Japan Baseball Weekly

We look back at Yokohama DeNA taking down Fukuoka SoftBank to win the Japan Series, recognize Marty Kuehnert, who recently died, circle back to discuss the crop of new mangers, go Rockin With Roki Sasaki before he heads off to the big leagues and offer up our favorite moments of the season.

Right-handed starter Andre Jackson of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars is the guest, John and Jim take a look at Japan Series Games 2-5 and handle some HighHeat.

Right-handers Kyle Keller of Yomiuri and J.B. Wendelken of Yokohama DeNA are the guests, John and Jim discuss the CLCS second-round finale, look quickly at the first game of the SoftBank-DeNA Japan Series matchup and add one note about the “unchanged” baseballs this season.

Left-hander Anthony Kay of Yokohama DeNA is the guest, John and Jim discuss the games in the second round of the CLCS and PLCS matchups & then handle some HighHeat.

Carter Stewart Jr. of the SoftBank Hawks is the guest, we look at the first round of the PLCS, talk about the two-game sweep for Yokohama DeNA in the first round of the CLCS, chime in on all the managerial madness and handle some HighHeat.

Gregory Polanco of Chiba Lotte is the guest, we look at the PLCS and CLCS matchups, discuss pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano jumping to the major leagues, manager Akinobu Okada jumping off the Hanshin train, go Rockin with Roki & handle some HighHeat.

Tyler Austin of Yokohama DeNA is the guest, we look at the Hawks winning the Pacific and the Giants taking the Central leagues, the playoff races, go Rockin with Roki & handle some HighHeat.

Lotte starter Dallas Keuchel is the guest, we look at the playoff races, go Rockin with Roki, talk a little Shohei Ohtani (with a special appearance by Bobby Valentine), discuss Dragons skipper Kazuyoshi Tatsunami going up in smoke & handle some HighHeat.

Yokohama DeNA BayStars reliever J.B. Wendelken is the guest, we take a quick look at the playoff races, go Rockin with Roki Sasaki, discuss Norichika Aoki and other retirements and handle some HighHeat.

Yomiuri lefty starter Foster Griffin is the guest, we discuss the playoff races in both leagues, look at the top performers of August, briefly go Rockin’ with Roki, talk about the Giants romancing the zone and close things out with a retirement note.

Hiroshima Carp reliever Taylor Hearn is the guest, we deliver our Power Trax segment, discuss the playoff races, go Rockin with Roki Sasaki, look at the overall NPB shutout pace and understand the Sho will go on with Ohtani.

Yakult pitcher and current Swallows scout Tony Barnette comes on to discuss his new book, "A Baseball Gaijin: Chasing a Dream to Japan and Back," we go Rockin with Roki, look quickly at the playoff races, hit a note about home runs and handle some HighHeat.

Yomiuri Giants reliever Kyle Keller is the guest, we go Rockin with Roki Sasaki, make a quick comment on the Pacific League standings and handle some HighHeat.

Nippon Ham catcher/OF/DH Ariel Martinez is the guest [via Claudio Rodriguez interpretation], we go Rockin with Roki, celebrate Koshien Stadium turning 100 years old and handle some HighHeat.

Reliever Javy Guerra of Hanshin is the guest before tech issues sabotage things and John finishes up solo, handling the Power Trax, Top July Performers, Rockin with Roki segments to avoid a no-show.

All-Star Series review, Claudio Rodriguez of Beisbol Japones joins our midseason special as we discuss the first-half surprises, top candidates for MVP and rookie of the year from each league, and frontrunners for the Sawamura Award.

First-year Yokohama DeNA lefty Anthony Kay is the guest, we talk about the rosters for the All-Star series, and the lack of Roki Sasaki on the Pacific League side, discuss some crazy endings to games and handle some HighHeat.

Nippon Ham slugger Franmil Reyes is the guest, we talk about the Central League crunch-bunch standings, dive into the profiles of no-hitter-throwing pitchers the past 20 seasons and handle some HighHeat.

DeNA pitcher Andre Jackson is the guest, we talk BayStars and Fighters as viable threats in the playoffs, take a look at the top performers of June, serve up some numbers on oppo tacos and spend some time on the Tatsunami-Ogasawara stink-eye moment this past week.

Yomiuri Giants coach Zelous Wheeler is the guest, we also have a special appearance by NPB Tracker Patrick Newman, hit our Power Trax power rankings segment, field more Roki Sasaki rumors and touch on a trade between the Lions and Giants.

Bo Takahashi of Seibu is the guest, we have a quick conversation about potential MVP candidates in both leagues, look at some interleague stats, touch on a Roki Sasaki rumor and handle some HighHeat.

Anderson Espinoza of Orix is the guest, we look at the Rakuten Eagles winning their first interleague title, discuss the standings in both leagues, examine the heavy-hitting teams of NPB and handle some HighHeat.

Carter Stewart Jr. of SoftBank is the guest, we talk about Hiroshima Carp pitcher Daichi Osera throwing a no-hitter, hit some interleague highlights, go Rockin with Roki Sasaki, try to predict the top performers of May and add some notes about Masanori Ishikawa and Tony Barnette.

Cy Sneed of Yakult is the guest, we look at Kazuo Matsui getting the boot from Seibu, don’t go Rockin with Roki, have segment No. 1 of Power Trax, examine the start of interleague play and close things out with some HighHeat.

