<figure id="attachment_460116" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-460116" style="width: 3968px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="83316474"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2026/03/09ba8601088e58b48b856ac872a42c7f.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-460116" class="wp-caption-text">From left: Murakami, Suzuki, Okamoto, and Otani of Samurai Japan</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Amapura as a rival.</h2>
<p> The 6th World Baseball Classic (WBC), in which Samurai Japan will attempt to win the championship again, has finally begun.</p>
<p> Eight Major Leaguers, the most in Japan&#8217;s history, are participating in the tournament, and we can expect even greater Samurai fever than last time, but there is a concern that the tournament will not be broadcast on terrestrial television. However, the lack of terrestrial TV broadcasting is a cause for concern, and Netflix, which will stream the tournament exclusively live in Japan, has been criticized for its selection of play-by-play announcers and commentators.</p>
<p> It is the job of the play-by-play announcers and commentators to provide appropriate and accurate information, including rules and knowledge of the competition and episodes that convey the appeal of the athletes, and to encourage viewers to be moved by the excitement of the games.</p>
<p> On February 18, Kazutaka Sakamoto, vice president of Netflix&#8217;s content division, said, <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;Our commentary and play-by-play team is a diverse group of people with extensive knowledge of baseball culture and players from around the world, who will provide their own unique perspectives backed by their experience and explain the drama without a plot.</span> They <span class="strongInContent">will</span> explain the drama without a plot from their own unique perspectives backed by the experience of their respective teams. The Major League Baseball staff, however, is tilting their heads.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Frankly, I was worried. The live announcers were former Fuji Television&#8217;s Daiki Tanaka, former NHK&#8217;s Kenjiro Toyohara, former TBS&#8217;s Kenji Matsushita, and NTV&#8217;s Yoshihiko Murayama and Kentaro Hirakawa. All of them are well-known announcers, and there are more than a few people who call them &#8220;all-star members.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> It is true that Mr. Toyohara and Mr. Hirakawa have no complaints. However, I wonder how much Mr. Murayama knows about baseball in today&#8217;s world. &#8230;&#8230; Mr. Matsushita has also been away from the field for a long time. And he is already 73 years old. Mr. Tanaka, too, was once reported by &#8220;Shukan Bunshun&#8221; for his trouble with women. I think they should have prioritized his current practical ability over his name.&#8221;</span></p>
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<p> The reason behind this selection is said to be &#8220;hostility&#8221; toward Amazon&#8217;s &#8220;Prime Video.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> They considered Prime Video, which is ahead in international baseball distribution, to be their rival, and they did not want to include in this WBC&#8217;s lineup not only announcers but also commentators who often appear on Prime Video and have strong Prime Video colors.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> For example, Yuji Kondo, Kiyonori Adachi, reporter Hagiko Yamamoto, and Emiri Nakagawa, who were in charge of the play-by-play of the Samurai Japan&#8217;s training games distributed by Prime Video. The commentator, Tomoya Satosaki, the winning catcher of the first tournament, is not even mentioned. They work with Prime Video on a regular basis. Mr. Satosaki was a studio commentator for all six games of the MLB Tokyo Dome Opening Series last year when the Dodgers and Cubs visited Japan, so he must have been considered a &#8220;Prime Video guy.</span></p>
<p> Even after the additional announcement on February 27, such comments have not stopped.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Amapura performers underestimated"></div>
<h2>A somewhat curious selection.&#8221;</h2>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The selection of the players must be strongly influenced by Netflix&#8217;s intentions. While Netflix will distribute this year&#8217;s tournament, NTV will be in charge of about one-third of the production, mainly for the Japan games, and J SPORTS will be in charge of the rest. Although the addition of J SPORTS, which has broadcast all of the past WBC games, has helped to keep up appearances, not many people are convinced that this lineup is the best.</span></p>
<p> A commercial broadcaster also commented.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> A commercial broadcaster also commented, &#8220;There are almost no names of people who have been active on Prime Video so far. It&#8217;s not that we can&#8217;t say it&#8217;s a differentiation, but it&#8217;s also a problem of underestimating their achievements so far. I hear rumors here and there that &#8216;Mr. XX and Mr. XX were removed because they were prominent in Prime Video.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The only two people who have been active on Prime Video and will also be used on Netflix this time are Hiroki Kuroda, a commentator, and Yuichi Setsumaru, a play-by-play announcer. Most of the people involved in the project think that these two are the ones who can&#8217;t be left out, but many people feel that the rest of the lineup is a &#8220;somewhat strange choice.</span></p>
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<p> Even in this age of competitive broadcasting services, such &#8220;color-coding&#8221; is not always the norm. For example, DAZN, which will be live streaming all games of the World Cup in June, has not been known to avoid using commentators and play-by-play announcers who are often seen in other companies&#8217; broadcasts.</p>
<p> It is true that Netflix&#8217;s entry into the WBC coverage has made the baseball world even more exciting. On the other hand, it is not surprising that some people are asking Netflix to look at human resources from a broader perspective.</p>


 Kyodo News

 With the WBC finally underway, the selection of play-by-play announcers and commentators for Netflix's exclusive live broadcast of the tournament in Japan has come under fire from the field. Why is this?

Netflix&#8217;s Live Broadcast of the WBC &#8220;Eliminates the Color of Amapura&#8221; with Live Commentary&#8230; Next &#8220;Target&#8221; in the &#8220;Crushing of Terrestrial Broadcasting&#8221;.

Netflix’s Live Broadcast of the WBC “Eliminates the Color of Amapura” with Live Commentary… Next “Target” in the “Crushing of Terrestrial Broadcasting”.

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