2006 Pacific League Predictions

I think:

1 Hawks
2 Fighters
3 Marines
4 Buffaloes
5 Lions




6 Eagles

I still see the Hawks as the Pacfic League favorites still, they have peformed excellently so far this year going 6-2-0 so far.

1.)Softbank Hawks
2.)Chiba Lotte Marines
3.)Orix Buffaloes
4.)Seibu Lions
5.)Nippon Ham Fighters
6.)Rakuten Eagles

I'm a big Fighters fan but I'm sort of pessimistic about the team this year anyway. I'd be delighted to see them finish second, but I feel like too many pieces of the puzzle are still missing/broken. I mean, I'm amazed Kanemura was ready to pitch opening day, and I thought Tsuboi was injured, and...

1. Hawks
2. Lions
3. Marines
4. Buffaloes
5. Fighters
99. Eagles

I think the more fun prediction would be how many wins for the Eagles? I'm guessing 42.

1. Hawks
2. Fighters
3. Lions
4. Marines
5. Buffaloes
6. Eagles

I'm a huge Fighters fan and I think the team can do a good league this season. I think Macias was a great sign.
I preffer Hichori Morimoto for Tsuboi. Tsuboi isn't in a very good condition and Morimoto is doing well.
Pitching staff seems to be doing better this year.
I hope more chances for rookie Kawashima. Yesterday was relegated to Farm team.

Here's what I think will be the outcome

1. Seibu
2. Nippon Ham
3. Orix
4. Lotte
5. Softbank
6. Rakuten

I believe that Seibu has the scariest line up with Kuriyama, Nakajima, Cabrera, Wada, G.G Satoh, Nakamura and Sumitani. The pitching is great overall with Nishiguchi, Matsuzaka, Hoashi and the foreign pitcher.

I think Rakuten will be last because of having only one pitcher to rely on that being Ichiba solely.

> 1. Seibu
> 2. Nippon Ham
> 3. Orix
> 4. Lotte
> 5. Softbank
> 6. Rakuten

Uh, how exactly do you figure on Softbank and Lotte finishing in the second division?

Kind of see what you're saying. Hawks in transition of sorts with Matsuda and Matoba in the lineup, will still be strong though. Note to Bobby, if you have a team of champions, you don't change them every day. This worked wonders with a team who had't won for however many years, but Lotte will suffer with this tactic this year.

1 - Lions
2 - Hawks
3 - Buffaloes
4 - Marines
5 - Fighters
6 - Eagles (How have they managed to become worse? Dangerous words from a Dragons fan - Probably the only team the Eagles have a winning record over!)

Overall, Interesting year in the PL, and maybe the Hawks will finally win the playoffs if they don't finish top.

Here is the reason why I feel Softbank will finish near last. Softbank has a great pitching staff but the one factor that affected the offense and pitching is Johjima's abscence. He helped the pitchers because they probably felt that they could rely on his signs. Now, the pitchers are insecure and aren't sure if they can trust their new catcher's signals late in the count. I've noticed through watching their games than when the count is high, the pitchers tend to throw balls when the catcher is asking for a strike.

Now as for Lotte, their batting is great, but I feel that the order of the batting order is messed up.
I feel that Imae should bat 2nd and Benny 6th in the lineup. You want ground ball and line drive hitters at the top and batters with pop around 4,5,6. I also feel that the batters swing only at fastballs and watch the breaking balls. As I have observed, the lineup changes a lot. It's as if Valentine is trying to makeup to players who didn't get a chance to play much last year.

So the Hawks lost Johjima and the Bobby V likes to tinker with his lineup everyday. It still won't change the landscape of the PL very much.

Even with those "shortcomings," they are still two of the better teams. Lotte's slow start is probably just a mirage; give them a month and I think they'll start performing up to their level.

I still can't figure on you putting the Hawks in 5th place. Even without Johjima, they have arguably the best offense in the league to go with the pitching staff. For me, they're reloading rather than rebuilding.

I second what was said above, losing Johjima is a shortcoming, but Softbank still has a great pitching staff, and Matsunaka, Zuleta, Ohmura, and Cabrera. Not to mention they're a more energized and younger team this year.

Second not to mention, it's very unlikely both Orix and Seibu will keep up with their current pace. One of the two will fall from there pace.