M-League 2023-24: Mid-Season Review

We’re exactly at the halfway point of the season and the fight for the top shows no sign of cooling off! Today, we’ll look at how each team is progressing and figure out what each team can do to succeed going forward.

1st: Kadokawa Sakura Knights (353.4pts)

Record: 15-13-9-11, 353.4pts

After being the winners in the 2021-22 season and then changing their lineup in the offseason, they wanted to see where this lineup would take them. They did okay during the regular season, but dropped the ball in the semifinals to be eliminated. The lineup showed promise, so they chose to give it another go this season.

The team started with a fairly even score and a fairly even record in the first two weeks, but then started moving downwards in October. With the first three weeks of October giving negative results, the team fell to the bottom of the standings with a 38.89% 4th place rate.

Through the end of October and into early November, things started to turn around. Okada’s two games to finish the last full week of the month pushed the team up by 86.2pts, followed by a 1st by her and three 2nds by her teammates the next week to gain +141.3pts and be the top gainers for the week. By the end of Week 7, they were back in the positives.

After some rinshan madness from Uchikawa around mid-November, the team’s next big break came near the end of the month. On November 24, Hori was sent to play two games and he ended up victorious in both. With a whopping +192.6pts gain that week (the best single-week gain by a team so far this season), the team flew up to 2nd place. With another positive week right after, the team rose up to 1st place.

After their rise to the top, the small fall began. In mid-December, the team had three 3rds and a 4th to make the team lose -119.6pts and fall out of top spot. In the last two games before the midway point, however, Uchikawa was able the team’s second double duty daily double and get the team to 353.4pts, reaching the middle of the season in 1st place.

Next Steps

The team is currently on one of their best runs yet, sitting in 1st place with +353.4pts by the midway point. They are the only team with all four players in the positives.

One thing the team is doing well is staying dama, accounting for just under a fifth of their hands won. If they can continue to utilize the sneak attack, they will get into the heads of their opponents and rake in the points.

Though Uchikawa has has the lowest score out of all the players on the team, his improvement and momentum has been visible, from his two rinshan wins to his dama wins on a west tanki. With a few more games, this team captain can earn the team even more points.

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2nd: Akasaka Drivens (243.6pts)

Record: 12-14-13-9, 243.6pts

Going into the 2022-23 season, the Akasaka Drivens knew that they were in trouble. If the team didn’t make the finals, then the team would be forced to change their lineup. Though they tried hard to prevent it from happening, the team ended up in 7th place, failing to make the finals and forced to change. The team dropped Murakami Jun and Maruyama Kanako from the team and replaced them with two other Saikouisen members, Women’s A-Leaguer Asami Maki and 3-time Tenhoui Watanabe Futoshi.

Though they had a new look, the team fell into familiar negative territory in the first week with a -63.4pts performance and fell to the bottom of the rankings. From there, things started to look up. In the 2nd week, the team got their first 1st from newcomer Asami Maki and the team was back in the positives. They added onto that in Week 3 to move into 3rd place in the standings.

They stayed floating in the double digits over the next two weeks, having highlights along the way like Futoshi’s emotional first 1st. Then, in the 6th week, the team had two 4ths and lost -128.7pts, falling all the way down to 7th place.

After the 8th week, things started to go extremely well for the Akasaka Drivens. In their past 20 games, they avoided 4th in all of these games and won 6 of them. In just 5 weeks, they went all the way up to almost +300.0pts and jumped from 7th to 1st place, the first time they were in the top spot since November 26, 2020. Week 13 had the team being the best performers and they are now in 2nd place in the overall standings with +243.6pts. On the individual side, Futoshi has the best 4th place avoidance rate and Sonoda is 2nd for score with +271.5pts.

Next Steps

With the new team motivation, they seem to be improving. In particular, Futoshi’s strong digital playstyle and Tenhou experience has put him at the top of the 4th place avoidance rankings. Combined with the powers of 1st-ranked Sonoda, the team can go even further.

