Chiba Lotte Marines

Chiba Lotte Marines
千葉ロッテマリーンズ
Team logo Cap insignia
Information
League	Nippon Professional Baseball Pacific League (1950–present)
Location	Mihama-ku, Chiba, Chiba, Japan
Ballpark	ZOZO Marine Stadium
Founded	November 26, 1949 (1949-11-26)
Nickname(s)	Kamome (鴎, seagulls)
PL pennants	5 (1950, 1960, 1970, 1974, 2005)
Japan Series championships	4 (1950, 1974, 2005, 2010)
Former name(s)	Lotte Orions (1969–1991) Tokyo Orions (1964–1968) Daimai Orions (1958–1963) Mainichi Orions (1950–1957)
Former ballparks	Kawasaki Stadium (1978–1991) Miyagi Stadium (1973–1977) Tokyo Stadium (1962–1972) Korakuen Stadium (1950–1962)
Colors	Black, Grey, White
Mascot	Mar-kun, Rine-chan, and Zu-chan
Playoff berths	1974 1977 1980 1981 2005 2007 2010 2013 2015 2016 2020 2021
Retired numbers	26
Ownership	Katsumi Kawai
Management	Lotte Holdings
Manager	Masato Yoshii
Uniforms

The Chiba Lotte Marines (千葉ロッテマリーンズ, Chiba Rotte Marīnzu) are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific League in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions when the Japanese Baseball League reorganized into Nippon Professional Baseball, where they won the inaugural 1950 Japan Series. Since 1992, the Marines' home ballpark has been ZOZO Marine Stadium, located in the Mihama Ward of Chiba, seating 30,118 people.

The "Marines" name originates from the name of the stadium they play in, which is officially named Chiba Marine Stadium, because the stadium is located right on the water.

Through 2022, the franchise's all-time record is 4733-4701-394 (.501).

History

The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural member of the Pacific League, and were owned by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. The Orions were named after the constellation of the same name. The Marines won the inaugural Japan Series in 1950.

In 1958, the team was merged with the Daiei Unions and renamed the Daimai Orions, to reflect that both Daiei and Mainichi had a 50% stake in the team, with control being given to Daiei Film president Masaichi Nagata. In 1964 they became the Tokyo Orions, and the Lotte Orions in 1969. The franchise was slow to replicate its initial success: the Orions made the Japan Series in 1960 and 1970, only to lose both years.

The team played in central Tokyo until 1972. From 1973 to 1977 the Lotte Orions played in the northern Japanese city of Sendai. In 1974, they beat the Chunichi Dragons, becoming the first Pacific League team to win the Series in ten years, as the Yomiuri Giants had claimed the prior nine titles behind the Oh–Nagashima attack. After beating the Dragons, their owners, Lotte Holdings, decided to hold their victory parade in Tokyo, which shocked fans in Sendai. This eventually caused their attendance there to crash, from sold out games in 1973, to only about 2000-3000 for their last few years in Sendai.

In 1977, the Orions signed Major League Baseball player Leron Lee, who ended up playing for the team for eleven seasons, compiling a .320 career batting average and slugging 283 home runs with 912 career RBI. From his retirement to early 2018 (when surpassed by Norichika Aoki), Lee held the Japanese record for career batting average (players with more than 4,000 at bats). In 1978, Lee invited younger brother Leon Lee to play in Japan, and the brothers formed a feared cleanup for the Orions for five seasons — in 1980, Leron had 33 home runs, 90 RBI, and a batting average of .358; while Leon slugged 41 home runs and drove in 116 runs, with a batting average of .340.

In 1978 the team returned to the Tokyo area, settling in Kawasaki's Kawasaki Stadium, at one time home to the Taiyo Whales (today's Yokohama DeNA Baystars).

