Cleveland Sports Forum

[Breaking news] 6th day 2nd game 2nd round Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) -Wakayama Higashi / Senbatsu

2022/03/24 11:16

high school baseball

Koshien Stadium where the 94th Selected High School Baseball Tournament is held

Sixteen teams started the first round. Eight were eliminated. Round 2 begins with the eight surviving teams.

94th Selected High School Baseball Tournament 6th Day 2nd round, 2nd Game (Urawa Gakuin-Wakayama Higashi.

In the first round, Urawa Gakuin Left-handed pitcher Miyagi was sharp and pitched a shut out on 2 hits with 13 strikeouts.

Urawa Gakuin hitting was destructive and hits were endless. Can Wakayama Higashi demonstrate batting line shown in their last game and get off to a quick start?




[ Japan is obsessed with high school baseball ]

The annual Koshien Stadium competition is the closest thing to a national festival

ROBERT WHITING, Contributing writer

TOKYO --

The biggest sporting event of the year in Japan is a high school baseball tournament held each August at the Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, near Kobe, on the north shore of Osaka Bay. Watched by crowds of up to 50,000 per game over two weeks, with live nationwide telecasts reaching millions more, the National High School Baseball Championship has been likened to America's World Series baseball. It is also the closest thing Japan has to a national festival.

Throughout Japan, excitement is already building about this year's competition, due to start on Aug. 6. As usual, the knockout tournament will feature 49 teams that have won regional championships. But how and why a schoolboy competition has become so popular is a story deeply entwined with Japan's turbulent modern history.

In the U.S., baseball began as a professional sport in the mid-19th century, and by the start of the 20th century the modern Major League Baseball system was in place. Throughout its history, amateur games have attracted little attention, and the amateur game now takes a distant back seat to MLB, which draws 70 million fans a year and rakes in $10 billion in revenue.

In Japan, the reverse is true. Baseball was introduced as a student sport by visiting American professors early in the Meiji era, after the country opened its doors to the West in 1868, ending 250 years of feudal isolation. It was Japan's first real group sport, quickly earning a spot among traditional athletic competitions such as kendo and sumo.

But Japan turned baseball, played in the U.S. for relaxation and amusement, into something akin to a martial art, with an emphasis on training, development of spirit and self-sacrifice. As Masaru Ikei, a Keio University professor and author of several books on besuboru (baseball), put it: "Amateur baseball is part of our sports heritage. ... It has been a tool of education used to instill discipline, teamwork and fighting spirit in student athletes."



The national high school championship tournament, launched in 1915 by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, involved 10 teams and was played in a ballpark in the Osaka suburb of Toyonaka that seated less than 15,000. But the tourney caught on quickly and played to overflowing crowds.

In 1924 the Koshien Stadium opened and became home for the tournament, its stands filled for every game. The stadium, then the largest in Asia, featured vendors and flush toilets, rare at the time, and a stand so large it was tagged the "Alps." In the same year, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper established a five-day spring invitational tournament, and by the time a professional league was established in 1936 the Summer Koshien tournament was entrenched as Japan's most popular sporting event, with the spring tourney not far behind.

The two tournaments have since been held annually, except for 1942-45, during World War II, when the movement of students was banned. During that period the stadium was used for grenade-throwing contests and other military purposes. An iron roof was torn down and used as war materiel, but Koshien survived firebombing in August 1945.

Despite a postwar surge in professional baseball, led by home run stars Sadaharu Oh and Shigeo Nagashima of the highly popular Yomiuri Giants team, the high school tourneys have retained their magical pull -- especially the summer festival, which has been called by many Japanese writers the "ultimate crucible of youth."

Shaven-headed players, looking like Buddhist priests in training, give their all to bring victory to their hometown supporters, sliding headfirst into bases at every opportunity. Indeed, the long history of Koshien brims with tales of players overcoming adversity -- as well as choking heat and humidity -- with stoutness of heart.

My own history with Koshien started in 1969 when I sat in a Shinjuku coffee shop and watched one of the most remarkable athletic performances in history. A blue-eyed 18-year-old named Koji Ota, the offspring of an American/Japanese mixed marriage, led Misawa High School into the final, pitching the equivalent of two full games in a scoreless match that was called off after 18 innings and more than four hours of play due to nightfall. Ota had also pitched complete games on the previous two days, and was back the following day for the replay, throwing another full game in a 4-2 defeat.

Such intensive pitching is regarded as dangerous in the U.S. -- where three to four days of rest after pitching a game is standard procedure to avoid damage to the throwing arm. In Japan, however, the Koshien tournament is regarded as so important that the risk is worth it.

