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Japan Times
BASEBALL
Aug 20, 2018

Yu Kato helps shine light on women's baseball in Japan

Yu Kato wants to bring women's baseball into the spotlight. She wants people to see what she can do on the diamond and also how talented the rest of her Saitama Astraia teammates are. She wants to everyone to know there is quality baseball being played in the Japan Women's Baseball League.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2021

Baseball deserves to lose its antitrust immunity

It never truly had any legitimate usefulness; the antitrust exemption, which no other professional sport enjoys, is as nonsensical a thing as exists in the law.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Mar 12, 2015

Baseball may slowly be on rise among Czechs

Among the over 100 or so media credentials issued for the two-game Global Baseball Match 2015 between Samurai Japan and Team Europe on Tuesday and Wednesday were two for Jakub Starik and David Agner, a pair of journalists from the Czech Republic. Baseball is pretty far down the pecking order in the Central...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Nov 1, 2021

Are buzz cuts mandatory for members of Japan's high school baseball teams?

When asked about the reasons behind the rule, many coaches talked about the need to focus on the sport, tradition and that it's easier to play that way.
BASEBALL
Nov 25, 2022

‘Mr. Baseball’ endures as go-to resource for players headed to Japan

Many who accept offers to play in Japan will surely prepare for the experience the same way those before them have for 30 years: by watching 'Mr. Baseball.”
To preserve the integrity of the game in the legalized gambling era, Major League Baseball must double down and maintain its now posthumous ban on Pete Rose.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 4, 2024

Pete Rose fans are wrong: He's not worthy of the Hall of Fame

Backing down would undermine the league’s zero-tolerance stance and signal that "permanently ineligible" isn't always permanent.
San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays poses for a portrait at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 1, 1967.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 19, 2024

Willie Mays, baseball’s do-it-all ‘Say Hey Kid,’ dies at 93

One of Major League Baseball’s first Black stars, Mays was widely considered the greatest all-around player of his era, perhaps ever.
NPB Commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara (left) Samurai Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata (second from left) and WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari pose for photos during a news conference on Friday.
BASEBALL
Sep 1, 2024

Hirokazu Ibata looking to keep Japan on top of baseball world by winning Premier12

Japan will enter the Premier12 as the defending champion.
Former Giants star Orlando Cepeda stands in front of his old No. 30 during a ceremony to retire his number, in San Francisco in 1999.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 29, 2024

Orlando Cepeda, baseball slugger known as the Baby Bull, dies at 86

Playing for 17 seasons in the major leagues, Cepeda hit 379 home runs, had 2,351 hits, drove in 1,365 runs and had a career batting average of .297.
The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani(left) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pose for a portrait on media day at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 21.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 14, 2024

See-through baseball pants become eye-opening controversy for MLB

The league's new uniforms have dominated the conversation during spring training.
The Dodgers, with Japanese star Shohei Ohtani, could be in line to play in next year's MLB season-opening series in Japan, reports have suggested.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 4, 2024

Japan to host MLB season opener next year, baseball commissioner says

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs could be the teams to play the series, reports suggested.
Shohei Ohtani connects on his 50th home run of the season during the seventh inning against the Marlins in Miami on Thursday. Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 20, 2024

Shohei Ohtani records baseball's first 50-50 season with huge night in Miami

Shohei Ohtani is the first player in MLB history to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.
Shohei Ohtani's success symbolizes a broader resurgence in Japanese sports, with contributing factors including increased investment in sports, modern coaching techniques and a generational shift in mindset.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 11, 2024

What baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s success says about Japan

The phenom has had what many are calling the greatest season ever. But his success is also a story of change in his home country.
BASEBALL
Nov 20, 2023

Hirokazu Ibata passes first test with Samurai Japan

Japan went through the Asia Professional Baseball Championship with a 4-0 record.
Alex “Rami-chan” Ramirez
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Mar 1, 2024

