Spring is the season of renewal and in baseball the excitement and hope heading into the new year permeates throughout every team during spring training.
It's no different for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, who exceeded expectations with a fourth-place finish last season after consecutive sixth-place campaigns.
The Eagles, who began play in 2005, have improved their win total in each of the past two seasons under skipper Katsuya Nomura and have an eye on keeping that trend going.