NPB Notes:::Chiba Lotte Marines

NOTE: After a couple-week hiatus, I think I've rested up enough to do some more posting. The Royals are staggering their way to another 90-loss season, so the more things change for the better, the more they stay the same in many ways. At least Buddy Bell's days until retirement are numbered. Now it's in Dayton Moore's hands to improve the franchise some more. I figured I'd start the late/off season reports with the resurrection of the NPB Notes. The defending '06 champs from Nippon Ham are once again atop the Pacific League this season and have qualified for the playoffs (known as the "Climax Series" in the PL, make your own joke) along with Softbank, Lotte (detailed here) and Yomiuri (lone CL clincher) thus far. On to the Lotte Marines....


Founded: 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, the team became the Mainichi Daimai Orions in 1958, the Tokyo Orions in 1964, and the Lotte Orions in 1969. With the move to Chiba Marine Stadium in 1992, the team name changed to the Chiba Lotte Marines. I think I liked Orions better.
Owner: Lotte, a Korean confectionary company that now has grown to own restaurants, hotels and a theme park, among other things.
Home base: Chiba Marine Stadium in Chiba, just southeast of Tokyo. It opened in 1992 and is the fifth stadium the franchise has played in. To sum it up, it's like the Japanese Candlestick Park, complete with cold, strong bay winds.
Titles: 5 Pacific League titles, 3 Japan Series titles (1950, 1974, 2005)

Chiba Lotte is the team most known by Americans for producing Hideki Irabu, perhaps the biggest dud among Japanese imports to MLB, and also as the team of Bobby Valentine (pictured on the Japanese beer can above), who became the first foreign manager to win a Japan Series in 2005. The team's history, however, includes several legendary players and the first Japan Series title in 1950. The franchise has had its share of winning teams with a .506 all-time winning percentage but has also seen some low times before the run to the series title in 2005. Those times haven't helped in terms of attendance with the Marines competing with the Tokyo teams for people to fill seats.

The Orions started with a big bang in 1950 as manager Yoshio Yuasa guided the team to a 81-34-5 record and coasted to a 15-game final advantage in the PL race. The team's first star was OF Kaoru Betto, who hit .335/.397/.671 with 43 HR and 105 RBI in 1950 to earn the PL MVP award after coming over from the Osaka Tigers. He would later manage the Orions from '54 to '59 and was named to five all-star teams and earned a run of six straight Best Nines. 2B Yasuya Hondo earned his only Best Nine selection in '50 as he hit .306/.346/.434 with 12 HR and 84 RBI and C Takeshi Doigaki earned a Best Nine selection by hitting .322/.387/.479 with 15 HR and 72 RBI. He finished his career as a two-time all-star and six-time Best Nine selection. Meanwhile, on the pitching mound, rookie lefty Atsushi "Jun" Aramaki posted a 2.06 ERA and just over 1-point WHIP with a 26-8 record in 274 2/3 IP to earn the Rookie of the Year award, wins and ERA titles and his only career Best Nine selection. He would post 10 straight years of sub-2.50 ERAs for the Orions in a hall-of-fame career. P Takeshi Nomura chipped in 217 1/3 IP of a 3.34 ERA in compiling an 18-4 record and the Orions moved on to face the Shochiku Robins in the first Japan Series. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the series, Mainichi lost games 3 and 4 to even the series at 2 games each. They came back behind Nomura to win both games 6 and 7 by 1 run to capture the title. Betto was named series MVP for hitting .500/.586/.833 in 29 PA with 6 doubles in the series while Hondo hit .273 with a homer and OF Shosei Go hit .182 but led the team with 4 RBI. Nomura put up a good argument for MVP with 21 1/3 IP of a 0.42 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in going 3-0 in the series. Aramaki, however, strugged with an 8.68 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in 9 1/3 IP.

