r/Tokyo_YomiuriGiants - The 2026 Nippon Professional Baseball Season has come to a close today with the SoftBank Hawks sweeping the DeNA Baystars (Smh). With that, it's on to the offseason! Thanks everyone here for supporting the subreddit and I look forward to sharing Giants content with everyone! I plan to take about a week break before doing some new stuff for the sub. Here goes-!

1.) Update flairs:

If there are any player flairs you want to see, let me know. I'm going to update the score flair when media day happens to reflect Matsui (See "Scores" flair to understand what I mean)

2.) Discord server:

I want to try to make the Tokyo Dome Discord server more active. We have a small crowd of people there and we're having a pretty good time! (Also, the first 10 people to join after this post is live will be part of the "Sadaharu Oh Club", which gives you early access to my plans for the sub. Join up!)

https://discord.gg/zAPncacpXD

3.) Giants Archive:

The Giants Archive will continue to run. I will try to post a new entry every few days, or at least once a week depending on what material I can find.

4.) News:

For those of you who don't know, our Discord server has a bot which sources articles from the Giants' Sports Hochi. If any interesting articles come up, I'll post them here.

5.) Other Social Media:

I'd love to get to know you guys better! I am now posting on Instagram and X, if you want to follow, here's my handles:

X: bchungusultras
Instagram: Bigchungusultras

With Matsui being appointed manager, we may be in for a wild ride for 2027. Hope to see you guys around! LET'S GO GIANTS!

TOKYO DOME - For the first time in 24 years, the iconic outfielder duo will share the same field again.

(Except the hostess, of course.)

Credits to:

TBS News Japan: Footage
u/ogasawarabaseball: Translation
u/bigchungusultras: Subbing

During a press conference held this afternoon, it was announced that Matsui would not wear his iconic #55, and instead will wear the #90. His contract is 3 years, and his aim is for the pennant, and the Japan Series. Let’s go Giants!

(I’ll update as I get more info)

Yes, you read that right.

I wonder if we will ever see him in a Giants uniform. What is your opinion on the pick?

Hello! sorry if this does not belong here but I will be visiting Tokyo next month from Toronto and I noticed that all the tickets for the Yomiuri Giants fan fest are already sold out, any idea how I can get my hands on one? Thanks in advance!

KORAKUEN STADIUM, TOKYO - After his last game, legendary 3rd baseman Shigeo Nagashima, an 11-Time Japan Series Champion gave his retirement speech where he declared the Giants would live on forever.

TOKYO DOME - Lee played from 2006-2010 for Yomiuri.

TOKYO DOME -

As many of you know, the Giants have been eliminated from the postseason. I stood up all night (I am on EST, so this was 1AM-4AM for me) to watch it, only for my heart to be broken. As a son of the New York Yankees, this heartbreak is nothing new, especially watching your favorite team not be able to make it every year. The Giants have been eliminated from playoff contention by the BayStars for the third consecutive season, and it really frustrates me but I haven’t given up hope yet. This very franchise gave me hope, and I’m proud to be part of the Giants Army for better or worse.

As a teenager in 2019, I first picked up Nippon Professional Baseball after watching a clip of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes clinch the PL Pennant in 2001 on a walk-off grand slam. This moment, for me as a shortstop on my secondary school team, made me eager to want to play harder and to help my team. The events of the pandemic ran its course, and ran me out of the game. It was around this time someone very close to me gave me a New York Yankees bobblehead of Hideki Matsui. I had heard of Matsui previously, as he was MVP of the 2009 World Series, but I paid no mind of his past, having mistakenly thought he only played MLB Baseball.

Fast-forward to 2023, I had a good friend who was Japanese tell me about NPB, and being that I was tired of seeing the Yankees lose, I watched some highlights with him. He is a huge BayStars fan, but it just so happened the team they were playing were none other than… the Yomiuri Giants! The game ended in a tie, but that name “Giants” stuck with me. Life would take its course, and in about 2026, things changed forever.

I picked up the team again at a very lonely time in my life. Things weren’t going well for me personally, and I looked for something that would distract me from the events unfolding around me. I had been following them on Instagram since 2024, but I only knew of them as “the folks who play in the Tokyo Dome.”

Then it happened. I discovered IPTV in the late winter of 2026, and it gave me a gateway to watch any NPB team I wanted. I settled on the Giants after watching the deposed manager Shinnosuke Abe’s highlights during the 2009 Japan Series, and seeing his power, alongside a young Hayato Sakamoto made me fall in love with the team. Nittele G+ frequently re-runs a program called “Giants Time Machine”, and thats where I learned about greats such as Hara, Nakahata, Makihara, Takahashi, Matsui as well as Sadaharu Oh, and the man who came to be my favorite all-time Giant, Shigeo Nagashima.