However, we shouldn’t discount the strengths of Asami and Taro. Asami has beat her female competitors 7/9 times and Taro has the best average hand value on the team. If the team can strategically deploy them, the team may become the champions they were five years ago.

In terms of raw points (points ignoring placement bonuses), the team is doing the best in the league. If they can utilize their hand scoring abilities with their placement situational awareness, they can get more points from uma and drive forward even stronger.

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3rd: U-Next Pirates (210.2pts)

Record: 15-13-9-11, 210.2pts

After being forced to change their roster two years ago, they got their first taste UK combination last season. Though they got close, the team ended up just missing the cut in the semifinals. It’s too early to cut either of the two and the two veterans were doing well, so the team kept their lineup, knowing that they will be forced to change their crew if they don’t make the semifinals this season.

During the first few weeks, the team stayed fairly even. With a 3/3/1/3 record after the first three weeks, the team had a nice small score of 6.9pts. In Week 4, the team had three wins in a row (including a UK Daily Double) to gain them +177.7pts and move them into 2nd place overall.

After losing a bit a week after that, they had a big fall in Week 6. Dealing in 5 times in a single game and not winning a single hand, Mizuhara had her worst game ever with a -33,700 last place. Unable to get a 1st place that week to recover the losses, the team ended up losing losing -149.6pts and being the worst performer of the week.

The 7th week was good with a triple-digit gain and another daily double, but the 8th week was even better. In the 61st game of the season, Mizuhara had her redemption and won 7/12 of the hands in her game to finish with 70,900, the best score so far this season. By the end of the 8th week, they were the week’s winners with a +139.4pts gain. The team also broke the Konami stronghold and were now at the top of the standings.

From there, the team stalled, but they still remained in the 200.0pts range. By the midway point of the season, the team had +210.2pts and sit in 3rd place. In the individual standings, both Yu and Mizuhara sit in the top 5 and Mizuhara has the highest hanchan score this season of 70,900.

Next Steps

Typically, the U-Next Pirates perform comparatively better in the second half than they do in the first. However, such trends do not come without hard work. They must not let their guard down. They have to keep playing aggressively and outwit their opponents to gain points.

Being overly aggressive and calling a lot, however, can give a team worse results than they expect. Despite having the same 15-13-9-11 record as the Kadokawa Sakura Knights, the teams are separated by 143.2pts. This is because they have the lowest average hand value in the league. If the U-Next Pirates can also exercise a bit of patience, they will be more efficient in their games.

Though Kobayashi is the team captain and the perennial point getter for the team, he seems to be having a lot of trouble this season so far, with almost half of his games being 4ths. If he continues to provide support and wisdom to the team, his three other teammates can continue to succeed and impress.

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4th: Konami Mahjong Fight Club (204.2pts)

Record: 11-13-18-6, 204.2pts

In the previous season, the team finally got their first taste of prize money in the team’s history, finishing 2nd overall for a juicy 20 million yen. With excellent results and being just one step away from the championship, they kept their team.

The excitement and energy seemed to carry over from last season to this season. In the first three weeks, the team kept winning, being the top team each week. On the Day 10, the team was the first to get a daily double. By the end of September, two of their players were in the top 3 and three in the top 6. By the end of the third week, they had had 60% of their games being 1sts and had a score of +358.7pts.

From their quick and rapid high, they stalled a bit. They had some small losses for two weeks, but their explosive start let them keep the top spot. At the end of October, they had another triple-digit week with three 2nds and a 1st, helping them break the 400.0pts barrier. Unfortunately, it took them just a week to erase that gain with a -174.2pts loss and were passed by the U-Next Pirates a week later.

From there, the team stayed fairly level, gaining what they lost and losing what they gained. By the midway point of the season, they have a 187.8pts score and a 12.5% 4th place rate, the lowest in the league. In the 4th place avoidance side, both Takizawa and Takamiya sit in the top 5.