Ota became instantly famous. The following week his picture was on every magazine cover, and a book titled "Let's Go Ota!" quickly hit the bookstores. After leaving school he turned pro, signing with the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Japan's Pacific League, who installed cushioned stadium seats and a special powder room for his adoring female fans. Ota had a mediocre career as a pro. However he scored so high in the annual mid-season All-Star voting by baseball fans that he was selected to the Pacific League All-Star team his first six years in a row. This, despite statistics that ranked him near the bottom of the league in each of those seasons. Today, at 67, he still enjoys national fame as well as a career as a radio and TV commentator.

Over the years I have witnessed many variations on the Ota theme. But I've also seen how austere the system is for everyone involved, requiring a year-round commitment that would tax the resolve of the most dedicated. My nephew recently graduated from a Tokyo high school where he played first base for three years. He was given one day off each year on Jan. 1. The rest of the year was filled with practice -- after school from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. -- and baseball camps during summer and winter vacations. He spent much of his first year scrubbing floors and cleaning the toilet in the team dormitory.

This was the routine in most schools. Ichiro Suzuki, one of Japan's most famous baseball players, was tasked with doing the team laundry and cooking rice during his first year in high school, and was forced to kneel on the rim of a trash can as punishment for misdeeds. As Suishu Tobita, a former Waseda University manager, put it: "High school baseball is an education of the heart, the ground is a classroom of purity, a gymnasium of morality; that is its essential meaning."



The schoolboy ethos of self-sacrifice, team loyalty, obedience and school pride has its benefits. Even players who appear at Koshien but fail to gain lucrative professional contracts can wind up as well-paid employees of corporations that maintain teams in Japan's industrial leagues. The fact that a man has appeared at Koshien means he will be honored for life -- and in many cases allowed admission to prestigious universities even if not academically qualified.

Critics of the Koshien system have suggested many ways to improve the event, such as moving it to cooler climes to escape the oppressive heat of the Osaka summer and providing more days off between games to ease the stress on pitchers' arms. But such suggestions have been met with overwhelming indifference.

The only significant changes have been the introduction in 2013 of a rest day after the quarterfinals, and a lowering of the cap on the number of innings from 2000. When the manager of Ofunato High School in Iwate Prefecture took the rare step of sitting a top pitching prospect in the prefectural final this July to protect his arm, it was nationwide news and the subject of great controversy.



Some blame the rigors of the system for a decline in participation in high school baseball in recent years. Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, who plays for the Yokohama-based DeNA Baystars, told a press conference in Tokyo earlier this year that the excesses and strictures of high school baseball were driving people away.

Yet high school baseball has weathered similar slumps before -- including a temporary lack of star power in the early 1980s -- and has always recovered strongly. And as the well-known sports writer Masayuki Tamaki once put it: "The Japanese are addicted to Koshien just the way it is. To change it means it would no longer be the modern manhood rite -- fighting spirit pitted against adversity -- that attracted people in the first place."

The Koshien brand of baseball, it seems, is not in danger of disappearing anytime soon.

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José Abreu says he will not join a Cuban exile team

'I told the people of Miami, don't count on me. I only wear the uniform if it is a unified team,' says the player.

CDD

Chicago 25 Mar 2022 - 22:23 CET

Cuban baseball player José Abreu , first baseman for the Chicago White Sox as well as Cienfuegos ICuba) declared that he will not join the project of an Independent Cuba Team to attend the World Baseball Classic , an initiative launched by the newly created Association of Professional Cuban Baseball Players (ACPBP, for its acronym in English), which are made up of players from Cuba who play in the Major Leagues .

"I told the people of Miami, that they don't count on me. To do so would be to disrespect the players who are in Cuba. I only wear the uniform if it is a unified team," Abreu said in statements to ESPN .

"I hope that in the remainder of my career, God willing, there are still a few years left, the necessary things will happen to be able to represent our Cuba again," he added.

Abreu's statements, three times Silver Slugger in MLB and considered one of the most prominent figures among the many Cubans in MLB, come after the ACPBP announced a hypothetical Dream.

Along with him are players like Aroldis Chapman, Randy Arozarena, Guillermo Heredia and Yulieski Gurriel. The latter recently spoke in favor of an independent Cuban baseball team participating in the Classic and assured that it was "possible."

Cuban sports journalist Francys Romero shared video statements by Abreu on the subject in 2021 and the most recent to illustrate how the player seems to have changed his mind in a few months.

