Yomiuri Giants

Quick facts:
Founded: 1934
Field: Tokyo Dome, Bunkyo, Tokyo
Central League Titles: 39
Japan Series Titles: 22
Owner: Yomiuri Shimbun
Posting Fee: Shun Yamaguchi, $1,270,000

Ah, the Giants. They've truly earned their reputation as the Yankees of Japan. With a record-setting 39 CL titles and 22 Japan Series crowns, the Kyojin (Japanese for "Giants") are by far the most successful Japanese club. Founded as the Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club, the team toured the US and were told by San Francisco Seals manager Lefty O'Doul they'd need a more marketable name. Since Tokyo was the New York of Japan, he reasoned, Giants was a natural choice.

While the Giants have mostly taken their identity from the New York and San Francisco Giants, they've forged their own way recently. Under Amour created a unique Tuscan font for the team, then in 2024, the team celebrated their 90th anniversary by adopting throwback logos and uniforms, including a TG (Tokyo Giants) monogram on the road. I prefer their old look, personally, so I mostly reverted to that. It's always confused me that the Giants don't put their iconic YG interlock in their primary logo, so I fixed that. I also slightly tweaked the orange to be less sickly.


When it comes to the jerseys, you really can't change much. By and large, the home and road jerseys are just what they wore before 2024 and the alts are just color swaps of that. Instead of the current black jersey's ghosted letters, I stripped white out of the look, a la the SF Giants. The orange jersey simply adds a white outline to the NOB. I flipped the orange and black jerseys' designations simply because I prefer the Kyojin being orange-first, like my Orioles. You'll notice that the road jersey says "Tokyo" - this is a tradition of the Giants, and as far as I can tell, they've only ever worn "Yomiuri" on the front of their jerseys once: this 2002-05 away alternate set.

Just like the Yankees, I can't say I much care for the Giants. They've been on a Japan Series drought since 2012 and if I had my way it would stay like that forever. But, again, just like the Yankees, I can't deny that the Giants have an iconic and gorgeous look.

What do you all think? All comments are appreciated! Next we'll travel just across Tokyo Bay for the Chiba Lotte Marines!

Yokohama DeNA BayStars

Quick facts:
Founded: 1949
Field: Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama, Kanagawa
Central League Titles: 2
Japan Series Titles: 3
Owner: DeNA
Posting Fee: Yoshi Tsutsugo, $2,400,000

The Yokohama DeNA BayStars were originally founded as the Taiyo Whales, named after owner Maruha's Taiyo brand of seafood products, including whales. They bounced around in their early years, moving from Shimonoseki to Osaka to finally settling in Kanagawa Prefecture (just south of Tokyo) in Kawasaki Stadium. In 1977, they shifted slightly south to Yokohama Stadium and gave stayed there ever since. In 1992, due to restrictions on whaling, the Taiyo brand was ended and the team was renamed the "Yokohama BayStars". In 2011, the team was acquired by mobile game developer DeNA and updated their brand to match. You'll notice that the BayStars have one more Japan Series title than Central League pennant—in 2024, the team barely qualified for the playoffs in 3rd and, despite winning the Japan Series, were not awarded a CL pennant, which goes to the team in 1st (though I'm sure the Giants wish they had won the Japan Series instead!).

I'll be honest. I really had no idea what to do with Yokohama. I don't really love their name (and I wish they had kept Whales, along with this stunning green and orange set) and I really don't care for their current uniforms. So much of their current brand just kind of boils down to "blue" but I decided to carve a more unique path for them by emphasizing the light blue more.

I took the current chest stripe and applied it to the sleeves instead. The BayStars are also one of a few teams to receive different home and road caps, with a B logo at home and a Y on the road. The core idea of the set is that light blue is dominant at home, navy blue on the road. The alt is probably the most "out-there" uniform of this whole series. In the DeNA era, the team has worn pinstripes a lot, so I combined those with the idea of shooting stars for pinstripes that end in stars in various places around the chest. I'm unsure of the result, but I was worried sublimating them more would lose them. The current over-outlined messes of wordmarks are swapped for clean, nautical scripts, inspired by the bay that gave the team its name. 

