Shikoku Island League plus

Shikoku Island League plus
Founded	2005
No. of teams	4
Country	Japan
Current champions	Kagawa Olive Guyners
Official website	http://www.iblj.co.jp/

The Shikoku Island League plus is a league on the islands of Shikoku in Japan. Neither the Central nor the Pacific League has a team based in Shikoku.

IBLJ Inc. operates the league. IBLJ (which chose its name as an abbreviation of "Independent Baseball League of Japan"), founded by commentator and 14-time NPB All-Star Hiromichi Ishige, initially held all the rights to the teams, leadership, and players, but in 2006 established separate corporations for the teams. The company has its headquarters in Takamatsu.

Prior to December 2007, the league was known as the Shikoku Island League. On December 1, 2007, it expanded to include franchises in Kyushu, and changed its name accordingly. When the Nagasaki Saints expelled in 2010, it changed its name to Shikoku Island League plus again.

A team made up of players from the league played a schedule of games in the Can-Am Association in 2015 and 2016. The team was known as the Shikoku Island All-Stars.

Teams

The four teams in the league are the

• Ehime Mandarin Pirates
• Kagawa Olive Guyners
• Kochi Fighting Dogs
• Tokushima Indigo Socks

Each team has 22 players, two coaches, and one manager.

Former Teams

• Fukuoka Red Warblers 2008-2009
• Mie Three Arrows 2011
• Nagasaki Saints 2008-2010

League play

Each team plays 90 games annually, 45 at home and 45 away. With the 2008 expansion, each team's schedule changed to 80 games a year, 40 at home and 40 away, so the season consists of 240 games. Teams attempt to schedule games for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Except in Kōchi, which lacks the necessary lighting equipment, Friday games are nighters.

The Shikoku Island League uses designated hitters.

One technique the league uses to strengthen its ties to the locales where it plays is to have those players who come from Shikoku play for their home teams. Even if they are not regulars, they often appear as designated hitters, pinch hitters, relief pitchers, and substitutes.

Sponsors

The Shikoku Island League has two principal sponsors. They are the Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku) and the Shikoku Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Other sponsors include Taiyo Oil Company, Shikoku Meiji Dairies, Japan Airlines, sporting goods maker Mizuno Corp., Internet service provider Biglobe, convenience store chain FamilyMart, and Nihon McDonald's.

History

The first game in the league took place on April 29, 2005. On November 10, 2005, the Kochi Fighting Dogs won the first league championship.

Select past players

• Jorge Balboa
• Tom Brice
• Tai-Shan Chang
• Pin-Chieh Chen
• Hayato Doue
• Rafael Fernándes
• Koya Fujii
• Aritz García
• Luis Gonzalez
• Jae-hoon Ha
• Frédéric Hanvi
• Hideki Irabu
• Takateru Iyono
• Young-il Jung
• Katsuya Kakunaka
• Soichi Kamimura
• Salomon Koba
• Ryokan Kobayashi
• Kazuki Kondo
• Zeyuan Li
• Yi-Hsiang Lin
• Kuo-Hua Lo
• Katsuhiro Maeda
• Katsuhiko Maekawa
• Alessandro Maestri
• Katsuki Matayoshi
• Jobu Morita
• Yuji Nerei
• Connar O'Gorman
• Zaw Zaw Oo
• Lassina Sanfo
• Ryan Searle
• Alejandro Segovia
• Shepherd Sibanda
• Dioni Soriano
• Ikko Sumi
• Akichika Yamada
• Takeshi Yamamoto

MVP

• 2005: Yuji Miyamoto, Ehime
• 2006: Hayato Doue, Kagawa
• 2007: Terumasa Matsuo, Kagawa
• 2008: Koji Tsukamoto, Kagawa
• 2009: Takeshi Yoshikawa, Kochi
• 2010: Katsuhiko Maekawa, Kagawa
• 2011: Satoshi Okawa, Tokushima
• 2012: Kyosuke Yamano, Kagawa
• 2013: Masanori Ohtani, Tokushima
• 2014: Takahiro Irino, Tokushima
• 2015: Itsuki Shoda, Ehime
• 2016: Rafael Polo, Ehime
• 2017: Sho Ito, Tokushima
• 2018: Yuki Harada, Kagawa
• 2019: Yuta Takeuchi, Tokushima
• 2020: Natsuki Toda, Tokushima
• 2021: Kazuki Kondo, Kagawa
• 2022: Rintaro Hirama, Kochi

External links

• Shikoku Island League plus Official Site (in Japanese)
• Shikoku Island League Information Bureau (in Japanese)