Japanese Baseball Game

Yesterday I had the chance to go to a Japanese baseball game. The Yokohama Bay Stars had a home game yesterday and so I rode the train for about a half hour to Yokohama Stadium. Going to a Japanese baseball game was on my list of things to do here so it was exciting for me to finally go. It was only a pre-season game, but it was still a lot of fun and certainly a great experience. I went thinking and hoping that I could get a ticket there that would be cheap, but also not way up in the boonies. I ended up getting there, finding a ticket booth and buying a ticket for 1500 yen, which is about $13.

Most stadiums back in the States are pretty big and you have to walk a long time to find you seat, but after two flights of stairs into the stadium I was at the outfield wall. There was one small problem. Pretty much the stadium is divided into two sections. The first base side and right field section is for the home team (The Yokohama Bay Stars) and the third base side and left field section is for the visiting team, which happened to be the Tigers. I ended up going into the wrong stadium entrance and was on the Tigers side. I don't have any Bay Stars jerseys or anything, but I definitely did not fit in. Everyone was in black and yellow and I ended up getting some dirty looks. I'm sure that they thought I didn't know any better and I didn't wear blue to support the Bay Stars, that's just what I was wearing. After a short evaluation of my surroundings I decided that I should try and get to the Bay Stars side. I ended up asking a security guard and he had to escort me out of the stadium and to the right stadium entrance. I was greeted by some warmer faces and felt a little more at home. (The Bay Stars logo on their jerseys looks very similar to the Dodgers logo.)

The game started at 1:00. It was a cold day, but the sun came out and so I was plenty warm. I brought some food and seeds of course and I enjoyed chewing them and watching the game. Next time I go I will make sure to try the Japanese Dodger Dogs. I found it funny/weird that the only thing that the concession people carried around (the people who walk around and sell stuff, whatever they are called) was beer. There were other things at the actual concession stand, but I at least expected some ice cream or licorice.

The experience part is the all the crazy fans. There was no fighting or beer throwing or anything, but there certainly was a lot of cheering. I think the stadium is divided into two to prevent all of the fighting and so on because I'm pretty sure that it would happen after watching all of them cheer. Each group of fans would stand up the whole time while their team was up at bat. They had a couple of trumpets, drums, flags, and other noisemakers to help with all the songs and chants. There was even a guy with a whistle who would run back and forth and get everyone all pumped up. It was really fun to listen to and watch. I found myself watching the fans quite a bit. The baseball game itself was the same as in the States. I don't think the pitchers threw as fast as pitchers in the States (It could be because it is only pre-season. They were still in the 80s.), but there was a home-run, some stolen bases, double plays, diving catches at the warning track, and good, solid baseball.

It’s funny though because when the fan's team is not up at bat it's almost like they don't care. They still watch the game, but it was weird sitting there after having so much noise around. Nonetheless, the game was a lot of fun. The Bay Stars lost 7-4, which was a major bummer for me because I didn't get to see the fans do a victory dance or hear their victory chant. I will be back there for sure. I ended up buying a hat at a store near there and plan on being a committed Bay Stars fan as much as possible.

Oh, and one other interesting fact. All of the relief pitchers were driven out onto the field and dropped off near the base path.