2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles season

2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
League	Pacific League
Ballpark	Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi
Record	55–57–8 (.491)
League place	4th
Parent company	Rakuten
President	Yozo Tachibana
General manager	Kazuhisa Ishii
Manager	Hajime Miki
Captain	Eigoro Mogi
Average attendance	3,935

The 2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles season was the sixteenth season of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles franchise. The Eagles played their home games at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi in the city of Sendai as members of Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League. The team was led by Hajime Miki on his first and only season as team manager.

Rakuten did not qualify for the Climax Series, finishing the COVID-shortened season in fourth place with a record of 55–57–8.

Regular season

Standings

2020 Pacific League regular season standings^[1]
#	Team	GTooltip Games played	W	L	T	Pct.	GBTooltip Games behind	Home	Road
1	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	120	73	42	5	.635	—	40–19–1	33–23–4
2	Chiba Lotte Marines	120	60	57	3	.513	14	35–23–2	25–34–1

3	Saitama Seibu Lions	120	58	58	4	.500	15½	35–22–3	23–36–1
4	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	120	55	57	8	.491	16½	31–25–4	24–32–4
5	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	120	53	62	5	.461	20	31–26–3	22–36–2
6	Orix Buffaloes	120	45	68	7	.398	27	26–31–3	19–37–4

Record vs. opponents

2020 record vs. opponents^[1]
Team	Buffaloes	Eagles	Fighters	Hawks	Lions	Marines
Buffaloes	—	12–10–2	11–12–1	5–17–2	12–11–1	5–18–1
Eagles	10–12–2	—	11–10–3	9–15	10–12–2	15–8–1
Fighters	12–11–1	10–11–3	—	6–17–1	14–10	11–13
Hawks	17–5–2	15–9	17–6–1	—	13–10–1	11–12–1
Lions	11–12–1	12–10–2	10–14	10–13–1	—	15–9
Marines	18–5–1	8–15–1	13–11	12–11–1	9–15	—

Opening Day starting roster

Friday, June 19, 2020 at Orix Buffaloes^[2]

Order	Player	Position
1	Eigoro Mogi	Shortstop
2	Daichi Suzuki	Third baseman
3	Jabari Blash	Designated hitter
4	Hideto Asamura	Second baseman
5	Hiroaki Shimauchi	Left fielder
6	Stefen Romero	Right fielder
7	Ginji Akaminai	First baseman
8	Hikaru Ohta	Catcher
9	Ryosuke Tatsumi	Center fielder
—	Takahiro Norimoto	Starting pitcher

Game log

2020 game log: 55–57–8 (Home: 31–25–4; Away: 24–32–4)

June: 7–3

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Stadium	Attendance	Record	Streak

July: 12–13–1

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Stadium	Attendance	Record	Streak

August: 12–12–2

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Stadium	Attendance	Record	Streak

September: 12–14

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Stadium	Attendance	Record	Streak

October: 10–13–3

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Stadium	Attendance	Record	Streak

November: 2–2–2

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Stadium	Attendance	Record	Streak

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie = Postponement
Bold = Eagles team member

Roster

2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

88 Hajime Miki

Coaches

73 Katsunori Nomura (strategy)
81 Eiji Kanamori (hitting)
96 Teppei Tsuchiya (hitting)
26 Naoto Watanabe (hitting)
84 Tomohito Ito (head pitching)
75 Shinichiro Koyama (pitching)
90 Hidekazu Mitsuyama (battery/defense)
86 Tatsuya Shiokawa (infield defense)
79 Seiji Tomashino (outfield defense)