So there's the BayStars! The whole time I was making the third, I was really unsure of if this was the right way to go. Looking at it now, I wouldn't call it perfect, but I do like it. In my opinion, the entire DeNA era has been an aesthetic disaster, although I'm not sure I would call any BayStars jersey good.

What do you all think? All comments are appreciated! Tomorrow we finish our Tokyo-area excursion with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows!
 

Last edited by QCS (11/10/2025 2:47 pm)

Orix Buffaloes

Quick facts:
Founded: 1936
Field: Kyocera Dome Osaka, Osaka
Pacific League Titles: 15
Japan Series Titles: 5
Owner: Orix
Posting Fee: Ichiro Suzuki, $13,125,000

The Orix Buffaloes have possibly the strangest origin story in major sports. Originally the Hankyu Braves of Nishinomiya, the team was purchased by Orix in 1988 who changed the team's name to BlueWave, their colors to blue and gold, and their home city to Kobe, just west of Nishinomiya. These moves were unpopular amongst fans, but the true surprise was yet to come. While the newly-renamed BlueWave were finding a new home, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes were struggling. Despite the success of the team and foreign star Tuffy Rhodes, team owners Kintetsu Railways were trillions of yen in debt and eventually sold the team to Orix in 2004. It was announced that the BlueWave and Buffaloes would merge into one team, the Orix Buffaloes, who would take up residence in Kintetsu's home of Osaka. The loss of a whole team caused the only players' strike in NPB history and eventually resulted in the creation of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to maintain a 12-team structure. Despite officially being called a merger, the BlueWave basically "ate" the Buffaloes, maintaining their own history.

The Buffaloes use a dark navy and gold color scheme, a remnant of the BlueWave era. Truth be told, I always thought they were a black and gold team, but it's actually just a really dark navy. I've corrected this mistake by actually making the team black and gold. Other than that, I really like the club's old English wordmark and kept the marks the same beyond the color change. 


Just like their logos, I like the Buffaloes' home and road uniforms just fine. All I changed was the colors and I added a curve to the NOB. My distaste for "ghosted" wordmarks and numbers shows here as I've made the road letters gold. The third is based on this jersey that the team has used for the past two seasons, complete with an OB interlocking mark on the cap. The fourth jersey is a throwback to the BlueWave's road jersey from 1991-2000, otherwise known as the "Ichiro Era". The real-life Buffaloes have thrown back to both the BlueWave and Kintetsu Buffaloes, but I think Orix would prefer to stick to their ownership. It's a shame, because I find the old Buffaloes cap logo to be really charming. 

Despite their controversial origins, the Buffaloes have established themselves as a true contender lately, winning the PL pennant from 2021-23 and the Japan Series in 2022. They even return to the home of the BlueWave, Hotto Motto Field Kobe, when the Osaka Dome is being used by the Tigers due to the high school baseball tournament. I also really like their brand, it stands out in the colorful NPB. 

What do you all think? All comments are appreciated! Tomorrow will be the newest NPB team and the result of the BlueWave-Buffaloes merger, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles!

you've been putting out some some great stuff recently, and it's a shame nobody's commented on it. lemme change that!

lions: I like the double blue for them a lot. not feeling the font - I don't like the way it zags to the left, it's just weird - but it's their existing wordmark, so I can't really fault you for that. other than that, it's a classic look, feels very baseball, and the throwback is nice

tigers: not much to go on here, but I think the new shade of yellow is significantly better and the tiger stripes on the fourth are great. the wordmarks are once again a little weird but I don't think you can change them in this case. one change I would suggest would be to add a cap for the third with a single-color HT. feels like it would fit the jersey better

bears, oh my!

