# 2008 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles season

The 2008 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles season was the fourth season of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles franchise. The Eagles played their home games at Miyagi Baseball Stadium in the city of Sendai as members of Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League. The team was led by Katsuya Nomura on his third season as team manager.
Rakuten did not qualify for the Climax Series, finishing the season in fifth place with a record of 65–76–3.

## Regular season
### Standings

Pacific League regular season standings :
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | T | GB | PCT | Home | Away |
| 1 | Saitama Seibu Lions | 144 | 76 | 64 | 4 | — | .542 | 44–27–1 | 32–37–3 |
| 2 | Orix Buffaloes | 144 | 75 | 68 | 1 | 5.5 | .524 | 41–31–0 | 34–37–1 |
| 3 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 144 | 73 | 69 | 2 | 6 | .514 | 41–30–1 | 32–39–1 |
| 4 | Chiba Lotte Marines | 144 | 73 | 70 | 1 | 7.5 | .510 | 41–30–1 | 32–40–0 |
| 5 | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 144 | 65 | 76 | 3 | 12.5 | .462 | 37–34–1 | 28–42–2 |
| 6 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 144 | 64 | 77 | 3 | 13.5 | .455 | 36–33–3 | 28–44–0 |

### Interleague

| Teamvte | Pld | HW | HL | AW | AL | GB | PCT |
| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 24 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 7 | — | .625 |
| Hanshin Tigers | 24 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 7 | — | .625 |
| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 24 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 1 | .583 |
| Yomiuri Giants | 24 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 1 | .583 |
| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 24 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | .542 |
| Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 24 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 2 | .542 |
| Chunichi Dragons | 24 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 3 | .500 |
| Orix Buffaloes | 24 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 4 | .458 |
| Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 24 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | .458 |
| Chiba Lotte Marines | 24 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 8 | 5 | .417 |
| Saitama Seibu Lions | 24 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 5 | .417 |
| Yokohama BayStars | 24 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 11 | 9 | .250 |

### Record vs. opponents

2008 record vs. opponents :
| Team | Buffaloes | Eagles | Fighters | Hawks | Lions | Marines | CL |
| Buffaloes | — | 13–10–1 | 13–11 | 14–10 | 10–14 | 14–10 | 11–13 |
| Eagles | 10–13–1 | — | 13–10–1 | 12–12 | 10–14 | 7–16–1 | 13–11 |
| Fighters | 11–13 | 10–13–1 | — | 17–7 | 9–14–1 | 12–12 | 14–10 |
| Hawks | 10–14 | 12–12 | 7–17 | — | 10–11–3 | 10–14 | 15–9 |
| Lions | 14–10 | 14–10 | 14–9–1 | 11–10–3 | — | 13–11 | 10–14 |
| Marines | 10–14 | 16–7–1 | 12–12 | 14–10 | 11–13 | — | 10–14 |

### Opening Day roster

Thursday, March 20, 2008, at Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
| Order | Player | Pos. |
| 1 | Naoto Watanabe | SS |
| 2 | Teppei Tsuchiya | CF |
| 3 | Daisuke Kusano | 3B |
| 4 | José Fernández | 1B |
| 5 | Takeshi Yamasaki | DH |
| 6 | Rick Short | LF |
| 7 | Koichi Isobe | RF |
| 8 | Yosuke Takasu | 2B |
| 9 | Akihito Fujii | C |
| — | Hisashi Iwakuma | P |