In 1992, the team moved to Chiba City's Chiba Marine Stadium on the eastern shore of Tokyo Bay. They held a fan vote for a new name for the team; the name "Dolphins" won, while another popular choice was "Pirates". However, the name "Dolphins" was thrown out because though an unrelated team named the Nagoya Dolphins was long defunct, the letter "D" in broadcasts was already taken by the Dragons; while "Pirates" was disregarded because the Chiba Pirates name was used by a team in a baseball manga, and since the team in that manga is terrible, executives thought it would look bad on the real team. "Marines" was ultimately chosen because the team believed it meant "heroes of the sea" (and because the letter "M" was available), yielding the club name Chiba Lotte Marines. Originally, the club used pink, blue, and white on their logo, which included a pirate ship, with a seagull below it, and a wave pattern to reflect the ocean currents off Chiba's coast. In 1995, this was changed to the logo's current design, while dropping pink and blue in favor of red, black and white (with red being dropped in 2019). The current logo's design features a baseball in the background with a seagull soaring, with the club's name around the circle.

The team failed to reach the Japan Series again until 2005. The Marines started the 2005 season in first place behind American manager Bobby Valentine, who had returned after having managed the team to a 2nd place finish in 1995 behind the Orix BlueWave, but struggles between him and general manager Tatsuro Hirooka had him leave after that lone season, but fell behind the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks as the year progressed. Under the playoff format of the time, the preliminary five-game playoff round, prior to the Japan Series, saw the teams with the best first and second half records face off. The Marines defeated the Hawks three games to two in the Pacific League championship, winning the rubber match despite entering the eighth inning trailing, 2–1.

The Marines thus qualified for the Japan Series, the first time they had reached the tournament since 1974, a 31-year drought. In a one-sided series, the Marines swept the Hanshin Tigers in four games, scoring ten runs in each of the first three games. The apparent ease with which the Marines defeated the Tigers added fuel to the ongoing debate concerning the need for a playoff system in the Central League, which was finally added in 2007 (see Climax Series). The Marines went on to defeat South Korea's Samsung Lions in the final round of the Konami Cup Championships.

In 2010, the Marines clinched third place on the last day of the season to earn a berth into the Climax Series. They went on to become the first third place team to ever win the Climax Series, and faced off with the Chunichi Dragons in the 2010 Japan Series. The Marines defeated the Dragons in seven games, composed of four wins, two losses, and one tie, winning their second Japan Series in under ten years.

In 2013, the Marines clinched third place to clinch a berth in the Climax Series and faced the Saitama Seibu Lions in the first stage. They defeated the Lions in 3 games to move onto the final stage. They would lose to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in 5 games, who would go on and defeat the Yomiuri Giants in 7 games to win their first (and still only) Japan Series title.

They would make it back in the playoffs in 2015. They defeated the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 3 games in the first round, then got swept by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, who received a one game advantage for having the best record in the Pacific League.

The following season, they returned to the playoffs. They would make a much earlier exit, as they were swept by the Hawks in 2 games in the first stage.

It would not be until 2020 when they returned to the playoffs. The Hawks, with a 1 game advantage, would sweep them again in the first stage.

They bounced back the following year by defeating the Eagles in 2 games in the first stage, including a tie in the second game which allowed them to advance as they had the better record at 67-57-19, while the Eagles had a 66-62-15 record. They got swept by the Orix Buffaloes in the final stage in 3 games, however a tie in the third game and Orix having the better record at 70-55-18, allowed the Buffaloes to advance.

On April 10, 2022, Rōki Sasaki threw a perfect game, NPB's first in 28 years and the 16th in NPB history. Sasaki tied an existing NPB record by striking out 19 batters, and setting a new record by striking out 13 consecutive batters. It didn't do much to help the season, as the Marines finished in 5th place with a 69-73-1 record, and Tadahito Iguchi would be let go after that season, replaced by Masato Yoshii.

The Marines would edge out the Hawks and Eagles in a close playoff race in 2023, finishing 2nd with a 70-68-5 record. They would defeat the Hawks in 3 games in the first stage, but lost in 5 games to the Buffaloes in the final stage, who also had a 1 win advantage for having the best record in Pacific League. That season would be the last for ZOZO Marine Stadium public address announcer Emi Taniho. Originally, she was given a farewell ceremony on October 7, 2023, her supposed last home game, which included many former Marines players, but she was given extended duty, as the Marines were appearing to make a run for the Climax Series. That game was also her 2,100th game announcing. Her actual last day with the team was on December 20.