The Orions faded in '51 but finished a game back of Nankai in 1952 and wouldn't get that close again in the 1950s. Despite some good records that decade, the Orions struggled to finish any higher than third as Nishitetsu (now Seibu) and Nankai (now Softbank) ruled the league. In the mid-'50s the team's next star emerged as OF Kazuhiro Yamauchi put up the first of his 10 Best Nine seasons in 1954. The future hall-of-famer won RBI titles in 1954 (97 RBI) and '55 (99), a batting title at .331 in 1957, four doubles titles from '55 to '62 (47 in 1956 were a NPB record at the time), HR titles in 1959 (25) and 1960 (32), two more RBI titles in 1960 (103) and 1961 (112) and would enjoy his lone MVP season in 1960, when the Orions made their next run at the Japan Series. After wrapping up his career with Hanshin and Hiroshima, Yamauchi retired in 1970 with lifetime averages of .295/.378/.521, 396 HR and 1,281 RBI. He was the first Japanese player to 300 HR, was a 16-time all-star and three-time all-star MVP and had 2,271 lifetime hits. In the mid-'50s, he was joined in the Orions lineup by 1B/OF Kihachi Enomoto, who at 18 in 1955 won Rookie of the Year honors by hitting .298 with a .410 OBP and .873 OPS, 16 HR, 67 RBI and 87 BB compared to 55 K in 139 games. Enomoto kept up the good stats over 17 seasons with the Orions as he racked up 409 doubles, 246 HR and 1,062 walks compared to 645 K in his career. He set a PL record with 9 Best Nines at first base and posted a league record .999 fielding percentage at first while setting the record for consecutive error-free chances in 1968. The 12-time all-star won two batting titles and four hits titles in his career. With the addition of career years from IF Takao Katsuragi in the late 1950s, the Orions made a run at a league crown in 1959 only to come up short by 6 games to Nankai. Katsuragi slugged over .500 for the only two times in his career and led the PL in RBI in 1958 and '59.

Despite posting an 82-48-3 record in 1960 that was very similar to the 82-48-6 record in 1959, the Orions and former Orion and new manager Yukio Nishimoto took advantage of a Nankai team that wasn't as good as the '59 version and won the Pacific League by 4 games. The Orions pitched their way to the title with a league-best team ERA of 2.66 and 1.12 WHIP while also leading the league with a .262 team BA, .706 team OPS and 547 runs scored compared to only 433 allowed. Several Orions stood out over the season, including PL MVP Yamauchi, who hit .313 with a .975 OPS, 93 RS, 31 2B, 32 HR (leading the league for a second straight year), 103 RBI (also led league), and 67 walks with only 40 K in 133 games. Enomoto led the league with a .344 batting average and also posted a .939 OPS, 94 RS, 37 2B, 11 HR, 66 RBI, 67 BB and only 33 Ks, also in 133 games. 32-year-old OF Kenjiro Tamiya also stood out by hitting .317 with a .401 OBP and .890 OPS, 28 doubles, 9 triples for his 4th Best Nine and first as an Orion. Shoichi Ono was the ace on the mound for Daimai as he posted the third sub-2.00 ERA season for the franchise. Ono's miniscule ERAs of 1.73 and 1.77 in '57 and '58 weren't enough for the PL title in that stat but his 1.98 ERA in 1960 was, and Ono added a 33-11 record for the league wins title, pitched 13 complete games and 5 shutouts, and struck out 258 while walking 101 in 67 appearances and 304 IP. The performance was good for the only Best Nine appearance of his career. Providing the second punch in the combo was righty Katsumi Nakanishi, who pitched a career high 214 2/3 innings in 40 games and went 16-10 with a 2.13 ERA, 11 CG, and a better WHIP than Ono (0.96 compared to Ono's 1.09) for his only all-star appearance. Other solid pitchers in '60 for Daimai were righty Tomoo Wako and lefty Haruki Mihira, as Wako was 13-8 with a 2.15 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 44 games and 196 1/3 IP and Mihira was 12-10 with a 2.81 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 45 games and 188 2/3 IP. The Japan Series would pit the Orions versus the Taiyo Whales, who went 70-56-4 in beating out Yomiuri for the Central League crown.

The franchise's second Japan Series appearance would be nip-and-tuck, but Taiyo got the breaks with four straight 1-run wins for the sweep. Taiyo got a 1-0 win in game 1 as OF Hidenori Kanemitsu homered to hand Nakanishi the loss. Game 2 was 3-2 Taiyo as Ono took the loss despite an Enomoto homer. Game 3 was a 6-5 shootout with Nakanishi again taking the loss and giving up a homer to 2B Akihito Kondo. The Whales finished it off on Daimai's home field in Tokyo with a 1-0 game 4 win as Ono took the loss. Kondo was named MVP despite hitting only .200 in the series. While Enomoto hit only .200 and Yamauchi hit only .182 in the 4 games, Tamiya pulled his weight with a .357 BA. The Orions hit .208 as a team in the 4-game sweep. Ono and Nakanishi combined to pitch 22 1/3 innings in the series with Wako and Mihira combining for 7 IP. The quartet allowed all 11 Taiyo runs in the series.

