r/Tokyo_YomiuriGiants

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.

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)