Roster Changes are updated daily.

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2013 Season Standings

Central League

Pacific League

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From May 21:

Hitters

Pitchers

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Hanshin Tigers vs Chiba Lotte Marines @ QVC Marine Field - 18:15
Starters: Enokida, Daiki (HAN) 2-4, 2.18 - Abe, Kazunari (LOT) 1-0, 0.00

Yokohama Bay Stars vs Softbank Hawks @ YafuOku Dome - 18:00
Starters: Cheng, Kai-Wen (YOK) 0-1, 18.00 - Terahara, Hayato (SOF) 1-3, 3.91

Chunichi Dragons vs Orix Buffaloes @ Hotto Motto Field Kobe - 18:00
Starters: Iwata, Shinji (CHU) 1-1, 6.00 - Matsuba, Takahiro (ORI) 2-0, 2.20

Hiroshima Carp vs Seibu Lions @ Seibu Dome - 18:00
Starters: Otake, Kan (HIR) 4-1, 1.71 - Makita, Kazuhisa (SEI) 4-2, 1.95

Yomiuri Giants vs Rakuten Eagles @ Kleenex Stadium - 18:00
Starters: Sawamura, Hirokazu (YOM) 2-2, 3.57 - Tanaka, Masahiro (RAK) 6-0, 2.08

Yakult Swallows vs Nippon Ham Fighters @ Sapporo Dome - 18:00
Starters: Tokuyama, Takeaki (YAK) 0-1, 9.00 - Yoshikawa, Mitsuo (HAM) 3-4, 3.83

Yomiuri Giants

The Giants suffered their 100th Inter-league loss on Monday.

Source: Sanspo 5/21/2013

Chunichi Dragons

On Monday, at forty-years and eleven months, Kazuhiro Wada became the oldest player in franchise history to hit a grand slam.  The previous franchise record of thirty-eight years and five months was set by Hiromitsu Ochiai in 1992.

Source: Sponichi 5/20/2013, Sponichi 5/20/2013

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Hector Luna extended his hitting streak to twenty-one games on Monday.  The franchise record of twenty-five games was set by Michio Nishizawa in 1949.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/20/2013

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Jesus Colome joined the Ichi-gun team for practices at Hotto Motto Kobe on Tuesday.  He tossed a bullpen session in front of the coaches (Kohei Oda was the catcher).

"[Colome] was ok today.  He also throws pitches that are different from Japanese pitchers.  It will be more than fine if he can pitch one inning," said Morimichi Takagi.

The Dragons will make a final decision on Colome after they receive the results from his drug test later this month.

Source: Sanspo 5/21/2013, Sponichi 5/21/2013

Yakult Swallows

Chris Leroux pitched in a Ni-gun game against Nippon Ham on Tuesday and gave up a run on five hits over three innings of work.  This was his first outing at Ni-gun since signing with the Swallows.  He is expected to pitch in as least one more Ni-gun game.

Source: Sanspo 5/21/2013

Hiroshima Carp

Fred Lewis was issued a stern warning and a 100,000 yen fine by the commissioner's office on Tuesday.  Lewis was ejected from a game on Monday after vehemently arguing a strike call during his at bat in the 4th inning.

Source: Sports Hochi 5/21/2013

Hanshin Tigers

1st round draft pick Shintaro Fujinami started an Ikusei game against a mixed Shikoku Island League plus team on Tuesday at Naruohama.  He gave up three runs on five hits over three innings of work.  He struck out five and topped out at 151km/h.  This was his first outing since he started an Ichi-gun game on the 5th against Yakult at Koshien.  Assuming no problems, Fujinami will likely make his next start at Ichi-gun on the 26th against Nippon Ham at Koshien.

Source: Daily Sports 5/21/2013, Sanspo 5/21/2013

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5th round draft pick Kazuyuki Kaneda relieved Fujinami on Tuesday and tossed two shutout inning while allowing two hits.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/21/2013

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GM Katsuhiro Nakamura admitted the team was interested in Blaine Boyer and that they were close to finalizing a deal with him.  An announcement could be made soon.