The rest of the 1960s saw Daimai (then Tokyo starting in 1964 and Lotte in 1969) become an also-ran in the Pacific League but Enomoto won a batting title in 1966, Yamauchi was dealt to Hanshin for '62 Sawamura winner Masaaki Koyama (aka the "Precision Machine") in '64 and Koyama responded with a 30-win season for the first of 3 20-win seasons. Koyama pulled a Niekro in '65 and won 20 and lost 20. Despite Koyama's mound pyrotechnics in '64, teammate Yoshiro Tsumajima won the ERA title at 2.15, but the Orions finished fourth, 6 games out behind Nankai. The team's first successful foreign import helped turn things around for Tokyo/Lotte as the '60s came to a close. 1B/OF George (Daddy Long Legs) Altman came to Japan at age 35 in 1968 and would play 7 years for the Orions, starting by hitting .320 with a .950 OPS, 34 HR, 100 RBI (for the league lead) and smacking 33 doubles (led league) in 139 games in '68. Altman led the league in six categories in his debut season. The team finished third in both '68 and '69 as P Masaaki Kitaru won the '69 ERA title at 1.72 and fellow P Fumio Narita pitched a no-hitter that season, but Lotte rebounded to make it the third year ending in "0" in a row with a Japan Series appearance in 1970.

Altman and Kitaru led the way for Lotte in 1970 as Kitaru earned PL MVP honors by going 21-10 with a 2.53 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 20 CG (!), 4 shutouts, 161 Ks and 42 BB in 42 games and 278 IP. Altman slumped to a .788 OPS in '69 but had a resurgent 1970 by hitting .319 with a .965 OPS, 19 2B, 30 HR and 77 RBI in 122 games for his second Best Nine. As he finished the season at age 36, Koyama also chipped in a fine year in his seventh season for Lotte with a 2.30 ERA and 0.98 WHIP while going 16-11 with 18 CG, 4 shutouts, 141 Ks and 40 BB in 38 games and 242 2/3 IP. Narita made a good #3 pitcher as he went 25-8 to lead the league in wins and posted a 3.21 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 195 Ks and 66 BB in 38 games and 277 2/3 IP. Offensively, Altman's season was supplemented by a Puerto Rican import, OF Art Lopez, who followed up a 23-homer, .301 BA, .840 OPS in '69 by hitting .313 with an .839 OPS, 21 HR and 69 RBI. 3B Michiyo Arito, who had posted an .863 OPS with 21 HR to earn Rookie of the Year honors in 1969, followed that up by hitting .306 with a .922 OPS, 25 2B, 5 3B (led league), 25 HR and 80 RBI. Enomoto was in decline but, in his last substantial season, he hit .284 with an .849 OPS and 15 HR. As the Orions (80-47-3) blazed to a 10 1/2 game win of the league over Nankai, Yomiuri squeaked past Hanshin in the CL to earn its sixth straight Japan Series berth and eighth in 10 years. The Giants would also win the next three CL titles.

Unfortunately for Lotte, the '70 trip to the Japan Series would turn out much like the '60 trip did as Yomiuri won the all-Tokyo series in 5 games. Game 1 was a 1-0 Giants win over Kitaru as the similarity to the 1960 opener and finale was obvious. Yomiuri won game 2, 6-3, as Sadaharu Oh homered and Narita took the loss. The Giants defeated Koyama, 5-3, in game 3 but Lotte pulled out a 6-5 win to keep the series alive in game 4 with Motohiko Sato getting the win. The teams combined for 5 homers in the game with 4 coming from the Giants, including 2 from 3B Shigeo Nagashima. With the Orions' backs against the wall, Kitaru couldn't keep the comeback rolling as the Giants clinched the title with a 6-2 game 5 win. Nagashima earned MVP honors with a .421 BA and 4 homers in the series. The Orions were worse than in 1960 as they hit only .197 in the '70 Japan Series. Altman hit .200 but did put up a .455 OBP, Arito hit .190, Enomoto hit .429 but only played in 3 games, and Lopez was 1-13 for a killer .077 BA. The main offensive force for Lotte was OF Reiji Iishi, who hit .500 in 9 ABs with 2 HR and 6 RBI. Kitaru and Koyama combined for 33 IP of 11 ER and Narita had an ugly 11.81 ERA in 5 1/3 IP. The loss was likely tough to take for Lotte after the 10-year struggle to get back to the Japan Series, but the Orions would bounce back sooner next time.