### Game log

2008 game log: 65–76–3 (Home: 37–34–1; Away: 28–42–2) :
March: 4–4 (Home: 2–0; Away: 2–4)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak
1March 20@ Hawks3–4Kume (1–0)Guzmán (0–1)—Yahoo Dome35,7220–1–0L1
2March 22@ Hawks4–5 (11)Nitkowski (1–0)Watanabe (0–1)—Yahoo Dome31,0140–2–0L2
3March 23@ Hawks0–4Oba (1–0)Asai (0–1)—Yahoo Dome31,6600–3–0L3
4March 25@ Buffaloes4–5Takagi (1–0)Ichiba (0–1)Kato (3)Kyocera Dome34,9110–4–0L4
5March 26@ Buffaloes11–0Nagai (1–0)Mitsuhara (0–1)—Kyocera Dome11,0521–4–0W1
6March 27@ Buffaloes2–0Iwakuma (1–0)Kaneko (1–1)—Kyocera Dome23,5472–4–0W2
7March 29Fighters7–2Tanaka (1–0)Hoshino (0–1)—Kleenex Stadium20,1893–4–0W3
8March 30Fighters3–1Asai (1–1)Glynn (0–2)Aoyama (1)Kleenex Stadium19,5184–4–0W4 :
April: 13–10 (Home: 11–1; Away: 2–9)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak
9April 1Marines7–4Koyama (1–0)Komiyama (0–2)Aoyama (2)Kleenex Stadium10,9275–4–0W5
10April 2Marines6–3Nagai (2–0)Shimizu (0–2)Aoyama (3)Kleenex Stadium14,2856–4–0W6
11April 3Marines9–1Iwakuma (2–0)Kubo (1–1)—Kleenex Stadium15,0187–4–0W7
12April 4@ Lions2–4Hoashi (1–0)Lin (0–1)Graman (2)Shikishima Stadium17,5997–5–0L1
13April 5@ Lions2–4Ishii (3–0)Tanaka (1–1)Onuma (1)Seibu Dome23,9027–6–0L2
14April 6@ Lions3–4Kinney (2–1)Asai (1–2)Graman (3)Seibu Dome18,2137–7–0L3
15April 8@ Fighters7–8Takeda (3–0)Lin (0–1)Nakamura (3)Sapporo Dome20,2577–8–0L4
16April 9@ Fighters2–4Yoshikawa (1–2)Nagai (2–1)Nakamura (4)Sapporo Dome19,0447–9–0L5
17April 10@ Fighters0–1Yu Darvish (3–0)Iwakuma (2–1)—Sapporo Dome25,1977–10–0L6
18April 11Buffaloes5–4 (10)Aoyama (1–0)Yamaguchi (1–1)—Kleenex Stadium10,6268–10–0W1
19April 12Buffaloes3–0Tanaka (2–1)Kondo (2–1)—Kleenex Stadium15,4569–10–0W2
20April 13Buffaloes12–6Asai (2–2)Kawagoe (1–2)—Kleenex Stadium12,87910–10–0W3
21April 15@ Marines6–7Ono (1–0)Nagai (2–2)Ogino (4)Chiba Marine Stadium17,33610–11–0L1
22April 16@ Marines1–2Shimizu (2–2)Guzmán (0–2)—Chiba Marine Stadium16,85310–12–0L2
23April 17@ Marines11–2Iwakuma (3–1)Kubo (1–3)—Chiba Marine Stadium9,21111–12–0W1
—April 19LionsPostponed (rain) – Makeup date: October 4Kleenex Stadium———
24April 20Lions3–4 (10)Iwasaki (1–0)Aoyama (1–1)Graman (6)Kleenex Stadium19,60111–13–0L1
25April 22Hawks4–3Asai (3–2)Powell (1–1)Aoyama (4)Kleenex Stadium11,79912–13–0W1
26April 23Hawks4–0Nagai (3–2)Otonari (2–3)—Kleenex Stadium12,35313–13–0W2
—April 24HawksPostponed (rain) – Makeup date: September 30Kleenex Stadium———
27April 25Fighters6–1Iwakuma (4–1)Yoshikawa (1–4)—Kleenex Stadium13,21314–13–0W3
28April 26Fighters6–1Guzmán (1–2)Fujii (1–2)—Kleenex Stadium16,82615–13–0W4
29April 27Fighters5–0Tanaka (3–1)Glynn (1–4)—Kleenex Stadium20,63416–13–0W5