Current roster

Chiba Lotte Marines roster
First squad				Second squad
Pitchers 11 Hirokazu Sawamura 14 Kazuya Ojima 16 Atsuki Taneichi 36 Kōshirō Sakamoto 46 Daiki Iwashita 47 Shōta Suzuki 48 Toshiya Nakamura 52 Naoya Masuda 60 Rikuto Yokoyama 92 Yūki Kuniyoshi Catchers 27 Tatsuhiro Tamura 32 Toshiya Satoh		Infielders 4 Atsuki Tomosugi 5 Hisanori Yasuda 7 Yūdai Fujioka 8 Shōgo Nakamura 39 Seichirō Ohshita 57 Ryūsei Ogawa 67 Kenta Chatani 99 Neftalí Soto Outfielders 1 Kyōta Fujiwara 3 Katsuya Kakunaka 22 Gregory Polanco 23 Shingo Ishikawa 25 Hiromi Oka 38 Akito Takabe 51 Kōki Yamaguchi 63 Kōshirō Wada Manager 21 Masato Yoshii Coaches 70 Kazuya Fukuura (Head/Batting) 84 Tomohiro Kuroki (Pitching) 82 Shingo Ono (Pitching) 71 Shūichi Murata (Batting) 73 Takeshi Kanazawa (Battery) 88 Makoto Kaneko (Strategy) 87 Shunichi Nemoto (Infield defense/base running) 80 Akira Ōtsuka (Outfield defense/base running) 90 Hidekazu Mitsuyama (General/Coordinator)		Pitchers 12 Ayumu Ishikawa 15 Manabu Mima 17 Rōki Sasaki 18 Kōta Futaki 19 Yūki Karakawa 20 Taiki Tōjō 24 Yūsuke Azuma 28 Riku Kikuchi 29 Yūji Nishino 30 Atsuya Hirohata 31 Hikaru Ohtani 33 Akira Yagi 34 Shūta Takano 35 Haruya Tanaka 37 Fumiya Ono 40 Takahiro Nishimura 41 James Dykstra 42 C. C. Mercedes 43 Seiun Akiyama 49 Fumiya Motomae 53 Yūto Kimura 56 Shunsuke Nakamori 59 Hibiki Hayasaka 62 Ryōtarō Mori 64 Junior Fernández 66 Keisuke Sawada 69 Jimmy Cordero 91 Akira Niho 93 Ryō Yoshida Catchers 2 Kō Matsukawa 45 Shōta Ueda 55 Tomoya Kakinuma 65 Ryūsei Terachi		Infielders 00 Raito Ikeda 10 Kyūto Ueda 13 Taiga Hirasawa 44 Seiya Inoue 68 Yūta Kaneda Outfielders 0 Takashi Ogino 50 Aito 61 Daito Yamamoto Manager 86 Saburō Coaches 85 Tomohisa Ōtani (Chief Pitching) 78 Kenji Ōtonari (Pitching) 75 Kōichi Hori (Batting) 77 Kenta Kurihara (Batting) 76 Naoya Emura (Battery) 72 Ryō Miki (Infield defense/base running) 83 Kenji Morozumi (Outfield defense/base running) 81 Shōta Ishimine (Outfield defense/base running) 79 Takahiro Matsunaga (Development/Pitching)
Development Players
120 Fūki Tanaka (P) 121 Seiya Dohi (P) 123 Tokito Kawamura (P) 124 Takurō Furuya (P) 125 Kirato Nagashimada (P) 127 Yūto Yoshikawa (P) 128 Kaiki Shirahama (P) 133 Ryōta Takeuchi (P) 126 Ryōsuke Murayama (C) 137 Kōnoshin Tomiyama (C) 129 Rui Katsumata (IF) 130 Kaisei Kurokawa (IF) 134 Shinya Matsuishi (IF) 131 Tsuyoshi Sugano (OF) 135 Hikaru Kōno (OF) 136 Kazuki Fujita (OF) 138 Andy Martin (OF)
Updated July 22, 2024				→ All NPB rosters

