Japan Baseball Weekly

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Stefan Romero of the Buffaloes, we talk about Orix, look at the interleague race, go over the top ROY candidates in each league, look at the wild pitch and passed balls numbers and hit some notes, including brief comments on the Joey Meneses situation and the Ryoma Nishikawa hitting streak that was.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Brandon Laird of the Lotte, we talk about the Marines, the leaders in double plays and outs on the bases, the first week of the 18-game interleague session, a trio returning from illness and injuries before handling some HighhHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Kyle Regnault of the Carp, we talk about Hiroshima, the Swallows’ CL-record 16-game skid, the start of the 18-game interleague play, the Carter Stewart presser in Newport Beach, Calif., the top players of May and notes featuring the Nishikawa hit streak.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Deunte Heath of the Lions, we talk about Seibu, look at SoftBank’s signing of U.S. teen pitcher Carter Stewart, look at our first power rankings of the season in Mini Trax, then finishing up by touching on Koji Uehara’s retirement and a coaching breakthrough.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Pierce Johnson of the Tigers, take a quick look at the CL and PL, review the top players of April, and handle some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Taylor Jungmann of Yomiuri, take a look at the Giants and Hayato Sakamoto's super start to the season, examine the job the new NPB skippers are doing and handle some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Dennis Sarfate of the Hawks, look around the PL and CL, point out one of many issues with the replay system, and handle some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Andrew Albers of the Buffaloes, look at Orix and the rest of the Pacific League, talk about the big streaks in the Central League, the number of HRs across NPB and try to guess the top March-April performers.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Zelous Wheeler of the Rakuten Eagles, take a look at a few surprises in both the Pacific and Central leagues, discuss of few rare plays and handle some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Dave Huff of the Yakult Swallows, take a look at the cold teams in both the Central and Pacific leagues and hit a couple of notes before handling some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Brandon Mann of the Lotte Marines, take a look the first week of action in both leagues, cover some news and notes, including Randy Messenger’s milestone, and handle some HighHeat.

Baseball is Back!! John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Neftali Soto of the Yokohama BayStars, take a look at each opening series, put a bow on the Ichiro Suzuki retirement and field some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss Part II of an interview with former Lotte Marines skipper Bobby Valentine (a Shoriki Award winner) before Claudio Rodriguez of Beisbol Japones and broadcaster Zak Ikuma sit in to help break down the Pacific League and make their top-to-bottom predictions.

John E. Gibson and sit-in guest Jason Coskrey discuss Part I of an interview with former Lotte Marines skipper Bobby Valentine (a Shoriki Award winner) before Jim Allen, Jason and Michael Westbay join in to make their predictions for the Central League top to bottom.

John E. Gibson (minus Jim Allen because of technical difficulties) discusses a pair of interviews with former NPB stars Jay Jackson (Carp/Brewers) and Tony Barnette (Swallows/Cubs), goes over the popular rookie so far during camp and hits on future rule changes that could come to NPB before dealing with some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss Okinawa camp interviews with Steven Moya of the Chunichi Dragons and Spencer Patton of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, Daisuke Matsuzaka`s fan-tug injury and other camp notes, then Jim breaks down his blog post (@ jballallen.com) on the concept of the foreigner strike zone before we touch on the impact of a tweak to the roster rule.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss a BayStars manager Alex Ramirez media-scrum chat that came after a recent NPB managerial meeting, talk about expanded replay, take a look at this year’s Hall of Fame inductees (at about 34 minutes), comment on Yusei Kikuchi landing in Seattle (50), touch on the opening of camps (66) and handle some HighHeat (71).

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss a chat with former Orix BlueWave import Roosevelt Brown, take a quick look at free agency and the offseason pennant race, talk about the Hall of Fame and then handle the final HighHeat question of the year.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss a chat with Stu Matthews of HalosHeaven.com (and SB Nation) about the Angels' Shohei Ohtani, go over the AL ROY’s recent Tokyo presser, examine another poor MVP decision by the Japanese media, take a look at Yomiuri’s moves in free agency (especially the Maru acquisition) and handle some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss interviews with Hensley Meulens, MLB coach on the All-Star tour, utility man Kike Hernandez of the L.A. Dodgers, look back at the series, talk about our most memorable moments of the season and examine a HighHeat suggestion from now-former Yomiuri Giants IF Casey McGeHee.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss an interview with former Fighters pitcher Chris Martin (Rangers), take a look at the series between Samurai Japan and the MLB All-Stars and run down the Gold Glovers before the HighHeat question springboards a chat about this year’s crop of free agents.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss SoftBank winning the franchise’s ninth Japan Series title, take a quick look at the games, talk about Tomoyuki Sugano’s selection as the Sawamura Award winner, discuss recently released pitcher Koji Uehara’s future, and examine a few coaching acquisitions before handling some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss the Japan Series opener, take a quick look at last week’s NPB draft, ponder the reassignment of Orix farm manager So Taguchi as a bench coach on the top team as well as Yusei Kikiuchi’s choice to make Scott Boras his agent and the impact that might have before the two handle some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and guest Jason Coskrey discuss the second round of the CLCS and PLCS, touch on the likelihood of Seibu pitcher Yusei Kikuchi jumping to the big leagues in the offseason, give their Best IX lists and answer a HighHeat question.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson talk about an interview with David Buchanan of the Swallows, look at the first round of the CLCS and PLCS, including Yomiuri ace Tomoyuki Sugano’s no-hitter, the managerial musical chairs, the notion of Tetsuto Yamada going to The Show sometime soon and look at the final Player of the Month candidates.