1971 was similar to 1970 for Lotte as the Orions went 80-46-4 but the Hankyu Braves were better in beating Lotte by 3 1/2 games in the PL pennant race. Lotte's offensive standout that year was Shinichi Eto, who hit .337 with a .969 OPS to become the first Japanese player to win a batting title in both leagues. Eto also added 25 HR and 91 RBI while Altman wasn't far behind at .320 with a .670 slugging percentage, 1.048 OPS, 39 HR, 103 RBI and his third and final Best Nine in Japan. Lopez was also steady at .301 with an .839 OPS, 21 doubles, 24 HR and 77 RBI while Arito earned another Best Nine selection by hitting .285 with an .855 OPS and 27 HR. Kitaru earned a wins title in '71 at 24-8 with a 3.45 ERA and Koyama was again steady at 17-8 with a 3.21 ERA and 1.21 WHIP at age 37. Narita had an off year but P Choji Murata stepped up to post a 3.34 ERA and 12-8 record in 43 games. Murata would go on to post a hall-of-fame career with Lotte with 215 career wins, a 3.24 lifetime ERA and 1.25 career WHIP. The Orions had an off year in '72 but bounced back to go 70-49-11 in 1973 for a third-place finish behind a PL-leading 21 wins, 178 Ks and 7 shutouts from Narita as he pulled down his only Best Nine appearance and Gold Glove of his career.

1974 was a landmark year for the Orions as they squeaked out a PL title for a fourth Japan Series berth behind an MVP season from P Tomohiro Kaneda, who was brought over from Toei in '74. Kaneda compiled a 16-7 record to lead the league in wins, and posted a 2.90 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 36 games for the only Best Nine selection of his career. Murata was right beside his teammate at 12-10 with a 2.69 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in 32 games and Narita had a 3.29 ERA in 37 games. Kitaru also pitched in at 13-6 with a 3.09 ERA in 36 games. With only 5 Pac Leaguers only .300 batting on the season, it wasn't a heavily offensive season and Lotte's leading batter was OF Sumio Hirota, who hit .295 with a .757 OPS and an inside-the-park grand slam in August. 2B Hiroyuki Yamazaki hit .278 with a .765 OPS, 32 2B and 11 HR and Altman fought injury problems and played only 85 games but hit .351 with a 1.095 OPS, 15 2B, 21 HR and 67 RBI. Fellow American import IF Jim Lefebvre followed up his Lotte debut in '73 (.265/.841 OPS, 29 HR) with a .283 BA and .840 OPS but only 14 HR in 82 games in '74. Arito was again steady for Lotte by hitting .263 with an .830 OPS, 22 2B, 20 HR and 83 RS while chipping in 22 SB and garnering his sixth Best Nine and third Gold Glove. While the Orions beat Hankyu by half a game for the PL title, Chunichi stopped a run of 9 straight Japan Series berths by Yomiuri to advance to face the Orions for the NPB title.

The '74 Japan Series would include 3 1-run games as the Dragons defeated Murata in game 1, 5-4, despite a Hirota homer. Lotte evened the series with an 8-5 win in game 2 behind pitcher Haruo Narishige as Yamazaki and Arito clubbed homers. The Dragons regained the lead, however, with a 5-4 game 3 win as Narita took the loss and Chunichi 1B Kenichi Yazawa hit 2 homers. Lotte knotted the series again with a 6-3 game 4 win as Kaneda got the win, Murata picked up a save and Hirota and Arito homered for a second time for each. Kitaru shut down the Dragons, 2-0, in game 5 and Murata pitched the Orions to a 3-2 win in game 6 to clinch the franchise's first Japan Series title in 24 years. Hirota was named MVP after hitting .400 with a .720 slugging percentage, 2 HR and 7 RBI in the series. Arito held his own at .429 with a .714 SLG and 2 HR, altho those were his only 2 RBI of the series. OF Tadayoshi Iwasaki hit .375 in the series for Lotte and Yamazaki hit .364 with 3 doubles and a homer as the Orions washed away their paltry hitting performances in the '60 and '70 series by hitting .282 as a team. Narita and Kaneda struggled on the mound in the series but Kitaru and Murata stepped up with ERAs of 2.03 and 1.76 and WHIPs of 0.60 and 0.91, respectively, in 29 combined IP.