Player statistics

Batting

2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles batting statistics^[3]
Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	TB
Yuichi Adachi	42	60	6	10	1	1	1	3	0	6	15	.167	.242	.267	16
Ginji Akaminai	88	212	16	50	8	0	0	23	3	23	28	.236	.313	.274	58
Hideto Asamura	120	432	72	121	25	0	32	104	1	91	111	.280	.408	.560	242
Jabari Blash	37	119	25	28	7	0	2	18	1	25	46	.235	.369	.345	41
Kazuya Fujita	55	35	3	7	1	0	0	4	0	1	5	.200	.222	.229	8
Kengo Horiuchi	10	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	.000	.000	.000	0
Tsuyoshi Ishihara	18	23	1	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	13	.174	.174	.217	5
Masaki Iwami	16	37	2	8	1	1	1	4	0	1	11	.216	.237	.378	14
Hiroto Kobukata	112	378	61	109	16	5	3	31	17	42	59	.288	.364	.381	144
Fumiya Kurokawa	10	14	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	6	.143	.235	.143	2
Eigoro Mogi	73	276	43	83	14	4	7	33	8	39	52	.301	.396	.457	126
Itsuki Murabayashi	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0
Yuya Ogo	58	105	23	31	3	0	4	12	8	19	34	.295	.405	.438	46
Hikaru Ohta	67	130	17	26	10	0	2	16	0	18	38	.200	.301	.323	42
Takero Okajima	35	75	10	15	6	1	0	9	0	8	26	.200	.277	.307	23
Stefen Romero	103	356	46	97	19	2	24	63	0	38	108	.272	.354	.539	192
Hiroaki Shimauchi	114	406	50	114	17	2	8	53	9	48	71	.281	.363	.392	159
Takahiro Shimotsuma	43	77	5	12	4	0	1	9	0	1	26	.156	.165	.247	19
Ko Shimozuru	20	32	1	6	0	1	1	5	0	2	11	.188	.257	.344	11
Daichi Suzuki	120	478	71	141	27	1	4	55	1	46	58	.295	.363	.381	182
Kazuki Tanaka	80	254	38	61	10	1	8	25	6	23	76	.240	.305	.382	97
Takaya Tanaka^†	9	15	5	6	0	0	1	4	0	1	7	.400	.438	.600	9
Ryosuke Tatsumi	104	251	38	56	9	3	8	28	11	20	57	.223	.286	.378	95
Yasuhito Uchida	38	93	9	16	3	0	5	18	1	14	31	.172	.284	.366	34
Ren Wada	7	16	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	1	4	.125	.176	.188	3
Naoto Watanabe	1	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500	.500	.750	3
Yoshiaki Watanabe	35	85	9	20	5	1	0	12	0	3	15	.235	.258	.318	27
Tsuyoshi Yamasaki	20	12	4	2	1	0	0	1	1	1	2	.167	.214	.250	3
Ayatsugu Yamashita	8	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	.000	.125	.000	0
Total：29 players	1,446	3,990	557	1,029	190	23	112	534	67	473	918	.258	.341	.401	1,601

^†Denotes player joined the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.

^‡Denotes player left the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.

Bold/italics denotes best in the league^[4]

Pitching

2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles pitching statistics^[3]
Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
Tomohiro Anraku	1	0	3.48	27	0	0	31	24	12	12	17	30
Koji Aoyama	2	0	4.35	11	0	0	10.1	11	6	5	6	8
Alan Busenitz	1	4	2.86	46	0	18	44	46	16	14	18	32
J. T. Chargois	0	3	5.81	31	0	1	26.1	23	17	17	14	19
Shoma Fujihira	0	0	—	1	1	0	0	1	2	2	0	0
Yuya Fukui	0	4	5.46	7	7	0	29.2	26	18	18	14	18
Hiroyuki Fukuyama	0	0	0.75	14	0	0	12	12	1	1	5	8
Shun Ikeda	1	0	4.32	21	0	0	16.2	21	8	8	7	13
Ryota Ishibashi	1	6	6.11	13	13	0	63.1	72	43	43	28	46
D. J. Johnson^†	1	0	3.07	16	0	0	14.2	13	6	5	6	16
Yoshinao Kamata	0	0	9.82	4	0	0	3.2	9	5	4	4	4
Wataru Karashima	1	3	4.93	19	6	1	38.1	43	22	21	15	26
Takayuki Kishi	7	0	3.21	11	11	0	67.1	48	24	24	20	70
Hiroki Kondo	0	0	5.40	6	0	0	6.2	5	4	4	5	4
Yuya Kubo	1	0	13.5	5	0	0	2	4	3	3	0	1
Kazuhisa Makita	2	2	2.16	52	0	2	50	39	15	12	12	33
Yuki Matsui	4	5	3.18	25	10	2	68	56	25	24	28	82
Kohei Morihara	1	2	7.56	17	0	4	16.2	23	14	14	7	14
Takahiro Norimoto	5	7	3.96	18	18	0	109	110	56	48	34	105
Tomohito Sakai	3	2	3.65	46	0	0	44.1	38	20	18	18	34
Takahiro Shiomi	4	8	4.8	16	16	0	84.1	88	45	45	20	63
Sung Chia-hao	1	2	6.94	38	0	0	36.1	35	29	28	17	29
Sora Suzuki	0	0	13.50	2	0	0	1.1	2	2	2	1	1
Ryota Takinaka	2	1	3.40	8	8	0	45	34	18	17	15	29
Kanji Teraoka	2	1	3.15	24	0	0	20	15	7	7	11	14
Taisei Tsurusaki	1	1	4.19	33	0	0	34.1	30	17	16	18	24
Hideaki Wakui	11	4	3.6	20	20	0	130	110	53	52	38	110
Hayato Yuge	3	2	5.01	10	10	0	50.1	57	34	28	20	34
Total：28 players	55	57	4.19	541	120	28	1,055.2	995	522	491	398	867

^†Denotes player joined the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.