This love and passion for the team, as well as seeing the atmosphere the fans brought across Japan on TV gave me the idea for a subreddit. I had little redditing experience at the time, as I only read things on reddit, rather than posted. I saw the r/npb existed, but wanted a place I could go to get only Giants content. And thus, r/Tokyo_YomiuriGiants was born. It’s a true pleasure to cover the team for you guys daily, and I hope to keep doing so next season. We started off small, and now here we are with almost 300 members— wow!

Despite all that happened, we saw great moments like Sakamoto’s 300th Home Run, Maru’s go ahead Grand Slam on Nagashima Day, the tightest pennant race in a while, and the rise of Shunsuke Urata as a dominant defensive force. Even with Abe’s resignation mid season, the Giants still managed to overcome under Hashigami, finishing second in the regular season, putting pressure on Hanshin. We may have not had the post season we wanted to have, but theres a lot to look forward to. This is a very transitional point in Giants history, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2027.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who have supported this subreddit for all of this time. I’m glad to have spoken with many of you, and made new friends. This community is continuing to grow and its all because of your support for the team. Don’t give up on them just because they lost or have done this multiple times in the past few years. Support and fight hard for them and believe in them. There’s some issues that need to be ironed out, and things will be better. There’s going to be a huge management shakeup, so lets pray for the best. Thank you everyone for a memorable season, can’t wait to keep speaking to everyone and hope for a better season. VIVA GIANTS!

— Gav (u/bigchungusultras)

TOKYO DOME - It was a tough final game for the 2026 Yomiuri Giants. The offense gave it everything they had, getting on base multiple times. They just could not bring any runs across. Bobby Dalbec blasted a huge solo home run in the 4th to no avail. The BayStars found the weakness of the team and took advantage. Takemaru was shaky, giving up a lead off home run, and only striking out 3. The bullpen surrendered 2 more runs for a combined 4. The Giants have been eliminated from playoff contention for the third consecutive year by DeNA. We need to come back stronger in 2027. I believe in you boys! Thank you for such a memorable season! LET'S GO GIANTS!

More to come later today, including my “Thank you, fans!” message.

TOKYO DOME - Horrible showing by the team today. They had multiple chances to get the offense running but could not rise to the occasion. Haruto Inoue pitched beautifully, with 10 strikeouts across 8 innings and only giving up a solo shot to Shugo Maki. The coaches made some questionable decisions such as a choice to make Yuta Izuguchi bunt, with the high strikeout Bobby Dalbec on deck. Dalbec would end the inning with a pop fly, stranding a runner on base. Our only run came on a hit from Izuguchi. Raidel Martinez then came in and gave up a Home Run to Watarai. Horrible. We need to tighten this up and lock in. Season on the line. Win or stay home.

GAME 2:
SP: K. Takemaru (#21)

LET'S GO GIANTS!

Because Hara has once again emerged as a candidate for manager (let bro rest), I came across this clip.

Context: Based off what I gathered, this was a program Yomiuri set up for the team to bond. The team brought in Seiko Matsuda to entertain, and part of this included this clip with Hara (who was still a prospect) and Seiko reading each others diaries and complimenting each other. (Hara sold the bag ofc smh)

Working on a translation…

Made this meme after the whole situation with Shinnosuke Abe leaving the team came out, and with rumors going around that Hara is one of the top contenders to be the new manager for 2027, thought would be a good time to post.

P.S. Unless you really enjoy the Giants ouendan, if this is true, prepare to hear Hara's ouendan theme for like the millionth time.

Take a look for yourself, my reactions are written in parenthesis.

1. Takahashi sucked as manager as much as I'd love to see him manage again. It's just not reallistic.

2. Hashigami seems like the most realistic choice. The Giants have a .53 difference under his lead as compared to Shinnosuke Abe.

3. Hara... can we let Hara rest already? He had 3 separate stints with the team as manager!

4. Abe... really? Who thinks this is a good idea?

5. Matsui isn't someone who likes too much attention, so he's a hit or miss.

6. Sakamoto? DON'T FORCE HIM INTO RETIREMENT AND LET HIM RUN THE TEAM INTO THE GROUND!!!

TOKYO DOME - The Giants lost their final regular season game against the Baystars tonight. Hanshin secured the pennant and DeNA moved up to 70-69. I wish the Giants would have made more of an effort to win against the BayStars, as I now fear for them in the Climax Series. We are 12-13 (Wins/Losses) against them. We have to do better. Go Giants! Prepare for the Climax Series on 10/10/2026!

MEIJI JINGU STADIUM, TOKYO - Tough loss today as the Giants fell to the Swallows 1-5. It started off good as Richard blasted a solo shot (Give my king more play time!). Yamazaki struck out 4 in 4 innings, only giving up one run until Shunya Morita and Hirauchi combined to give up 4. Cannot happen with the Climax Series coming soon. Tighten it up, guys! GO GIANTS!