With Tomohiro's brother, Masaichi Kaneda, at the helm, from '72 to '78 the Orions reached the pinnacle of Japanese baseball but also had a losing season in '75 despite an ERA title for Murata at 2.20. After winning 69 games in '74, the Orions wouldn't surpass 65 wins again until 1995, which happened to be Valentine's first year as Lotte manager. Lotte's best American import was brought across the Pacific by now-coach Lefebvre in 1977 as Leron Lee (uncle of Cubs 1B Derrek) made his presence felt quickly by hitting .317 with a .977 OPS, 30 doubles (led league), 34 HR (led league), 109 RBI (led league), and the first of 4 Best Nines. Over 11 seasons in Lotte, Lee would amass 1,579 hits, 220 doubles, 283 HR (all-time leader for foreigners in Japan until Tuffy Rhodes broke it in '03), 912 RBI, .320 lifetime BA and .924 lifetime OPS. Lee won a batting title at .358 in 1980 and was a 4-time all-star. Teammate Arito won the batting title at .329 in '77 and Murata added a second straight ERA title in 1976 (1.82) and a wins title in '81 (19). Another budding legend joined the Orions in 1979 as IF Hiromitsu Ochiai debuted. He started making a big impact in '81 as he won the first of three straight batting titles and he became the only player ever to win 3 Triple Crowns by completing the feat in '82, '85 and '86. In his first full year in '81 he hit .326 with a 1.052 OPS, 19 2B, 33 HR and 90 RBI; in '82 (age 29) he hit .325/1.037 with 32 2B, 33 HR and 109 RBI; in '83 he hit .332/.982 with 25 HR; in '84 he hit .314/1.017 with 32 HR and 94 RBI; and in the big years of '85 and '86 he hit .367/1.244 (.367 was highest BA ever for righty in Japan) with 52 HR/146 RBI ('85) and .360/1.233 with 50 HR/116 RBI ('86). After all that, the Orions traded him to Chunichi after '86 for 4 players and he played through the '98 season after 3 seasons with Yomiuri and 2 with Nippon Ham. He posted 6 of his 10 Best Nines with Lotte and both of his MVP awards with the Orions ('82 and '85). Despite Ochiai's superstellar hitting, the Orions struggled through the 1980s. A 64-51-15 record in 1980 led them to just miss the Japan Series as Kintetsu won the PL by 1/2 a game and Lee won the batting title. Leron's brother, Leon, also played for Lotte from '78-82 and did well in hitting .300 each season from '78-81. He hit .340 with a 1.039 OPS in '80 while his brother won the batting title and earned the first of 2 Best Nines that season. He finished his career with Taiyo and Yakult from '83 to '87 and had lifetime numbers of a .308 BA and .902 OPS with 214 2B, 268 HR and 884 RBI. He later became the first black man to manage a Japanese baseball team, in Orix in 2003. Losing seasons in '82 and '83 (including last place in '83) were followed by second place finishes in '84 and '85 but then a 9-season streak of losing seasons began in '86 as Ochiai moved on via the trade with Chunichi, Leron Lee retired and the Orions never had either the pitching or the hitting to make a difference.

