Veteran Masahiro Tanaka (36), who is on the verge of winning his fourth U.S.-Japan 200th career victory in history, announced a shocking breakup with his team of 17 years.

Japanese media Sports Hochi reported on the 25th, "Tanaka announced that he has decided to find a new team without renewing his contract with the Rakuten Golden Eagles."

Tanaka made the remarks by posting a video on his YouTube channel on the previous day. After announcing his retirement, Tanaka sighed and said, "I am grateful to the club officials, coaching staff, and teammates who have helped me so far." "I was happy when I returned to Rakuten in the Major League, and I wanted to win, but I couldn't."

Tanaka only pitched in one game this season. Since he underwent elbow surgery in October last year, he has rarely seen his physical condition improve, and he has not been able to show up throughout the season. He played against the Orix Buffaloes on Sept. 28, right before the game ended, and became the losing pitcher by allowing six hits, one strikeout and four runs in five innings.메이저놀이터

Although he hardly performed well, Rakuten expressed its intention to renew his contract with Tanaka. However, rumors circulated that he would be cut more than 40 percent of his salary, which is estimated at 260 million yen (2.36 billion won). It was unacceptable to him, who received 900 million yen (about 8.1 billion won) when he returned to Rakuten in 2021, and he eventually decided to release him.

Tanaka once reigned supreme as Japan's best pitcher. After graduating from high school, he joined Rakuten in 2007 and became a rookie of the year in the Pacific League with 11 wins, 7 losses and 196 strikeouts with a 3.82 ERA. Since then, he has steadily improved his performance and participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 and 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Tanaka, in particular, showed outstanding performance in 2013. He played 212 innings in 28 games, recording 24 wins and no losses with one save and 183 strikeouts with an ERA of 1.27. He had multiple wins, one win rate and one earned run average, and 28 consecutive wins were a bonus. He led his team to victory with his fighting spirit of "save" the day after his complete defeat in the Japanese Series.

Amid such performances, Tanaka entered the U.S. stage by signing a seven-year, 155 million-dollar contract with the New York Yankees of the Major League Baseball (MLB) ahead of the 2014 season. Having won 13 games in his first year, he played as an ace by winning double-digit wins for six consecutive years until 2019. After winning 78 games with the Yankees for seven years, he surprised everyone by deciding to return to Rakuten after the end of the 2020 season.

In his first season back in 2021, Tanaka won just four games (nine losses), but pitched well with a 3.01 ERA over 155 ⅔ innings. He had no luck with his 9-12 record the following year, but posted a 3.31 ERA. However, his ERA soared to 4.91 last year, and disappeared this year after being put on the operating table.

Tanaka has strong will to extend his athletic career. He has 119 wins in Japan and 78 wins in the U.S. so far this year, with a total of 197 wins. If he adds three more wins, he will become the fourth player to achieve this record after Hideo Nomo (2005), Hiroki Kuroda (2016), and Yu Darvish (2024).

Japanese media RONSPO reported that Tanaka is not as fast as he is in his prime, but he has good control of folk balls and sliders. "He has good pitching capability, so the Central League is better suited than the Pacific League." As the Central League does not have a designated hitter system, it is more advantageous for pitchers. "Five teams other than the Hanshin Tigers are expected to compete."