The reason for Yakult’s great leap forward lies in the “clubhouse baths!　Players and alumni talk about the true nature of “Ikeyama Magic

The magic of talking to people, the magic of listening

I don’t mean to be rude to my old team, but I honestly didn’t think we would be this high up in the standings (laughs). However, professional baseball is not so naive as to be at the top by mere coincidence. Yakult is strong this year,” said Tetsuya Iida, a Yakult alumnus.

In the rankings predictions made by more than 100 baseball commentators before the start of professional baseball in March, about 90% of them saw Yakult at the bottom of the standings, and not unreasonably so. The team has a huge hole to fill in the ranks, especially for mainstay gunner Munetaka Murakami (26), who left last offseason to try out for the majors, and star Tetsuto Yamada (33), a three-time triple-threat hitter, has been forced to spend time with the second team due to injury.

However, Yakult has overturned such rumors and is now in a fierce battle with Hanshin for the top spot. Why is Yakult so strong this season?　What kind of magic has manager Takahiro Ikeyama (60) used to raise the level of his squad?

Iida says, “Since Mr. Ikeyama took over as manager, the atmosphere of the team has been great.

I believe that Mr. Ikeyama has a strong belief that he will not allow the players to live in an environment where they are afraid of failure, since the team consists mainly of young players. When I was a youngster, I served as Mr. Ikeyama’s “Heyago,” and at that time he had such an aura about him that it was scary just to be there.

Now, however, he smiles on the bench and never misses a chance to cheer the players on. For today’s players, a spontaneous atmosphere probably makes it easier for them to fight.”

However, no matter how energetic the bench may be, professional baseball cannot be won if the key players do not take charge.

This season, however, the Yakult baseball team has been able to get into all sorts of strategies, such as “no-bunt baseball” and “No. 8 pitching. Many fans and the media see the shadow of the late Katsuya Nomura, the great general who once built the golden era of the Yakult baseball team, in manager Ikeyama’s outstanding skills, which are called “Ikeyama magic.

In fact, there are many “borrowings” in the “Ikeyama Magic. For example, the idea of moving pitchers up to No. 8 in the batting order to change their attacking patterns came not from Mr. Ikeyama but from Tomoya Tsuboi, 52, the team’s hitting coach.

When Mr. Tsuboi was DeNA’s first-arm hitting coach, then-manager Alex Ramirez (51) would sometimes put the pitcher in the No. 8 spot depending on the condition of the opposing pitcher or his own fielders. When Mr. Tsuboi suggested this to Mr. Ikeyama, he said, “Great! and it was immediately adopted.

Mr. Tsuboi also said to Mr. Ikeyama, “Let’s avoid showing the manager’s color in areas that deviate from the theory, such as substituting only his favorite player or not sending a substitute in a crucial situation. If you do that, the No. 8 pitcher will do well,” he advised. Ramirez is a moody manager, and there were times when he overturned a strategy that he had just gotten into. …… (laughs). He must have had that bitter experience in mind when he said those words.

Baseball talk in the bathtub

Manager Ikeyama actively accepts the advice of his coaches when it comes to pitching.

For example, he removed Taichi Yamano (27), the winning pitcher, from the roster on April 12 to allow him to recover from fatigue, and he avoided pitching three consecutive games for the relay team. This is due in large part to advice from head coach Yuichi Matsumoto (45).

It is rare for a coach with a fielding background to give advice on pitching, but Matsumoto supported former manager Shingo Takatsu (57) as the de facto head coach. He has passed on to Mr. Ikeyama the pitching management techniques he learned there.

There are many people in baseball who do not like to follow the policies of their predecessors, but Mr. Ikeyama is positive to the point of saying, “If I try it and it works, that’s fine, and if it doesn’t, I can bring it back! If it doesn’t work out, we’ll bring it back!

He is a motivator who enlivens the team while absorbing the opinions of the coaches. It is easy to put into words, but the mental strain on a manager in his first year in office must be unimaginable. However, Ikeyama says that he has literally washed away the stress and is now playing the season.

Ikeyama-san just loves taking a bath. Ikeyama-san was the first to start the Yakult tradition of voluntary training in Matsuyama (Ehime Prefecture), and his reason was ‘I want to soak in the hot spring water of Gongen Onsen after practice. Even now, that hasn’t changed, and he enjoys taking a long soak longer than anyone else in the clubhouse at Jingu Stadium.

Mr. C, another staff member of the baseball team, says, “This long soak in the clubhouse has resulted in bringing the team together.

Mr. Ikeyama prefers to talk with people while soaking in the bathtub rather than discussing things on the bench. He quickly takes a bath after a game and discusses with the leadership team to identify areas for reflection and analyze plays that went well. He may also discuss things with Mr. Matsumoto and Mr. Tsuboi there. They sometimes decide on the players’ assignments and batting order on the spot, and the players also pay attention to how the coach’s bathing time is going (laughs).

I said to the backstage staff I got together with, ‘I’m sorry …… for being so flaky since I became the first army manager. Thanks for everything! They say to me, ‘Thank you for everything! Coach Shigeru Sugimura (68), who took care of the backstage staff, left at the end of last season, and the staff was worried, but Mr. Ikeyama would say, “I’ll take care of it this time,” and he would take us out to eat when we went on trips. That’s why the leaders, the backstage staff, and the players are able to fight together as one.

The root of Ikeyama Yakult’s strength may not be found on the baseball field, but in the clubhouse bathrooms.

From the June 19, 2026 issue of FRIDAY