Next Steps

Despite their shortcomings after the first three weeks, we know and have seen a taste of the power that the team is capable of. If the team can continue their excellent 4th place avoidance rate while returning to their high win rate at the start of the season, they will rise back to their season highs and beyond.

The team has the highest riichi rate and lowest call rate in the league. However, based on their ryuukyoku gain value, their riichi calls aren’t causing enough folding and they are not calling enough to be tenpai at draw. If they can figure out a way to force more pressure on their opponents, the exhaustive draws will prove to be more valuable.

No player on the team is having much trouble, so a balanced approach can help everyone show their strength and get some rest, leading to better results.

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5th: EX Furinkazan (57.9pts)

Record: 14-11-7-16, 57.9pts

The did extremely well in the regular season and the semifinals of last season, being 1st place going into the finals. Unfortunately, the team had four 4ths in a row and ended up in 4th place, just outside of the prize money. Aside from that small (but impactful) hiccup, the team was strong and they kept the group together for this season.

That hiccup from the finals seemed to carry on into the start of the season, causing them to have negative results in their first three weeks. By the end of those three weeks, half of their games were 4ths and they were at the very bottom of the standings.

After two weeks of stalling, they had their first glimmer of hope in Week 6. On that Monday, Katsumata won 5 hands (including three mangans) to finish with a score of 69,400, the highest score of the season at the time. With a 1st place by Matsugase later that week, the team gained +109.3pts to be the best team of the week.

Despite a drop during the month transition, the month of November gave them one of their best performances ever. Though it was Nikaido Aki’s birthday month, it was Nikaido Rumi who had all the luck. All three of the games she played had her scoring over 45,000 and was November’s MVP. For the team, they had triple-digit gains from Weeks 8 to 10. Starting the month at -91.1pts, the team ended the month with +291.3pts and were now at the top of the standings.

The start of December was a nightmare with four straight 4ths and a -246.3pts loss, getting them close to 0.0pts in one fell swoop. The team recovered some of those points in the days following and now sit at the midway point with 57.9pts. On the individual standings side, Katsumata sits on top with +284.9pts.

Next Steps

All four players are separated by at least 130pts and and 11 ranks between them. Despite this, each player clearly has their own strengths. Katsumata can win consistently, Rumi can win big, Aki is the best at getting dealer repeats and Matsugase has done well since he came on the team.

Matsugase seems to be having an off-season this time around, however, sitting second-last in the standings. If the bad luck doesn’t seem to wear off in his next few games, taking a short break and letting the other three take the lead may be the best course of action. If he does start winning, let him run.

The team has the highest average win value, but are in the middle of the pack in win percentage and in the lower third for deal-in rate. If they can win more hands, even small ones, their ranking will surely improve. If they can avoid unnecessary risks and not deal in while holding hopeless hands, they can minimize their losses to just tenpai payments.

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6th: Shibuya Abemas (-57.4pts)

Record: 11-14-9-14, -57.4pts

After four straight years of 3rd place, the Shibuya Abemas finally won their first championship last year and are now the league’s prize money leader. With hopes of continued success, they kept all their players. However, team coach and M-League chairman Fujita Susumu decided to step down from his coaching position and his spot was filled in by Tsukamoto Yasutaka, ABEMA’s sports and entertainment director and former pro with Saikouisen.

In the very first game of the season, Matsumoto stepped forward and won, showing the rest of the field why they are the defending champions. Unfortunately, that was the only highlight for the rest of September as they got four 4ths in their first six games and were at the bottom of the standings at the end of the month.

Things started to get much more positive in October. In Week 5, the team gained +73.2pts to be the best performing team of the week. In Week 6, they bettered that with a +96.7pts performance to bring them back into the positives. A week after that, they tied the Sakura Knights for the best performer of the week with a +141.3pts gain. In their 16 games during the month, they only lost a single game. Shiratori in particular did very well, gaining +197.5pts and being the MVP of the month.