Source: Daily Sports 5/21/2013, Sanspo 5/21/2013

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Tsuyoshi Nishioka may have tweaked his left calf while playing defense on Monday (either in the 4th or 6th inning).

Source: Sanspo 5/21/2013, Nikkan Sports 5/21/2013

Nishioka ended workouts early on Tuesday as a precaution.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/21/2013

Yokohama Bay Stars

The Bay Stars will likely start Kai-Wen Cheng and 3rd round draft pick Shoichi Ino against the Softbank Hawks at YafuOku Dome (May 22-23).

Nippon Ham Fighters

Brian Wolfe threw thirty-five pitches in the bullpen on Tuesday.  He told reporters he was back to about eighty percent and would work on the remaining twenty percent by taking things day-by-day.

Source: Daily Sports 5/21/2013

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1st round draft pick Shohei Otani threw thirty-two pitches off the mound at Sapporo Dome on Monday before moving to the bullpen to throw another fifty-six pitches.  He is slated to make the first start of his Ichi-gun career on the 23rd against Yakult at Sapporo Dome.

Otani has not played in any Ichi-gun games since he started a Ni-gun game against Seibu on the 16th.

Source: Sanspo 5/21/2013

Sponichi adds that Otani threw twelve pitches to a standing catcher and twenty pitches to a squatting catcher when testing the mound at Sapporo Dome on Monday.

Source: Sponichi 5/21/2013

The media learned on Monday that the Fighters will not nominate Otani for the Fresh All-Star Game because they consider him an Ichi-gun player and as such, feel he should only focus on the Ichi-gun All-Star Game.

Source: Sponichi 5/21/2013

Seibu Lions

Ryoma Nogami threw thirty pitches in the bullpen on Tuesday (about ten fewer than usual).  He is scheduled to start a game against Hiroshima on the 23rd.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/21/2013

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At about forty pitches, Yusei Kikuchi threw about ten more pitches than usual during his pre-game bullpen session on Monday.

Source: Sanspo 5/21/2013

Softbank Hawks

The Hawks recorded ten or more runs in two consecutive games -- twelve runs on May 19 and ten runs on the 20.  The last time they managed a similar feat was in 2010 when they scored fourteen runs on July 31 and twelve runs on August 1.

Source: Sponichi 5/21/2013

Rakuten Eagles

Scouts from the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers are expected to attend Wednesday's game against Yomiuri at Kleenex Stadium.

Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to start for the Eagles, Hirokazu Sawamura for the Giants.

Source: Daily Sports 5/21/2013

Chiba Lotte Marines

Seth Greisinger was taken off the active roster on Tuesday with tightness in his right shoulder.  Kazunari Abe is scheduled to take Greisinger's next start on Wednesday against Hanshin.

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/21/2013

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Yuji Nishino struck out twelve batters in 8.1 innings of work on Monday and became the first pitcher taken during the Ikusei draft to record ten or more strikeouts in a game.

Source: Sponichi 5/21/2013

The Hanshin Tigers and Nippon Ham Fighters have joined forces to create special limited Shintaro Fujinami and Shohei Otani merchandise that will only be available at Koshien Stadium (May 25-26), Sapporo Dome June (12-13), and individual official team stores (May 25 until supplies for online stores run out).  Each item will feature both players prominently -- Fujinami pitching and Otani hitting.

• T-Shirt - 2,940 yen
• Key Chain - 500 yen
• Stickers - 350 yen
• Clear File - 350 yen
• Face Towel - 1,050 yen

Fans that spend 3,000 yen or more on the above merchandise through either team's official online store will also have a chance to win one of five Fujinami/Otani autographed t-shirts.

Source: official announcement (Nippon Ham), online store (Nippon Ham), official announcement (Hanshin), online store (Hanshin)