Notable former players

• Benny Agbayani (also known as "Benny")
• Hiromitsu Ochiai
• Alfredo Despaigne
• Mike Diaz
• Jose Fernández
• Julio Franco
• Matt Franco
• Mel Hall
• Isao Harimoto
• Baek In-chun
• Pete Incaviglia
• Hideki Irabu
• Kazuya Fukuura (retired in 2019)
• Masaaki Kitaru
• Kiyoshi Hatsushiba
• Masahide Kobayashi
• Tsuyoshi Nishioka
• Satoru Komiyama (retired in 2009)
• Bill Madlock
• Leon Lee (father of Derrek Lee)
• Leron Lee (uncle of Derrek Lee)
• Choji Murata (elected to Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005)
• Jim Lefebvre
• Darryl Motley
• Bill R.W. Murphy
• Yuhei Nakaushiro
• Katsuo So
• Kazuhiro Yamauchi
• Akihito Igarashi
• Michiyo Arito
• Saburo Omura (also known as "Saburo", retired in 2016)
• Tomohiro Kuroki (also known as "Johnny Kuroki")
• Katsuya Nomura
• Tomoya Satozaki (retired in 2014)
• Dan Serafini
• Lee Seung-yuop
• Naoyuki Shimizu (traded to Yokohama BayStars in 2009)
• Kim Tae-kyun
• Norifumi Nishimura
• Shunsuke Watanabe
• Julio Zuleta
• Frank Bolick
• Derrick May
• Rick Short
• Brian Sikorski
• José Castillo
• Chen Kuan-yu
• Chen Wei-Yin
• Luis Cruz
• Toshihide Narimoto
• Makoto Kosaka
• Koichi Hori
• Adeiny Hechavarria
• Leonys Martín
• Hiroyuki Yamazaki
• Yukinaga Maeda
• Kazuhiko Ushijima
• Tadahito Iguchi
• Hideaki Takazawa
• Kihachi Enomoto
• Luis Perdomo
• Eric Hillman

MLB players

Former:

• Hirokazu Sawamura (2021–2022)

Retired:

• Hideki Irabu (1997–2002)
• Masato Yoshii (1998–2002)
• Satoru Komiyama (2002)
• Tadahito Iguchi (2005–2008)
• Masahide Kobayashi (2008–2009)
• Tsuyoshi Nishioka (2011–2012)
• Ryohei Tanaka (2009–2011)
• Yasuhiko Yabuta (2008–2009)
• Shunsuke Watanabe (2014)
• Yuhei Nakaushiro (2016–2018)

Honored number

Fans' number Retired 2005

• 26 – This number was retired in honor of the Marines' fans in 2005. It was inspired by some teams in other sports (such as football, which retires "12" for the "12th man", or basketball, which retires "6" for the "6th man").The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles has the No. 10 retired in similar fashion. MLB's Los Angeles Angels has retired No. 26, in same fashion, for the founder Gene Autry.

