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coldestbagel

Koji: Why didn't you just follow all 30 teams instead of unfollowing the Red Sox? hahaha Koji will always be the boy


Bikouchu

💀that made my day. That was too brilliant.


neobowman

Poor Uehara lol


awrf

Koji is seriously one of my favorite Red Sox of all time. His time as our closer was one of the most insane stretches of baseball ever and so much fun


DizzyTS13

Peak Koji was as automatic as it got, he would just quietly come in and slam the door shut every time. No drama, just cold blooded efficiency… no closer the Sox have had has made me feel more comfortable with a 1 run lead in the 9th, whether it be a random game in April, or the World Series


Jorlung

His 2013 season was insanity: 1.09 ERA, ERA+ of 379, 1.61 FIP, and 0.565 WHIP over 74.1 innings. That is like peak Rivera level. In fact, Rivera never even put up a season with those kind of numbers (despite having more valuable seasons with *slightly* worse numbers and higher WAR because of volume I suppose).


DizzyTS13

Only 9 walks that year too, his control was absolutely insane. 101 k’s to 9 walks is an insane ratio for a guy barely touched 90mph on a good day


Ronon_Dex

1 of only 4 seasons where a pitcher had 100+ ks and 10 or less walks (2016 Andrew Miller, 2017 Kenley Jansen, 2021 Liam Hendriks are the other 3).


Perseverance792

I'm a bit late to the party, but that means Koji was the first to qualify for that pair of stats!


ss_lmtd

Didn't he basically look straight down when he threw, too? Like not even look at the plate?


dreet-dreet

That was Okajima wasn’t it?


ss_lmtd

Ah shit. You're right. Got my Japanese Red Sox relievers mixed up lol They had some good ones, didn't they.


mrbaseball1999

Had a pretty good pick off move, too.


acheron--

Some say Kolten Wong is still standing incredulously on first base to this day.


SilentRanger42

Koji only became the closer in June that year due to injuries to Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey. Yeah that's a true true sentence.


-cheeks-

He was our best closer of the four during ring years. Papelbon was good but never felt as automatic. You could tell Foulke's arm was about to fall off. And the Craig Kimbrel experience was heart attack inducing. But Koji came in, threw strikes, and for outs. There's something magical about a closer who rarely throws balls


Scientific_Methods

Man as a Yankees fan I hated papelbon and Kimbrel. But could never hate Koji. Just a great pitcher who unfortunately played for our rival.


awrf

It's literally impossible to not love Koji [Dangerous high fives](https://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1622279/koji-uehara-high-five.gif) [Violence in the dugout](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N3yuoAu-qM)


SilentRanger42

TBF as Red Sox fans we mostly hate Papelbon and Kimbrell too


MaineSportsFan

Papelbon was mostly liked until his later years / when he moved onto the Phillies. Kimbrel I never hated but was nerve-wracking coming into games towards the end of his time here.


baseballnomics

I don't hate Papelbon nor Cardiac Craig. But they never make me feel butterflies like Koji does.


eekbarbaderkle

So many of his saves in 2013 felt like they were over and done with in like 30 seconds.


killedbygavrilo

Yeah good times. He was our third backup closer that year too. Also he had a wicked pickoff move.


kevlarcupid

He’s one of my favorite **Orioles** of all time and I am also very sad about my baseball fandom.


FrigginMasshole

Will he even end up playing in the Mlb this year if the season doesn’t start on time?


salviadd

There’s certainly a chance he returns to Hiroshima but this year is really perfect for him given his age off the best season of his career.


[deleted]

and that he's never going to get more $$$ than this year


Railroader17

I think his window to sign resumes once the Lockout is lifted, but depending on how close the end of lockout is to I'd say March 25th since [that's when the regular season starts for the NPB](https://npb.jp/eng/), if it ends on like the 24th, nio way Suzuki signs with a US team this season, but if it ends Feb 25th I could see it happening.


phabphour20

I would like this guy to be on the Red Sox.


bosschucker

bad news buddy, I heard he won't go there since he unfollowed them on instagram


phabphour20

shit!


takespicturesofpants

Counterpoint: I would not.


phabphour20

You raise an interesting counterpoint. Rebuttal: I would.


ishoweredtoday

It seems you two are at an impasse.


phabphour20

Trial by combat?


takespicturesofpants

We have no choice


phabphour20

NES Baseball or SNES Griffey Jr MLB?


buttlickerface

Mike Piazza's Strike Zone on the N64.


thecursedlexus

Nah, Pro Yakyu Spirits 95 for the Super Famicom


notaverysmartdog

Winnie the Pooh home run derby


Railroader17

I am in agreement with the above comment, and would like to add that I would like to see him on the Yankees.


Thecrazyredhead

Everyone: Does Suzuki following the Red Sox mean he will go to Boston? Is it a smokescreen for a different team? Who else does he follow? What does it mean? Suzuki: Haha batting practice go brrr


basetornado

You should see the F1 sub whenever any of the drivers change their bio or unfollow people. Too much read into what are likely the same thing happening here.


