December 10, 2023: Last season saw the historic rebranding of the franchise previously known under their corporate umbrella as the Lupin Cliff Hangers convert to the more traditional Toyama Wind Dancers. They combined this with a 2,000 seat addition to their ballpark, that included a few extra amenities. The team then went out and made it all the way to the post-season for the first time since merging with the global PEBA.

We won’t talk about their performance in those playoffs, because we’re now in the post season, and the team is prepping for the winter meetings and all that entails. That means this is the season for optimism, and there are many reasons for such optimism to be running rampant.

Among those reasons was the announcement this morning that the baseball club in Toyama is planning to add an additional 3,000 seats to their ballpark, and again upgrade several areas to provide for fan comfort and convenience.

“Our fans are the greatest fans in baseball,” said Mia Finn, one of the team’s latest spokesmodels, as she and co-spokesmodel Yosuki “Dash” Yamada (apparently hired to appeal more to the female gender) unveiled the architectural plans. “Everyone on in the organization believes this is true.” The plans include two decks of extra seats, split evenly along the right and left field area, with phone and electronics charges built into several key locations. In addition, Mr. Yamada modeled a version of disposable poncho that will be placed under each seat in case of rain. “Some teams put a roof over their field, but the Wind Dancers prefer to say ‘Let it Rain!;,” Ms. Finn exclaimed. They also announced that in the case of a rain delay, the new tradition will be to play “Singing in the Rain,” and use a Fan Cam to capture the best Gene Kelly impersonation. The winner will receive free tickets to another game, and a guest appearance on the “Do Strange Stuff Until We Choke Laughing” reality TV show that everyone is so hot on right now.

The modifications would result in a total seating capacity of 55,000 fans per game, and represents the end of the initial phase of rebuilding that GM Ron Collins promised to work for when he first took the team over from previous GM Jim Konopka.

She read a prepared statement from owner Paul Walker and GM Ron Collins which said they were proud to be able to make these improvements on the team’s ledger. “Ron has built a financial juggernaut,” said Walker, “and I’m proud to be able to funnel $2.1M back into the community. We intend to use local contractors all the way.” It is, perhaps, newsworthy to note that Walker has been relatively quiet when it comes to speaking about the club as a whole since well before the rebranding effort.

Team accountants suggest that the $2.1M will come from the $13.1M that Walker apparently pocketed from the team’s performance last year. Amid difficulties being seen across several of the more established clubs in the PEBA, and rumors of some teams sucking at an empty cash teat so hard that they may fold, this is fantastic news for Toyama fans overall. Add to it the mega-media rights package the league recently signed, and it feels like one of those “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” kind of things.

“It’s a great design,” said the team’s 32-year-old shortstop, Shiro Adachi, whose presence in town for the unveiling sparked rumors that he and the club were in negotiations for an extension on his contract. “I don’t have anything to say about that except that I love the idea of playing more games in from of the Toyama fans. They have made this team what it is.”