Hankyu/Orix (1936–2004) Hankyu Braves The franchise that eventually became the Orix Buffaloes was founded in 1936 under the ownership of a Japanese railway company , as . Later nicknamed the
Hankyu Braves, it was one of the first professional baseball teams in Japan, and the oldest surviving team in the
Pacific League. In the early 1950s, the franchise made a dedicated effort to attract foreign talent, particularly
African-American veterans of
Negro league baseball, including infielders
John Britton and
Larry Raines, and pitchers
Jimmy Newberry and
Jonas Gaines. These players were the first Americans other than
Wally Yonamine to play
Nippon Professional Baseball after
World War II. Starting in the mid-1960s, the Braves became one of the dominant teams not only in the
Pacific League but in all of Japanese professional baseball. Between 1967 and 1972, the Hankyu Braves won the Pacific League pennant five times but lost the Japan Series each time against the
Yomiuri Giants. Manager
Yukio Nishimoto was known as "the great manager in tragedy" because of those losses. But the Hankyu Braves won Japan Series three times in a row from 1975, against the Tokyo Giants in 1976 and 1977, led by manager
Toshiharu Ueda. At that time, many good players in Japanese baseball history played for the Hankyu Braves, including pitcher
Hisashi Yamada and outfielder
Yutaka Fukumoto. In the 1980s, the team still was a strong contender in the Pacific League, but lost the PL pennant to the
Seibu Lions every year except 1984; that year, the Braves fell to the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the Japan Series in seven games. On October 19, 1988, Hankyu Railway sold the franchise to the lease company Orient Lease (since 1989 known as Orix Group), in what was known as "the longest day of the Pacific League". The reason is that when the franchise sale occurred, the
Kintetsu Buffaloes played the legendary "10.19" double-header for the Pacific League pennant, only to miss the pennant out because of the second game ending in a tie. For Kintetsu to win the pennant, they had to win both games in the doubleheader against the
Lotte Orions. The sale was a surprise; at that time, it was much rarer for a Japanese professional baseball team to change owners, not to mention for a large company to sell one of its parts. In that case, Hankyu Railway was thought of as one of the big companies that would never need to do such a thing. The sale was also a surprise, given that prior to Hankyu founder
Ichizo Kobayashi's death in 1957, he decreed that under any circumstances, Hankyu must never sell the Braves and the
Takarazuka Revue, both of which were passion projects of his. As it turned out, however, the Braves had to be sold in order for Hankyu to keep the Revue afloat. The sale was not without two assurances: the team name would remain "Braves", and the franchise would stay in
Nishinomiya. During the first two years of new ownership, the team was known as the
Orix Braves and played in Nishinomiya.
BlueWave In 1991, the team moved to
Kobe and became the
Orix BlueWave. Orix put out a poll to decide the new name, and unsurprisingly, people voted Braves. It was said that Orix put out another poll and told fans "Braves" was not allowed. What made it worse was in that second poll, "Thunder" was the winning name, which fit the new color scheme (when Orix bought the team, they changed their colors from black and red to navy blue and gold), and because the team's batting lineup was named . But, Orix went with "BlueWave". Longtime fans were shocked by these changes. One member of the Braves' cheering squad (応援団
ouendan) said that "the race was decided before the gun even went off". Another thing that did not make sense to fans was they were named BlueWave while playing in then-named Green Stadium (now
Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium) in a city whose official color is green. However, since Nishinomiya and Kobe are close to one another, and the new home field of the team was better than the old one, most fans accepted the move, although with some nostalgia for the historic "Braves" name. The team was sometimes called by fans and the baseball media, which means "blue wave" in Japanese. Led by
Ichiro Suzuki in 1995 and 1996, the Orix BlueWave won the Pacific League pennant. In 1996, they also won the
Japan Series. In 2001, Suzuki moved to the
Seattle Mariners and led the Mariners to a
116 win season, the most wins by an
American League team.
Orix Buffaloes (2005–present) Following the
2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment, the BlueWave merged with the
Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. The team struggled since its merger, only finishing in the top half (or A Class) of the Pacific league once from 2005 to 2013. In 2008, The Buffaloes finished second in the Pacific League, going 75–68–1 and finishing games behind the
Saitama Seibu Lions, but were swept by the
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at home in the first stage of the
Climax Series. After two seasons of finishing last in the Pacific League, they finished first in 2021, going 70–55–18. They swept the
Chiba Lotte Marines in the final stage of the Climax Series to make their first Japan Series appearance since 1996. Ultimately, they were defeated by the
Tokyo Yakult Swallows in six games. In 2022, despite a rough start to the season, the Buffaloes finished 1st after a 5–2 win over the
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on the final day of the Pacific League regular season, combined with the
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks losing to the Marines, 5–2, at the same time the game was happening, and also because they had 5 more wins against the Hawks during the regular season, 15–10. The Buffaloes would defeat the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the Final Stage of the 2022 Pacific League Climax Series, 4 games to 1, which set up a rematch of the previous year's Japan Series, but this time the Buffaloes exacted revenge on the Swallows, defeating them 4 games to 2. Following that campaign,
Masataka Yoshida requested to be posted to MLB, and signed with the
Boston Red Sox that offseason. In 2023, an 86-53-4 record yielded them their third straight Pacific League pennant, alongside Yamamoto winning his 3rd consecutive Triple Crown. They swept the
Chiba Lotte Marines in the final stage of the Climax Series to make their third Japan Series appearance. However, the Buffaloes were defeated by the
Hanshin Tigers in seven games.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto's posting to MLB proved to be too much for the Buffaloes to handle, as without their legendary ace, the Buffaloes fell to a record of 63-77-3, ending the year in fifth place. Following that season, manager
Satoshi Nakajima announced he was stepping down after he failed to guide the Buffaloes to their fourth straight pennant. He was replaced with
Mamoru Kishida. ==Current roster==