NPB: Nippon Professional Baseball League Predictions for September 24

The Orix Buffaloes and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles remain in pursuit of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks at the head of a competitive Pacific League and the chasing pair meet on Saturday.

The Buffaloes have a slight advantage at the time of writing with a record of 72-2-63, giving them a winning percentage of .533, while the Eagles have racked up a record of 67-3-63, a winning percentage of .515.

Both sides have benefitted from strong seasons from their respective closers; the Eagles’ Yuki Matsui has amassed an Earned Run Average (ERA) of 1.85 along with 32 saves and 79 strikeouts from his 48.2 innings of work.

For the Buffaloes, Yoshihisa Hirano has a 1.43 ERA and 28 saves from 44 innings pitched.

Both closers will be integral to their team’s efforts over the coming weeks, looking to secure the victory in close games. That may be particularly important in this clash between two teams who are locked in a race for the postseason.

The Tokyo Yakult Swallows have led the Central League for the majority of the season and are closing in on back-to-back Central League titles. The only team with a chance of preventing them from achieving such a feat are the Yokohama DeNa BayStars, who they host on Saturday.

The Swallows have a record of 74-3-54 at the time of writing while the BayStars have amassed a tally of 67-2-61, putting their respective winning percentages at .578 and .523.

Munetaka Murakami continues to be the standout performer in the NPB this season. His recent 55th home run of the season tied the record for the most by a Japanese player in NPB history. Murakami also leads the Central League in batting average with .333 and RBIs (Runs Batted In) with 132, and is putting together one of the best single-season records of any NPB hitter ever.

For the BayStars, Keita Sano has been their standout performer, with a .301 batting average, 18 home runs, and 63 RBIs.

While Yokohama can, on paper, deny the Swallows another Central League title, they likely need Tokyo to collapse for that to happen, and with the efforts of Murakami and his pursuit of history, that looks unlikely.

The Saitama Seibu Lions were locked in a four-way battle for the Pacific League title as recently as last week, but a disastrous run has seen them drop out of playoff contention altogether.

The Lions have lost 10 of their last 11 games at the time of writing, falling to a record of 67-3-67 and a winning percentage of .500. They face the Nippon-Ham Fighters on Saturday, looking to halt their late-season slide and get back in a postseason spot.

The Fighters have the worst record in the NPB at the time of writing (55-3-77) and sit bottom of the Pacific League. Their star pitcher has been Hiromi Itoh, who has an ERA of 2.99 for the season, along with 109 strikeouts from 153.2 innings.

For the Lions, Kona Takahashi has led the way on their pitching staff with a 2.30 ERA and 111 strikeouts from 160.2 innings of work.

Saitama need to start winning games if they are to have any hope of turning around their late slump, and this match against the Fighters should be the ideal opportunity to do just that.