Congrats to Chasonne! Huge series against Yubay. We're now 1-1 on the playoff ice. Hope this rivalry continues over time.

The new format is really neat! Looking forward for the next offseason

What a series! Even being a Chasonne fan, I cannot go angry against Yubay. Guess one always love the underdogs. Well played!

Last four, First four

The last four weeks of the first NPBL season determined, at last, who would be the first playoffs rivals for the Nakamura cup playoffs. Let’s see the steps for all eight teams during this period.

Weeks 11-12

Hokkaido is surprising as ever. With two more wins under their belt, they are pretty much auto qualified for the Playoffs. Even when both teams and fans knew how terrifying and unexpected can blockball season turn, they celebrated this milestone nonetheless.

Saitama Cyborgs and Tochigi Archers were in the same steps of Hokkaido. Both teams were only two wins away from the first spot. Chiba Thunder is still holding their fourth position, but in a very fragile fashion.

Niigata Samurai was hot these weeks. They won two in a row, and scored 40 goals. They are on the brink of qualifying, after one of the hardest mid-seasons!

In contrast to the Samurai’s success, Kanagawa and Tokyo fell to the bottom three. Neither team gave declarations to the press. Osaka staff, fans and team knows they’re pretty much the meme of the league right now. After losing their last game against Hokkaido 10 to 27, the team started to work towards 2057 season.
 
Season end:

Like last week, Saitama and Hokkaido played for the victory. Their hard work gained wins catapulted them into the first Nakamura Playoffs spots. Betting circles started, calling them both the first finals.

Niigata destroyed the competition. They couldn’t erase the negative difference in goals, but they battled for the points, and robbed Tochigi for the third place on the standings. Tochigi suffered little. A fourth place still qualified them to the playoffs! Niigata’s performance was the cherry on the top of a very interesting first season.

Tokyo Nitro and Chiba Thunder players were like young, high school runner-ups. The soil and dirt was exchanged by hard wood planks, and Hanshin Koshien Stadium was Indoors

Another NPBL Weekend! The first season is almost done. Only two more recaps before the Nakamura Cup Playoffs!

NPBL Season 1 - Weeks 9-10

The postseason is approaching, and teams are making their final adjustments facing the playoffs. Hokkaido was winner of weeks 7 and 8. They won two straight games to propel themselves into the first position of the league. Captain of Hokkaido remembered the press the words he said in the first weeks “At the end, it will be all worth it”. Saitama and Tochigi went down one step, but both keep strong into the NPBL standings.
 
The biggest surprise was the Thunder. After a slow start, Chiba finally put their gears in motion, and in astounding fashion entered the best four after two incredible victories against Saitama and Osaka. The game against the Warriors finished in a perfect game for Chiba’s goaltender, -insert player name-. In both games, Chiba’s forwards scored 38 goals, and only allowed 10.
 
Kanagawa Flamingos is still battling for a place in the big four, and fell short after the surge of the Thunder. Tokyo had hard weeks, and lost their two games. Niigata and Osaka are still struggling in the bottom of the standings. Neither team wanted to give declarations to the press, but Niigata uploaded a single tweet in their twitter page. They added a link to Survivor’s song “Eye of the Tiger”.
 
Three stars of the Game
 
* Iwamoto Juuza (G) – Chiba Thunder
Iwamoto Juuza surprised us with another perfect game for the league! After 60 minutes of intense, almost acrobatic saves, Iwamoto was awarded with first star of the game and, even more, start of the weeks.

** Tamai Kenjiro (C) – Chiba Thunder
Chiba’s success was greatly in part of the intelligent passes commanded by their midfielder, Tamai, who committed all his plays to make dangerous, clever deliveries to forwards and setter.

*** Ōbayashi Satoru[b] (D) – Hokkaido Range

Almost! This is really interesting. You gained another Stratford condors fan! Condors are my national bird. Automatic love for them hehe. I hope they can beat their demons next season