# 2019 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles season

The 2019 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles season was the fifteenth season of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles franchise. The Eagles played their home games at Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi in the city of Sendai as members of Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League. The team was led by Yosuke Hiraishi in his first and only season as team manager.
Rakuten finished the season with a record of 71–68–4, securing third place in the PL and qualifying for the Climax Series. They were eliminated by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the First Stage in three games.

## Regular season standings

2019 Pacific League regular season standings :
| # | Team | GTooltip Games played | W | L | T | Pct. | GBTooltip Games behind | Home | Road |
| 1 | Saitama Seibu Lions | 143 | 80 | 62 | 1 | .563 | - | 43–29–0 | 37–33–1 |
| 2 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 143 | 76 | 62 | 5 | .551 | 2 | 42–27–3 | 34–35-2 |
| 3 | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 143 | 71 | 68 | 4 | .511 | 7½ | 36–33–2 | 35–35–2 |
| 4 | Chiba Lotte Marines | 143 | 69 | 70 | 4 | .504 | 9½ | 37–32–2 | 32–38–2 |
| 5 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 143 | 65 | 73 | 5 | .471 | 12 | 35–34–3 | 30–39–2 |
| 6 | Orix Buffaloes | 143 | 61 | 75 | 7 | .452 | 14 | 32–34–5 | 29–41–2 |

### Record vs. opponents

2019 record vs. opponents :
| Team | Buffaloes | Eagles | Fighters | Hawks | Lions | Marines | CL |
| Buffaloes | — | 12–12–1 | 8–15–2 | 7–16–2 | 8–17 | 15–9–1 | 11–6–1 |
| Eagles | 12–12–1 | — | 13–11–1 | 12–13 | 14–11 | 10–13–2 | 10–8 |
| Fighters | 15–8–2 | 11–13–1 | — | 9–15–1 | 11–14 | 11–14 | 8–9–1 |
| Hawks | 16–7–2 | 13–12 | 15–9–1 | — | 13–12 | 8–17 | 11–5–2 |
| Lions | 17–8 | 11–14 | 14–11 | 12–13 | — | 16–8–1 | 10–8 |
| Marines | 9–15–1 | 13–10–2 | 14–11 | 17–8 | 8–16–1 | — | 8–10 |

### Interleague

2019 regular season interleague standings :
| # | Team | GTooltip Games played | W | L | T | Pct. | GBTooltip Games behind | Home | Road |
| 1 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | .688 | — | 5–2–2 | 6–3 |
| 2 | Orix Buffaloes | 18 | 11 | 6 | 1 | .647 | .5 | 5–3–1 | 6–3 |
| 3 | Yomiuri Giants | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | .611 | 1 | 5–4 | 6–3 |
| 4 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | .588 | 1.5 | 6–3 | 4–4–1 |
| 5 | Saitama Seibu Lions | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | .556 | 2 | 5–4 | 5–4 |
| 6 | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | .556 | 2 | 4–5 | 6–3 |
| 7 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 18 | 8 | 9 | 1 | .471 | 3.5 | 5–3–1 | 3–6 |
| 8 | Chunichi Dragons | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | .444 | 4 | 4–5 | 4–5 |
| 9 | Chiba Lotte Marines | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | .444 | 4 | 3–6 | 5–4 |
| 10 | Hanshin Tigers | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | .375 | 5 | 3–6 | 3–4–2 |
| 11 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | .333 | 6 | 3–6 | 3–6 |
| 12 | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 18 | 5 | 12 | 1 | .294 | 6.5 | 2–7 | 3–5–1 |

### Opening Day starting roster

Friday, March 29, 2019, vs. Chiba Lotte Marines
| Order | Player | Position |
| 1 | Kazuki Tanaka | Center fielder |
| 2 | Eigoro Mogi | Shortstop |
| 3 | Hideto Asamura | Second baseman |
| 4 | Hiroaki Shimauchi | Left fielder |
| 5 | Zelous Wheeler | Third baseman |
| 6 | Ginji Akaminai | First baseman |
| 7 | Jabari Blash | Designated hitter |
| 8 | Motohiro Shima | Catcher |
| 9 | Louis Okoye | Right fielder |
| — | Takayuki Kishi | Starting pitcher |