Yakult Swallows head coach Shingo Takatsu (55) will continue to lead the team next season. The Yakult organization announced today that Takatsu has been reappointed as head coach. He will lead the team for a fifth consecutive year starting in 2020. Takatsu signed a two-year contract after the end of last season.
Despite missing out on the Central League title for the third year in a row, the club’s confidence in Takatsu remained unchanged.
The past four years have been a roller coaster. In his first year in charge in 2020, Yakult finished last. They had a winning percentage of just 3-7-3. They were a whopping 25 games behind the first-place Yomiuri Giants. They were a whopping 12 games behind the fifth-place Hiroshima Carp.
Within a year, the team turned things around and won their first league title in six years in 2021. After a climactic series, they advanced to the Japan Series, where they defeated the Orix Buffaloes to win the title. After dropping Game 1, they won the series 4-2.
They won their second consecutive league title, beating last year’s runner-up Yokohama Bay Stars in eight games. However, for the second year in a row, they were swept by the Orix in the Japan Series. After taking a 2-1 lead, they lost four straight games. It was a fall baseball nightmare.
The team started the season aiming for a third straight league title, but this year, Class B (4th-6th out of 6 teams) is the favorite. Through 24 days, they are in fifth place with 47 wins, 2 draws, and 63 losses in 112 games, with a winning percentage of 4.22%. They are 21 games behind the championship-chasing Hanshin Tigers and nine games behind third-place Yomiuri.토스카지노
The team has not been at full strength this season due to a series of injuries to key players. Their top hitter, Munetaka Murakami (23), has also struggled. He hasn’t been able to perform like he did last year, when he won three batting titles.
Takatsu is the only manager in Nippon Professional Baseball history to come from the KBO. A former closer for the Yakult, Takatsu went on to play in the major leagues before donning a Heroes uniform in June 2008. He stayed with the Heroes briefly as he prepared to return to the major leagues. He appeared in 18 games that year, posting a 1-8 record with a 0.86 ERA.
Since then, he has gained a lot of experience. He played in the U.S. minor leagues, the Taiwanese League, and the Japanese independent BC League.
Daga retired from baseball. He amassed 347 saves in professional leagues in four countries, including 286 with Yakult.