The SoftBank Hawks, who have secured the No. 1 seed in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) exhibition season, have set a new attendance record.
“Including today’s exhibition game against the Hiroshima Toyokafe, the cumulative attendance of the 2024 season’s exhibition games has exceeded 400,000, a new franchise record,” the organization announced today.
SoftBank played an exhibition game against Hiroshima at the PayPay Dome in Fukuoka, Japan, with 39,131 fans attending the game. This brings SoftBank’s total attendance to 404,597 fans in 13 games (11 at the PayPay Dome, one in Kitakyushu, and one in Kagoshima) since the start of the exhibition season.
This is the highest number since 2005, when the organization began tracking attendance at exhibition games. The previous club record was 396,648 in 2009, but this is the first time we’ve exceeded 400,000 home attendance in exhibition games alone.
That’s a lot of enthusiasm. SoftBank, 안전놀이터 추천 with its ties to Fukuoka, has always been known for the interest and affection of local fans. This season, the first year of manager Hiroki Kokubo’s tenure, expectations are high even before the regular season begins.
The team added free agent slugger Hotaka Yamakawa, a home run hitter, and the team has been performing well in exhibition games. SoftBank’s 5-1 victory over Hiroshima on Nov. 23 clinched first place with one game left in the exhibition season with a 10-2 record. This is the best record among all 12 NPB clubs. In last place are the Hanshin Tigers, last year’s Japan Series champions, with a record of 3-1-1 and 13 losses through 23 games.