"José Abreu has changed his mind from one year to the next. However, I don't think he has fully understood the project of the Cuban Baseball Players Association , which does not exclude players based on the island. It is necessary to be more consistent and to be informed before speaking," he wrote on Twitter.

The Association will seek to send a request to the Major Leagues to analyze the inclusion of a team of Cuban emigrant players in the next World Baseball Classic.

In recent days, a letter was also sent to both 40-year-old roster players and MLB stars, as well as Minor League prospects and other players from leagues in Asia, Mexico and the Winter Leagues, to extend their invitation.

The ACPBP is led by Cuban Mario Fernández , as well as former MLB players such as Luis Tiant, Edilberto Oropesa, René Arocha, Euclides Rojas, and Orlando "El Duque" Hernández, among others.

At the beginning of last January, "El Duque" Hernández also suggested the creation of an independent team to participate in the Clásico , given the Cuban government's reluctance to allow baseball players from the island who play in the Major Leagues to represent their country in the tournament.

"If (the government of) Cuba doesn't want them to play with Cuba, that they have every right in the world to play with Cuba, then they should make a team and play as independents. Why not?" he questioned.

According to data recently offered by Romero, there are currently more than 150 Cubans in Major League organizations , so there are enough players from the Island to form an independent team.

While living in Cuba, Abreu was part of the national team that participated in the III World Baseball Classic in 2013, where he was among the leaders in RBIs and home runs.

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MLB

“If you respect them so much why did you take a boat”, said former Industriales pitcher to José Abreu

Since March 24, José Abreu has been the focus of controversy after an interview with Ernesto Jerez in which the issue of Team Cuba independent of the Cuban Federation was fundamentally discussed.

“I have always agreed to do it as a team with the players from there and from here,” said the Cienfuegos first baseman about the possibility of a “Unified” Cuba Team.

“They are talking about a team that the people of Miami want to make and I said I am not on that team, because I respect the players who are in Cuba,” Pito added.

The Dominican journalist insisted: "José, if it is a team with only Major League players, you would not play, but if it is a team with players from both countries yes?"

"That's right, that's right. Believe me, I am Cuban and in the end we all know the political things that exist, which we should not talk about things we do not know, but I would like to be on the Unified team with the players who are in Cuba and those who are here, "he confirmed.

His words have aroused dissimilar reactions among fans, active players and former players. One of those who showed his opinion on social networks was the former pitcher of Industriales Deinys Suárez. The national multi-champion wrote on his Facebook profile:

“But what is this? My God, that you have to respect the players who are in Cuba, he says, and I don't see that those players there are disrespected, when the government is the one who disrespects them and all Cuba for not letting you represent your country. If you respect them so much, why did you take a boat and leave them there? accompanied by an Instagram screenshot with the tweet in which Daniel De Malas announced Pito Abreu's refusal to join the Independent Cuba Team.

Suárez was in the Cuba that played the I World Baseball Classic in 2006 in Puerto Rico and San Diego and reached the Final after beating the Dominican Republic in the Semifinal.

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Baseball:

Japan ace Yamamoto lifts PL champs as 2022 season opens

March 25, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama (Kyodo) --

The ace of Japan's gold medal-winning Tokyo Olympic team, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, picked up where he left off from 2021 with eight scoreless innings on Friday as the Pacific League champion Orix Buffaloes opened their season with a 6-0 win over the Seibu Lions.

Yamamoto, who went 18-5 last season as the PL's MVP, struck out nine while allowing three hits and two walks at the Lions' Belluna Dome outside Tokyo to outduel Lions ace Kona Takahashi (0-1).

"I lost Opening Day here last year, and that left a bitter taste in my mouth," Yamamoto said. "Once I had the lead, I just made sure I maintained my form while throwing as hard as I could."

Elsewhere, the Lotte Marines beat the Rakuten Eagles 4-0 in Sendai. New import Freddy Galvis's eighth-inning grand slam lifted the SoftBank Hawks to a 4-1 victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters, spoiling fan-favorite Tsuyoshi Shinjo's managing debut.

In the Central League, the defending Japan Series champion Yakult Swallows overcame a seven-run deficit to beat the Hanshin Tigers 10-8, while the Yomiuri Giants held off the Chunichi Dragons 4-2 and the Hiroshima Carp crushed the DeNA BayStars 11-3.

