Big-spending Giants aim to hold off BayStars and Tigers in competitive Central League

Japan Times

26-03-2025

The Yokohama BayStars won the Japan Series in 2024, but manager Daisuke Miura's team still enters 2025 with unfinished business. The BayStars want to repeat, of course, but they want to do so while also claiming the Central League pennant, a title the team has not won since 1998.
The Yomiuri Giants, meanwhile, won the pennant last year, but are still seeking a first Japan Series title since 2012. Rather than stew in disappointment after losing to the BayStars in the final stage of the Climax Series, the Kyojin hit the free agent market looking to restock for another title run.
As for the rest of the CL, the Hanshin Tigers and Chunichi Dragons enter the year under new management, while Tokyo Yakult Swallows star Munetaka Murakami will attempt to drag his team on one last pennant run before he heads to MLB. The Hiroshima Carp, meanwhile, will be motivated to rebound from their late-season collapse in 2024.
The following is the first of a two-part NPB preview beginning with the 2025 Central League.
In order of predicted finish:
The Giants offense revolves around Kazuma Okamoto, one of NPB's top sluggers. |
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Yomiuri Giants
Last season: 77-59-7
The Giants took a page from the Los Angeles Dodgers' playbook and went after the biggest free agents they could during the offseason.
The Kyojin added former Dragons closer Raidel Martinez, who led the CL with 43 saves and struck out 59 over 58 innings last season. The Cuban fireballer moves into the closer's role, and with Taisei Ota bumped to the eighth inning, Giants games may be seven-inning affairs with that electric 1-2 punch in the eighth and ninth.
Yomiuri also added catcher Takuya Kai and will give pitcher Masahiro Tanaka a platform to try and resurrect his career.
Yomiuri has to replace 2024 league MVP Tomoyuki Sugano, who left for MLB, in a pitching rotation that was the best in the CL last season. Shosei Togo is back as the ace of a rotation that also includes Foster Griffin, Iori Yamasaki and Haruto Inoue, who is coming off a 2.76 ERA in 101 innings last season and a nice showing at the Premier12 in November.
BayStars castoff Tatsuya Ishikawa will also get a chance, and if Tanaka bounces back to the form he showed in 2021 and 2022, he will add depth along with Yuji Akahoshi and 23-year-old Yuhi Nishdate.
The lineup might be without veteran Yoshihiro Maru after an injury late in spring training, and manager Shinnosuke Abe will look for Louis Okoye and others to step up. The offense, though, revolves around Kazuma Okamoto, one of NPB's top sluggers, while Naoki Yoshikawa will aim for a second straight productive year. Elier Hernandez, meanwhile, is ready for a full season after batting .294 with eight homers in 56 games in 2024.
The team's offseason shopping also included foreign outfielder Trey Cabbage, who hit .283 with 43 home runs and 54 stolen bases in Triple-A the past two seasons.
BayStars infielder Tyler Austin hit .316 with 25 home runs last season. |
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Yokohama DeNA BayStars
Last season: 71-69-3
Yokohama slipped into the postseason thanks to a late-season collapse by Hiroshima then stunned Hanshin, Yomiuri and the Pacific League champion Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks to win the Japan Series.
The key for the BayStars to claim the regular-season pennant for the first time since 1998 — the longest drought in the CL — is to improve on the mound.
Katsuki Azuma, who was very good, and Andre Jackson, who was above average and then great in the playoffs, were Yokohama's only qualified pitchers last season. Controversial former Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer is back after a year in Mexico and could provide a boost on the mound.
If Anthony Kay replicates his 2024 postseason form in the regular season, and Shinichi Onuki has a good year, the BayStars have enough starting pitching to win the pennant. The bullpen is a question, though Hiromu Ise has good stuff, and closer Kohei Morihara is a great weapon to have at the end of games.
Yokohama had the top offense in the league in 2024 and may be good again this year. Shugo Maki and Tyler Austin each hit over 20 homers last year — and Austin paired that with a .316 average. What Miura needs is for players like Kouki Kajiwara, Keito Mori and Yudai Yamamoto to build on their 2024 numbers. The most important thing, by far, is for everyone to stay healthy — assuming that Japan Series MVP Masayuki Kuwahara breaking his thumb on Sunday was not an ominous sign.
Left fielder Keita Sano has seen his production dip since a nice run from 2021 to 2023, but former MLBer Yoshitomo Tsutsugo can provide cover and a little pop after returning in the middle of 2024.
Former Tigers closer Kyuji Fujikawa will manage the club in 2025. |
Imagn Images / VIA REUTERS
Hanshin Tigers
Last season: 74-63-6
The biggest change for the Tigers is in the dugout, with the club going from manager Akinobu Okada, who stepped down last season, to former star closer Kyuji Fujikawa.
