2008 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters season

The 2008 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters season was the 63rd season of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters franchise. The Fighters played the majority of their home games at Sapporo Dome in the city of Sapporo, as well as at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo as members of Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League. The team was led by Masataka Nashida on his first season as team manager.

2008 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Climax Series berth
League	Pacific League
Ballpark	Sapporo Dome
Record	73–69–2 (.514)
League place	3rd
Parent company	Nippon Ham
President	Junichi Fujii
Manager	Masataka Nashida
Captain	Makoto Kaneko
← 2007 2009 →

Nippon-Ham finished the season in third place with a record of 73–69–2, qualifying them for the Climax Series. In the 2008 Pacific League Climax Series, the Fighters defeated the Orix Buffaloes in the First Stage, but were eliminated by the Saitama Seibu Lions in the Second Stage.

Regular season

Standings

Pacific League regular season standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GB	PCT	Home	Away
1	Saitama Seibu Lions	144	76	64	4	—	.542	44–27–1	32–37–3
2	Orix Buffaloes	144	75	68	1	5.5	.524	41–31–0	34–37–1
3	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	144	73	69	2	6	.514	41–30–1	32–39–1
4	Chiba Lotte Marines	144	73	70	1	7.5	.510	41–30–1	32–40–0
5	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	144	65	76	3	12.5	.462	37–34–1	28–42–2
6	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	144	64	77	3	13.5	.455	36–33–3	28–44–0

Source: ^[1]

Interleague

Team v t e	Pld	HW	HL	AW	AL	GB	PCT
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	24	10	2	5	7	—	.625
Hanshin Tigers	24	10	2	5	7	—	.625
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	24	8	4	6	6	1	.583
Yomiuri Giants	24	9	3	5	7	1	.583
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	24	6	6	7	5	2	.542
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	24	6	6	7	5	2	.542
Chunichi Dragons	24	8	4	4	8	3	.500
Orix Buffaloes	24	6	6	5	7	4	.458
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	24	4	8	7	5	4	.458
Chiba Lotte Marines	24	6	6	4	8	5	.417
Saitama Seibu Lions	24	7	5	3	9	5	.417
Yokohama BayStars	24	5	7	1	11	9	.250

Updated to match(es) played on compute. Source: ^[2]
Rules for classification: Whenever multiple teams have same number of wins, the team having better standings in last year's interleague games will have advantage, thus Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the interleague title, despite Hanshin Tigers beating the Hawks 3 out of 4 games. A similar rule applies to other teams tied in wins.

Record vs. opponents

2008 record vs. opponents^[1]

Team	Central League opponents						Pacific League opponents
	BayStars	Carp	Dragons	Giants	Swallows	Tigers	Buffaloes	Eagles	Fighters	Hawks	Lions	Marines
BayStars	—	11–13	7–17	5–18–1	9–15	10–13–1	1–3	0–4	1–3	0–4	2–2	2–2
Carp	13–11	—	9–13–2	12–10–2	12–11–1	10–14	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	3–1	3–1
Dragons	17–7	13–9–2	—	14–10	9–13–2	6–17–1	1–3	2–2	1–3	2–2	3–1	3–1
Giants	18–5–1	10–12–2	10–14	—	18–6	14–10	3–1	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	4–0
Swallows	15–9	11–12–1	13–9–2	6–18	—	10–13–1	3–1	2–2	1–3	2–2	2–2	1–3
Tigers	13–10–1	14–10	17–6–1	10–14	13–10–1	—	3–1	3–1	2–2	3–1	3–1	1–3
Buffaloes	3–1	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	1–3	—	13–10–1	13–11	14–10	10–14	14–10
Eagles	4–0	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	10–13–1	—	13–10–1	12–12	10–14	7–16–1
Fighters	3–1	2–2	3–1	1–3	3–1	2–2	11–13	10–13–1	—	17–7	9–14–1	12–12
Hawks	4–0	3–1	2–2	3–1	2–2	1–3	10–14	12–12	7–17	—	10–11–3	10–14
Lions	2–2	1–3	1–3	3–1	2–2	1–3	14–10	14–10	14–9–1	11–10–3	—	13–11
Marines	2–2	1–3	1–3	0–4	3–1	3–1	10–14	16–7–1	12–12	14–10	11–13	—

Opening Day roster

Thursday, March 20, 2008, vs. Chiba Lotte Marines^[3]

Order	Player	Pos.
1	Hichori Morimoto	CF
2	Kensuke Tanaka	2B
3	Atsunori Inaba	RF
4	Terrmel Sledge	1B
5	Eiichi Koyano	3B
6	Yoshio Itoi	LF
7	Tomochika Tsuboi	DH
8	Shinya Tsuruoka	C
9	Makoto Kaneko	SS
—	Yu Darvish	P

