Chiba Lotte Marines
The Chiba Lotte Marines ( Japanese 千葉 ロ ッ テ マ リ ー ン ズ , Chiba Rotte Marīnzu ) are a professional Japanese baseball team in the Pacific League and last won the championship title in the Japan Series in 2010 .
The team was founded in 1949 under the name Mainichi Orions , sponsored by the daily Mainichi Shimbun . The Korean / Japanese company Lotte has owned the marines since 1969 . In 1992, shortly after the completion of their home stadium, the Chiba Marine Stadium ( 千葉 マ リ ン ス タ ジ ア ム , Chiba Marin Sutajiamu ), the team was renamed Chiba Lotte Marines.
successes
The team has relatively few successes compared to the largest and most successful clubs. The championship of the Pacific League could be won in 1950, 1960, 1970, 1974 and 2005. In 1950, 1974 and 2005 he won the Japan Series . The success of 1950 also marks the first year in which the Japan Series was held at all.
Opponents in the Japan Series 2005 were the Hanshin Tigers . The series was characterized by a dominance that no team had before in the history of the Japanese baseball championship. The first 3 games were won with double-digit points each (10-1; 10-0; 10-1), which no team in the final series had ever achieved in more than one game at a time; only the fourth game (3-2) was a bit closer. In addition, for the first time a team managed not to fall behind in a single game in the final series. With Bobby Valentine , a foreign trainer succeeded for the first time in coaching a team for the Japanese championship. A little later, the Chiba Lotte Marines won the first ever Asia Series against the champions from Korea, China and Taiwan. Again all four games of the tournament were won.
In 2010, the Marines were able to reach the Japan Series on the Climax Series as third place and won their fourth championship against the Chūnichi Dragons. Then they also won the Korean-Japanese Club Championship, the successor to the Asia Series.
Stadion
The Chiba Marine Stadium is located on Tōkyō Bay in Makuhari, Chiba and can accommodate a maximum of 32,000 spectators. Unlike many other baseball stadiums in Japan, it is not covered, which often leads to game postponements, particularly in the rainy season . At the Japan Series 2005, for the first time in the history of the Japanese baseball championship, a game had to be abandoned due to fog when low-lying clouds were pushed into the interior by the wind over the stadium roof. The stadium area is larger than other stadiums in Japan, so there are relatively few home runs and foul balls are relatively easy to catch. Due to its location right by the sea and the open stadium roof, it is also relatively susceptible to wind.