^‡Denotes player left the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.

Bold/italics denotes best in the league^[5]

Awards and honors

Monthly MVP Award^[6]

Hideaki Wakui - June/July (pitcher)
Takayuki Kishi - October/November (pitcher)
Hideto Asamura - September (batter)

Best Nine Award^[7]

Hideto Asamura - second baseman
Daichi Suzuki - third baseman

Mitsui Golden Glove Award^[8]

Daichi Suzuki - third baseman

Best Battery Award

Hideaki Wakui and Hikaru Ohta - June/July

Speed Up Award^[9]

Hiroto Kobukata (batter)

SKY PerfecTV! Sayonara Award^[10]

Eigoro Mogi - September (September 11)

Farm team

2020 Eastern League regular season standings^[11]
#	Team	GTooltip Games played	W	L	T	Pct.	GBTooltip Games behind	Home	Road
1	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	79	42	28	9	.600	—	23–13–1	19–15–8

2	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	76	42	32	2	.568	2	22–22–1	20–10–1
3	Yomiuri Giants	79	38	33	8	.535	4½	18–18–5	20–15–3
4	Chiba Lotte Marines	70	34	31	5	.523	5½	14–14–2	20–17–3
5	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	79	32	38	9	.457	10	18–14–5	14–24–4
6	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	76	28	41	7	.406	13½	11–20–6	17–21–1
7	Saitama Seibu Lions	75	28	41	6	.406	13½	15–21–3	13–20–3

Nippon Professional Baseball draft

2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles draft selections^[12]
Round	Name	Position	Affiliation	Signed?
1	Takahisa Hayakawa	Pitcher	Waseda University	Yes
2	Koichi Takada	Pitcher	Hosei University	Yes
3	Masaru Fujii	Pitcher	Eneos Holdings	Yes
4	Takuma Uchima	Pitcher	Asia University	Yes
5	Daiki Irie	Infielder	Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School	Yes
6	Seiryu Uchi	Pitcher	Riseisha High School	Yes
Development players
1	Shun Ishida	Pitcher	Tochigi Golden Braves	Yes

References

^ ^a ^b "2020 Pacific League Standings". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
^ "Friday, June 19, 2020". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
^ "2020 Japan Pacific League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
^ "2020 Japan Pacific League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
^ "2020年度日本生命月間MVP賞" [2020 Nippon Life Month MVP Award] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
^ "2020年度表彰選手（パシフィック・リーグ）" [2020 Awarded Players (Pacific League)] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
^ "歴代受賞選手〜ポジション別〜" [Award Winners by Position] (in Japanese). Mitsui Public Relations Committee. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
^ "ローソンチケットスピードアップ賞" [Lawson Ticket Speed Up Award] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
^ "サヨナラ賞" [Goodbye Award] (in Japanese). SKY PerfecTV!. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
^ "2020 Eastern League Standings". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
^ "東北楽天ゴールデンイーグルス選択選手一覧" [Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Selected Player List]. Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 15, 2021.

[PL_standings-1] "2020 Pacific League Standings". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 8, 2021.

[2] "Friday, June 19, 2020". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 8, 2021.

[BR-3] "2020 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.

[4] "2020 Japan Pacific League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.

[5] "2020 Japan Pacific League Pitching Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 13, 2021.

[6] "2020年度日本生命月間MVP賞" [2020 Nippon Life Month MVP Award] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved February 5, 2021.

[7] "2020年度表彰選手（パシフィック・リーグ）" [2020 Awarded Players (Pacific League)] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 14, 2021.

[8] "歴代受賞選手〜ポジション別〜" [Award Winners by Position] (in Japanese). Mitsui Public Relations Committee. Retrieved February 5, 2021.

[9] "ローソンチケットスピードアップ賞" [Lawson Ticket Speed Up Award] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 15, 2021.

[10] "サヨナラ賞" [Goodbye Award] (in Japanese). SKY PerfecTV!. Retrieved September 30, 2024.

[11] "2020 Eastern League Standings". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 15, 2021.

[12] "東北楽天ゴールデンイーグルス選択選手一覧" [Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Selected Player List]. Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved March 15, 2021.

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