Game log

2008 game log: 73–69–2 (Home: 41–30–1; Away: 32–39–1)
March: 3–5–0 (Home: 3–3–0; Away: 0–2–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 1 March 20 Marines 1–0 Darvish (1–0) Kobayashi (0–1) — Sapporo Dome 42,126 1–0–0 W1 2 March 22 Marines 2–3 Naruse (1–0) Sakamoto (0–1) — Sapporo Dome 31,028 1–1–0 L1 3 March 23 Marines 1–4 Watanabe (1–0) Glynn (0–1) Takagi (1) Sapporo Dome 32,215 1–2–0 L2 4 March 25 Lions 9–1 Takeda (1–0) Nishiguchi (0–1) — Sapporo Dome 16,410 2–2–0 W1 5 March 26 Lions 0–8 Kishi (1–0) Yoshikawa (0–1) — Sapporo Dome 19,206 2–3–0 L1 6 March 27 Lions 1–0 (10) Takeda (1–0) Wakui (0–2) — Sapporo Dome 25,011 3–3–0 W1 7 March 29 @ Eagles 2–7 Tanaka (1–0) Hoshino (0–1) — Kleenex Stadium 20,189 3–4–0 L1 8 March 30 @ Eagles 1–3 Asai (1–1) Glynn (0–2) Aoyama (1) Kleenex Stadium 19,518 3–5–0 L2
April: 14–10–1 (Home: 7–2–0; Away: 7–8–1) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 9 April 1 @ Hawks 6–0 Takeda (2–0) Arakaki (0–1) — Yahoo Dome 29,204 4–5–0 W1 10 April 2 @ Hawks 0–9 Otonari (2–0) Yoshikawa (0–2) — Kitakyushu Stadium 17,721 4–6–0 L1 11 April 3 @ Hawks 6–2 Darvish (2–0) Guttormson (0–1) — Yahoo Dome 32,144 5–6–0 W1 12 April 4 @ Buffaloes 3–2 Sweeney (1–0) Kamoshida (0–1) Nakamura (1) Kyocera Dome 11,738 6–6–0 W2 13 April 5 @ Buffaloes 2–7 Kondo (2–0) Fujii (0–1) — Kyocera Dome 18,129 6–7–0 L1 14 April 6 @ Buffaloes 3–2 Glynn (1–2) Kawagoe (1–1) Nakamura (2) Skymark Stadium 14,111 7–7–0 W1 15 April 8 Eagles 8–7 Takeda (3–0) Lin (0–2) Nakamura (3) Sapporo Dome 20,257 8–7–0 W2 16 April 9 Eagles 4–2 Yoshikawa (1–2) Nagai (2–1) Nakamura (4) Sapporo Dome 19,044 9–7–0 W3 17 April 10 Eagles 1–0 Darvish (3–0) Iwakuma (2–1) — Sapporo Dome 25,197 10–7–0 W4 18 April 11 @ Marines 3–2 Sweeney (2–0) Kobayashi (1–2) Nakamura (5) Chiba Marine Stadium 15,161 11–7–0 W5 19 April 12 @ Marines 1–2 Naruse (2–1) Miyanishi (0–1) — Chiba Marine Stadium 27,513 11–8–0 L1 20 April 13 @ Marines 1–2 (10) Watanabe (2–1) Takeda (1–1) — Chiba Marine Stadium 16,282 11–9–0 L2 21 April 15 @ Lions 3–3 (12) Game tied after 12 innings Seibu Dome 8,397 11–9–1 T1 22 April 16 @ Lions 2–4 Wakui (2–2) Yoshikawa (1–3) — Seibu Dome 11,263 11–10–1 L1 23 April 18 Hawks 3–1 Darvish (4–0) Sugiuchi (1–2) — Sapporo Dome 18,107 12–10–1 W1 24 April 19 Hawks 4–2 Fujii (1–1) Oba (2–2) Nakamura (6) Sapporo Dome 27,041 13–10–1 W2 25 April 20 Hawks 2–4 Wada (1–0) Glynn (1–3) Houlton (2) Sapporo Dome 30,536 13–11–1 L1 26 April 22 Buffaloes 4–2 Hoshino (1–1) Takagi (1–2) Nakamura (7) Sapporo Dome 14,253 14–11–1 W1 27 April 23 Buffaloes 0–5 Yamamoto (2–0) Sweeney (2–1) — Sapporo Dome 14,358 14–12–1 L1 28 April 24 Buffaloes 3–2 (10) Takeda (2–1) Kato (0–1) — Sapporo Dome 15,644 15–12–1 W1 29 April 25 @ Eagles 1–6 Iwakuma (4–1) Yoshikawa (1–4) — Kleenex Stadium 13,213 15–13–1 L1 30 April 26 @ Eagles 0–4 Guzmán (1–2) Fujii (1–2) — Kleenex Stadium 16,826 15–14–1 L2 31 April 27 @ Eagles 0–5 Tanaka (3–1) Glynn (1–4) — Kleenex Stadium 20,634 15–15–1 L3 32 April 29 @ Marines 3–2 Nakamura (1–0) Sikorski (1–4) — Chiba Marine Stadium 30,021 16–15–1 W1 33 April 30 @ Marines 6–3 Darvish (5–0) Watanabe (3–2) Nakamura (8) Chiba Marine Stadium 17,516 17–15–1 W2
