japan Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

MLB clubs don't want Trevor Bauer so he's signing with a Japanese travel team
After yet another Spring in which Trevor Bauer posts pics of himself at Spring Training and tries to convince us all that he has just tons of support and interest among MLB teams who want to hire him but can’t, Bauer has finally been signed — by a Japanese travel team called Asian Breeze. ...

Aubrey Huff still a sexist dolt; free agency grinds to halt; Do Omar Vizquel Omar Vizquel, Trevor Bauer deserve a second chance?
Updated Jan. 5: Aubrey Huff’s X/Twitter hiatus was short-lived, as the ex-MLB player and problematic poster reactivated his account and proceeded to be predictably sexist, and offensive. - Cale Clinton Read More...

Shohei Ohtani's most likely landing spot is the NL West
We’ve come to the end of our tour of the islands of every MLB team’s offseason outlook. We wrap up in the NL West, still the favorite landing place for Shohei Ohtani, as two of the rivals here are going to duke it out to bring him either slightly up the coast or six hours up it. One more time…...

The off-putting history of Spencer Strider, and the incredible weirdness of the NHL Awards
I won’t pretend what follows makes any sense. It is simply a matter of taste, and my tastes have warped and mutated often into a territory I can no longer explain. If you’re an Atlanta baseball fan, Spencer Strider is a titan walking among men. Cobb County probably has dubbed it “Strider Day,” a gam...

Trevor Bauer sent to the Japanese minors
After posting a sparkling ERA of 8.40 and 1.867 WHIP, the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Japanese league have sent former Dodger pitcher Trevor Bauer down to the minor leagues. You hate to see it....

America is one Trevor Bauer lighter and looks fantastic!
If baseball fans out there are feeling just a touch more exuberant, or looking in the mirror and thinking they’re having a good day — or maybe had the motivation to add just one more rep or set to their workout this morning — there’s a reason for it. We, as a society, have successfully punted Trevor...

Wrestle Kingdom puts NJPW back on track, maybe on some new ones too
The biggest event for weirdos and insomniacs, other than maybe the Australian Open, got back to normal service last night. And that’s New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom (bell time, 3 a.m. EST). Not only did it mark the return of actually cheering crowds for NJPW sho...

The biggest World Cup upsets of all time
As Saudi Arabia shocked the globe by defeating Lionel Messi and World Cup favorites Argentina on Tuesday, it provided the most recent example of a tremendous upset victory at the quadrennial showcase. Argentina was No. 3 in the FIFA rankings and Saudi Arabia was the second-lowest ranked team to play...

Antonio Inoki leaves behind a legacy that rivals any in combat sports
There’s not an athlete in combat-sports history with a bigger influence than Antonio Inoki. How many other professional wrestlers have a common opponent in Superman? Inoki is one degree of separation from Clark Kent because of his 1976 fight against Muhammad Ali, then the WBC and WBA heavyweight cha...

der Fußballbundesliga?
The partnership between the NFL and the German Bundesliga, the top tier of the country’s professional soccer scene, is an interesting pair on its own. They both dominate their domestic markets. Dirk Nowitzki and Leon Draisaitl have come from Deutschland to dominate in North America. Steve Cherundolo...

NJPW not only doesn't care about alleged abusers, it's actively pushing them
It wouldn’t be apt to compare wrestling or wrestling companies to major sports leagues in how they deal with those accused of domestic abuse or sexual assault, though the usual balloon-handed nature of it certainly looks similar. There are definite, top-level sports leagues that could enact any numb...

The baseball is deflated again
I’m cribbing heavily from Joe Sheehan’s newsletter again, but in his latest missive he points out that things keep getting better and better for pitchers. Thanks to technology and greater study, they discover new pitches or tweaks to existing ones as they keep throwing harder and harder. At the same...

When Jackie opened the door, these men walked through
It took 2,559 days after Jackie Robinson’s debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers for Major League Baseball to have its 42nd Black player appear in a game. Those seven years and two days saw 11 of the league’s 16 franchises integrate. The Boston Red Sox were the last to do so with Pumpsie Green in July 1959...

Japanese baseball is light years ahead of MLB
Major League Baseball is great. As long as no one is complaining about the unwritten rules and Nick Castellanos isn’t at the plate, the game is laid back and fun. I doubt I could enjoy it any more than I already do....

Tennis doesn’t want Naomi Osaka around
Naomi Osaka loves tennis, but tennis doesn’t seem to love her back. ...

Lamar Jackson is out here again making it difficult to root for him
Lamar Jackson, you don’t want to go down this road. There’s nothing at the end of it but disappointment. Stay far away from any road that leads to Antonio Brown....

Derrick Henry would have given Bo Jackson a run for his money in <em>Tecmo Bowl</em>
Watching Derrick Henry run the ball all over opponents looks and feels like a live-action video game. Henry has rushed for 240 yards this season, and 201 have come after contact. Joe Mixon of the Cincinnati Bengals is second in rushing with 196 yards. Henry has been the beast back of the league the ...

It’s <em>G1 Climax</em> time, baby! (Oh, were you not hip to that?)
Say you’re one of these people. You run with the popular crowd. The shiny crowd. But you’ve never felt like you quite fit in there. As you walk to yet another lounge or patio that you don’t really want to go to, filled with people you can easily come to revile, you stop in front of some dive bar or ...

Infamous Benny Agbayani blunder is now old enough to drink
On August 12, 2000, the New York Mets had been gunning for their fourth division championship in their then 38-year history....