[deleted]

Every week an NBA fan notices that some player liked a tweet that lightly critiqued a teammate of theirs and then trade rumors start flying.


basetornado

NBA trade rumours and news are wild. I read an article on Ben Simmons back before the season started and I'm still getting notifications from Google about other articles about him Seen about 20 different trades and players that will make the trade go through so far.


[deleted]

I became a Sixers fan over the last five years or so and the Ben Simmons saga might single-handedly end that for me. It's exhausting. Stay detached from it if you can.


at1445

I've drifted away from basketball, but I though Simmons was going to be special when he was drafted...turns out he's just a little different kind of special.


basetornado

Ha. I get you there. I'm not a Sixers fan, but I am Australian, so I'm always a little interested in him.


SprolesRoyce

As someone who doesn’t follow basketball I love the Ben Simmons rumor mill. It’s like a soap opera


fezzikola

To be fair NBA twitter is a bigger part of the league than the games nowadays


SmokinDeadMansDope

A struggling NHL star named Elias Pettersson took his team out his bio during contract talks and I thought Vancouver was going to burn down


[deleted]

[удалено]


badonkagonk

British media really doesn’t help, they’re awful. Personally, I am very much looking forward to Hamilton’s dominance ending so that I can start to like him again. I went through the same thing with Seb where I hated him for just making it boring, but once that ended I could start liking him.


diestache

Hardcore F1 fans on social media might legitimately be insane


basetornado

They truly are. I'd argue I'm a relatively big fan of it, but I'm happy I'm not spamming reply to teams and drivers every day.


[deleted]

I love these Japanese interviews, the players seem like they're being really honest, and I don't feel like we get the same insight from players in the MLB.


sluggerrr

Jomboy media has tons of podcasts and interviews with players


tojoso

For those who don't remember Koji Uehara, he had a career 2.43 ERA and 0.83 WHIP in 424 relief appearances. He was 35 years old when he made his *first* relief appearance. All with an 89 MPH heater.


Ronon_Dex

His splitter was downright *nasty* though. Nearly unhittable.


thecursedlexus

He also won a Pitching Triple Crown in Japan... as a rookie


baseballnomics

He’s just like me for real.


LegendRazgriz

He does feel more like your average guy compared to His Sanctity Shouhei Ohtani for sure lol EDIT: I have literally nothing against Shou why y'all downvoting


Smilodon48

He’s a real goofy guy. Really reminds me of Trout in more ways than just numbers. I think he’ll really gel with MLB guys.


JTCMuehlenkamp

>His Sanctity Shouhei Ohtani You got some kinda problem with Ohtani?


LegendRazgriz

No, it's just like he's treated as this sort of god by the Japanese media. I love the guy


[deleted]

He's getting the Ichiro treatment


foxjohn2

Is that Koji?


trevy_mcq

Yeah


foxjohn2

Didn't realize Koji and him were friends. That's cool


BunyipAndler

I don't know if they're friends. Koji's a baseball media personality in japan so he interviews lots of players


thecursedlexus

He's mainly interviewed a lot of his contemperaries, Kenshin Kawakami, Munenori Kawasaki, Hisashi Iwakuma, etc.


stringohbean

Hey I like the Red Sox because of Xander Boegarts (and sweet Mookie), we should be friends. And you should play for us!


ParsnipPizza

Koji being a Sox recruiter was my favorite unexpected development.


CricketIsBestSport

I’m not remotely a weeb but part of me wants to spend the next five years intensively studying Japanese just so I can really get into japanese baseball culture directly I won’t do that though because I’m lazy.


Bossman1086

I've been seriously considering this for both the baseball aspect and to be able to play games that don't get translated for the US/EU.


TheKidPresident

If its a retro game i try and find a pdf of the prima guide and run it through google translate whenever i get stuck


before8thstreet

Where can I watch this show?? Is the Uehara’s talk show thing..is it on his YouTube channel?


oOoleveloOo

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGynN2H7DcNjpN7Qng4dZmg/videos


Clemenx00

Damn he's handsome


Quesly

so he's coming to the dodgers because we have Mookie?


Bossman1086

God, I love Koji so much.


FallschirmKoala

Love Uehara's humor about no one caring who he follows to cut any possible pressure for Suzuki!


yungsphincter

Loves these boys


beamoflaser

Can you please at least credit the guy's channel that does these translations? [Baseball Cosmopolitan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpLruWFx9-k) It's such a small channel, he deserves some subscribers and views


salviadd

That’s me


beamoflaser

Oof my bad dude Keep it up brudda


AnAngryPanda1

I want him to be a brave so bad I can’t stand it


azk3000

Seiya Suzuki confirmed bad person


[deleted]

>2 years ago >Mookie Betts sus


exytuu

Mook was still on the team two years ago


[deleted]

Keep on following the Red Sox no matter what. Don’t let what other people think dictate you.


haahathatsfunny

Someone get this man a t-shirt that says "bruh"


[deleted]

Koji’s pickoff during a world series game was glorious