May: 15–9–0 (Home: 10–3–0; Away: 5–6–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 34 May 1 @ Marines 6–1 Yoshikawa (2–4) Ono (2–1) — Chiba Marine Stadium 17,143 18–15–1 W3 35 May 2 Eagles 5–1 Tadano (1–0) Iwakuma (4–2) Nakamura (9) Sapporo Dome 41,124 19–15–1 W4 36 May 3 Eagles 12–5 Sakamoto (1–1) Kawagishi (0–1) — Sapporo Dome 40,083 20–15–1 W5 37 May 4 Eagles 1–7 Tanaka (4–1) Glynn (1–5) — Sapporo Dome 42,126 20–16–1 L1 38 May 5 @ Lions 6–8 Onodera (2–2) Takeda (2–2) Graman (8) Seibu Dome 34,783 20–17–1 L2 39 May 6 @ Lions 1–3 Ishii (5–1) Miyanishi (0–2) — Seibu Dome 27,340 20–18–1 L3 40 May 7 @ Lions 3–4 Hoshino (2–0) Darvish (5–1) — Seibu Dome 15,574 20–19–1 L4 41 May 10 Hawks 0–1 Sugiuchi (3–3) Fujii (1–3) — Ocean Stadium 16,822 20–20–1 L5 42 May 11 Hawks 4–3 Miyanishi (1–2) Kume (3–1) Nakamura (10) Ocean Stadium 17,919 21–20–1 W1 43 May 13 Marines 2–8 Karakawa (3–0) Glynn (1–6) — Tokyo Dome 19,828 21–21–1 L1 44 May 14 Marines 4–3 (11) Nakamura (2–0) Ogino (1–3) — Tokyo Dome 22,265 22–21–1 W1 45 May 15 Marines 6–5 Tateyama (1–0) Abreu (1–1) — Tokyo Dome 17,368 23–21–1 W2 46 May 16 @ Hawks 10–3 Tadano (2–0) Otonari (3–5) — Yahoo Dome 30,948 24–21–1 W3 47 May 17 @ Hawks 2–3 Sugiuchi (4–3) Tateyama (1–1) — Yahoo Dome 30,218 24–22–1 L1 48 May 18 @ Hawks 4–3 Sweeney (3–1) Oba (3–4) Takeda (1) Yahoo Dome 32,494 25–22–1 W1 49 May 20 BayStars 6–3 Glynn (2–6) Nasuno (2–6) Takeda (2) Sapporo Dome 16,957 26–22–1 W2 50 May 21 BayStars 4–3 Hoshino (2–1) Miura (2–5) Takeda (3) Sapporo Dome 20,271 27–22–1 W3 51 May 23 Dragons 1–0 Sakamoto (2–1) Kawakami (2–3) Takeda (4) Sapporo Dome 23,966 28–22–1 W4 52 May 24 Dragons 11–1 Sweeney (4–1) Kawai (1–2) — Sapporo Dome 30,983 29–22–1 W5 53 May 25 @ Giants 4–6 Nishimura (6–2) Fujii (1–4) Kroon (15) Tokyo Dome 43,813 29–23–1 L1 54 May 26 @ Giants 3–4 Burnside (1–0) Glynn (2–7) Kroon (16) Tokyo Dome 39,278 29–24–1 L2 55 May 28 @ Swallows 7–3 Darvish (6–1) Muranaka (3–6) — Meiji Jingu Stadium 18,050 30–24–1 W1 56 May 29 @ Swallows 3–2 Miyanishi (2–2) Oshimoto (2–1) Takeda (5) Meiji Jingu Stadium 9,683 31–24–1 W2 57 May 31 Tigers 2–1 Sweeney (5–1) Iwata (5–2) Takeda (6) Sapporo Dome 42,126 32–24–1 W3
June: 9–9–0 (Home: 3–4–0; Away: 6–5–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 58 June 1 Tigers 4–5 (10) Kubota (3–1) Takeda (2–3) Fujikawa (18) Sapporo Dome 42,126 32–25–1 L1 59 June 3 Carp 4–2 Glynn (3–7) Otake (2–7) — Sapporo Dome 17,815 33–25–1 W1 60 June 4 Carp 2–3 Lewis (8–4) Darvish (6–2) Nagakawa (8) Sapporo Dome 23,870 33–26–1 L1 61 June 6 @ Dragons 7–3 Sakamoto (3–1) Sato (0–1) — Nagoya Dome 36,725 34–26–1 W1 62 June 7 @ Dragons 1–4 Kawakami (4–3) Sweeney (5–2) Iwase (18) Nagoya Dome 38,247 34–27–1 L1 63 June 8 @ BayStars 9–3 Fujii (2–4) Nasuno (4–7) — Yokohama Stadium 17,842 35–27–1 W1 64 June 9 @ BayStars 3–13 Oyamada (2–3) Glynn (3–8) — Yokohama Stadium 9,796 35–28–1 L1 65 June 11 Giants 0–1 Nomaguchi (2–3) Darvish (6–3) Kroon (18) Sapporo Dome 35,298 35–29–1 L2 66 June 12 Giants 3–2 Tadano (3–0) Burnside (2–1) Nakamura (11) Sapporo Dome 30,135 36–29–1 W1 67 June 14 Swallows 2–1 (10) Takeda (3–3) Lim (1–3) — Sapporo Dome 40,058 37–29–1 W2 68 June 15 Swallows 1–3 Muranaka (4–7) Glynn (3–9) Lim (16) Sapporo Dome 31,556 37–30–1 L1 69 June 17 @ Carp 8–7 Darvish (7–3) Otake (2–9) Nakamura (12) Hiroshima Stadium 19,860 38–30–1 W1 70 June 18 @ Carp 1–2 Maeda (1–0) Tadano (3–1) Nagakawa (12) Hiroshima Stadium 18,527 38–31–1 L1 71 June 21 @ Tigers 4–0 Sweeney (6–2) Iwata (5–4) — Koshien Stadium 43,528 39–31–1 W1 72 June 22 @ Tigers 3–5 Atchison (5–4) Glynn (3–10) Fujikawa (25) Koshien Stadium 43,524 39–32–1 L1 73 June 27 @ Buffaloes 4–3 Darvish (8–3) Kawagoe (1–3) Nakamura (13) Kyocera Dome 14,654 40–32–1 W1 74 June 28 @ Buffaloes 1–5 Kaneko (3–6) Tadano (3–2) — Kyocera Dome 16,809 40–33–1 L1 75 June 29 @ Buffaloes 9–4 Takeda (4–0) Kondo (5–7) Tateyama (1) Kyocera Dome 18,153 41–33–1 W1
