The players expressed their enthusiasm ahead of the 18th interleague tournament between the Central League and Pacific League professional baseball teams starting on the 30th.
Prior to the interleague match, a press conference was held in Minato-ku, Tokyo on the 29th, and one player from each of the four clubs scheduled to play in Saitama Prefecture and Chiba City from the 30th attended.
Among them, NAKANO Takumu from Hanshin, who leads the Central League, attended and expressed his enthusiasm, saying, "It is difficult to predict the batting of batters who do not usually play against each other, but I want you to see your wide defensive range and speedy play."
As for the pitcher he would like to face, he mentioned the name of Lotte pitcher Aki Sasaki, who, like Nakano, was a member of the WBC Japan national team and contributed to the championship with him, and said, "I watched them attack more and more against the world, so if there is a match, I will do my best to hit without losing."
In response, Seibu player Aito expressed his aspiration, saying, "The flow of the team is poor in league matches, so I want to be able to seize the opportunity in the interleague matches, and I want you to see the defense that keeps getting outs even with hit balls."
On the other hand, pitcher Kazuya Kojima, who attended from Lotte, who currently leads the Pacific League, said, "I want to thoroughly analyze each batter," and about batting, which he does not usually do, "I practiced, but it didn't fly to the outfield, so I want to do my best to hit the ball with the bat."
Giants player MARU Yoshihiro, who will face Lotte from 30th, said, "This is the first exchange match in a long time with cheers, so I will do my best while enjoying the happiness of being able to play baseball, which I love, in front of the fans."
This year's interleague tournament will be held from 30 to 18 next month, and each team will play three matches against six teams from different leagues, for a total of 6 games, and the team with the highest winning percentage among the 3 clubs will win the championship.