Probable Pitchers

I regret that the Central League still uses the practice of not declaring the pitcher until 30 minutes or so before game time. This is why you will find a pitcher declared on the starting roster in a platoon position (often right field) very often in Central League games.

The Pacific League announces their pitchers the previous day. While that doesn't give you much time to plan a schedule, it does at least prevent the platooning pitcher in right.

Hanshin's current rotations looks something like Nohmi, Kubo, Andoh, Uezono, and Shimoyanagi with Fossum being thrown in when needed. As Nohmi pitched last night, I would expect to see Kubo tonight and Andoh on the 8th (with Fossum possibly thrown in either day on a whim).

Hope this helps.

Usually one can still predict who the pitchers will be except in the case of (perhaps) a #5 or #6 starter, or after a long break like the post-interleague break or the all-star break.

5-6 days ahead of time may be dodgy but 2-3 days ahead of time should be pretty reliable to guess.

I'm hoping Tigers' starter will be Kojima tonight. I believe their current rotation is Andoh, Uezono, Shimo, Nohmi, Kubo, Kojima, as Fossum has started on 2-gun. However, the 6th spot got rained out in Hiroshima, so they skipped back to the fat toad Andoh, as they often do. Most teams use a 6-man rotation, so it used to be easier to predict starters, as there are generally 6 games a week. However, with the inter-league play schedule and frequent rain outs, it doesn't really work out that way. Anyway, as others said, when you buy tickets far in advance there's little chance of knowing the starters.

Yah, what the others said. Become a Pacific League fan and you can find the starters the night before. Which is at least useful to know which jersey to wear, if you have several.

Though yeah, by looking at the last few CL games you can at least get a decent guess of who will be the starter... but... it's still at the whim of the manager, some of whom are more crazy than others.

What did Nomura do when he managed the Eagles? I remember reading something about him not wanting to announce starting pitchers ahead of time.

I'd be interested in knowing if any manager in the CL is crazier than him...

Okada would often list one of his starting pitchers as a fielder and then replace him with the real fielder and starting pitcher at the start of the game. Just seemed a silly move that fooled no one, but I don't think he's the only one who does it. Teams pretty much have a set rotation, so don't know why he tried those antics.

Old habits die hard? Teams used to not have quite a set rotation 20-30 years ago?

Wait, I didn't think that had anything to do with him fooling people about the starting pitchers or the rotation. I thought it was about platooning outfielders. So you start a pitcher in the outfield, and when you find out whether the opposing starting pitcher is left- or right- handed, you put the appropriate-batting fielder into the game there in place of the placeholding pitcher.

Since the PL announces their pitchers, the managers can just plan their lineup accordingly.

Old habits die hard? Teams used to not have quite a set rotation 20-30 years ago?

Maybe a little longer ago, but you read stories that the Tigers, for example, would use their ace in all three games against the Giants. A more set 6-man rotation is a relatively recent phenomenon.

- Wait, I didn't think that had anything to do with him fooling people about the starting pitchers or the rotation. I thought it was about platooning outfielders.

Yeah, that does make more sense. When I think of it, it was usually done with the right fielder, which is who the Tigers would have been platooning. I read somewhere that it was to hide the actual starting pitcher, but I always thought that sounded a little strange.