After last-place finishes in '88, '89 and '91 highlighted only by a batting title by IF/OF Hideaki Takazawa at .327 in '88, an ERA title by a 40-year-old Murata at 2.50 in '89 and batting titles from OF Norifumi Nishimura (.338) and OF Mitsuchika Hirai (.314) in '90 and '91, the Orions moved to Chiba Marine Stadium in '92 and became the Chiba Lotte Marines. The newly dubbed Marines responded with a last-place finish in '92 and next-to-last finishes in '93 and '94. Valentine crossed the Pacific to take over managerial duties in 1995 and the Marines responded with their best season since '85 at 69-58-3 to finish second -- 12 games behind the Ichiro-powered Orix Blue Wave. During the team's dark years, a new star began to emerge in P Hideki Irabu, who submitted sub-4 ERA seasons in 4 of his first 5 seasons before getting a bigger shot in '93. Irabu responded with a 3.10 ERA and 1.29 WHIP, 160 Ks and 58 BB in 142 1/3 IP in '93; finished second in ERA in '94 at 3.04 while going 15-10 (leading league in wins) with a 1.27 WHIP, 16 CG (led league), 239 Ks (led league) and 94 BB (also led league) in 27 games and 207 1/3 IP; and under Valentine's guidance in '95 went 11-11 with a league-leading 2.53 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 239 Ks (led league) and 72 BB in 203 IP. He used a 2.40 ERA for another ERA title in '96 along with a 12-6 record and 167 Ks in 157 1/3 IP to leverage a move to the U.S., where he fantastically flamed out and was called names by Yankees officials. He had Best Nines with Lotte in '94 and '95. The Marines also reaped the benefits of a career season from IF/DH Kiyoshi Hatsushiba in '95 as the poor-fielding Hatsushiba hit .301 with a .904 OPS, 27 doubles, 25 HR and 80 RBI to tie for the league lead in ribbies. He earned his only Best Nine of his career for his efforts. With Valentine's departure to come back stateside for the Mets' job in '96, the losing returned for Lotte as the Marines ran off another streak of 8 losing seasons -- finishing last in '97 and '98 and never any higher than fourth during the string. The highlights for the franchise over this time were a batting title from emerging star 1B Kazuya Fukuura at .346 in 2001, an ERA title from P Satoru Komiyama at 2.49 in 1997, a tie for the wins title from P Tomohiro Kuroki at 13 in 1998 and an ERA title from Texas import P Nate Minchey at 3.26 in 2001. Minchey followed that up with a 2.85 ERA in '02 as he went 15-14 and led the league with 7 CG. Fukuura is often compared to Mark Grace as he has posted batting averages over .300 each year since 2001. Over 10 years with Lotte, Chiba native Fukuura has slugged more than 280 doubles with a .304 lifetime BA and .809 lifetime OPS.

Valentine returned in 2004 and led the Marines back to respectability with a 65-65-3 mark and fourth place finish that season. Fukuura hit .314 with an .847 OPS, 42 2B, 11 HR and 73 RBI over the campaign and Valentine brought OF Benny Agbayani with him only to see Benny hit .315 with a 1.043 OPS, 31 2B, 35 HR and 100 RBI in 130 games. A new tandem of pitchers started to have an impact for Lotte as righty Naoyuki Shimizu went 10-11 with a 3.40 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 23 games and righty Shunsuke Watanabe supplemented that by going 12-6 with a 3.59 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 23 games. Another American import, 3B/OF Matt Franco, also had an impact in '04 by hitting .278 with an .839 OPS, 35 2B, 16 HR and 65 RBI. All those impact players would be joined by a couple others in 2005 as Valentine returned for another year as manager and led the Marines to the franchise's most wins since 1956. Chiba Lotte went 84-49-3 in '05 to finish 4 1/2 games back of Softbank but swept Seibu in the first round of the playoffs and beat Softbank in 5 games in a best-of-5 series to reach the Japan Series for a fifth time in franchise history. 3B Toshiaki Imae had a breakout season in hitting .310 with an .804 OPS, 35 doubles and 71 RBI while longtime Lotte 2B Koichi Hori hit over .300 for the first time since 1996 by hitting .305 with a .760 OPS. Franco moved to the outfield and hit .300 with an .868 OPS, 28 doubles, 21 HR and 78 RBI; Fukuura hit .300 with a .766 OPS, 25 2B and 72 RBI; Agbayani hit .271 in 98 games with 22 doubles, 13 HR and 71 RBI; Korean 1B/LF Seung-Yeop Lee added 25 doubles and 30 HR with 82 RBI; and 2B/SS Tsuyoshi Nishioka also broke out by hitting .268 with a .714 OPS, 22 doubles, 11 triples and plus defense up the middle. Pitching-wise, Watanabe finished second in the ERA race at 2.17 while going 15-4 with a 0.96 WHIP in 23 starts; American Dan Serafini stood out at 11-4 with a 2.91 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 27 games; P Hiroyuki Kobayashi rebounded from a 4.26 ERA in '04 to go 12-6 with a 3.30 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 23 starts; Shimizu went 10-11 with a 3.83 ERA in 23 games; and P Masahide Kobayashi posted 29 saves and a 2.58 ERA in 46 games to lead the league in saves.