giants: again, not a ton here, but the new shade of orange is sooo much better and the logo feels more yomiuri giants. it all just feels yomiuri giants. nicely done

marines: now this is an upgrade. the jerseys look much nicer (and less white sox-y) with the single layer scripts on the home and road. I adore the magenta alt, that might be my favorite jersey you've posted so far. the chiba vice set is a lot of fun too, and imo significantly better than most of their attempts

baystars: now this is an even bigger upgrade. your take on the brand feels like it has so much more life than the original. the color scheme is great, although it's kinda similar to the lions, and I wish there was a little more of that yellow-gold to differentiate them. I had the same thought with the away uniform, since saitama uses navy on the road, it'd be nice to see them go with the lighter blue, but on the other hand, I really like the alt and I don't think it would work as well with the colors reversed. overall I think this is your best work yet

swallows: I like the navy and green a lot! clearly this proves that blue and green is a viable color scheme :​) the drop shadow works really well with this set too. the fourth is yet another banger - I just think maybe the numbers could be a little bit bolder to match the wordmark. love the colors, though, and the clouds are really well done

buffaloes: not feeling this one, but that's mostly the fault of the existing brand, which you didn't really change. there are just too many outlines, especially for such a complex blackletter font, and I've never understood the Fs in the script. I will say the improvements you made to the color scheme, and road and third jerseys are definitely better - I'm with you that the buffs feel more like a black and gold team than a blue and gold team

eagles: this is a great set that keeps the same vibe the eagles have had and takes it up a notch. the new logo and wordmarks are such great modernizations of the existing concept, and it all looks great in both red and green. the fauxback is, honestly, a good bit, but it looks great too. this is just what the golden eagles should be wearing

hopefully that sated your critique appetite! can't wait for you to post (japanese baseball pun) the next team

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Quick facts:
Founded: 1938
Field: Mizuho PayPay Dome Fukuoka, Fukuoka
Pacific League Titles: 21
Japan Series Titles: 12
Owner: SoftBank Group
Posting Fee: N/A

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks are the current undisputed best team in NPB. Since 1999, the team has won 10 Japan Series titles and 11 Pacific League pennants, creating a formidable dynasty based on analytics and not posting players. Founded as the Nankai Club in 1938 in Osaka, the team adopted the nickname Hawks in 1947 and maintained their name and stadium until 1988, when supermarket chain Daiei purchased the team. The brand was looking to break into the Kyushu market and so moved the team to Fukuoka, the largest city on the island, and renamed them the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. Finally in 2005, investment company SoftBank purchased the team. 

The Hawks' current brand is heavily based on SoftBank's. Their logo is based on their parent company's and their uniforms feature the same thick stripes. However, the Hawks have a rich visual history that I pulled from to revitalize their brand. The new logo is a return to this classic '50s mark, a gorgeous, simple hawk icon. I also decided to swap SoftBank's black for a dark green, harkening back to the Hawks teams of the 1970s. The hawk logo also replaces the Sh cap logo, which I've never been a fan of.

Despite my complaining about the Hawks' SoftBank-inspired identity, I actually really like the striping pattern and I think it makes for a unique look the team can own. I was tempted to restore this classic Hawks script, but I decided I was already pulling a lot from the past. The new wordmark font is modern and stands out amongst a sea of scripts and block fonts that NPB has. I also added much more color to the road uniform, which is currently sorely lacking gold. The fourth jersey uses a red and black color scheme and pinstripes, both things that SoftBank is quite familiar with. 

And that's the last NPB team! The Hawks have probably my second-least-favorite real-life look (after the BayStars) but I think just switching the colors and fonts add a lot of much-needed energy to the set. Then again, when you win 8 championships in a single look, usually it tends to stick around. I'll just have to keep rooting against them

What do you all think? All comments are appreciated! Next week, we'll begin the hypothetical expansion teams!