July: 9–13–1 (Home: 7–9–0; Away: 2–4–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 76 July 1 Lions 7–12 Onodera (3–4) Miyanishi (2–3) — Sapporo Dome 22,125 41–34–1 L1 77 July 2 Lions 6–8 Wakui (7–6) Glynn (3–11) Graman (15) Sapporo Dome 17,682 41–35–1 L2 78 July 3 Lions 6–4 Darvish (9–3) Hoashi (7–2) Nakamura (14) Sapporo Dome 24,420 42–35–1 W1 79 July 5 Buffaloes 4–3 Tadano (4–2) Ortiz (3–5) Nakamura (15) Kushiro Stadium 17,892 43–35–1 W2 80 July 6 Buffaloes 5–8 Kaneko (4–6) Takeda (4–1) Kato (17) Obihiro Stadium 21,063 43–36–1 L1 81 July 8 @ Marines 2–5 Shimizu (7–6) Sweeney (6–3) — Chiba Marine Stadium 18,562 43–37–1 L2 82 July 9 @ Marines 5–7 Kawasaki (1–3) Glynn (3–12) Ogino (11) Chiba Marine Stadium 28,198 43–38–1 L3 83 July 11 Hawks 3–2 Darvish (10–3) Otonari (7–7) — Sapporo Dome 22,712 44–38–1 W1 84 July 12 Hawks 9–6 Tadano (5–2) Oba (3–5) Nakamura (16) Sapporo Dome 31,882 45–38–1 W2 85 July 13 Hawks 1–10 Wada (8–3) Takeda (4–2) — Sapporo Dome 32,127 45–39–1 L1 86 July 15 Eagles 4–4 (12) Game tied after 12 innings Tokyo Dome 16,186 45–39–2 T1 87 July 16 Eagles 2–5 Katayama (2–1) Miyanishi (2–4) Kawagishi (2) Tokyo Dome 16,249 45–40–2 L1 88 July 17 Eagles 3–1 Darvish (11–3) Guzmán (2–5) — Tokyo Dome 20,773 46–40–2 W1 89 July 19 @ Buffaloes 2–6 Yamamoto (7–2) Tadano (5–3) — Skymark Stadium 20,016 46–41–2 L1 90 July 20 @ Buffaloes 1–4 Kaneko (6–6) Takeda (4–3) Kato (20) Kyocera Dome 16,068 46–42–2 L2 91 July 22 Marines 3–2 Sweeney (7–3) Kobayashi (2–9) Nakamura (17) Sapporo Dome 25,845 47–42–2 W1 92 July 23 Marines 2–3 Shimizu (8–6) Fujii (2–5) Ogino (14) Sapporo Dome 26,902 47–43–2 L1 93 July 24 Marines 2–5 Omine (1–2) Darvish (11–4) Ogino (15) Sapporo Dome 27,825 47–44–2 L2 94 July 25 Lions 2–1 Tadano (6–3) Hoashi (9–3) Nakamura (18) Sapporo Dome 23,323 48–44–2 W1 95 July 26 Lions 3–6 Iwasaki (2–0) Kanamori (0–1) Graman (20) Sapporo Dome 33,538 48–45–2 L1 96 July 27 Lions 2–3 (10) Graman (2–2) Takeda (3–4) — Sapporo Dome 36,064 48–46–2 L2 97 July 28 @ Hawks 10–2 Takeda (5–3) Powell (1–5) — Yahoo Dome 34,222 49–46–2 W1 98 July 29 @ Hawks 5–2 Sweeney (8–3) Yang (1–2) Nakamura (19) Yahoo Dome 32,653 50–46–2 W2 All-Star Break: CL and PL split series, 1–1
August: 8–14–0 (Home: 2–5–0; Away: 6–9–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 99 August 3 @ Eagles 4–11 Asai (7–7) Tadano (6–4) — Kleenex Stadium 20,516 50–47–2 L1 100 August 4 @ Eagles 6–2 Takeda (6–3) Aoyama (2–5) — Kleenex Stadium 18,760 51–47–2 W1 101 August 5 @ Eagles 7–2 Sweeney (9–3) Guzmán (2–7) — Kleenex Stadium 17,942 52–47–2 W2 102 August 10 @ Lions 2–11 Hoashi (10–3) Tadano (6–5) — Seibu Dome 30,024 52–48–2 L1 103 August 11 @ Lions 0–3 Kishi (9–4) Takeda (6–4) Graman (22) Seibu Dome 19,260 52–49–2 L2 104 August 12 @ Lions 4–8 Onodera (4–4) Takeda (3–5) — Seibu Dome 19,055 52–50–2 L3 105 August 13 Buffaloes 2–4 Komatsu (9–3) Glynn (3–13) Kato (24) Sapporo Dome 24,416 52–51–2 L4 106 August 14 Buffaloes 0–2 (11) Kato (2–3) Takeda (3–6) Shimizu (1) Sapporo Dome 22,476 52–52–2 L5 107 August 15 Buffaloes 3–5 (10) Kawagoe (2–3) Nakamura (2–1) Kato (25) Sapporo Dome 22,829 52–53–2 L6 108 August 16 @ Hawks 5–1 Yagi (1–0) Standridge (0–2) — Yahoo Dome 33,687 53–53–2 W1 109 August 17 @ Hawks 1–2 Otonari (11–8) Takeda (6–5) Mahara (5) Yahoo Dome 33,533 53–54–2 L1 110 August 18 @ Hawks 7–0 Sweeney (10–3) Hoshino (0–1) — Yahoo Dome 30,636 54–54–2 W1 111 August 19 Marines 4–0 Glynn (4–13) Kobayashi (3–11) — Tokyo