2019 NPB Japanese Baseball set Part 2 of 2 Pacific League

Part 2 of 2 will cover the Pacific League. The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks finished second to the Saitama Seibu Lions, however, they beat them 4-1 in the playoffs to advance to the Japan Series. Both teams were loaded with 6 foils apiece. The Hawks then swept the Giants in the Japan Series. The league MVP was Tomoya Mori of the Lions, who gives you the rare 10 OB catcher. And the best player in the entire set is on the worst team, so you'll have to make it through everyone to see (or skip to the bottom).  

Saitama Seibu Lions 80-62-1 1st place Pacific League

A really strong team, with some standout cards including the aforementioned MVP, Tomoya Mori. I love the Mori card. You give up a bit of defense at catcher, but you have to love the bat. Shuta Tonosaki is one of my favorite cards from an aesthetics and play perspective. Might be a touch expensive for an 8 OB, but I think you get enough out of him to accept the cost. Hotaka Yamakawa walks a lot and he homers a lot. One of those cards that probably frustrates you, but also can carry your team if he gets hot. Sosuke Genda has another standout defensive card. Shogo Akiyama had a really solid season before he headed stateside to play for the Reds. I know Yuji Kaneko will be drafted early, even if he can only Single+. Zach Neal had a 10 point card in the 2020 set, but was great in 2019 and gets the '00 PR Bret Saberhagen special. 

Foils: Tomoya Mori, Sosuke Genda, Shuta Tonosaki, Hotaka Yamakawa, Shogo Akiyama, Zach Neal

2019 NPB Japanese Baseball set Part 1 Central League

 The 2021 NPB regular season is set to wrap up soon (they took a couple weeks off for the Olympics) so what better time to look back at the 2019 season? Just like the 2020 season, the Softbank Hawks won the Japan series over the Yomiuri Giants.

Hayato Sakamoto headlined the Giants and took the MVP award in the Central league. Oddly enough, no one was awarded the Sawamura Award for the best pitcher overall (it covers both Central and Pacific League). As no one met the award committee's, "high standards". It's especially odd when you see Yoshinobu Yamamoto's card when I cover the Pacific League. I suspect they overlooked him since he was only 20 years old in 2019 and Japan really likes to acknowledge the veterans. If you recall, Yamamoto had a great card in 2020. And he's been the best pitcher again in 2021 (1.46 ERA in 186 innings at the time of writing this post). I'm really hoping he makes the jump to the MLB at some point. 

I went with a 2001 aesthetic this time around. Although the way I did the points stayed the same so that the sets could be used together, if desired. I ran a few multiple regression analysis models for the points to try and eliminate outliers, so I am hoping I cleaned up that area from the previous set I made. There are a few cards I would adjust from that set (which is on TTS available for anyone to use). I believe the photographs I was able to use are a step up from 2020, as I realized I could search for names using Japanese characters (through Google translate) and I would find a much better sampling to select from. 

Special thanks to all the card creators. Matt, Peter, Bob, Jeff, Matt Gula. And anyone else from the discord that weighed in on design choices. As always, I welcome feedback!

Let's start with the Central League!

Yomiuri Giants 77-64-2 1st place Central League. Lost to the Hawks in the Japan Series. 

Some familiar faces on this team from the 2020 set. The aforementioned MVP winner Sakamoto had a prodigious season and card to match. Shun Yamaguchi is a workhorse and would be someone's early draft pick. Hirokazu Sawamura came over and pitched for the Red Sox in 2021 and gets a solid, if not spectacular, card with the Giants. Tomoyuki Sugano won the Sawamura Award in 2017, 2018, and the Best 9 award in 2020, but in 2019 was only so-so. 

Foils: Hayato Sakamoto, Yoshihiro Maru, Shun Yamaguchi