Discord Intensifies Behind the Scenes as Hanshin Tigers Manager Akinobu Okada Is in a Bad Mood

Last season, the Hanshin Tigers won the long-sought Japan championship for the first time in 38 years. This season, the Tigers are challenging for back-to-back championships for the first time in the team’s history, and are currently on a long road trip.

In the past, the Tigers were said to be on a “road of death,” but now they are definitely more grateful to have an air-conditioned dome stadium than to play in Koshien in the middle of summer. Now that they can play their games at Kyocera Dome in Osaka City, the “road of death” metaphor may no longer be accurate.

However, the team’s record on the road this season has not been good: 7 wins, 9 losses, and 1 draw (as of August 21) since vacating Koshien for the last time against the Giants on August 1. The team was four games out of first place at that point and could not afford to lose a single game, but it lost two games in a row against Chunichi. This was the fourth consecutive time they had lost their first game on the card.

When the team plays on the road or outside its home base, it receives invitations for meals from its friends and acquaintances scattered around the country, but the atmosphere on the road this time is said to be a bit difficult.

I got a response like, “Director Akifumi Okada is in a bad mood, so it’s a little hard for me to go out. He may be turning down the invitation by making excuses like that, ha ha ha” (a Tanimachi source).

Okada’s harsh words flew in his exchange with reporters after the loss, and in the game against the Giants on March 14, his 16th complete defeat of the season, he did not respond to the post-game interview, but simply said, “Ask the coach! He simply said, “Ask the coach!

Okada is the type of coach who shows his emotions straight out, for better or worse. Some people say that he is easy to get along with because he is not so straightforward, but there are also quite a few players and coaches who see him as hard to deal with.

He seems to have become a much gentler grandfather than he was during his time as manager of the Hanshin and Orix teams, but when it comes to the game, he may not be so forgiving.

He is in the final year of a two-year contract and will turn 67 this year, so it has been said that he will retire this year whether or not he wins the “Allempa” (Alle + consecutive championships). There have been many reports that the possibility of his retirement has increased or decreased, but now it seems to be increasing little by little.

Okada may be taking a hard-line attitude toward his coaches and players as a form of encouragement, but when the results do not match up, it is inevitable that some discordant feelings will emerge.