When we talk baseball in the League of the Rising Sun we are used to certain numbers and statistics. Our speech is another form of sports jargon. When we talk amongst ourselves we understand completely. But if you talk to a non-sports fan, it seems like another language to them. The Kuwana Steel Dragons have played a very big numbers game so far this season. In my season review we will touch upon many numbers that may not mean anything just yet. But they will once we go into depth.

Our first number is 24. That is the number of players traded to and from Kuwana this past season. Almost a full roster of players was traded this year, mostly headed out of Kuwana. That is a ton of players packing their bags. 11 of them were pitchers and 13 were position players. 6 of those players were incoming to Kuwana. Still, that is a massive amount of players coming and going. More amazingly is the staggering salary of those total players. I took the time to add up the player’s current salary until arbitration and the total came to roughly $145,731,000. Of that chuck of change, $64,731,000 was incoming. On the flip side of things, around $81,000,000 was traded away. Kuwana also took in $17,050,000 in cash this year to help break even and solidify the roster for this upcoming offseason. To help with the rebuild, within those 12 trades were included 14 draft picks. It was essential for Kuwana to get some top picks for the upcoming 2019 draft. Over 66%  (8/12 teams) of the teams in the LRS traded with Kuwana to make this one of the biggest trade seasons in history.

These numbers are what built this 2018 season. To many the season has been a failure. With GM Mark Kierstead making trades and owner Michael Chance flipping those trades for more, it came down to one thing: working together. The two agreed that rebuilding from the ground-up was the only way to accomplish the task at hand. The main goal was to hit 2 million in attendance and the Steel Dragons did that despite winning only 29.6% of their games thus far. Since the signing of Taro Kudo to his ten-year deal, the team’s merchandise revenue is up almost $1 million over last year’s total. This shows that the fans are still coming even though the team is struggling (or drowning, if you prefer). The fact is that the fans are sticking by the team the whole way. There is talk of some remodeling this off-season, with the team planing to add more seats to a specialKudo section of the stadium. Season ticket holders will be able to upgrade their package for 15% more and receive VIP Treatment all season long. This section will also have seats for Michael Chance and Mark Kierstead, who will be at every home game. This means more opportunities for fans to interact with the team owner and gm. There is also word that even more will be added to make this feature all the more enjoyable.

It is true that, when we look at the numbers game we hope to see larger, more fascinating numbers pop out. But sometimes you have to start small and do things the smart way. With Michael Chance and Mark Kierstead on the same page, the Steel Dragons could be doing just what the doctor ordered. There is a very exciting off-season ahead. Kuwana can only go up from here. I also have my son moving back from the state to play high school baseball in his attempt to live his dream out. Good luck Kuwana and good luck son!