eBASEBALL Prosperity A League ("SpiLeague"), a professional baseball e-sports league using the mobile game "PUROYAKYU SPIRITS A" as the competition title, has been launched in cooperation with the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization and Konami Digital Entertainment. The "Prospey A-League (hereinafter referred to as "Spi League")" is a collaboration between the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization and Konami Digital Entertainment, and has attracted much attention for the fact that a number of prominent players, including Mitsuru Manaka, who has managed the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, and Tomoya Satosaki, who represented Japan in the first World Baseball Classic and won the world championship, have been appointed as managers for each team. The Nogizaka Baseball Club has been appointed as a special supporter of the SpiLeague 2023 season! In addition, " Never say never, " sung by the members of the Nogizaka Baseball Club, has been chosen as the cheering song for the tournament.
Nogizaka Baseball Club becomes a special supporter of the Spi League 2023 season!
Among the idol group Nogizaka46, five members of the Nogizaka Baseball Club - Fiori Kubo, Hazuki Mukai, Saya Kanekawa, Akika Kuromi, and Yuzuna Shibata - are known for their love of baseball and will be special supporters of the SpiLeague 2023 season! During the league, they will appear in e-Pennant Races, e-Japan Series and other events to liven up the competition.
In addition, the song "Never say never" from Nogizaka46's 32nd single "Hito wa Yume ni Nidukumaru" released in March 2023 has been chosen as the supporting song for the tournament!
Comment from Akika Kuromi of Nogizaka46
PR TIMESEver since I was a junior high school student, I've been playing the game every day, whether it's during my lunch break when I'm excited or when I'm down in the dumps.... I've been playing "Professional Baseball Spirits A" with excitement every day since I was a junior high school student. Last year, for the first time, the baseball-loving Sakamichi members of Nogizaka46, Sakurazaka46, and Hyuhizaka46 served as "Special Supporters of the Spi League 2022 Season. This year, we, the members of Nogizaka46, will be cheering on the players who are fighting hard with all our might along with "Never say never," the cheering song for the tournament sung by the Nogizaka Baseball Club! As supporters, we will be joining you in the excitement of the tournament! We will do our best to bring you the exciting attraction of the SpiLeague: the bonds between teams, the courage of players taking on challenges, smiles and tears. Whether you are a fellow Pro Spi player or a newcomer to the league, we hope you will join us in cheering on and enjoying the exciting and passionate games!
More details on the outline of the Spi League are coming soon!
The "12-team entrance test" for the 2023 season of the Spi League will finally begin...! First, the "Online Qualifying Round to Determine the Team Representatives" will be held from 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 3, 2023 to 2:59 p.m. on Sunday, September 10, 2023. The top qualifiers from each team will then advance to online interviews. The eight players who pass the interviews will advance to the final round on October 7 (Sat.) and 8 (Sun.), 2023, where up to three players from each team will be selected to represent their team.
For the 2023 SpiLeague season, five new SpiLeague directors have been appointed as new SpiLeague directors. This season will see another intense battle between all 12 teams.
- Hiroshima: Soichiro Amaya, manager
- Giants: Hideki Okajima
- Yakult: Mitsuru Manaka
- Chunichi: Kazuki Yoshimi
- DeNA: Manager Yukihiro Ishikawa
- Hanshin: Shinjiro Hiyama, manager
- Softbank: Masahiko Morifuku, Manager
- Rakuten: Ryo Kiyosawa, manager
- Nippon Ham: Shinya Tsuruoka, manager
- Seibu: Tomoki Takahashi, manager
- Lotte: Tomoya Satosaki, manager
- Orix: Mitsutaka Goto, Manager
In addition, each of the 12 teams will have a "Spirit League Manager" for the 2023 Spirit League season. The manager will be in charge of distributing the team's information and will be in charge of communicating the team's appeal through SNS and video.
Applications for the position of "Spirit League Manager" will be accepted from Wednesday, August 30 to Tuesday, September 12, 2023 via the application form. There are application requirements such as YouTube account required and past distribution experience, etc. Please see the special page for the application for SpiLeague Manager for more details.
The Spi League 2023 season begins on Saturday, November 11, 2023! The eJapan Series to determine the best in Japan is scheduled for Saturday, December 23, 2023! For more information, please visit the SpiLeague special site and official X (@eBASEBALL_Pro )!