30April 29@ Buffaloes1–2Yamaguchi (2–1)Asai (3–3)Kato (7)Kyocera Dome18,57116–14–0L1
31April 30@ Buffaloes5–4Koyama (2–0)Yamaguchi (2–2)—Kyocera Dome13,14617–14–0W1 :
May: 12–11 (Home: 7–6; Away: 5–5)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak
32May 1@ Buffaloes1–6Komatsu (3–0)Ichiba (0–2)—Skymark Stadium14,00317–15–0L1
33May 2@ Fighters1–5Tadano (1–0)Iwakuma (4–2)Nakamura (9)Sapporo Dome41,12417–16–0L2
34May 3@ Fighters5–12Sakamoto (1–1)Kawagishi (0–1)—Sapporo Dome40,08317–17–0L3
35May 4@ Fighters7–1Tanaka (4–1)Glynn (1–5)—Sapporo Dome42,12618–17–0W1
36May 5Hawks5–7 (11)Ogura (4–1)Koyama (2–1)Yanase (1)Kleenex Stadium20,57218–18–0L1
37May 6Hawks4–8Otonari (3–4)Nagai (3–3)—Kleenex Stadium20,88518–19–0L2
38May 7Hawks9–7Asai (4–3)Takeoka (0–1)Arime (1)Kleenex Stadium10,66719–19–0W1
39May 9@ Marines11–4Iwakuma (5–2)Ono (2–2)—Chiba Marine Stadium16,84920–19–0W2
—May 10@ MarinesPostponed (rain) – Makeup date: September 19Chiba Marine Stadium———
40May 11@ Marines1–6Shimizu (4–3)Tanaka (4–2)—Chiba Marine Stadium24,89220–20–0L1
41May 13Buffaloes2–8Kondo (3–4)Nagai (3–4)—Fukushima Azuma7,04120–21–0L2
—May 14BuffaloesPostponed (rain) – Makeup date: September 4Kleenex Stadium———
42May 15Buffaloes1–2Komatsu (4–0)Asai (4–4)Kato (10)Kleenex Stadium11,58120–22–0L3
43May 16Lions8–2Iwakuma (6–2)Kishi (4–2)—Kleenex Stadium12,05721–22–0W1
44May 17Lions3–2 (12)Kawagishi (1–1)Okamoto (0–1)—Kleenex Stadium14,26522–22–0W2
45May 18Lions3–7Hsu (1–0)Tanaka (4–3)—Kleenex Stadium20,25322–23–0L1
46May 20Dragons6–1Nagai (4–4)Ogasawara (4–3)—Kleenex Stadium12,96423–23–0W1
47May 21Dragons1–3Yamamoto (3–0)Asai (4–5)Iwase (13)Kleenex Stadium15,37223–24–0L1
48May 23BayStars7–5Iwakuma (7–2)Kobayashi (1–1)Koyama (1)Kleenex Stadium14,09124–24–0W1
49May 24BayStars2–1Guzmán (2–2)Oyamada (1–2)Koyama (2)Kleenex Stadium17,43525–24–0W2
50May 25@ Swallows10–2Tanaka (5–3)Kamada (0–1)—Meiji Jingu Stadium22,49126–24–0W3
51May 26@ Swallows5–4Nagai (5–4)Rios (2–6)Koyama (3)Meiji Jingu Stadium16,48327–24–0W4
52May 28@ Giants1–6Utsumi (3–3)Hasebe (0–1)—Tokyo Dome43,13227–25–0L1
53May 29@ Giants4–2Asai (5–5)Greisinger (5–3)Koyama (4)Tokyo Dome41,10628–25–0W1
54May 31Carp8–3Iwakuma (8–2)Takahashi (6–3)—Kleenex Stadium14,39329–25–0W2 :
June
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak :
July
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak :
August
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak :
September
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak :
October
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak :
Win  |     Loss  |     Tie  |     Postponement  |      = Interleague play Bold = Eagles team member :