Dome 20,061 55–54–2 W2 112 August 20 Marines 3–6 Shimizu (9–8) Fujii (2–6) Ogino (20) Tokyo Dome 21,034 55–55–2 L1 113 August 24 Lions 9–3 Tadano (7–5) Hoashi (10–4) — Starffin Stadium 22,583 56–55–2 W1 114 August 25 Lions 3–4 Onodera (5–4) Takeda (3–7) Graman (23) Sapporo Dome 21,840 56–56–2 L1 115 August 26 @ Marines 3–2 Sweeney (11–3) Watanabe (11–5) Nakamura (20) Chiba Marine Stadium 20,764 57–56–2 W1 116 August 27 @ Marines 1–0 Glynn (5–13) Kubo (2–6) Nakamura (21) Chiba Marine Stadium 22,038 58–56–2 W2 117 August 28 @ Marines 0–3 Shimizu (10–8) Fujii (2–7) — Chiba Marine Stadium 16,522 58–57–2 L1 118 August 29 @ Buffaloes 4–7 Kishida (2–0) Kanazawa (0–1) Kato (29) Skymark Stadium 20,279 58–58–2 L2 119 August 30 @ Buffaloes 2–7 Yamamoto (9–4) Yagi (1–1) — Kyocera Dome 18,169 58–59–2 L3 120 August 31 @ Buffaloes 1–5 Kaneko (9–8) Tadano (7–6) — Kyocera Dome 18,033 58–60–2 L4
September: 14–9–0 (Home: 9–4–0; Away: 5–5–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 121 September 2 Hawks 2–0 Darvish (12–4) Guttormson (4–5) Nakamura (22) Sapporo Dome 20,118 59–60–2 W1 122 September 3 Hawks 3–4 Sato (3–1) Takeda (6–6) Mahara (7) Sapporo Dome 17,702 59–61–2 L1 123 September 4 Hawks 4–3 Takeda (4–7) Sato (3–2) — Sapporo Dome 16,975 60–61–2 W1 124 September 5 Eagles 3–5 (10) Gwyn (1–0) Nakamura (2–2) — Sapporo Dome 22,692 60–62–2 L1 125 September 6 Eagles 4–1 Fujii (3–7) Katayama (2–5) Nakamura (23) Sapporo Dome 33,197 61–62–2 W1 126 September 7 Eagles 2–5 Satake (1–0) Tadano (7–7) Arime (2) Sapporo Dome 33,224 61–63–2 L1 127 September 9 @ Lions 4–1 Darvish (13–4) Ishii (10–9) Nakamura (24) Seibu Dome 14,554 62–63–2 W1 128 September 10 @ Lions 6–5 Sakamoto (4–1) Nishiguchi (8–6) Nakamura (25) Seibu Dome 14,292 63–63–2 W2 129 September 11 @ Lions 3–5 Wakui (9–9) Sweeney (11–4) Graman (27) Seibu Dome 14,016 63–64–2 L1 130 September 13 Buffaloes 7–4 Glynn (6–13) Yamamoto (9–6) Nakamura (26) Sapporo Dome 25,074 64–64–2 W1 131 September 14 Buffaloes 9–6 Sakamoto (5–1) Kaneko (10–9) Nakamura (27) Sapporo Dome 30,457 65–64–2 W2 132 September 15 Buffaloes 5–4 Darvish (14–4) Kato (2–4) — Sapporo Dome 31,473 66–64–2 W3 133 September 16 @ Eagles 1–6 Iwakuma (19–3) Takeda (6–7) — Kleenex Stadium 11,966 66–65–2 L1 134 September 17 @ Eagles 7–15 Asai (9–10) Sweeney (11–5) — Kleenex Stadium 12,430 66–66–2 L2 135 September 18 @ Eagles 2–5 Tanaka (8–6) Fujii (3–8) — Kleenex Stadium 13,697 66–67–2 L3 136 September 20 @ Buffaloes 1–6 Yamamoto (10–6) Glynn (6–14) — Kyocera Dome 20,222 66–68–2 L4 137 September 21 @ Buffaloes 10–5 Sakamoto (6–1) Motoyanagi (2–7) — Kyocera Dome 25,036 67–68–2 W1 138 September 22 @ Hawks 9–0 Darvish (15–4) Arakaki (2–6) — Yahoo Dome 30,491 68–68–2 W2 139 September 23 @ Hawks 5–2 Takeda (7–7) Sugiuchi (10–7) — Yahoo Dome 30,278 69–68–2 W3 140 September 26 Lions 2–0 Sweeney (12–5) Hoashi (11–6) Tateyama (2) Sapporo Dome 28,331 70–68–2 W4 141 September 27 Lions 5–4 Glynn (7–14) Hsu (1–3) Nakamura (28) Sapporo Dome 35,460 71–68–2 W5 142 September 28 Marines 1–4 Naruse (8–6) Tateyama (1–2) Ogino (29) Sapporo Dome 42,126 71–69–2 L1 143 September 29 Marines 2–1 Darvish (16–4) Kobayashi (5–12) — Sapporo Dome 42,126 72–69–2 W1
October: 1–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Away: 1–0–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 144 October 1 @ Eagles 17–0 Takeda (8–7) Tanaka (9–7) — Kleenex Stadium 14,953 73–69–2 W2
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Tie        = Postponement Bold = Fighters team member

