Arigato Westbay-san

I also play kusa-yakyuu here in Japan. I have been on the same team going on 3 years now out in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. I would love to either try out for or watch one of your teams, but I noticed that most of the games are on weekdays? That would be pretty much impossible for me with work, and my team plays regularly on Saturdays, so I'm pretty limited to how much I can participate on other teams.

I do have a question about the competitive level of your teams though. For example, what would you say the average speed of pitches is on your teams? The league my team plays in currently isn't that strong, and I regularly see pitches around and below the 100 kph range, occaisionally higher. I played through high school in the US, with a few practice games at the community college level, so I can adjust to faster speeds if necessary.

As you may or not know, most Baseball Diamonds in the Tokyo area, and I'm guessing all over Japan, work on a lottery type basis. In order to "win the field" then the manager of the lottery winning team contacts another team to play. Because of this system, Lasix will play any day they can "win a field," all over the Tokyo area, mostly weekends, but sometimes weekdays on holidays, all year around.

Slackers found a way to be almost guaranteed a field weekly - to ask for Monday evenings when almost no one else would want a field, with a very occasional weekend, but only play seasonally.

I have played between both teams in over 15 different Tokyo area parks/fields over my 2 1/2 years here now using this system.

The Hammers will use the "Lasix" system for winning fields. Year around and whenever and wherever we can "win the field," day or night.

I would love to have players that are on other teams as well, and you, like myself, will have to decide which team, on which days, it's more important to play with, on any given day. This is most difficult when one team I'm on plays another team I'm on.

And in answer to your question regarding pitching speeds, I see all different speeds and pitches from 70 kph to about 130+kph, however it's the "Submarines" that confuse me the most. However fast pitching isn't everything. Ask Jamie Moyer of the Mariners, placement and control are everything.

Finally on the topic of leagues in the Tokyo area, I've heard they exist and would love the Hammers to be added to a league if possible. Both Lasix and Slackers are not part of any league but have both played in different tournaments and have lots of different teams contact numbers.

Dear Westbay-san and Jingu Bleacher Bum, please tell the world about your teams and contact information.

Hi,
I play on 2 teams in the saitama prefecture also. They are B class teams and we play on Saturdays and in the morning on Sundays. What is your team called?