November was an odd month for the team. Most of the time, Ooi plays poorly during the month, so he decided not to play at all. With all the pressure placed on the rest of the team, the team had a bit of trouble. A week after their best performance of the season, they failed to get a single 1st and were the worst performers of the week with a -112.6pts loss and they drop more through the rest of the month.

Going into December, the slipping continued, going with a record of 1/2/3/2 so far this month. The team currently sits just above the cutoff in 6th place with -57.4pts.

Next Steps

Despite having only a small negative score, this start is one of the worst seasons that the team has had. One reason may be the month of November, the month that Ooi took off because he always plays poorly in November. However, now with November long over, the team can get back to its classic balanced lineup.

With Ooi having the best score on the team with the highest win rate in the league and 3rd-best deal in rate, one may suggest that he should play more games. However, history has proven that an overreliance on Ooi will cause the team to start falling again. Instead Ooi should, as team captain, should help coach his teammates, teaching them more and helping them become better players without him going onto the field himself. As he builds up his teammates, the team will succeed.

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7th: Team Raiden (-118.3pts)

Record: 10-13-15-10, -118.3pts

After getting making their first finals appearance in the team’s history last season with a 3rd place finish, the team had high hopes for the future. With their results, they decided to keep their current lineup to pursue the top prize.

In the first day of the season, team captain Hagiwara had a yakuman tenpai that ended up being a dealer haneman and a great finisher to lead the team to a 1st place. Sitting in 1st place in the standings after Day 1, they carried this electric energy over the next few weeks. By the end of the third week, 2/3 games were either 1sts or 2nds and had an 8.33% 4th place rate.

Through most of October, they were unable to get any 1sts, going three weeks without one and being the worst-performing team in Week 5 with a -87.9pts loss. Though they got a 1st place near the end of October, the team still fell more and more, moving into the negatives by the end of the month.

In November, things started to turn around. On November 3, Honda and Kurosawa both got 1sts to give the team their first daily double of the season and their first positive week in almost a month. With small gains continuing over the next three weeks, the team went back to the positives and broke into the podium once again.

Around the end of November and going into December, a turn for the worst. In their 8 games during Weeks 10 and 11, the team had a record of 0/1/3/4 and lost a total of -294.1pts, plunging them below the cutoff and solidly into 7th place. From there, they recovered some of their losses, having two positive weeks going into the season’s midway point.

Next Steps

Despite the improvement compared to the two seasons ago, the team is still in elimination position and the only team to not be a week winner. With nine team this season, the cutoff will be higher than previous seasons.

The team has the second-lowest win rate and lowest ryuukyoku point rate, but their deal-in rate does not reflect it. With some improvement in their folding judgement and determining safety, they can keep more points and gain even more.

The player that is definitely showing the most improvement is Hagiwara Masato. Despite having a small negative point total, he has a positive record and more 1sts this season than the entire 2022-23 season. With a few more games, he can move into positive territory and become the team’s breadwinner.

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8th: Sega Sammy Phoenix (-347.3pts)

Record: 9-14-13-12, -347.3pts

In the 2021-22 season, the team finished in 2nd place and wanted to continue the positive results. Unfortunately, the next season was their worst season yet with -517.4pts and in 8th place. During the off-season, Kondo Seiichi stepped down as a player and replaced Yoshino Shinichi as team manager. To replace Kondo, the team drafted Saikouisen A-Leaguer Daigo Hiroshi.

In the first three weeks, the team had a lot of trouble. The first two weeks went by without a 1st place and were the last ones to get one and they finished the third week with another result. However, they had relatively few 4ths as well to keep them from falling too far.

The team had positive results in their next two weeks, but started their fall again Week 6, nearly erasing their gains in the previous two weeks. Week 7 was disastrous for the team. Though Tojo and Kayamori tried their hardest, they ended up with four 4ths with the best score during them being 600. With the -268.9pts drop, they needed any sort of improvement to get out, but they just couldn’t find it. After their last win on October 13, it took them a whole month before they could get another on November 13th. From Weeks 8-10, they kept losing and losing, hitting the -400pts mark, then -500pts and then within 0.2pts of -600pts on game 81.