Lotte hosted the series versus Seibu in round 1 of the playoffs and the Marines scored an 8th inning run to get a 2-1 win with reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta picking up the W. Closer Kobayashi nailed down the save. Game 2 was more of the same as Hiroyuki Kobayashi shut down the Lions and Masahide Kobayashi closed it out for a 3-1 win and a sweep of the best-of-3. The win set up a best of 5 with PL champ Softbank with the Japan Series berth on the line. The series took place at the Fukuoka Yahoo! JAPAN Dome but Chiba Lotte conquered the home field advantage with a 4-2 win in game 1 as P Soichi Fujita got the win and Masahide Kobayashi picked up yet another save. C Tomoya Satozaki homered in the win. A 3-run 6th in game 2 propelled the Marines to a 3-2 win behind Shimizu and Kobayashi. Lotte was up, 4-0, in the 9th in game 3 but the Hawks scored 4 runs to send it to extras and won it off Shingo Ono in the 10th to stay alive. The Hawks took a 3-2 lead in the 4th in game 4 and held on to beat Hiroyuki Kobayashi to force a deciding game 5. Satozaki homered for the Marines in the losing effort. Going into the 6th in game 5, the Marines were down, 2-0, but scored a run in the 6th and 2 in the 8th to take a 3-2 lead with Yabuta getting another win and Kobayashi picking up his 5th save in 5 chances and 5 playoff wins as Chiba Lotte moved on to its 5th Japan Series. In the CL, Hanshin ran away for a 10-game win to clinch a Japan Series bid as the CL didn't institute playoffs until this season. The Japan Series didn't end up being that much of a series as the Marines showed no signs of fatigue from the showdown with Softbank. Game 1 saw Lotte bash 4 homers in a 10-1 rout behind Shimizu with Kei Igawa taking the loss for the Tigers. Game 2 was a 10-0 shutout for Watanabe as the Marines piled on 3 more homers and game 3 was 10-1 again for Lotte as Fukuura smashed the Marines' 8th homer of the series in support of Hiroyuki Kobayashi. Game 4 wasn't quite as easy but the Marines picked up the sweep for their 3rd Japan Series title with a 3-2 win behind Serafini. Lee smashed his 3rd homer of the series as Masahide Kobayashi saved yet another Lotte win. Imae earned MVP honors by hitting a remarkable .667 on 10-15 hitting with 2 doubles and a homer. Lee wasn't far behind by hitting .545 on 6-11 hitting with 2 doubles, 3 HR and 6 RBI; Agbayani hit .444 with a double and homer; Fukuura hit .364 with a double, homer and 4 RBI; and Franco hit .300 with a double and homer as the Marines hit .326 as a team. Pitching in the series was a team effort for Lotte as the Marines had a 1.06 ERA and 0.85 WHIP and only Serafini had an ERA above 1.50 at 3.38.

2006 didn't exactly go as Valentine likely hoped as the Marines posted a losing 65-70-1 record to finish 4th in the PL. Fukuura hit .312 with a .752 OPS and 20 doubles while Agbayani hit only .281 but clubbed 17 homers to lead the offense. Shingo Ono led the pitching staff with a 7-7 record, 2.66 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 22 starts. Hiroyuki Kobayashi was right behind by going 10-7 with a 2.78 ERA and 1.09 WHIP in 20 starts and Shimizu was 10-8 with a 3.42 ERA and 1.25 WHIP while leading the team with 178 Ks in 25 starts. Unfortunately, the rest of the offense and pitching staff wasn't solid and the record showed. The Marines have turned it around nicely, however, as through Thursday they were 70-60-7 and clinched a likely first-round playoff berth versus Softbank. The Marines' newest star may have broken through this season in P Yoshihisa Naruse, who got a win Thursday to move to 16-1 with an ERA under 2. Hiroyuki Kobayashi and Watanabe have also posted fine years with ERAs under 3 and a combined 19-9 record. Nishioka has the best batting average on the team at .298 while OF Daisuke Hayakawa is hitting .285. The regular season wraps Oct. 5 so the Marines may soon have a 6th Japan Series bid in hand.