Postseason

Climax Series

Main article: 2008 Pacific League Climax Series

Game log

2008 postseason game log: 4–3–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Away: 4–3–0)
Climax Series First Stage: 2–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Away: 2–0–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 1 October 11 @ Buffaloes 4–1 Darvish (1–0) Kondo (0–1) — Kyocera Dome 25,532 1–0–0 W1 2 October 12 @ Buffaloes 7–2 Fujii (1–0) Komatsu (0–1) — Kyocera Dome 26,703 2–0–0 W2
Climax Series Second Stage: 2–3–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Away: 2–3–0) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Stadium Attendance Record Streak 1 October 17 @ Lions 3–10 Wakui (1–0) Glynn (0–1) — Omiya Park Stadium 20,500 0–1–0 L1 2 October 18 @ Lions 5–0 Darvish (1–0) Kishi (0–1) — Seibu Dome 30,918 1–1–0 W1 3 October 19 @ Lions 7–4 Takeda (1–0) Hoashi (0–1) — Seibu Dome 33,078 2–1–0 W2 4 October 21 @ Lions 4–9 Ishii (1–0) Sweeney (0–1) — Seibu Dome 18,704 2–2–0 L1 5 October 22 @ Lions 0–9 Wakui (2–0) Glynn (0–2) — Seibu Dome 21,731 2–3–0 L2
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Tie        = Postponement Bold = Fighters team member

