Six seasons. One Japan Series title, two straight league championships—and three straight years of disappointment. The team announced it won’t be renewing his contract.
For six seasons, Shingo Takatsu sat atop the Jingu dugout, guiding a team as erratic as the rainy season. Year one: last place (but hey, first COVID year). Year two: Japan Series champions, snapping a twenty-year drought. Year three: back-to-back league titles, only to fall to Orix in the Japan Series. Then came the fade: fifth, fifth, and this year, dead last, with “elimination” stamped on the season by August. Even the return of Munetaka Murakami from injury—12 homers in August—couldn’t lift the Swallows, who went 11-14-1 after his comeback. Officially, no contract renewal, no seventh season.
Takatsu’s legacy as a player, of course, is untouchable. Before managing, he was a star closer for the ’90s Swallows teams. A six-time All-Star, he helped bring four Japan Series championships to the club, notched 286 saves in NPB (second only to Hitoki Iwase), and crossed the 300-save mark between Japan and the U.S.—a feat only Kazuhiro Sasaki had accomplished before. By retirement, he had 313 saves, third all-time among Japanese pitchers, and became the first Japanese player to play in four professional leagues: NPB, MLB*, KBO, and CPBL.
*He was on the 2005 White Sox, released midseason, but still received a championship ring.
His nickname, Mr. Zero, comes from his Japan Series dominance: 11 games, 8 saves, zero runs allowed, an all-time record. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022.
After he finished up his professional career, he was a player-manager in the independent Baseball Challenge League* for the Oisix Niigata Albirex (try saying that three times fast.) He is the only member of the Golden Players Club (one of the two Hall of Fames in Japan) to play in independent ball.
*The BCL has some great names: Heat Bears, Diamond Pegasus, and Future Dreams.
For a while, it seemed his managerial career might mirror his playing days. But injuries piled up, starting pitching faltered, and young players failed to develop. One condition for a contract renewal: win the championship. After going 9-12-1 in the opening month, the Swallows collapsed to a dismal 11-33-2 in May and June. The deficit would be too big to overcome. Even posting a .500 record in July and August, was too little and much too late.
With elimination confirmed, his time was over. As a team executive bluntly put it: “There’s no reason to keep him on. The fans wouldn’t accept it.”
General Manager Junji Ogawa, himself a former Swallows player and manager, also announced his intention to step down after the season. With the dismissal of Shingo Takatsu and with Munetaka Murakami moving stateside after this season, it’ll be a brand new Yakult.
Who could take over after such a legend? How about another one: Norichika Aoki, Mr. Swallows himself. Rookie of the Year, three-time batting champion, one-time stolen base leader, and 2,730 hits across Japan and the U.S. Aoki will take over as General Manager and at 43, all eyes will be on him as he tries to lead Yakult into a new golden age.
The rumored pick to succeed Takatsu as manager? Former Swallows star slugging shortstop and the man with the delightful nickname of Bun-Bun Maru*, Takahiro Ikeyama.
*ブンブン丸—Bunbun is the sound of buzzing or swinging, like a propeller or a bat. Ikeayama swung his bat hard. Maru is a suffix for ships but sometimes used for boys, like chan or kun. A possible English nickname: Bam-Bam Maru.
With Takatsu gone, Ogawa stepping aside, Aoki stepping in, and Ikeyama rumored as manager, Yakult’s future feels like a family affair—the kind of continuity Japanese teams love.
The Takatsu era is not the only erratic period in team history. I am not going to do the research to go past my 2014 start in following NPB, but to the best of my memory, their finishes in the standings were:
5th, 1st, 5th, 6th, 2nd, 6th, 6th, 1st, 1st, 5th, 5th, 6th (this year). Those last two 5th place finishes were also essentially ties with the Dragons for last - won by mere percentage points (as was their 2021 title, fwiw).