Jason Coskrey of the Japan Times joins us to discuss the Marines and Giants advancing through the first round of the Climax Series in their respective leagues, the new clown face of the Nippon Ham Fighters and also helps us handle some HighHeat that has been on the back burner a little while.

We unpack the unprecedented dual worst-to-first pennant runs for the Yakult Swallows and Orix Buffaloes in their respective leagues, preview the PLCS and CLCS first rounds, examine the top candidates for the ROY awards and opine on some of the managerial changes.

Frank Herrmann of the Lotte Marines is the guest, we discuss the stretch run of the pennant races, pay our respects to some retiring players, especially Daisuke Matsuzaka, offer a brief overview of the latest Roki Sasaki start and look at Masahiro Tanaka getting knocked around and yanked for the first time in ages.

Yakult Swallows scout Tony Barnette is the guest, we discuss the pennant and playoff races in the Central and Pacific leagues, drop some notes on the Oc.t 11 draft, take a quick look at incoming Chunichi skipper Kazuyoshi Tatsunami and his staff, quickly go through the latest Roki Sasaki start and handle some HighHeat.

Lions reliever Reed Garrett is the guest, we look at what is left of the pennant races in the Central and Pacific leagues, discuss the notion of half the NPB managers changing before next season and close things out with a look at the latest Masahiro Tanaka and Roki Sasaki starts.

Jim and John dive into the playoff races in the Central and Pacific leagues, try to project the top performers of September, look at the players who plan to retire after the season and handle some HighHeat.

Sushi Boy Brandon Laird of the Lotte Marines is the guest, Jim has projections for the pennant winners and we discuss the races, examine some of the top MVP candidates, look at Ma-kun’s latest starts and handle some HighHeat.

We discuss the races in both the Central and Pacific leagues, look back at the poorly played, improperly officiated and confusingly explained play that ended the Swallows-Dragons game this past week and handle some HighHeat.

Former NPB standout Fernando Seguignol talks about scouting, we run through the Pacific and Central league pennant and playoff races, review the Masahiro Tanaka and Roki Sasaki faceoff in Chiba on Friday and handle some HighHeat.

Tyler Higgins of the Orix Buffaloes is the guest, we discuss the SoftBank Hawks and the playoff races in both leagues, recognize Takumi Kuriyama for reaching 2K career hits, look at the latest Masahiro Tanaka start and touch on the top performers of July and August.