2009 Chunichi Dragons season

The 2009 Chunichi Dragons season features the Dragons quest to win their first Central League baseball title since 2006. The season did not start off well as the team was absorbing the loss of longtime staff ace Kenshin Kawakami, who departed via free agency. As the season progressed, the Dragons' pitching came into their own, led by Taiwanese ace Chen Wei-Yin, Kazuki Yoshimi, Kenta Asakura, and young lefty Yudai Kawai, who won eleven starts (eight in a row) before taking his first loss of the season on August 6. Chen had the lowest ERA of any pitcher in the last 40 years in Japan (1.54) despite having an unspectacular 8-4 record. However, he lost out in the Sawamura Award voting to Saitama Seibu Lions ace Hideaki Wakui.

Offensively, the Dragons had only two batters hit over .300 for the season (minimum 500 plate appearances), but the real surprise was Dominican slugger Tony Blanco. Despite striking out far and away the most times of anybody on the team (157 K), he crushed 39 home runs and knocked in 110 runs while batting .275. He had some help from domestic sluggers Masahiko Morino and Kazuhiro Wada, who added 23 and 29 home runs, respectively.

Chunichi finished second to the eventual Japan Series champion Yomiuri Giants in the regular season with an 82-61-1 record. In the first round of the playoffs, they were almost eliminated by the upstart Yakult Swallows, but came back to win the next two games and advance to the 2nd Stage against the Giants, where they were eliminated.

Roster

Regular season

Standings

Game log

Player stats

Batting

Pitching

References