## Player statistics
### Batting

2008 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles batting statistics :
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG | TB |
| Hideki Asai | 30 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | .111 | .111 | .111 | 1 |
| José Fernández | 142 | 541 | 81 | 163 | 40 | 0 | 18 | 99 | 5 | 53 | 78 | .301 | .368 | .475 | 257 |
| Akihito Fujii | 90 | 190 | 15 | 50 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | 18 | 25 | .263 | .329 | .300 | 57 |
| Domingo Guzmán | 23 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Kohei Hasebe | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Ryo Hijirisawa | 34 | 41 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 10 | .268 | .333 | .268 | 11 |
| Yosuke Hiraishi | 6 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .231 | .333 | .308 | 4 |
| Suguru Ino | 23 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .087 | .125 | .087 | 2 |
| Tadashi Ishimine | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Koichi Isobe | 46 | 124 | 6 | 29 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 12 | 16 | .234 | .300 | .250 | 31 |
| Hisashi Iwakuma | 28 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Hiroshi Katayama | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Kenshi Kawaguchi | 63 | 94 | 7 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 12 | 18 | .202 | .306 | .277 | 26 |
| Kazuyoshi Kimura | 9 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Daisuke Kusano | 118 | 328 | 36 | 89 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 36 | 2 | 20 | 33 | .271 | .321 | .345 | 113 |
| Shintaro Masuda | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Satoshi Nagai | 28 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Masato Nakamura | 49 | 144 | 15 | 42 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 14 | .292 | .346 | .396 | 57 |
| Toshiya Nakashima | 81 | 178 | 27 | 56 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 25 | 1 | 21 | 28 | .315 | .397 | .466 | 83 |
| Jin Nakatani | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1 |
| Wataru Nishimura | 9 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | .118 | .167 | .176 | 3 |
| Shoji Ohiro | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Yoshinori Okihara | 14 | 33 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | .242 | .265 | .273 | 9 |
| Fernando Seguignol$^†$ | 39 | 136 | 24 | 44 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 40 | 0 | 14 | 40 | .324 | .408 | .662 | 90 |
| Motohiro Shima | 85 | 196 | 20 | 45 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 4 | 16 | 40 | .230 | .288 | .296 | 58 |
| Tatsuya Shiokawa | 82 | 43 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 11 | .163 | .234 | .233 | 10 |
| Rick Short | 134 | 491 | 62 | 163 | 31 | 2 | 12 | 71 | 4 | 25 | 51 | .332 | .365 | .477 | 234 |
| Fumikazu Takanami | 51 | 19 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | .211 | .250 | .316 | 6 |
| Yosuke Takasu | 123 | 383 | 44 | 108 | 20 | 1 | 4 | 45 | 6 | 29 | 38 | .282 | .338 | .371 | 142 |
| Masahiro Tanaka | 25 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Teppei Tsuchiya | 124 | 422 | 52 | 114 | 29 | 6 | 5 | 56 | 5 | 42 | 52 | .270 | .345 | .403 | 170 |
| Kensuke Uchimura | 47 | 152 | 21 | 44 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 21 | .289 | .327 | .322 | 49 |
| Naoto Watanabe | 132 | 470 | 79 | 118 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 30 | 34 | 54 | 66 | .251 | .354 | .283 | 133 |
| Takeshi Yamasaki | 142 | 510 | 63 | 141 | 21 | 0 | 26 | 80 | 1 | 73 | 118 | .276 | .372 | .471 | 240 |
| Katsumi Yamashita | 33 | 78 | 13 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 19 | .256 | .318 | .333 | 26 |
| Takahiro Yamazaki | 14 | 39 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | .205 | .238 | .333 | 13 |
| Fuminori Yokogawa | 55 | 140 | 13 | 32 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 2 | 11 | 37 | .229 | .285 | .336 | 47 |
| Yuji Yoshioka | 12 | 16 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | .313 | .353 | .375 | 6 |
| Total：38 players | 1,937 | 4,880 | 627 | 1,329 | 232 | 18 | 94 | 604 | 101 | 439 | 777 | .272 | .340 | .385 | 1,879 |
    $^†$Denotes player joined the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.
    $^‡$Denotes player left the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.
    Bold/italics denotes best in the league