Japan's two top leagues will have extra innings this season for the first time since 2020. Regular season games last year were limited to nine innings, after being trimmed from 12 to 10 in 2020 in order to shorten games due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Domingo Santana of the Yakult Swallows hits a two-run single in the sixth inning of a regular-season baseball game against the Hanshin Tigers at Kyocera Dome Osaka on March 26, 2022. (Kyodo)

Baseball: Takahashi, Santana lead Swallows past Tigers

March 26, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

OSAKA (Kyodo) --

Southpaw Keiji Takahashi threw seven innings and Domingo Santana broke a scoreless tie in a four-run sixth inning as the Japan Series champion Yakult Swallows beat the Hanshin Tigers 6-0 on Saturday to improve to 2-0 in the young season.

A day after his five-RBI night helped the Swallows overcome a seven-run deficit, Santana's two-out, two-run single opened the scoring at Kyocera Dome Osaka in a battle between the Central League's top two finishers from 2021.

Takahashi (1-0), who opened the Swallows' sixth with an infield single and scored Yakult's first run, struck out eight, while allowing two hits and hitting a pair of batters.

"I was pretty nervous at the very start, but I settled down and pitched the way I expect to," Takahashi said. "When they loaded the bases against me in the seventh inning with two outs, I just tried to pitch as well as I know how."

Elsewhere, rookie Taisei Ota recorded his second save after the Yomiuri Giants scored five late runs to beat the Chunichi Dragons 7-5, while Hiroshima Carp pitcher Masato Morishita (1-0) had three hits and three RBIs in a 10-5 rout of the DeNA BayStars.

In the Pacific League, the Seibu Lions' top draft pick, Chihiro Sumida (1-0), threw seven innings in a 5-0 win over the Orix Buffaloes, while the SoftBank Hawks outlasted the Nippon Ham Fighters 6-3.

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Fans in the right-field stands at Tokyo Dome applaud during Friday's season-opening game between the Giants and Dragons.

Pro baseball opens season with vendors, more fans back in stands

1:18 pm, March 26, 2022

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan pro baseball began its third season of the pandemic on Friday night with more fans allowed in the stands, where they are again allowed to buy a beer without leaving their seats.

Among the six games that marked the opening of the season, the Yomiuri Giants faced the Chunichi Dragons before a crowd of 38,156 at a renovated Tokyo Dome, where some coronavirus measures remain in place.

All concession stands are now cashless, and entry to the stadium and payments can be made through facial recognition.

But restrictions on stadium capacity have been lifted, and the ubiquitous vendors hawking beer, ice cream and other items were visible in the stands for first time since the last out of the 2019 Japan Series.

“The vendors add to the atmosphere,” said a 57-year-old man from Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, who bought a beer. “The everyday life of the stadium is gradually returning.”

The renovations at Tokyo Dome include a new 126-meter-wide screen, one of the largest in Japan.

The Giants began the season on a high note, holding on for a 4-2 win over the Dragons.

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Yoanni Yera heads two basic pitching categories in the National Series

JOHN VILA-ACOSTA | PHOTO: ARCHIVE

26 MARCH 2022

Matanzas, March 26 (ACN)

With an ERA of 1.76 and a total of 55 strikeouts, pitcher Yoanni Yera Montalvo, a member of Cocodrilos de Matanzas and the Cuban national team, heads the two major categories in the LXI National Baseball Series ( SNB), which is already in its second half.

Yera Montalvo, recognized as the staff leader on the team, has so far allowed 10 runs in 51.0 innings of work, in which he also adds 11 walks and a hit batter.

The notable performance of the pitcher, who's baseball experience in Canada, Panama and Mexico, also includes an excellent ratio between the number of walks and hits allowed per innings pitched (WHIP), currently set at 1.14.

Before starting the season, the athlete from the municipality of Martí suffered from an injury to the inner meniscus of his left knee, from which he gradually recovered without the need to undergo surgery.

I felt in perfect condition and was able to develop my pitching repertoire without difficulty, the pitcher confessed in a press conference after his first appearance, on January 29, against the Tigres de Ciego de Ávila, at the Victoria de Girón stadium.

For his results in the first half of the season, the 32-year-old left-hander earned a spot in the All-Star Game, played at the Crocodile Palace last weekend.

Just two days ago, a publication by a media outlet in the state of Tabasco, in Mexico, announced that the outstanding Cuban pitcher will complete in the Olmecas de Tabasco starting rotation during the next edition of the Mexican Baseball season.

Yoanni Yera Montalvo, member of the Cuba National team played in the IV World Baseball Classic.

In 13 SNB seasons, Vera won 103 games, lost 54 with nine saves, 1,081 strikeouts and just 343 walks in 3,654 innings of action.

