It's officially Opening Day in Japan after a long wait. From COVID-19 taking over the world, Japan was no exception with several delays and a cancelled 2020 Summer Olympics announced. Both the Spring and Summer Koshien tournaments were also cancelled.
For those who watch college (NCAA) football, preseason rankings usually come out every August. In the big picture, it's meaningless as it's more of a perception for what people think of each team.
Carefully calculating this, these rankings will be more reflective of what the media is saying and predicting, though the first ranked squad will be by default rules.
Here are your power rankings at the start of the season:
1. Fukuoka Softbank Hawks
The Hawks will be missing Kodai Senga to start the year, but the depth is still great. They'll remain contenders as long they're run properly and continue to develop youth. Carter Stewart Jr. will be a fun prospect to watch while Jumpei Takahashi, Hiroshi Kaino and Kotaro Otake will be the three younger names to look at as they should be better. New addition Wladimir Balentien doesn't even need to be a star, yet he joins the Hawks in hopes of finding a championship ring.
Some old guard players like Seiichi Uchikawa and Nobuhiro Matsuda are aging, but others can pick up the slack the way Yurisbel Gracial did in 2019. Does the dynasty continue? Even without the roster knowledge, they get a first place ranking by default as defending Japan Series champions.
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2. Saitama Seibu Lions
The Lions lose Shogo Akiyama and are expected to take a step backwards, but they also have teh youngest ichi-gun Opening Day roster. There's a slight rebuild in the pitching staff, but the potential is there with Tatsuya Imai, Wataru Matsumoto and Kona Takahashi all being intriguing.
Can the recent draft picks also contribute and Zach Neal show last year was no fluke? Offense should still be good with a balance of speed and power, but the leadoff position without Akiyama will take a change. They're expected to contend while getting worse than last year.
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3. Yomiuri Giants
The Giants are favorites to repeat the Central League again. Biggest key for them is having the best depth in their league. Expect a rebound season for Tomoyuki Sugano and there's even speculation that he'll be posted. The only flaw that holds them back is 2B. As long as Tatsunori Hara is the skipper, they'll stay relevant and be a contender.
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4. Rakuten Eagles
The media thinks the Eagles are an A-class lock in the Pacific League. This team made the most changes with additions by General Manager Kazuhisa Ishii. The free agent signings (and compensation/trade picksups) of Daichi Suzuki, Stefen Romero, Kazuhisa Makita, Hideaki Wakui and Tomohito Sakai should be a mixed bag. Even with these veterans, what is their identity? Adding straight up talent with a new skipper in Hajime Miki can't guarantee success. Miki has a lot of decisions to make on who play and not with a crowded group, but expectations are high with how they flexed their high-priced signings and even tried to get another outfielder.
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5. Hanshin Tigers
The Tigers came into A-class on the final day of the regular season and won a playoff series last year with a matchup in their favor. Manager Akihiro Yano's honeymoon period is over and the expectations are high. This year will hinge on Yusuke Oyama if he can take that next step. He's shown flashes of power, but not consistency.
It's not a young team by any means with plenty of aging players like Yoshio Itoi, Kyuji Fujikawa and Kosuke Fukudome around, but they'll be dependent on their imports more than anyone else for offense as they oversigned above the 5-man ichi-gun cap. If the imports contribute, they're guaranteed A-class.
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6. Yokohama DeNA Baystars
The Baystars are the hardest team to predict in the Central League, but most of the media has them in A-class after a second place finish in 2019. Here's the catch: That second place standing was being the best of a mediocre and forgettable Central League pack. Gone are Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (Tampa Bay) and Katsuki Azuma (Tommy John surgery), but the bigger issue is an inconsistent offense. One week they can look hot and win eight in a row, while the next can be followed up by a long losing streak.
Pitching should be good even without Azuma, but they'll need Haruhiro Hamaguchi to have a rebound season to complement Shota Imanaga. Manager Alex Ramirez is also not safe from the hot seat just yet. Call it irrational, but one awful season and the pressure is on again.
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7. Hiroshima Carp
The Carp's poor start to 2019 hurt their A-class hopes at the end when came up one game short. Depth is the issue for this squad after Seiya Suzuki and Daichi Osera carry the team. New manager Shinji Sasaoka should be better at handling the pitching staff, but what kind of offense will this team have outside of Suzuki? Talent is still there, but their window from previous seasons likely closed. The media thinks this is the team who can turn it around coming off a B-class season. They should be in the hunt.
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8. Chiba Lotte Marines
The Japanese media is overlooking the Marines, but the English-speaking ones have the opposite. No manager has more pressure to win now than Tadahito Iguchi after two B-class seasons. The Marines were only a few plays away from A-class in 2019. If they correct the defensive mistakes from September 2019, they'll be right in the hunt. Minabu Mima provides some rotation stability while Shuhei Fukuda is supposed to upgrade their outfield. Atsuki Taneichi will be the X-factor to this season as he's thought to be the future ace. In the long term, several high school prospects should emerge, but no one has more hype than Roki Sasaki.
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9. Chunichi Dragons
The Dragons started their open rebuilding in 2017. Now that it's Year 4, the excuses become thin for second-year manager Tsuyoshi Yoda. While prospects like Akira Neo and Takaya Ishikawa are raw, there's enough talent to compete for 2020. Shuhei Takahashi's injury hurt while Yudai Ono has a revival 2019. If they can close games and have a stable bullpen, their chances of A-class goes up as it drew them back last year.
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10. Orix Buffaloes
Orix has the talent to compete. However, their biggest weakness is themselves in self-inflicting mistakes. Masataka Yoshida, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Taisuke Yamaoka are all solid Core-Four players to hang with the best of them. Their offense is the other hole that needs to be fixed. Adam Jones will keep them interesting and it will be key to see if he can carry a unit that struggled as a whole.
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11. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
The Fighters enter this season with no expectations. There's discussions about Kohei Arihara and Haruki Nishikawa being future MLB players, but on the field for 2020, they need to rebuild their position players. This group has several light hitters, but a lack of pop though it wouldn't hurt if Kotaro Kiyomiya takes a step forward. When one of your foreign signings is Yomiuri Giants castoff Christian Villanueva, that's not a good sign from thee surface.
In the long term, does manager Hideki Kuriyama want to retire and ride off into the sunset? That's also a question mark that looms after 2020 as it took the Fighters management to convince him to stay around.
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12. Tokyo Yakult Swallows
The Swallows came off a forgettable 2019 and it looks to be a rebuilding 2020 season on paper. Shingo Takatsu comes in with a lot of holes and question marks in both the pitching staff and offense. What's worse? Star player Tetsuto Yamada is a free agent after this season. While this isn't LeBron James watch, several will be thinking about where he lands in 2021.
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Conclusion:
For now, the Pacific League gets bonus points as they are the better league of the two. Of course this will change over the course of the season, but each team's expectations varies. We have 120 games of action ready to go.
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