From Opening Dash to Plunge – Ticking Time Bomb for Manager Kazuyoshi Tatsunami’s Central League Team

In early April, the media in Nagoya were excited to see the Chunichi Dragons take the lead for the first time in 2,891 days.

This year’s Dragons are different.

Such comments could be heard from the reporters who have been following the Dragons for many years. The way they won a series of low-scoring, close games was reminiscent of the golden era under the Ochiai administration, when they finished in the A class for all eight years, won four league championships, and even won the top prize in Japan. The team’s performance was more than enough to remind us of the resurgence of the mighty dragon, but some of the reporters were skeptical.

Kazuyoshi Tachinami (54), the manager of the team, is not one to sit still, so it will be up to him if he can resist “moving.

The reporters’ fears proved correct, and in just one month the team had eroded its maximum six-game lead and fallen to fourth place with a debt of two games as of May 15.

The key players behind the team’s opening-day dash were Sho Nakata (35), the centerpiece of the reinforcements, and Mikiya Tanaka (23), a second-year college graduate who is making a splash at second base, and above all, the best pitching staff in the league.

Even within the baseball team, there were many who predicted from the February camp that this season was sure to get off to a good start. A source close to the baseball team revealed the background of this expectation.

A source close to the baseball team revealed the background behind the success: “The replacement of players and reassignment of coaches worked well, and we entered the camp with a better atmosphere than we have had in recent years. Everyone, including the backstage staff, was enthusiastic about ‘Let’s do it this year! I felt that everyone, including the backstage staff, had the momentum to ‘go for it this year! This momentum led to the first time in 21 years that we came out on top in the opening round, and we made a dash for the opening day of the season. ……”

However, the momentum did not last long. A Chunichi reporter for a sports newspaper said, “Tachinami’s ‘move’ was not a good one.

Tachinami’s move was the cause. A major turning point was when he broke up the rotation and used ace Yuya Yanagi (30) against Yakult in a five-day game and lost badly. That game affected not only Yanagi but also the operation of the other pitchers. From that point on, the atmosphere changed drastically, with the starters getting hammered in some games. There was the situation of having starting pitchers such as Yudai Ohno (35) and Akihiro Umezu (27) who were coming off breakdowns, but some pitchers left their starting senses open, while others were used as fill-ins, and the consistency disappeared. And the reasons for this have not been made clear.”