Kyuji Fujikawa's First Year as Manager
The 2025 season was Kyuji Fujikawa's first as manager of the Hanshin Tigers after succeeding Akinobu Okada, and it was also the club's 90th anniversary year. Over 143 games Hanshin went 85 wins, 54 losses and 4 ties for a .612 winning percentage, finished 13.0 games ahead of second-place DeNA, and won its seventh Central League pennant, its first in two years. Against Yomiuri the Tigers went 17 wins and 8 losses. In a statement issued on the day the pennant was clinched, NPB Commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara congratulated the club on a title won "leaving the rest of the league far behind" and said Fujikawa had led the team with "masterful managing you would not expect from a manager in his first year." The Central League gave Fujikawa its Manager of the Year award. A Sankei Shimbun column (September 10, 2025) called that year's team the "Anshin (reassuring) Tigers" and singled out the fact that homegrown players starred on both the pitching and hitting sides. The same column also praised "the calm managing of Kyuji Fujikawa, which did not look like that of a first-year manager." Taira Fujita, a Hanshin alumnus and Daily Sports commentator, wrote in his commentary for the paper (September 8, 2025) that it was "very significant" that almost no injuries occurred, especially among the regulars, and noted that the coaching staff paid close attention to the players' conditioning.
An Offense Built on Walks and Steals
The team batting average was .245, only fourth in the league, and its 93 home runs ranked third. Yet Hanshin's 441 walks led the league, 39 more than second-place Yomiuri's 402, and its .313 on-base percentage also ranked first. The Tigers also led the league with 100 stolen bases (Chunichi was second with 80) and 136 sacrifice bunts, and their 496 runs ranked second behind DeNA's 510. More than the batting-average ranking, the numbers show a team that turned runners on base into runs by moving them along. In the same commentary, Fujita pointed out that Hanshin led the league in both walks and steals. He added that, by also using sacrifice bunts to advance runners, the team "has naturally become able to run games so that it scores even without a hit." Individually, Teruaki Sato led the league with 40 home runs and 102 RBIs, winning both titles for the first time. Koji Chikamoto won the stolen-base title with 32, his fourth straight and sixth overall. Shota Morishita ranked second behind Sato in both home runs (23) and RBIs (89), and Yusuke Oyama was second in on-base percentage at .363.
A 50-Game Scoreless Streak and the Bullpen
The team ERA of 2.21 led the league, 0.73 lower than second-place DeNA's 2.94. Hanshin also allowed the fewest runs in the league, 352, and recorded 28 shutout wins. The bullpen was at the heart of those numbers. Daichi Ishii pitched in 53 games with 9 saves and 36 holds and a 0.17 ERA, allowing just one earned run. From an April 5 game against Yomiuri to a September 28 game against Chunichi he made 50 consecutive scoreless appearances, which NPB lists as a new professional record, surpassing the 39 games by Kaima Taira (Seibu) in 2021. Masaki Oikawa posted a 0.87 ERA in 66 games, and his 46 holds tied Yomiuri's Taisei for the league lead. Closer Suguru Iwasaki recorded 31 saves, Atsuki Yuasa had 22 holds, and Takuma Kirishiki pitched in 43 games. In the same commentary, Fujita noted that the team had assembled a deep and powerful staff in both the rotation and the bullpen, writing that "this proud pitching strength produced a stable offense."
Hiroto Saiki and Shoki Murakami in the Rotation
In the rotation, Hiroto Saiki pitched in 24 games with 12 wins, 6 losses and a 1.55 ERA, and received the award for the best ERA. Shoki Murakami went 14 wins and 4 losses with a 2.10 ERA in 26 games. His 14 wins tied DeNA's Katsuki Azuma for the league lead, and he also led the league with a .778 winning percentage and 144 strikeouts, receiving three awards: most wins, best winning percentage and most strikeouts. Murakami and Saiki combined for 26 wins. Kotaro Otake also held down a rotation spot with 9 wins, 4 losses and a 2.85 ERA in 16 games, and Haruto Takahashi went 3 wins and 1 loss with a 2.28 ERA in 8 games. The pattern of starters setting up games and the bullpen protecting the late innings held throughout the season.
Clinching on September 7 and the Postseason
The pennant was decided on September 7 at Koshien against Hiroshima. With its magic number at 1, Hanshin won 2-0 to clinch the league title. In that game starter Saiki was ejected in the fifth inning for a dangerous pitch, but Yuasa, who came in on short notice, was followed by Kirishiki, Oikawa, Ishii and Iwasaki, and together they finished the shutout, with the win going to Yuasa and the save to Iwasaki. In its game reports on the official website, the club noted that the fastest pennant since the two-league system began had been the one Yomiuri clinched on September 8, 1990, and described this title as breaking that record. In the same commentary Fujita called that year's Hanshin "a team that can do the ordinary things as a matter of course" and wrote that it had "no openings." He also suggested that many players and coaches had learned "the taste of winning" through the league title and Japan Series championship two years earlier. In the final stage of the Climax Series, Hanshin swept DeNA 2-0, 5-3 and 4-0 and, with its one-win advantage, reached its eighth Japan Series with four wins. Against SoftBank, Hanshin won Game 1 by 2-1 but then lost four straight to fall 1-4, and three of the four losses were by one run.
Awards and Attendance
In the postseason awards, Teruaki Sato was named MVP with 1,308 points (244 first-place votes). Ishii (414 points) and Murakami (406 points) finished second and third, and with Morishita, Saiki and Seishiro Sakamoto following, Hanshin players took the top six spots. Seven Tigers, Murakami, Sakamoto, Oyama, Takumu Nakano, Sato, Morishita and Chikamoto, were selected to the Best Nine, and the same seven received Golden Glove Awards. Chikamoto's Golden Glove was his fifth in five straight years, Sakamoto, Oyama and Nakano won their second after a one-year gap, and Murakami, Sato and Morishita won it for the first time. Nikkan Sports reported the seven Golden Gloves as a Central League record, surpassing Chunichi's six in 2004, and the seven Best Nine selections as tying Yomiuri's 1953 total for the Central League record. Hanshin drew 2,962,268 fans over 71 home games, an average of 41,722 per game, both the highest among the 12 clubs.