Tyler Austin of DeNA is the guest, we go Rockin with Roki, discuss Shosei Togo tossing the first no-hitter for the Giants against the Tigers since 1937, dive into Laser Man Mannami's OF assists, hit notes about Tomoya Mori and his TrackMan data, look quickly at Interleague and handle some HighHeat.

Andres Machado of Orix and Adam Walker of SoftBank are the guests, we talk about the standings, go Rockin with Roki, dive into Munetaka Murakami’s homer milestone and handle some HighHeat.

Claudio Rodriguez sits in for Jim Allen, Louis Okoye of the Yomiuri Giants is the guest, we talk about the status of both leagues, go Rockin with Roki Sasaki and look back at Yoshitomo Tsutsugo’s first top-team game since his return to NPB.

Livan Moinelo of SoftBank is the guest, we look at each league, go Rockin with Roki, take a crack at who will be named top performers of the month, hit a note about a new stadium and handle some HighHeat. ...

Neftali Soto of Lotte is the guest, we go Rockin with Roki Sasaki, offer our impressions - and depressions - about both leagues, discuss the punchless baseballs in NPB this season and handle some HighHeat.

Jesus Aguilar of Seibu and Domingo Santana of Yakult are the guests, we discuss impressions from both leagues through about four weeks, go Rockin with Roki Sasaki, touch on the return of Yoshitomo Tsutsugo to DeNA and handle some HighHeat.

Cody Ponce of Rakuten is the guest, we look at highlights from Week 3 of the season, go Rockin with Roki Sasaki and discuss the notion of MLB learning from NPB when it comes to Tommy Johns surgeries.

Chunichi newcomer Alex Dickerson is the guest, we discuss the Dragons and the missing players in their lineup, look back at Week 2 of action and examine the notion of a pitch clock in NPB.

James Dykstra of the Lotte Marines is the guest, we have our first Rockin with Roki Sasaki segment, Jim and John discuss highlights from opening weekend and a major rule change MLB has imposed, and then toss in their 2 cents about the Ohtani-Mizuhara saga.

Claudio Rodriguez of Beisbol Japones joins Jim Allen and John E Gibson to discuss their predictions as they lay out arguments for how the Pacific League playoff race will unfold this season.

Claudio Rodriguez of Beisbol Japones joins Jim Allen and John E Gibson to examine the Central League teams from top to bottom and offer their predictions for the playoff race.

Former Orix Buffaloes pitcher Alessandro Maestri is the guest, we look at the two Samurai Japan games against Europe, check in on the end of camps and the start of the preseason and hit some HighHeat.

Former Carp and Lions pitcher Deunte Heath is the guest, we chat about the upcoming series between Samurai Japan and Europe, and take a brief look at camps before handling some HighHeat.

SoftBank pitcher Carter Stewart Jr. is the guest, we break down the Roki Sasaki contract saga and misinformation campaign, and take a quick look at the opening of camps.

Former Fighters pitcher Carlos Mirabal is the guest, we look at the MVPs in the Pacific and Central leagues – one choice that brings on a rant – player moves and then dive headfirst into some HighHeat.

Jason Coskrey of The Japan Times joins the look back at the Hanshin Tigers Game 7 victory over the Orix Buffaloes in the Japan Series to end a 38-year title drought, we look at a few notes & dive into some HighHeat.

On this week’s show we’ve got pitcher Jeremy Beasley of the Japan Series-winning Hanshin Tigers as the guest, Jason Coskrey joins to look the first six games of the Series and we handle some HighHeat.

Japan Series talk, with Leandro Cedeno of Orix and Sheldon Neuse of Hanshin as the guests, we discuss the matchup, look at Thursday’s amateur draft, & dive into more HighHeat,

Games, games and more games as we discuss the second rounds of the Pacific and Central league Climax Series, hit a few notes and dive hard into some HighHeat, including an MP3 from listener James in Houston.

Seibu Lions reliever Brooks Kriske is the guest, we discuss the matchups in the first rounds of the Pacific League and Central League Climax Series and dive into some HighHeat.

J.B. Wendelken of the DeNA BayStars is the guest, we discuss the Central League race for second, and the three-team Pacific League race for the final two playoff spots, look at Giants manager Tatsunori Hara stepping away and Hirokazu Ibata taking over as skipper of Samurai Japan.

Gosuke Kato of the Nippon Ham Fighters is the guest, we discuss the three-team race for the final two playoff spots in the Pacific League, check on the battle for second in the Central League, hit a couple of notes and handle some HighHeat.

Mike Brosseau of the Lotte Marines is the guest, we discuss the Orix 3-peat in the Pacific League, look at the scramble for remaining playoff spots in both leagues, go rocking with Roki Sasaki and briefly chat about some of the retiring players.

Drew Anderson of the Hiroshima Carp is the guest, we discuss the Central League championship run the Hanshin Tigers made this season, look at the races for playoff spots in both leagues, go rockin’ with Roki Sasaki, hit one note and close things out with HighHeat.

Fifth-year import and NPB pioneer Carter Stewart Jr. of SoftBank is the guest, we discuss the second career Yoshinobu Yamamoto no-hitter, look at the playoff races and chew on some of the posting fodder.

Mark Payton of the Seibu Lions is the guest, we discuss the races for playoff spots in the Central and Pacific leagues, hit our Power Trax and Top Monthly Performers segments and handle some HighHeat.

Matt Davidson of the Hiroshima Carp is the guest, we examine the playoff races in the Central and Pacific leagues, discuss Yohei Oshima reaching 2,000 hits and handle some HighHeat.