Baseball star Alex Ramirez’s NPO helps special kids

Founder of Vamos Together, Venezuelan Alex Ramirez played for Yakult Swallows and Yomiuri Giants, then became manager of the Yokohama DeNa BayStars
The Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani delivers a statement during a news conference at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Monday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2024

Ohtani denies betting on baseball and accuses ex-interpreter of lying and theft

The baseball star expressed shock over the gambling scandal involving his long-time ex-interpreter, in his first public comments on the matter.
The Fair Trade Commission says rules preventing pro baseball players from freely choosing their agents for contract negotiations could violate the antimonopoly law.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2024

Japan FTC warns pro baseball body over agent rules

The body's rules have limited agents for players to lawyers and prohibited players from choosing lawyers who had already been picked by other players.
Stadium workers paint the World Series logo on the field at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, a day ahead of the start of the Fall Classic.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 25, 2024

Baseball’s biggest stars and biggest markets align for MLB broadcaster

As much as the history of the two franchises, the teams’ star players and league-leading records this season should help attract more casual baseball fans.
Ichiro Suzuki became one of the best hitters in baseball history during his 19-year career in MLB.
BASEBALL
Nov 19, 2024

Ichiro makes debut on Hall of Fame ballot

The superstar outfielder is considered by many to be a lock to gain induction during his first year on the ballot.
Shohei Ohtani gets a kiss from his dog Decoy at a game in August 2024. The Japanese slugger-pitcher’s return to his country to kick off the Major League Baseball season has sparked immense excitement, highlighting his unparalleled career and symbolic role as a national hero.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 18, 2025

Superstar Shohei Ohtani for prime minister

He’s unavoidable in Japan: His face adorns ads for cosmetics, mattresses, English conversation schools and, most recently, convenience store rice balls.
When Fighters interpreter Shinju Sakuma set her mind on becoming a language liaison in sports, she picked a sport she enjoyed watching and an employer who thinks outside the box.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Feb 26, 2024

Rookie female interpreter provides voice for foreign baseball stars in Japan

Shinju Sakuma, who will graduate from Rikkyo University in Tokyo this spring, is believed to be the first female interpreter in NPB history.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani reacts to a standing ovation from fans after hitting his 50th home run of the season, against the Marlins in Miami on Sept. 19.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 23, 2024

For baseball fans, 2024 brought The Summer of Shohei Ohtani

The superstar was the center of attention for almost a full calendar year during a season straight out of a Hollywood movie.
Shohei Ohtani belts a home run in the fifth inning of the second game of the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs.
BASEBALL
Mar 20, 2025

In pictures: Tokyo's weeklong celebration of baseball's best

All the stops were pulled out to showcase the best players on both sides of the Pacific as the MLB kicked off its 2025 season in Tokyo Dome.
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2023

Civil servants face different treatment at Kansai baseball parades

Kobe and Hyogo government workers working at the parades will be treated as being on duty, but those of the Osaka governments will not be.
BASEBALL
Nov 16, 2023

Samurai Japan overcomes slow start to beat Taiwan in APBC opener

Shota Morishita got Japan going with a home run in the seventh inning.
BASEBALL
Nov 19, 2023

Japan tops South Korea on sayonara single in 10th to win APBC title

Japan edged South Korea on a walk-off hit by Makoto Kadowaki.
South Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee during the Olympic semifinal against Japan in Tokyo in 2021.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 13, 2023

San Francisco signs South Korean Jung Hoo Lee for $113 million

Lee, 25, was the Korean Baseball Organization MVP in 2022 after he hit .349 with 23 home runs.
Yamato Maeda at the plate during a game in Yokohama last year. Yamato trains every day, staying particularly vigilant about muscle pain, which is related to his kidney function.
BASEBALL
Aug 16, 2024

BayStars' Yamato Maeda battles kidney disease while continuing baseball career

In order to continue competing, Yamato, who at 36 is the oldest active player in the BayStars lineup, is dedicated to maintaining his physical condition.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan