Patrick »
28 November 2008 »
In nichibei »
Couple of news items from the world of relief pitching to pass along today…
- Rakuten is expected to announce the acquisition of Phillies AAA righty Matt Childers in the next couple of days. Looks like Childers pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in 2008, and had decent numbers.
- Nippon Ham will look to recover a little bullpen depth with the signing Oakland AAA lefty Ryan Wing. Wing is coming off a solid season in his first try at AAA. At 26, he likely still has some upside left.
- Add lefty Shigeki Noguchi to the list of guys eyeing a move to the States. Noguchi was one of the best pitchers in Japan from 1998-2001, but hasn’t been the same guy since. He was cut by the Giants after the Japan Series, and Rakuten passed after working him out earlier in the month. His best days are behind him, but if Yukinaga Maeda can get a chance to pitch in AAA, Noguchi should be able to.
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Tags: Matt Childers, Ryan Wing, Shigeki Noguchi, Yukinaga Maeda
Patrick »
28 November 2008 »
In npb »
The excellent Pro Baseball Attendance Ranking site has posted the NPB’s 2008 attendance numbers, and I’ve translated them into English here. Attendance was up about 2% in 2008, and four teams drew over 2m fans.
| Team |
2008 |
2007 |
change |
% change |
| Hanshin |
2,976,754 |
3,144,180 |
-167,426 |
-5.32% |
| Yomiuri |
2,876,274 |
2,911,358 |
-35,084 |
-1.21% |
| Chunichi |
2,427,805 |
2,390,532 |
37,273 |
1.56% |
| Softbank |
2,250,044 |
2,307,160 |
-57,116 |
-2.48% |
| Nippon Ham |
1,873,931 |
1,833,054 |
40,877 |
2.23% |
| Chiba Lotte |
1,601,632 |
1,558,430 |
43,202 |
2.77% |
| Seibu |
1,413,583 |
1,093,471 |
320,112 |
29.27% |
| Hiroshima |
1,390,680 |
1,129,061 |
261,619 |
23.17% |
| Yakult |
1,281,714 |
1,333,231 |
-51,517 |
-3.86% |
| Orix |
1,266,765 |
1,137,186 |
129,579 |
11.39% |
| Rakuten |
1,149,061 |
1,117,369 |
31,692 |
2.84% |
| Yokohama |
1,129,954 |
1,231,997 |
-102,043 |
-8.28% |
| Total |
21,638,197 |
21,187,029 |
451,168 |
2.13%Â |
Seibu, Orix, and Hiroshima all improved on the field and were rewarded with higher attendance. 2008 was also the last season for Hiroshima Civic Stadium, which probably helped the Carp’s attendance as well. Hanshin’s attendance took a dip but they still led the league overall. Yokohama’s drop is likely attributable to the fact that they spent another year in the Central League’s basement.
Here are the per game averages:
| Team |
Avg. Attendance |
Capacity |
% full |
| Hanshin |
41,344 |
46,229 |
89% |
| Yomiuri |
39,948 |
46,314 |
86% |
| Chunichi |
33,720 |
38,414 |
88% |
| Softbank |
31,251 |
35,773 |
87% |
| Nippon Ham |
26,027 |
42,126 |
62% |
| Chiba Lotte |
22,245 |
30,011 |
74% |
| Seibu |
19,633 |
33,229 |
59% |
| Hiroshima |
19,315 |
31,984 |
60% |
| Yakult |
17,802 |
36,011 |
49% |
| Orix |
17,594 |
36,477 |
48% |
| Rakuten |
15,959 |
22,187 |
72% |
| Yokohama |
15,694 |
30,000 |
52% |
| averages |
25,044 |
35,730 |
70% |
The capacity figure may be a little misleading as every team except Lotte played home games in 2008 away from it’s primary home stadium. Hanshin, for example, played 9games at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome, which is smaller than their primary home stadium Koshien.
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