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Roosters with 26 wins, Revilla reaches 13 home runs in 61 SNB

Mayabeque retains first place and Artemisa adds six losses in a row.

JIT Drafting

Saturday, March 26, 2022 07:08 PM

Havana.-

Los Gallos from Sancti Spíritus today reached 26 victories in the 61st National Baseball Series, by beating Artemisa 4-0. The starter Alex Guerra and the reliever José Luis Braña blanked the Hunters who four hits, four strikeouts and made three errors.

Guerra worked 7.2 innings with three hits allowed, three strikeouts and four walks, one of them intentional. Braña faced five men, allowed a single and a walk, and did not allow any runs. Yunier Mendoza (5-2), Dismani Ortiz (2-2) and Yunior Ibarra (4-2, 2RBI) took the lead the offense, and batted in a total of six runs. Sancti Spíritus has won three in a row and seeks the top spot in the standings still occupied by Mayabeque, who, this Saturday beat the Guantanamo team 11-7 at their Nelson Fernández stadium. In a game with six errors, three per side, the eastern slugger Pedro Pablo Revilla hit a couple of home runs and is once again the leader with 13, one more than Rafael Viñales and two ahead of Alfredo Fadraga.

The Tigres de Ciego de Ávila lost the opportunity to pick up their 26th win on the season as they fell 5-14 against the Vegueros de Pinar del Río in Capitan San Luis. Raúl González homered in a losing effort, his 100th career homer in the national series.

Isla de la Juventud beat the Lumberjacks of Las Tunas at home 8-1. Lázaro Guerra worked six full innings, no runs allowed; Franklin Quintana took care of the remaining three innings to earn his eighth save of the season. The run allowed in the ninth prevented shutout. Leandro Urgellés homered twice.

Industriales won against Camagüey 5-2. Andy Vargas had his fifth save. At the same time.

Santiago de Cuba beat Matanzas 3-2 with the ninth save by Luis Fonseca.

Holguín dealt a hard blow to Villa Clara 6-2. Holguin was supported by home runs from Franklin Aballe.

Similarly Granma beat Cienfuegos 4-1 with a homer by Carlos Benítez.

This Sunday, the seventeenth sub-series of the season ends. We will see, in addition to the battle for the top and the classification spots, if the losing streak of the Artemisa deepens, who now have accumulated a total of six losses in a row. The home run battle is also up for grabs.

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Rakuten's Kazuki Tanaka drives an 11th-inning pitch over Lotte's drawn-in outfield allowing the winning run to score from second with two outs in the Eagles' 6-5 Pacific League win over the Marines at Sendai's Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi on March 27, 2022. (Kyodo)

Baseball: Eagles use reinstated extra innings to beat Marines

March 27, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

SENDAI (Kyodo) --

The Rakuten Eagles won Japan's first extra-inning regular-season game in two years Sunday when Kazuki Tanaka's routine fly fell for an 11th-inning RBI double to clinch a 6-5 Pacific League win over the Lotte Marines.

For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Nippon Professional Baseball games are allowed to go past 10 innings this season. Last year, games were limited to nine innings.

The Eagles overcame 10 strikeouts from fire-balling Lotte right-hander Roki Sasaki, who threw the fastest pitch of his pro career, 164 kilometers (101.9 miles) per hour in the first inning, but also allowed three runs over six innings.

The Marines took a 5-3 eighth-inning lead at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi, but the Eagles responded with single runs in the eighth, off Tayron Guerrero, and ninth, off closer Naoya Masuda to tie it.

Hiroto Kobukata led off the Eagles' 11th with a single and went to second on a groundout. With the outfield playing shallow, Tanaka's routine fly to right center fell untouched and ended the game.

Rakuten closer Yuki Matsui (1-0) struck out four over two scoreless innings to earn the win.

Elsewhere, the Seibu Lions came from six runs down to beat the Orix Buffaloes 7-6.

The SoftBank Hawks also came from behind to beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 6-4.

The Central League champion Yakult Swallows completed a three-game sweep of the Hanshin Tigers with a 4-0 win.

The Hiroshima Carp also remained perfect on the young season with a 7-6 win over the DeNA BayStars.

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Ichiwakayama goodbye win over Akihide Hitachi Selected high school baseball

Spring Senbatsu (Koshien) Quarter Finals Start 2022/03/28

Sports - Senbatsu

2022/03/28 08:30

[Breaking News] 9th Day 1st Match Quarterfinals Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) -Kyushu International University High School (Fukuoka) / Senbatsu

On the 8th day of the selected high school baseball tournament, two games of the second round were held at Koshien Stadium, and Hoshiryo (Ishikawa) and Ichiwakayama advanced to the quarterfinals.

