken ancient records from assists to consecutive games played featuring every inning.
In general, Genda's stability at SS has provided the ability to take away base hits. Better yet, he contributes on offense too and had another season of 30+ stolen bases. At the time of this writing, he only has eight errors, which is tremendous for a shortstop given how many plays he makes.
The shortstop in the past would bat in the bottom 3 of the lineup, but having Genda second provides speed and occasional bunts. Crazy enough, he still gets big hits here and there.
===
Hatsuhiko Tsuji's defensive mindset
The Lions defense was the theme of 2016 with how awful it was. Having more than 100 errors and other issues is something Tsuji was set to fix when he was hired. Today, Genda and Hideto Asamura have become one of the most effective duos on the infield and even the outfield had a nice retooling.
Takumi Kuriyama moves to a part time position while Yuji Kaneko and Shuta Tonosaki bring great range to the outfield with the latter having a strong arm on the right side. It's possible that Hideki Hashigami gets credit for these decisions, but regardless, the defense has become amazing to catch more and allow less despite the ball being in play so often.
===
Getting on base and hitting for average
The Lions lead the league in walks and no other team is close. Getting on base creates more opportunities and this goes beyond the home run stereotype. Kuriyama, Tomoya Mori, Tonosaki, Asamura, Yamakawa and Akiyama all had an on base percentage of .350 or higher.
Timely hits have also helped and having a team batting average higher than .270 is tremendous, giving the ability for a crooked inning. This offense has shown a game isn't over until it's over as they made a comeback from being down 8-0 before. They have 38 comeback wins on the season, which counts any game won while trailing from the first to ninth innings.
This team has a franchise record-breaking offense in runs produced and is in the top 5 of NPB history all time. They likely won't reach the top, but being in an elite club doesn't hurt.
===
Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura's resurgence
Okawari-kun had a terrible first three months and spent most of it in rehab. He didn't even hit a home run through that portion of the season. However, he has really picked it up since July having a .300 batting average in the last three months and winning a player of the month award for August.
With all 28 of his current home runs coming in the second half, it was an extra spark that Lions got for a veteran that is viewed to be on the decline. He nearly tied Sadaharu Oh's record for consecutive games with a HR, but only reached six.
===
Tomoya Mori's production behind the plate, hitting from catchers
This was an expected year of phasing away from Ginjiro Sumitani as the everyday catcher. Mori ended up catching majority of the games and has been the second best at throwing out runners in the Pacific League behind Takuya Kai of Softbank.
Crazy enough, even Masatoshi Okada and Sumitani have been decent as part-time hitters being behind Mori where the former has had his share of timely hits. Mori's catching skills are still a work in progress in calling games, but his future is looking bright for a guy who was only viewed as a high school catcher who happened to hit.
===
Hotaka Yamakawa putting a full season together
Yamakawa showed in spurts what he can do when sending the ball deep. He finally had a strong April to not be deactivated and even won the player of the month award to start. While there is some inconsistency, Yamakawa has become a feared hitter and will be the 2018 home run king of NPB.
===
Bullpen shuffle
This team had its issues with the bullpen from the very beginning. Every Lions reliever from the opening day roster has been deactivated at some point in the 2018 season as a result. From Shota Takekuma to Tatsushi Masuda regressing, it was a painful problem to address.
The Lions had to sign Deunte Heath in May and even he struggled out of the gate by being deactivated in the summer. Heath took reins of the closer role once Masuda showed he couldn't handle it and Fabio Castillo struggled when switching from the rotation.
Other midseason pickups in Kyle Martin and Ryuya Ogawa have been serviceable and suddenly all three pitchers, including Heath, are likely to be the back bone of the Lions bullpen in the postseason. If anything, the Lions have more bullpen options than before despite the ups and downs.
===
Daiki Enokida
Enokida was acquired from the Hanshin Tigers in a trade for Youske Okamoto and most of us thought this would be a minor thing to pick up some bullpen depth. The Lions emphasized the need for a left handed pitcher and made Enokida a starter. After spot starting a few weeks into the season, he won himself a job an kept it ever since.
While he is nowhere close to being an ace, the team has picked up quality starts from him as this is his best season as a starter after being in the Tigers doghouse. Given that the Lions won the pennant, this one-sided trade will go down as one of the best in franchise history.
===
Because the remaining games for this week do not matter in the standings, there will be no regular weekly digest.
===
Follow us on Twitter @GraveyardBall
No comments:
Post a Comment