Hanshin has a ton of potential offensively with Teruaki Sato (.268 average and .766 on-base plus slugging percentage) and Shota Morishita (.275, .804) hitting ahead of Yusuke Oyama, who had 14 homers last year and decided against leaving as a free agent. Center fielder Koji Chikamoto, meanwhile, is a consistent presence who can set the table for the big hitters and create scoring chances with his legs. It may also be a good sign to see Ukyo Maegawa hit .316 with three homers in 12 spring training games.
Hanshin, as usual, has a wealth of pitching talent, from ace-level hurlers Hiroto Saiki and Shoki Murakami to solid veterans Yuki Nishi and Kotaro Otake, when healthy. Jeremy Beasley is also a quality option.
That is without mentioning 20-year-old Keito Mombetsu, who tossed five perfect innings against the Chicago Cubs in an exhibition game earlier this month. The talented — but often-injured — Haruto Takahashi could also return and add more depth.
The club also has a good bullpen, and the pitching will look even better if Hanshin manages to pair it with decent defense.
Hiroto Takahashi will lead a Dragons rotation that will be without Shinnosuke Ogasawara, who signed a deal with the Washington Nationals in January. |
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Chunichi Dragons
Last season: 60-75-8
Former farm team manager Kazuki Inoue is not just inheriting a team that finished in last place three years in a row but one that lost its best reliever, Raidel Martinez, to the Giants and one of its best pitchers, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, to MLB.
The Dragons may need the pitching staff to keep them in games — which is nothing new. Right-hander Hiroto Takahashi is one of Japan's best and Kodai Umetsu, Yuya Yanagi and veteran Hideaki Wakui are all capable of quality innings — and playing at Nagoya Dome, a pitcher's park, doesn't hurt either. Yudai Ono is plotting a comeback, and Chunichi hit the jackpot in the draft by winning the four-team lottery for college pitcher Yumeto Kanemaru.
Outfielder Seiya Hosokawa might be the lone bright spot for an offense that was slightly improved but still one of the worst in NPB last year. Hosokawa put up a .292/.368/.478 line with 23 homers and is the club's top offensive player. Jason Vosler, who spent time with the Seattle Mariners last season, was added in the offseason, and Kenta Bright is still waiting for an opportunity to get meaningful at-bats to further his development.
Munetaka Murakami will be looking to go out with a bang in 2025 in what is likely his last NPB season before making the move to MLB. |
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Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Last season: 62-77-4
If the Swallows are going to claw their way back into the top half of the league, then Shingo Takatsu's team will need to pitch better.
Yasunobu Okugawa was on the way to becoming a star when injuries derailed him. The 23-year-old is back now, which is good news for Yakult. Kojiro Yoshimura had the best numbers in 2024, going 9-8 with a 3.19 ERA. He needs to have a solid year, while Keiji Takahashi needs to bounce back to the form he showed in 2021 and 2022, when he helped Yakult win back-to-back pennants. Yasuhiro Ogawa, meanwhile, needs to have a rebound season.
Slugger Munetaka Murakami is expected to leave for MLB in the offseason and wants to go out with a bang, but is dealing with an upper-body injury to start the season. New infielder Eigoro Mogi, previously with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, can cover for him at third base but not at the plate. That will largely fall to Jose Osuna, Domingo Santana, and Tetsuto Yamada if he is healthy.
Those three and Murakami will be a formidable quartet when in the lineup together.
Masato Morishita will be among the leaders of what should be a strong Carp pitching staff. |
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Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Last season: 68-70-5
The Carp squandered a chance to win the pennant by going 7-22 after the calendar flipped to September, falling from first place at the start of the month to fourth place and out of the playoffs in the final standings.
Hiroshima was not a good offensive team in 2024 and is looking for a boost from first-year foreign players Sandro Fabian and Elehuris Montero. Fabian hit 17 homers in Triple-A last season and Montero had 16 at the same level.
A big first year from one of them would be a good first step for the Carp. Shogo Sakakura is the only returning player who reached double digits in home runs last season, batting .279 with 12 homers and a team-leading .740 on-base plus slugging percentage. Sakakura, however, will miss the start of the season with an injury.
The Carp brought up the rear in home runs overall and will need players like Kaito Kozono to help drive in runs in other ways.
Pitching is less of an issue, with Masato Morishita, Hiroki Tokoda and Daichi Osera in the fold. However, the team has to replace Aren Kuri, who signed with the Orix Buffaloes as a free agent. Lefty Shohei Mori is in line for a bigger role and allowed just two runs in 18 innings during the spring, while Shogo Tamamura had some impressive innings last year.
The club also added former Chicago White Sox farmhand Johan Dominguez, and Mokoto Aduwa is back after 106⅓ innings with a 3.13 ERA last season.