Munetaka Murakami, a talented hitter who played in Japanese Professional baseball, will be playing for the Chicago White Sox starting this year. I imagine that baseball fans in the United States don't know much about what kind of baseball player Munetaka Murakami is. So, I'd like to talk about him from my own personal perspective. A magazine featuring all 56 home runs hit by Munetaka Murakami in 2022 (in Japanese, 2022, TAKARAJIMASHA, INC., Tokyo, Japan) When talking about

This is a sequel to my last column. In my last column, I wrote about my personal analysis of the “rankings in eight batting categories.” Every year, I research each player’s league ranking in eight batting categories: hits, walks, home runs, runs, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. I believe that players who achieve the top five in the league in all eight categories can be considered the best hitters in MLB. This is merely one example of wha

I’ ve been steadily conducting various analyses of Major League Baseball records for a long time, but they’ re all based on my own personal preferences. One of these analyses is the “rankings in eight batting categories.” Each year, I examine each player’ s league ranking in eight categories: hits, walks, home runs, runs, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. It’ s difficult to achieve high rankings in all eight categories. For example, a player

Last year, in 2025, Paul Skenes was selected as the National League Cy Young Award winner. I think that was a predictable and natural selection. However, in Japan, many people were very disappointed that Yoshinobu Yamamoto did not win the award. These people seemed to assume that Yamamoto's postseason performance would be considered for the Cy Young Award, even though that is not the case. A Japanese sports magazine features Yoshinobu Yamamoto on its cover at the moment of t

This year, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers was selected as the 2025 National League MVP, unanimously so. As a huge Shohei Ohtani fan, I was thrilled by the result, but I was also surprised. I thought that while Shohei Ohtani might be selected, it wouldn't be a unanimous vote, and that it would be a close race between him and Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies. While Shohei Ohtani, a two-way player, led in metrics like OPS and WAR, he didn’t win any of the th

This year, in 2025, I was both amazed and deeply impressed by what Seattle Mariners catcher and switch-hitter Cal Raleigh accomplished. In 1970, Johnny Bench set the record for most home runs by a catcher in a single season with 45. In 2021, Salvador Pérez, who surpassed Bench's record, had 48 home runs. Cal Raleigh has now achieved the incredible feat of breaking that record with 60 home runs. His 60 home runs also surpassed Ken Griffey Jr.'s previous record of 56 in 1997 a

It's fair to say that Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are the two most representative superstars in Major League Baseball today. These two players performed remarkably well this year during the 2025 regular season, though both also had their share of disappointments. This time, I'd like to look back on their accomplishments and disappointments. A concise but well-written biography of Aaron Judge by Clayton Geoffreys (2020) A press photo collection of Shohei Ohtani from the firs

I have two CDs by the American rock band "The Mendoza Line." The only reason I bought them was because the band's name was derived from a...

To hit a lot of doubles, you need to consistently hit the ball hard with the bat. This means that players who hit a lot of home runs also...

All home run leaders (the players with the most home runs in each season in each league) naturally possess incredible power. But are...

The Pitcher's Triple Crown is a pitcher who monopolizes the three titles of best ERA, most strikeouts, and most wins in the same season....

The Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1960s had two great pitchers, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. The Dodgers won three league championships...

On Tuesday, April 2, 2013, the Houston Astros played against the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park (now called Daikin Park) in Houston,...

After the 2008 season ended, I was sorting through various records and noticed something unusual. It was something unusual with regard to...

Since 1901, when the modern era of Major League Baseball began, eight players have achieved a batting average of .400 a total of 13...