This article first appeared on SportsLook, JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website.
What does it take for a pro baseball team to avoid a championship hangover the year after winning it all?
Start with the following as building blocks for continued success:
A manager who instills confidence in his players even after they’ve reached the metaphorical mountaintop.
A dynamic power-hitting slugger who can carry the offense.
A dominant closer who puts the finishing touches on victory after victory.
Ladies and gentlemen, a noteworthy reminder: Shingo Takatsu, Munetaka Murakami and Scott McGough, respectively, fill these irreplaceable roles for the 2022 Central League pennant-winning Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
Yakult secured its second straight regular-season league title with a 1-0 win over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars on Sunday, September 25. Kazuya Maruyama provided the late-game drama with a walk-off double with one out in the ninth inning at Jingu Stadium.
When it was over, Takatsu, who’s in his third season at the helm, took a break during the euphoric celebrations to sum up what the Swallows’ achievement means to him.
Read the full story on SportsLook.
Author: Ed Odeven
Follow Ed on JAPAN Forward's [Japan Sports Notebook] here on Sundays, in [Odds and Evens] here during the week, and Twitter ＠ed_odeven, and find him on JAPAN Forward’s dedicated sports website, SportsLook.