Roster

2008 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Roster
Pitchers 11 Yu Darvish 66 Romash Tasuku Dass 18 Shugo Fujii 14 Ryan Glynn 43 Yachiho Hoshino 60 Takeshi Ito 59 Takayuki Kanamori 28 Takehito Kanazawa 12 Tatsuo Kato 47 Kazumasa Kikuchi 17 Ken Miyamoto 25 Naoki Miyanishi 36 Micheal Nakamura 30 Yataro Sakamoto 42 Brian Sweeney 16 Kazuhito Tadano 21 Hisashi Takeda 38 Masaru Takeda 22 Yoshinori Tateyama 67 Akiyoshi Toyoshima 46 Yusuke Uemura 29 Tomoya Yagi 34 Mitsuo Yoshikawa		Catchers 62 Ryota Imanari 32 Satoshi Nakajima 37 Keiji Oyama  2 Shinji Takahashi 64 Shinya Tsuruoka 63 Ryuichi Watanabe Infielders 39 Jason Botts 50 Suguru Ichikawa  4 Yuji Iiyama 45 Takahiro Imanami  5 Naoto Inada 15 Mitch Jones  8 Makoto Kaneko 31 Eiichi Koyano 33 Hajime Miki  9 Tomoyuki Oda 23 Masaya Ozaki 58 Takayuki Takaguchi  3 Kensuke Tanaka 24 Dai-Kang Yang		Outfielders 41 Atsunori Inaba 26 Yoshio Itoi 40 Yohei Kaneko 52 Toshimasa Konta 53 Takahito Kudo  1 Hichori Morimoto 51 Kazuya Murata 55 Yoshihiro Sato 10 Terrmel Sledge  7 Tomochika Tsuboi 65 Atsushi Ugumori	Manager 88 Masataka Nashida Coaches 78 Junichi Fukura (head) 74 Kazuyuki Atsuzawa (pitching) 81 Masato Yoshii (pitching) 32 Satoshi Nakajima (battery/catching) 82 Ken Hirano (hitting) 77 Terushi Nakajima (hitting) 89 Yasunaga Makishi (infield defense) 87 Masaji Shimizu (outfield defense)

Player statistics

Batting

2008 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters batting statistics^[4]

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	TB
Jason Botts†	55	142	14	36	9	0	5	16	0	14	53	.254	.327	.423	60
Yu Darvish	25	8	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	3	.125	.125	.250	2
Shugo Fujii	19	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	.500	.500	.500	2
Ryan Glynn	26	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	0
Suguru Ichikawa	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	0
Yuji Iiyama	74	49	3	8	2	0	0	2	0	3	13	.163	.212	.204	10
Takahiro Imanami	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0
Ryota Imanari	9	11	1	5	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	.455	.500	.545	6
Atsunori Inaba	127	448	71	135	25	5	20	82	2	56	85	.301	.380	.513	230
Naoto Inada	99	185	10	41	1	1	0	12	3	6	13	.222	.254	.238	44
Yoshio Itoi	63	188	19	45	14	1	5	21	13	10	53	.239	.285	.404	76
Mitch Jones‡	8	27	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	.111	.111	.148	4
Makoto Kaneko	96	291	24	63	16	0	2	29	0	20	76	.216	.267	.292	85
Yohei Kaneko	6	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	.000	.000	.000	0
Toshimasa Konta	89	140	32	33	4	1	1	6	14	9	40	.236	.287	.300	42
Eiichi Koyano	120	379	32	95	21	1	6	60	0	29	83	.251	.303	.359	136
Takahito Kudo	104	199	20	51	11	1	0	12	8	9	42	.256	.307	.322	64
Hajime Miki	17	28	5	8	2	0	0	2	0	2	7	.286	.333	.357	10
Hichori Morimoto	121	478	66	121	15	1	0	21	12	49	81	.253	.327	.289	138
Kazuya Murata	15	34	5	8	0	0	0	1	0	2	12	.235	.297	.235	8
Satoshi Nakajima	22	4	1	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	.750	.750	.750	3
Tomoyuki Oda	64	141	13	41	5	0	3	16	0	11	33	.291	.342	.390	55
Keiji Oyama	27	29	3	5	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	.172	.200	.207	6
Masaya Ozaki	8	15	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.133	.133	.133	2
Yoshihiro Sato	7	12	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	4	.083	.154	.333	4
Terrmel Sledge	113	395	41	114	21	2	16	69	0	44	88	.289	.361	.473	187
Brian Sweeney	29	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	.250	.250	.250	1
Kazuhito Tadano	20	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.200	.200	.200	1
Takayuki Takaguchi	74	167	12	36	5	4	0	14	1	7	49	.216	.272	.293	49
Shinji Takahashi	108	357	33	102	19	0	9	58	3	24	74	.286	.333	.415	148
Kensuke Tanaka	144	536	89	159	32	9	11	63	21	62	80	.297	.379	.451	242
Tomochika Tsuboi	26	50	2	11	2	0	0	1	0	1	7	.220	.250	.260	13
Shinya Tsuruoka	97	248	24	52	14	0	1	18	0	12	49	.210	.247	.278	69
Atsushi Ugumori	11	20	3	6	1	0	0	2	0	1	3	.300	.364	.350	7
Ryuichi Watanabe	4	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.250	.250	.500	2
Dai-Kang Yang	44	111	7	16	0	1	2	4	1	6	31	.144	.193	.216	24
Total：36 players	1,875	4,726	533	1,206	224	27	82	516	79	380	1,010	.255	.316	.366	1,730

^†Denotes player joined the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Fighters only.