Managers

No.	Years in office	YR	Managers	G	W	L	T	Win%	Pacific League championships	Japan Series championships	Playoff berths
1	1950–1951	2	Yoshio Yuasa	230	135	85	10	.614	1 (1950)	1 (1950)
2	1952	1	Yoshio Yuasa Kaoru Betto (1st)	120	75	45	0	.625
3	1953	1	Tadashi Wakabayashi	120	56	62	2	.475
4	1954–1959	6	Kaoru Betto (2nd)	834	467	341	26	.578
5	1960	1	Yukio Nishimoto	133	82	48	3	.631	1 (1960)
6	1961–1962	2	Mitsuo Uno	272	132	136	4	.493
7	1963–1965	3	Yasuji Hondo	440	203	227	10	.472
8	1966	1	Hitoshi Tamaru	134	61	69	4	.469
9	1967	1	Katsuki Tokura, Watarui Nonin	137	61	69	7	.469
10	1968–1970	3	Watarui Nonin	399	216	164	19	.568	1 (1970)
11	1971	1	Watarui Nonin, Keiji Ohsawa	130	80	46	4	.635
12	1972	1	Keiji Ohsawa	130	59	68	3	.465
13	1973–1978	6	Masaichi Kaneda (1st)	780	374	339	67	.525	1 (1974)	1 (1974)	2 (1974,1977)
14	1979–1981	3	Kazuhiro Yamauchi	390	182	171	37	.516			2 (1980,1981)
15	1982–1983	2	Kazuyoshi Yamamoto	260	97	145	18	.401
16	1984–1986	3	Kazuhisa Inao	390	185	175	30	.514
17	1987–1989	3	Michiyo Arito	390	153	213	24	.418
18	1990–1991	2	Masaichi Kaneda (2nd)	260	105	148	7	.415
19	1992–1994	3	Soroku Yagisawa	390	160	224	6	.417
20	1995	1	Bobby Valentine (1st)	130	69	58	3	.543
21	1996	1	Akira Ejiri	130	60	67	3	.472
22	1997–1998	2	Akihito Kondo	270	118	147	5	.445
23	1999–2003	5	Koji Yamamoto	690	324	352	14	.479
24	2004–2009	6	Bobby Valentine (2nd)	837	425	392	20	.520	1 (2005)	1 (2005)	2 (2005,2007)
25	2010–2012	3	Norifumi Nishimura	432	191	213	28	.472		1 (2010)	1 (2010)
26	2013–2017	5	Tsutomu Itoh	717	339	368	10	.473			3 times (2013,2015,2016)
27	2018–2022	5	Tadahito Iguchi	692	324	338	30	.489			1 (2020,2021)
28	2023–	1	Masato Yoshii	0	0	0	0	.000			0
Totals	71 seasons		23 managers	9,551	4,597	4,580	374	.501	5 times	4 times	11 times

• Statistics current through the end of the 2020 season.

Cheer dancers

The Marines' cheer dancing squad is known as M☆Splash!!. They were formed in 2004. Alongside the team's mascots Mar-kun, Rine-chan and Zu-chan, they entertain the crowd during Marines games, with 27 members.

Mascots

Mar-kun (マーくん, Maa-kun) is a main mascot character of the Marines. With his girlfriend Rine-chan (リーンちゃん, Riin-chan) and his young brother Zu-chan (ズーちゃん, Zuu-chan), he entertains spectators at team games. Their name is a separateness of the team name. Originally Rine-chan wore a pink sports visor cap till the 2022 season when she wore the same baseball cap as her boyfriend while retaining the skirt, while Zu-chan wears the cap backwards and wears an apron instead of the jersey beginning 2022, before that he wore a shirt unless all three wear their team's special home uniforms.

Mysterious fish (謎の魚, Nazo-no-sakana) was a mascot character that was introduced in May 2017. He is a weird fish with legs. He has collaborated with Hawaiian Airlines that former Marines' player Benny Agbayani works for, since 2018. However, the person playing the mascot announced after the 2021 season that he would retire, which also meant the mascot was officially retired.

Back when the team were known as the "Lotte Orions", their mascot was a character known simply as Bubble-Boy (バブル坊や, Bable-Boya) who only appeared as a logo.

In 2005, the Marines introduced a mascot named Cool-kun ( かっこいいくん, Kakkoi-kun), a penguin who was known for his acrobatic stunts and would often challenge mascots like Doala and B.B to acrobatic stunt contests at rival games. He also would be stuck up and rude at times, but he would burst to tears or show great emotion at the right time. Despite being friends with Mar-kun, they do not get along very well. In 2016, he was retired by the team.

Minor League team

The Marines farm team plays in the Eastern League. The team was founded as the Mainichi Glitter Orions in 1950.

See also

• Lotte Giants
• Lotte Group

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• We Love Marines – English-language Marines fansite