The Pacific League was dominated by one man: Yoshinobu Yamamoto. At 22 years old, he won the Sawamura Award (given to the top pitcher in all of the NPB), the Best 9 award, the Pacific League MVP, the pitching triple crown, a gold glove, and the Olympic best pitcher award and gold medal to boot. He helped Orix go from worst to first and end the stranglehold that the Hawks have had on the Pacific League.
Orix Buffaloes 70-55-18 (1st place Central League, Lost to the Swallows in the Japan Series)
Chiba Lotte Marines 67-57-19 (2nd place Pacific League, Lost to the Buffaloes to advance to the Japan Series)
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 66-62-15 (3rd place Pacific League, Lost to the Marines in the opening round)
The offense is not the best, although Hiroaki Shimauchi led the league in RBIs. With a high walk rate, he wouldn't replicate that in Showdown play, but he is a nice bat overall. Hideto Asamura had a down season power-wise, but still got on base at a high rate. If you don't mind the slow speed and bad defense you can have a cheap ~.395 OBP batter. Ryosuke Tatsumi is another lock to get drafted. You don't love the high walks and lack of pop, but you do love the CF+4 (he took home his first gold glove award). Place Takero Okajima next to him and you got yourself an elite defensive outfield instantly. Eigoro Mogi is the 2nd most expensive 3rd baseman in the set and only +4 available if you're into that sort of thing.
Masahiro Tanaka is back with his original team after a successful major league career. He put up a nice Tier 2 card for his return. Yuki Matsui put up a monster season and is a Tier 0 beast you really don't want to face in the 9th inning. His ERA was 0.63, while his WHIP was actually a bit higher than you'd expect at 1.00. But not many of those were hits. His H/9 was only 4.6 while his BB/9 was 4.4. And you know in Showdown terms that plays well. The bullpen is rounded out by a couple 6 control Tier 2 pitchers.
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 60-62-21 (4th place Pacific League)
Hard times for this great franchise. Injuries and underperfomance ensured they would miss the playoffs. Yuki Yanagita was still almost as good as ever although saw a slight dip in the OBP. It's the worst card I've made for him, and for almost anyone else it'd be by far their best. Takuya "The Cannon" Kai won his 5th consecutive gold glove and his defensive metrics matched. The bat still lags behind his glove quite a bit though, but Speed B and a bit of pop plays at catcher. Ryoya Kurihara was an Olympian and has a very playable and versatile card. Taisei Makihara has been on both my 2020 and 2019 NPB team and his card always seems to outperform his 5 OB (especially in the playoffs). Well, now he's earned himself a fun 7 OB speed card. Don't love the 6 outs, but with no walks you mind it less. And just enough pop to take advantage of mistake pitches. Another really versatile player too with plus or average defense across five positions.
Poor Nick Martinez. Almost any other set and a 700 point card would be headlining the set, but he's playing second fiddle to Yamamoto. With that said, at 100 points cheaper he may be more likely to be drafted. Maybe some brave manager will pick both. Koudai Senga had an injury shortened season, but was very good in his 84.67 innings pitched and gets a solid Tier 2 card. Shuta Ishikawa is a very intriguing Tier 3 with 18 outs and no doubles. Liván Moinelo is an elite reliever again. Closer Yuito Mori had a down year by his standards, which translates to a Tier 2 card with a homer at 90 points. Someone is taking a gamble on him for sure.
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 55-68-20 (5th place Pacific League)
Kensuke Kondoh leads the way again for the Fighters. He continues to accumulate 10 OB or higher Showdown cards. Fellow Fighters stalwart, Haruki Nishikawa, had a down year for him and then left the team in free agency this off-season. Po-jung Wang is an intriguing power bat despite the bad speed and defense.
I'll be honest, I massaged the math just a tad when making Naoyuki Uwasawa's card. I wanted at least one Tier 2 starter as a control 6 and he was closest to fitting that. Takayuki Katoh and Hiromi Itoh are a great 2-3 punch for any team, but especially a 5th place team. You always like a Tier 1 reliever in Kazutomo Iguchi. While Toshihiro Sugiura made the transition from starter to closer and did pretty well. If you avoid the 20, he'll do great for you. The rest of the bullpen is surprisingly playable too.
Saitama Seibu Lions 55-70-18 (6th place Pacific League)
Sosuke Genda once again stands head and shoulders above any other shortstop according to the defensive metrics I have access to for the NPB (he also won his 4th consecutive gold glove). Draft him and you at least have an average infield. Now two years removed from his MVP season, Tomoya Mori, had a nice bounce back from a very blah 2020 campaign. 23 year old rookie, Gakuto Wakabayashi, was the fastest player to 20 stolen bases before he tore his ACL in late May. Hopefully he can make a full recovery and give us some more fun cards. I really want to see if someone takes a chance on drafting Aito Takeda. You obviously hate the 5 OB, but with plus LF/RF defense, no walks, and doubling at 9...maybe you gamble on him.
The pitching is pretty meager. Although Tatsuya Imai is great Tier 3 option with 3 walks. Zach Neal was a Tier 2 stud in 2019, and has now delivered 10 point cards in both 2020 and 2021. Kaima Taira is the last of the Tier 0 pitchers. And his card gets the fun, colorful jersey too.
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