^‡Denotes player left the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Fighters only.

Bold/italics denotes best in the league^[5]

Pitching

2008 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters pitching statistics^[4]

Player	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
Yu Darvish	16	4	1.88	25	24	0	200.2	136	44	42	44	208
Romash Tasuku Dass	0	0	0.00	1	1	0	5	4	1	0	3	2
Shugo Fujii	3	8	3.25	19	19	0	110.2	115	46	40	41	76
Ryan Glynn	7	14	3.64	26	25	0	163.1	160	74	66	61	99
Yachiho Hoshino	2	1	4.94	23	0	0	23.2	31	17	13	6	11
Takeshi Ito	0	0	5.40	4	0	0	3.1	7	3	2	0	2
Takayuki Kanamori	0	1	4.50	10	0	0	12	14	7	6	5	7
Takehito Kanazawa	0	1	6.00	4	3	0	18	23	12	12	7	8
Tatsuo Kato	0	0	8.44	14	0	0	10.2	16	11	10	4	7
Kazumasa Kikuchi	0	0	9.90	11	0	0	10	17	11	11	3	4
Ken Miyamoto	0	0	5.40	9	0	0	8.1	11	9	5	4	6
Naoki Miyanishi	2	4	4.37	50	0	0	45.1	47	24	22	15	25
Micheal Nakamura	2	2	2.14	46	0	28	46.1	32	11	11	12	47
Yataro Sakamoto	6	1	3.18	31	0	0	51	41	18	18	18	35
Brian Sweeney	12	5	3.48	28	25	0	163	139	65	63	72	90
Kazuhito Tadano	7	7	4.78	19	19	0	105.1	107	57	56	22	61
Hisashi Takeda	4	7	4.40	62	0	6	61.1	68	31	30	19	40
Masaru Takeda	8	7	2.96	20	19	0	121.2	110	44	40	19	68
Yoshinori Tateyama	1	2	3.07	58	0	2	67.1	61	23	23	12	53
Akiyoshi Toyoshima	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	2	1	0	0	1	0
Yusuke Uemura	0	0	3.00	2	0	0	3	3	1	1	3	0
Tomoya Yagi	1	1	6.75	2	2	0	10.2	14	8	8	2	10
Mitsuo Yoshikawa	2	4	6.23	7	7	0	34.2	39	24	24	22	23
Total：23 players	73	69	3.54	473	144	36	1,277.1	1,196	541	503	395	882

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Eagles. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.

^‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.

Bold/italics denotes best in the league^[6]

Awards

Nippon Life Monthly MVP Award^[7]

• Yu Darvish - March/April, September (pitcher)

Best Nine Award^[8]

• Atsunori Inaba - outfielder

Mitsui Golden Glove Award^[9]

• Yu Darvish - pitcher
• Kensuke Tanaka - second baseman
• Atsunori Inaba - outfielder
• Hichori Morimoto - outfielder

All-Star Series selections^[10]

• Masataka Nashida - manager
• Yu Darvish - starting pitcher
• Hisashi Takeda - relief pitcher
• Kensuke Tanaka - second baseman
• Atsunori Inaba - outfielder
• Hichori Morimoto - outfielder

Farm team

Eastern League regular season standings^[11]

Team	G	W	L	T	Win%	GB	Home	Away
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	96	55	34	7	.618	—	35–10–3	20–24–4
Yomiuri Giants	96	58	36	2	.617	—	29–15–1	29–21–1
Shonan Searex	96	50	43	3	.538	7	23–24–1	27–19–2
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	96	46	45	5	.505	10	24–21–3	22–24–2
Saitama Seibu Lions	96	42	51	3	.452	15	23–25–2	19–26–1
Chiba Lotte Marines	96	37	53	6	.411	18½	21–24–3	16–29–3
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	96	33	61	2	.351	24½	22–26–1	11–35–1

Nippon Professional Baseball draft

2008 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Draft selections^[12]

Round	Name	Position	Affiliation	Signed?
1	Shota Ono	Catcher	Toyo University	yes
2	Ryo Sakakibara	Pitcher	Kansai University of International Studies	yes
3	Toshiyuki Yanuki	Pitcher	Mitsubishi Fuso Kawasaki	yes
4	Kenji Tsuchiya	Pitcher	Yokohama High School	yes
5	Takuya Nakashima	Infielder	Fukuoka Technical High School	yes
6	Kenshi Sugiya	Infielder	Iizuka High School	yes
7	Keisuke Tanimoto	Pitcher	VITAL-NET	yes