Hoshiryo defeated Ogaki Nihon University (Gifu) 6-2, making it the 8th strongest in 4 years. Wakasa hit a two-run home run in the third inning. Margard scored 1 run in the 6th inning.

Ichiwakayama defeated Meishu Gakuen Hitachi (Ibaraki) 2-1 and was the best 8 in 3 years. In the 9th inning, which was tied, Yoneda scored the final run with a timely hit. Yoneda had 9 hits.

The teams of the quarterfinals was decided:

Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) -Kyushu International University (Fukuoka)

Kyoto International -Kinko Osaka

Kokugakuin Kugayama (Tokyo) -Hoshiryo,

Ichiwakayama-Osaka Toin.

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José Abreu apologizes and embraces the project of an independent Cuba Team

The Association of Professional Cuban Players says that the player acknowledges having spoken without knowing the initiative well.

CDD

Chicago 28 Mar 2022 - 22:36 CEST

The Association of Professional Cuban Baseball Players (ACPBP, for its acronym in English) reported that José Abreu , the first baseman of the Chicago White Sox, rectified over his refusal to collaborate with the project, apologized for his statements last week and announced that he will support the initiative of an independent Cuba Team.

"We have had a very good conversation with the outstanding player José Abreu, as a result of his recent statements about this initiative , " tweeted the organization, which is made up of players from the island who play in the Major Leagues.

"Abreu explained to us that when he commented in the interview, he didn't have all the facts about the Association of Professional Cuban Baseball Players. Now that he knows more about the objectives, not only the eventual participation in the World Baseball Classic (which is almost the only thing that is spoken,) he declares to be very much in agreement with what is being done and that he is available to support in any way possible , "the organization detailed.

"We explained to him that, as an Association, we share his interest in inviting players who are best prepared to represent Cubans, to any tournament in which we participate, regardless of where they live, including players who play in Cuba".

"Additionally, José asked us to apologize on his behalf for the language he used when referring to the organizers of this project He thought that he used unfortunate words that could even have offended some people, for which he offers his most sincere apologies. ".

According to the ACPBP, Abreu also offered to personally explain the characteristics of the initiative to the rest of the White Sox players, where other Cubans are active.

Abreu declared that he would not join the project of an Independent Cuba Team to attend the World Baseball Classic.

"I told the people of Miami not to count on me. To do so would be to disrespect the players who are in Cuba. I only wear the uniform if it is a unified team," Abreu said in statements to ESPN.

"I hope that in the remainder of my career, God willing, there are still a few years left, that the necessary things will happen to be able to represent our Cuba again," he added.

Abreu's statements, a three-time MLB Silver Slugger and considered one of the most outstanding players among the many Cubans in MLB , came after the ACPBP announced a hypothetical Dream Team and placed the photo of the Cienfuegos player in their promotion .

Along with him are players like Aroldis Chapman, Randy Arozarena, Guillermo Heredia and Yulieski Gurriel. The latter recently spoke in favor of an independent Cuban baseball team participating in the Classic and assured that this was "possible."

The Association will seek to send a request to the Major Leagues to analyze the inclusion of a team of independent Cuban players in the next World Baseball Classic.

In recent days, a letter was also sent to both 40-year-old roster players and MLB stars, as well as Minor League prospects and other players from leagues in Asia, Mexico and the Winter Leagues, to extend the invitation to join the project.

The ACPBP is led by Cuban Mario Fernández, as well as former MLB players such as Luis Tiant, Edilberto Oropesa, René Arocha, Euclides Rojas and Orlando "El Duque" Hernández, among others.

At the beginning of last January, "El Duque" Hernández also suggested the creation of an independent team to participate in the Clásico , given the Cuban government's reluctance to allow baseball players from the island who play in the Major Leagues to represent their country in the tournament.

"If (the government of) Cuba doesn't want them to play with Cuba, that they have every right in the world to play with Cuba, then they should make a team and play as independents. Why not?" he questioned.

According to data recently offered by the Cuban journalist Francys Romero, at this time there are more than 150 Cubans inserted in Major League organizations , so there are enough players from the Island to form an independent team.

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Ryoma Nishikawa of the Hiroshima Carp hits a two-run single in the ninth inning of a Central League game against the Hanshin Tigers at Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima on March 29, 2022. (Kyodo)

Baseball: Carp continue perfect start with walk-off win over Tigers

March 29, 2022 (Mainichi Japan)

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) --

The Hiroshima Carp continued their perfect start to the new season Tuesday in the Central League with a 3-2 walk-off win over the winless Hanshin Tigers.

