Japan Baseball Weekly

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss an interview with former Chunichi player and new Dragons hitting coach Alonzo Powell, chat about the Hall of Fame and Japan’s failure to select Tuffy Rhodes for induction, briefly hit on sign stealing in NPB as well as Shogo Akiyama's MLB jump to the Reds.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss an interview with former NPB pitcher Jeremy Powell, chat about Japan`s Hall of Fame, take a brief look at the player-transaction flurry this offseason and handle some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss interviews with former Hawks and Eagles pitcher Matt Skrmetta as well as former NPB slugger Jose “Mayo” Fernandez, we discuss player transactions, one note and handle some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson discuss an interview with former Fighters and Buffaloes infielder Bobby Scales, go through the MVPs, rookies and Best Niners, look at free-agent moves and handle some high-quality HighHeat from a new listener and an old friend of the show.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson unpack a short chat with former Chunichi and Orix slugger Matt Clark of the Mexican team, we discuss Samurai Japan winning the Premier12, break down the players who have announced their major moves (minus Shun Yamaguchi, whose news broke after recording), and briefly look at free-agent moves in NPB.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson take a brief look at the Samurai Japan warm-up games ahead of the Premier12, we discuss the major NPB awards, especially the MVPs, voice our displeasure regarding some of the lazy Gold Glove voting, & handle some HighHeat about the notion of the DH coming to the Central League.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson look at the 10th franchise title in the Japan Series for the SoftBank Hawks, discuss their 3-peat, the Yomiuri Giants and their lethargic performance in the four games, chat about the Sawamura Award that wasn’t, offer our season highlights and handle some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson look at the Japan Series matchup between the Yomiuri Giants and the SoftBank Hawks after first giving a quick recap Game 1, discuss the draft this past week, hit some notes and then handle some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson take a look at a quick chat with Rick van den Hurk of SoftBank, talk about the the Hawks and the Yomiuri Giants wiping out their respective opponents in the second round of the PL and CL Climax Series, the major league jump ahead for Yoshitomo Tsutsugo of the BayStars, and finish with some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson unpack a chat with Seibu wins leader Zach Neal (apologies for the poor sound quality!!), talk about the Lions, the first rounds of the PL and CL Climax Series, the sudden resignation of Carp skipper Koichi Ogata (Yakult’s Shingo Takatsu introduced and Nippon Ham’s Hideki Kuriyama sticks around), the passing of pitching legend Masaichi Kaneda and then handle some Hi...

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson go over a chat with two-time CL homer king Netali Soto of Yokohama, talk about the BayStars, the Seibu Lions repeating in the PL, discuss the Climax Series matchups, the retirement of Shinnosuke Abe, the notion of Shingo Takatsu taking over as Yakult skipper and then handle some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and John E. Gibson unpack a chat with slugger Ernesto Mejia, look at the Lions, discuss the Central League-clinching Yomiuri Giants, the retirement of Hanshin star pitcher Randy Messenger, briefly hit on Rakuten skipper Yosuke Hiraishi and then handle some HighHeat.

Jim Allen and special guest Jason Coskrey discuss a recent pregame powwow with DeNA skipper Alex Ramirez, talk about the BayStars, the playoff chases in both leagues, take a quick look at the second no-no of the season, this one by Yudai Ono of the Dragons, examine the recent high number of guys either stepping away suddenly or being blasted out of organizations and handle a couple of HighHeat que...

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Ruby de la Rosa of Yomiuri, we talk about the Giants, hit on the playoff races in the Pacific and Central leagues, look at the magic of magic numbers in the Wild Wild Westbay segment, briefly touch on Kodai Senga’s no-hitter and handle some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with (J-Rod) Joely Rodriguez of Chunichi, we talk about the Dragons, deliver our power rankings in the Mini Trax segment, look at the playoff races in the Pacific and Central leagues, introduce the Wild Wild Westbay numbers game, hit some notes (including Tetsuto Yamada and the 50K homer) and handle some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Mike Bolsinger of Lotte, we talk about the Marines, the playoff races in the Pacific and Central leagues, Yakult's Tetsuto Yamada and Munetaka Murakami’s achievements, the notion of Shogo Akiyama playing in the majors and more.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Johnny Barbato of Nippon Ham, we talk about the Fighters, the benches-clearing incident between the Lions and Buffaloes, Xavier Batista of the Carp getting popped for an NPB-banned substance and then finish with a HighHeat question from our buddy Claudio in Toronto.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Jabari Blash of Rakuten, we talk about some home run figures for the Lotte Marines, injuries and lineup changes for the BayStars and others, the notion of the electronic ump in NPB, we hit some notes and then finish with a HighHeat listener question.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Scott McGough of the Swallows, we talk about Yakult before going through our NPB power rankings in the Mini Trax segment, we touch on Yomiuri skipper Tatsunori Hara’s milestone victory, hit some notes (including the Loek van Mil passing) and handle some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Tyler Eppler of the Buffaloes, we talk about Orix before looking at the races in the Pacific and Central leagues and touching briefly on the big story last week of high school fireballer Roki Sasaki being held out of a game to protect his arm/future.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Zach Neal of the Lions, we talk about Seibu and its pitching, look at the leading MVP candidates in both leagues, update listeners on the teams leading NPB in outs made on the bases and touch on the recent winning streak the Chunichi Dragons put together.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss a pregame media scrum with DeNA skipper Alex Ramirez, we talk about the BayStars, briefly review the two All-Star Games and look at the leaders in a few statistical categories before handling some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Kyle Martin of Seibu, we talk about the Lions, look at the leading candidates for the Sawamura Award so far, discuss the hot and cold teams in our Mini Trax segment, and hit some notes, including a couple of the recent trades and the top June performers, before handling some HighHeat.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss interviews with Dayan Viciedo of Chunichi and Bryan Rodriguez of Nippon Ham, talk about both teams, the Hawks’ latest interleague title, the All-Star voting, chat about the trade between the Fighters and Giants and the Joey Meneses doping incident.

John E. Gibson and Jim Allen discuss an interview with Scott Mathieson of the Giants, we talk about Yomiuri, the interleague session, the fan All-Star voting so far, chat about the back-of-bullpen-blowup situations and add a couple of notes, including a possible return to NPB for Kazuhisa Makita.