With that, it was officially announced that Franklin was traded to the Hanshin Tigers yesterday (6/27). Speculation had him going to Jingu, where he'd have had a field day hitting the ball out of the park.
Well, it should be interesting to see how he adjusts to Koshien and the Central League.
This is a site about Pro Yakyu (Japanese Baseball), not about who the next player to go over to MLB is. It's a community of Pro Yakyu fans who have come together to share their knowledge and opinions with the world. It's a place to follow teams and individuals playing baseball in Japan (and Asia), and to learn about Japanese (and Asian) culture through baseball.
It is my sincere hope that once you learn a bit about what we're about here that you will join the community of contributors.
Michael Westbay
(aka westbaystars)
Founder
Shochiku (a forefather team of the current BayStars) holds the record for most runs in a single season with 908 runs (137 games), set in the first year of 2-league play, 1950.
As for Nippon Ham, they've now scored 401 runs in 68 games. That's a 796 pace (5.9 runs per game) when projected over a 135 game season. That's good enough beat the current Pa-League record by 7 runs, and perhaps break the 800 run barrier.
It seems to me that the Fighters' "Big Bang Offense" of a couple of years ago was doing the same thing, but they tapered off in the second half of the season - blowing what otherwise seemed like a sure pennant.
[Updated layout format on Feb 14, 2005 9:57 PM JST]