### Pitching

2008 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles pitching statistics :
| Player | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Koji Aoyama | 3 | 8 | 3.89 | 41 | 6 | 4 | 78.2 | 86 | 39 | 34 | 26 | 61 |
| Kanehisa Arime | 2 | 2 | 2.05 | 66 | 0 | 2 | 44 | 33 | 10 | 10 | 17 | 45 |
| Hideki Asai | 9 | 11 | 4.38 | 29 | 23 | 0 | 148 | 165 | 81 | 72 | 60 | 122 |
| Domingo Guzmán | 2 | 7 | 3.87 | 23 | 16 | 0 | 102.1 | 99 | 47 | 44 | 34 | 65 |
| Marcus Gwyn$^†$ | 1 | 1 | 3.86 | 19 | 0 | 3 | 18.2 | 21 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 16 |
| Kohei Hasebe | 1 | 4 | 9.93 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 35.1 | 56 | 41 | 39 | 22 | 23 |
| Yasuhiro Ichiba | 0 | 3 | 9.77 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 31.1 | 49 | 38 | 34 | 21 | 27 |
| Hisashi Iwakuma | 21 | 4 | 1.87 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 201.2 | 161 | 48 | 42 | 36 | 159 |
| Hiroshi Katayama | 2 | 7 | 3.65 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 79 | 70 | 35 | 32 | 35 | 71 |
| Tsuyoshi Kawagishi | 4 | 3 | 1.94 | 54 | 0 | 3 | 55.2 | 49 | 14 | 12 | 20 | 47 |
| Hisashi Kitani | 0 | 3 | 4.12 | 22 | 5 | 1 | 39.1 | 40 | 18 | 18 | 13 | 24 |
| Shinichiro Koyama | 3 | 5 | 3.72 | 54 | 0 | 4 | 67.2 | 58 | 29 | 28 | 25 | 71 |
| Lin Ying-chieh | 0 | 2 | 5.23 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10.1 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| Rui Makino$^‡$ | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Akira Matsumoto | 0 | 0 | 5.93 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 27.1 | 41 | 19 | 18 | 11 | 16 |
| Satoshi Nagai | 6 | 7 | 4.68 | 27 | 15 | 0 | 117.1 | 121 | 68 | 61 | 47 | 111 |
| Hisashi Ogura | 0 | 0 | 9.39 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 7.2 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 10 |
| Kenta Satake$^†$ | 2 | 0 | 2.14 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 22 |
| Hiroshi Sato | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Masahiro Tanaka | 9 | 7 | 3.49 | 25 | 24 | 1 | 172.2 | 171 | 71 | 67 | 54 | 159 |
| Koki Watanabe | 0 | 2 | 9.45 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 6.2 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 |
| Masaru Yoshizaki | 0 | 0 | 4.80 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 |
| Total：22 players | 65 | 76 | 3.89 | 522 | 144 | 18 | 1,281 | 1,283 | 607 | 553 | 456 | 1,064 |
    $^†$Denotes player joined the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.
    $^‡$Denotes player left the team mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Eagles only.
    Bold/italics denotes best in the league

## Awards and honors

Most Valuable Player Award
* Hisashi Iwakuma
Eiji Sawamura Award
* Hisashi Iwakuma
Nippon Life Monthly MVP Award
* Takeshi Yamasaki - March/April (batter)
* Hisashi Iwakuma - June (pitcher)
* Fernando Seguignol - September (batter)
Best Nine Award
* Hisashi Iwakuma - pitcher
* Rick Short - outfielder
Golden Spirit Award
* Hisashi Iwakuma
All-Star Series selections
* Hisashi Iwakuma - pitcher
* Masahiro Tanaka - pitcher
* Rick Short - infielder
* Takeshi Yamasaki - designated hitter
All-Star Series MVP
* Takeshi Yamasaki - Game 1
Nippon Life Award (Interleague play)
* Hisashi Iwakuma
Best Battery Award
* Hisashi Iwakuma and Akihito Fujii
JA Zen-Noh Go-Go Awards
    Good Catch Award (July)
   * Masato Nakamura (July 2)

## Farm team

Eastern League regular season standings :
| Team | G | W | L | T | Win% | GB | Home | Away |
| Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 96 | 55 | 34 | 7 | .618 | — | 35–10–3 | 20–24–4 |
| Yomiuri Giants | 96 | 58 | 36 | 2 | .617 | — | 29–15–1 | 29–21–1 |
| Shonan Searex | 96 | 50 | 43 | 3 | .538 | 7 | 23–24–1 | 27–19–2 |
| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 96 | 46 | 45 | 5 | .505 | 10 | 24–21–3 | 22–24–2 |
| Saitama Seibu Lions | 96 | 42 | 51 | 3 | .452 | 15 | 23–25–2 | 19–26–1 |
| Chiba Lotte Marines | 96 | 37 | 53 | 6 | .411 | 18½ | 21–24–3 | 16–29–3 |
| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 96 | 33 | 61 | 2 | .351 | 24½ | 22–26–1 | 11–35–1 |

## Nippon Professional Baseball draft

2008 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Draft selections :
| Round | Name | Position | Affiliation | Signed? |
| 1 | Hiromichi Fujiwara | Pitcher | NTT Nishi Nippon | Yes |
| 2 | Taishi Nakagawa | Infielder | Sakuragaoka High School | Yes |
| 3 | Ryohei Isaka | Pitcher | Nippon Steel Kashima | Yes |
| 4 | Yusuke Inoue | Pitcher | Aoyama Gakuin University | Yes |
| 5 | Yusuke Kusuki | Outfielder | Panasonic | Yes |
| 6 | Wataru Karashima | Pitcher | Iizuka High School | Yes |
| Development players |||||
| 1 | Jobu Morita | Infielder | Kagawa Olive Guyners | Yes |