Good morning! It’s Monday, which sucks. And it’s the first Monday without Red Sox baseball since March, which sucks even more. But one thing I’m fond of reminding people is that baseball exists beyond the confines of the Major Leagues.
The Yomiuri Giants finished the NPB regular season just 2 games behind their bitter rivals, the Hanshin Tigers, for the Central League pennant. The Giants are the most successful club in Japanese history, based in the country’s biggest city, Tokyo. The Tigers hail from Japan’s “second city” of Osaka, have a rabid fanbase that fills a historic and ancient old ballpark, and suffered through the “Curse of Colonel Sanders” — a championship drought that lasted from 1985 through 2003 and was said to be the result of Tigers fans throwing a statue of the KFC brand ambassador into a canal while celebrating the ‘85 win. For these reasons, the Giants-Tigers rivalry is often compared to Red Sox-Yankees and, frankly, I would like to see Sox fans take this comparison even further by jumping into Fort Point Channel after big wins, the way the Tigers fans do:
But despite the parallels between the Sox and Tigers, Sox fans may want to pull for the Giants as the playoffs get under way. That’s because the Giants are charging into the postseason behind the bat of Bobby Dalbec.
At the age of 31, Bobby Bombs finally turned back to the clock to his rookie year. Look how close these stat lines are:
2021: 133 G, .240/.298/.494, 25 HR, 21 doubles, 156 strikeouts
2026: 135 G, .252/.315/.457, 25 HR, 24 doubles, 181 strikeouts
The man can absolutely still clobber a baseball:
Use this space to talk about former slugging first baseman, foreign playoffs, and whatever else you want and, as always, be good to one another.