Sitting at such a low spot, the team started turning around. At the end of the November, they had their first 1st in two weeks and avoided 4th, getting their first positive week since mid-October. On December 5, the team had back-to-back 1sts by Daigo and Uotani, the first time the team had a daily double since January 3, 2022. The team would go on to be the week winners from their performance and continue their positive run heading into the midway point of the regular season.

Next Steps

Though there is renewed hope and confidence for the team with Kondo being the coach and Daigo now on the team, the results don’t seem to be panning out right now. They are currently the only team to not have at least 10 wins.

However, the team is currently on a positive run, losing only once and winning five times in their past 14 games. Continuing this positive run will be the key to escaping the depths. Recently, Tojo has been doing well and Uotani has had her best run since the 2019-20 season. With the two of them taking the lead and Daigo and Kayamori playing support, the team will be in contention for a playoff spot.

Looking at the team’s stats, the team has the lowest dora rate in the league. To gain more points, keeping more dora will help them win bigger hands. However, they also have to make sure that hoarding dora does not interfere with their ability to form their hands. Having a good balance will help make sure that their big hands are viable.

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9th: Beast Japanext (-546.3pts)

Record: 11-4-15-18, -546.3pts

Soon after the M-League 2022-23 season ended, BSJapanext announced that they would be creating a new M-League team, later announced to be named the Beast Japanext. To hype up the team, they had an entire audition and tournament to figure out who would be the first player to be confirmed on the team. After 8 players were chosen, Sugawara Hiroe (JPML) came out victorious. During the draft, they chose JPML A-Leaguer Sarukawa Masatoshi as the team captain, shogi 9-dan Suzuki Daisuke (JPML) as the third pick and former Nogizaka46 idol Nakada Kana (JPML) as their fourth pick.

In the team’s first three games, the ura 3 hands by Sarukawa and Daisuke looked nice, but the two 3rds by Sarukawa and a 4th place by Daisuke were the only scores that really mattered. On the team’s fourth game, audition winner Sugawara got the team’s first 1st. Unfortunately, this would be the team’s only 1st place of September. They didn’t have much luck in the first half of October either. By the end of the first four weeks, the team only got three 1sts and had the lowest rentai (1st+2nd) rate in the league.

In the fifth week, there was a bit of hope. With two 1sts by the team that week, they had their first positive week with a +46.7pts gain. The hope was short-lived, however. In the next 5 weeks, the team had more negative weeks, including a big -192.6pts loss in Week 9. By the end of Week 10, the team had more 4ths than 1sts and 2nds combined.

On Week 11, the team only played two games, but the 1st by Sugawara and 2nd by Daisuke would make the team the best of the week with a +90.5pts gain. From there, the team stalled and then end up continuing their drop. By the midway point of the season, they would have a 37.50% 4th place rate and none of the players in the positives.

Next Steps

The Beast Japanext is currently at the bottom of the rankings with three times as many 4ths as teh Konami Mahjong Fight Club. In fairness, this is the team’s first year. However, any year failing to make the playoffs risks both fan confidence and the team’s lineup.

Though Nakada has one of the best 4th-place avoidance rates in the league, she also has the worst 1st place rate (the only player in the league without a 1st) and the worst rentai (1st+2nd) rate in the league. On the other end, Sugawara is in the top 5 highest 1st-place rate, but she also has the worst 4th-place rate in the league. If the two of them can learn from each other, both players will benefit well.

For gaining big points, Daisuke is the guy for the job. He has the second-highest average hand value of the league and is known to be aggressive. However, he will need to temper his second-highest in the league deal-in rate if he wants to keep those points.

As for Sarukawa, he is a strong player that has been experiencing a lot of bad luck, currently sitting at the very bottom of the standings. If he plays more games he will definitely end up on the winning side. However, if he can’t shake it off, taking a few more games off to let his teammates play couldn’t hurt.