Ryoma Nishikawa's bases-loaded, two-run single in the ninth inning at Mazda Stadium left the Carp with four wins from four games.

The Yomiuri Giants beat the Yakult Swallows 5-3.

The DeNA BayStars won 4-0 against the Chunichi Dragons after Fernando Romero (1-0) threw eight shutout innings.

In the Pacific League, the SoftBank Hawks are the only team to win all four games after edging the Lotte Marines 2-1 after 10 innings, scoring the go-ahead run on a fielder's choice.

Former New York Yankee Masahiro Tanaka (1-0) allowed a run over seven innings as the Rakuten Eagles beat the Orix Buffaloes 2-1.

New Nippon Ham Fighters manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo remains without a win after four games following a 4-0 loss against the Seibu Lions.

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Forget the bullpen cart, Nippon-Ham Fighters manager Tsuyoshi "BIG BOSS" Shinjo just entered the game on a freaking hovercraft

The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters manager flew a hovercraft onto the Sapporo Dome field before his team's home opener against the Saitama Seibu Lions.

Shinjo, who had the pseudonym "Big Boss" approved as his registered name for the 2022 season by Nippon Professional Baseball, played three seasons in MLB from 2001-03 with the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants.

He retired from baseball in 2006 after playing his final season with the Nippon-Ham Fighters.

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Urawa Gakuin players playing catch (29th, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture)

4 schools including Urawa Gakuin aiming for the 30th semi-final Senbatsu

Sports

March 29, 2022 18:41

On the 29th, the selected high school baseball tournament was down to four schools that won their quarterfinals the day before in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture. On the 30th, the semi-finals between Urawa Gakuin (Saitama) -Omi (Shiga) and Kokugakuin Kugayama (Tokyo) -Osaka Toin was held at Koshien Stadium.

Urawa Gakuin will advance to the final for the second time since 2013. Osaka Toin will advance to the final for the fourth time since 2018,

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The Cuban player of Gandes Ligas José Abreu. TONY DEJAKAP

The official press attacks the possible independent Cuban baseball team and brings José Abreu out of oblivion

But the deputy director of the official newspaper " Trabajadores" wants a Cuban team with the best players from the professional leagues and those who play on the island.

CDD

Havana 30 Mar 2022 - 13:23 CEST

The Cuban state press is late, but it is not surprising. As expected, it attacks the initiative of an independent team made up of baseball players born on the island who play in the Major Leagues to participate in the next World Baseball Classic. It took 20 days after the announcement of the birth of the Association of Professional Cuban Baseball Players ( ACPBP) in the United States, which promotes the idea of ​​creating such a team.

According to Michel Torres Corona, host of the Con Filo show , the idea would be part of those efforts where "our enemies continue to do more and more damage."

The host refers to the founders of the association and promoters of the independent team as "certain enthusiasts from Miami."

He accuses the founders and promoters of not having "the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) or the players who, right now, are participating in the National Series", the right to represent their country in international events.

That's not to mention that the FCB has denied Cuban players who play in the best baseball in the world, the right to represent their country in international events.

Although Torres Corona presents on his show, Con Filo, as "a space to show, with all its nuances, the news, the facts, the opinion patterns that circulate in the media and on the networks, about the Cuban reality."

He does not mention at any time that Those Cuban baseball players who play in the Major Leagues are not only prevented from representing Cuba, but they have been deprived of entering their homeland and have been branded as traitors.

The most recent case of this practice was the ban on Houston Astros first baseman Yulieski Gurriel from entering Cuba , despite the fact that he gave his 15 best years as a baseball player to the FCB .

Torres Corona assures that the World Baseball Classic and Softball Confederation , "the organization that leads this event, together with the Major Leagues, was very clear in its position. They, and only they, would choose players who were going to represent the national team", therefore that the association "had no chance", according to the host of Con Filo, which would put an end to the matter.

However, to show that the idea generated rejection even among Cuban Major League players, Torres Corona rescues from oblivion José Abreu , White Sox first baseman , whose results have been completely ignored by the island's state press . But now it came as a glove to show the rejection of the three-time Silver Slugger in MLB to the Independent Cuba Team.

"I told the people of Miami, that they don't count on me. To do so would be to disrespect the players who are in Cuba. I only wear the uniform if it is a unified team," Abreu said in statements to ESPN.

"I hope that in the remainder of my career, God willing, there are still a few years left, the necessary things will happen to be able to represent our Cuba again," he added.

However, days later Abreu retracted his statements and announced his support the initiative , something that the host of Con Filo presented as a surrender to pressure.

The space dedicated to attacking the idea of ​​an independent team made up of the players excluded by the FCB also served to complain, once again, about the suspension of the agreement signed with the MLB, which would have brought juicy dividends to the state entity that the government try to present as independent.

The deputy director of the state newspaper Trabajadores , Joel García, assured that "Cuba has never been closed to talking about the subject of professionalism and especially with the subject of the insertion of professional players in Cuban teams" and offered examples of baseball players who, after venturing into foreign leagues without being linked to the FCB, they return to the Island and join the national team, after reestablishing ties with the Federation.

"Now, certain deadlines must be met, certain methodology must be met, certain principles must be met, which, like any federation, has set for these players," Garcia said without specifying what those principles would be.

García also expresses his hope that in the future there will be a team "neither unified nor independent, but a single Cuban team" with the best of the professional leagues and those who play on the island.

His words raise several questions: Will players like Lisbán Correa and Yulieski Gurriel, who were banned from entering Cuba by the regime , be able to join that team ? Could Antonio Pacheco manage it , who has also been ignored by the island's authorities to the point that his number was excluded during the All-Star Game, held in Santiago de Cuba, in 2020, where tributes were paid to different Cuban baseball figures, despite his results as a manager since he also dedicated his best years as an athlete to Cuban sports?

Without a doubt, the FCB, sooner or later, will have to resort to those who work in the Major Leagues. The best Cuban baseball players are out of Cuba and this is confirmed by the departure of prospects , who see no incentive in playing in the National Series and feel stimulated by the millionaire contracts that their teammates obtain in the strongest baseball league in the world.

The fact that many leave Cuba for the Dominican Republic after asking to leave the FCB and not have to resort to abandoning national teams in foreign events, makes them candidates to be summoned by the state entity to wear the colors of the Cuban flag in international tournaments. This would allow the island's sports authorities to continue discriminating against those who escape from delegations abroad or seek contracts on their own, such as Lisbán Correa, and call those who leave the country by other means.

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Roosters sing at the top of Cuban baseball

Taken from Latin Press

Tuesday, March 29, 2022 09:42 PM

Havana.-

Los Gallos de Sancti Spíritus today maintained their leading role in the 61st National Baseball Series by defeating the Villa Clara Azucareros (12-4) and remaining as the only leader.

With their fifth win in a row, ninth in the last 10 games, Sancti Spíritus brings extra spectacularity and took advantage of the setback of Hurricanes de Mayabeque against Toros de Camagüey (4-16) in another duel that had a direct impact on the fight for the top spot of the tournament.

Camagüey had a whopping 18 hits, including doubles by third baseman Rodoleisi Moreno (5-2, 1RBI, 1R , 1-2B) and outfielder Fréderich Cepeda. Far from being out of shape at 41 years old, the experienced Cepeda looks like good wine and celebrated a perfect afternoon of 4-4, with two RBIs, one run scored and the aforementioned double versus the pitching from Villa Clara unable to dominate in front of their fans.

The winners pleased with the performance of their starter José Eduardo Santos (6-1), who allowed four runs -three earned- and six hits in 5.2 innings , while Yanieski Duardo (3.1, 0R, 2H) shone in relief was credit with the save.

Industriales defeated Santiago de Cuba 9-6. The duo of Pavel Hernández (3-1) and Andy Vargas from the mound and Yosvany Peñalver's offense (4- 3, 3R, 2RBI, 1-2B) and Yasiel Santoya (3-1, 3RBI, 1R, 1-HR), the only home run in the game.

Pinar del Río thrashed Granma 12-2,

Holguín beat Artemisa 10-2.

Isla de la Juventud dominated Guantánamo 9-2.

Las Tunas over Matanzas 8-3.

Cienfuegos beat Ciego de Ávila 5-2.

After the day's games, Sancti Spíritus sits at the top of the standings with a record of 28-16.

1 Sancti Spíritus 28-16
2 Mayabeque 25-15
3 Ciego de Ávila 26-18
4 Granma 25-19
5 Santiago 25-19
6 Las Tunas 23-18
7 Industriales 22-21
8 Pinar del Río 22-22
8 Isla de la Juventud 22-22
8 Matanzas 22-22, all in positions with access to the playoffs.

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11 Villa Clara 21-22
12 Holguín 21-23
13 Camagüey 20-24
14 Artemisa 17-26
15 Guantánamo 15-29
16 Cienfuegos13-31

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