M-League 2024-25: Mid-Season Review

We’re exactly at the halfway point of the season and there are intense battles at both ends of the standings! Today, we’ll look at how each team is doing and figure out what each team can do to find success.

1st: Akasaka Drivens (+771.2pts)

Record: 19-13-8-8, +771.2pts

Going into the 2023-24 season, the Akasaka Drivens made their first roster change since the second season of the league (albeit forced). In the regular season, they had their first positive result with a 2nd place (and Taro got his record-breaking 112,800 win to get his individual award), then barely advanced to the finals with a 4th place finish in the semifinals. In the finals, Sonoda led the team to a 2nd place finish, the team’s best result since their championship win in the 2018-19 season. With this strong result, the team decided to keep their roster and try for the championship.

In the very first game of the season, Sonoda came out strong with three mangans to win the season opener. However, three 3rds through the rest of the week put the team into the negatives. Even though they recovered a bit in the second week, they got three 4ths in a row to start off week 3 and hit a low of -133.1pts in 8th place.

From that point, the team started to turn things around. Over their next 13 games, they avoided 4th place and had five 1sts. In Game #39 of the season, Taro just kept winning and winning and winning. After winning eight hands in that game (including four limit hands), Taro finished with a score of 86,300, the highest score so far this season, and helped the team be the top performer of Week 5 with a +175.8pts gain. Just before Futoshi got a last place to break the streak, the team got up to 2nd place with a score of +209.8pts

Their speed of ascent slowed a bit in early November, but things accelerated rapidly soon after. In Week 9, two 1sts and two 2nds game the team a +140.8pts gain, breaking the +300.0pts and +400.0pts barriers and moving into 1st place overall. A week later, they bested it with three 1sts for a +167.4pts gain, breaking the +600.0pts mark and getting their third top-performers title.

At the start of December, they had another 2/2/0/0 week, giving them a +128.6pts gain and their fourth top-performer honour. In their 45th game of the season, Futoshi’s 1st place, the team’s 18th of the season, the team broke +700.0pts. By the mid-season, the team hit +771.2pts and has a 19/13/8/8 record.

Next Steps

The team’s performance has been quite impressive, going at a rate that rivals the Pirates’ 2023-24 performance. With their current strengths, not much needs to be change for the team.

They do, however, need to keep track of what their opponents are doing and adapt to those changes. Teams in lower positions may be a bit more aggressive than usual. Teams teetering above the borderline during the end of the season might be more defensive and do some targeting. The Drivens need to keep track of that and potentially change their playstyle to take advantage of these adjustments.

Futoshi have done really well to be near the top of the standings, but Asami should not be forgotten. Asami has had a standout performance this season with multiple wins in a row, getting her fourth in a row just before the midseason mark. If they give her a bit more time in the spotlight, the team’s score can keep going higher and higher.

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2nd: Sega Sammy Phoenix (+538.5pts)

Record: 16-16-5-11, +538.5pts

In the 2023-24 season, the Sega Sammy Phoenix tried to bring new life with the addition of Daigo Hiroshi and Kondo Seiichi as their new coach. Unfortunately, things didn’t work the way they wanted, finishing in 9th place with a score -625.1pts. During the offseason, they made the unprecedented move of dropping captain Uotani Yuumi and fellow teammate Tojo Rio. To replace them, the team chose Takeuchi Genta and Asai Takaki, some of the top players in their respective leagues.

On September 20, the two newcomers made their M-League player debut. In the first game, Genta won a mangan in his very first hand and never looked back. Winning two more mangans in the game, he finished his first game with a 43,500 1st. In the second game, Takaki started his career with a mangan deal-in, but managed to make a big comeback in the south round to take 2nd place. With Genta getting another 1st place later in the week, the team was the best performer of the week and went up to 1st overall.

From there, the team kept rising. From weeks 2 to 8, the team kept going up by double digits. In their 10th game, they hit +200.0pts. In their 15th, they broke +300.0pts. In their 23rd, they broke +400.0pts. Genta and Daigo keep going up in the individual standings.

Even though the Phoenix did so well, they were still contested for top spot. In mid-November, the team had two small negative weeks. At the same time, the Akasaka Drivens had their two best weeks of the season to push the Phoenix down to 2nd place. A week after, the Phoenix fought back with their best week of the season to get within 50.0pts.

But then, at the start of December, the Phoenix had their worst week with Daigo getting his first 4th and the team going -98.8pts. With the Drivens having a big +128.6pts week, the gap between the two teams grew to more than 250.0pts.

In Week 13, the team was again the best performers to close the gap a bit, but the team still remains over 200.0pts behind going into the mid-season.

Next Steps

The has had quite the run, the team’s best run ever. They have all the fundamentals down, having the highest win rate, the second-best average hand value and a strong riichi success rate.

One interesting stat is that the team has the most dama wins out of all the teams, with 15.79% of their winning hands being dama. The team can continue to take advantage of their strength of catching players off guard, but should also look for opportunities where calling riichi instead could gain them more points with little loss in win rate.

With newcomer Genta going out in full force, it is natural to keep him in front. The first-year energy and his strong scores will help the team rise up even more. Daigo has been doing well in his second year, so he should as be at the front. Takaki and Kayamori haven’t been doing so well, but they both have their roles to provide the other two with relief. And with Kayamori specifically, her veteran status means she has quite a bit of wisdom that she can share with the others and the fortitude to get through difficult situations.

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3rd: U-Next Pirates (+341.9pts)

Record: 15-15-10-8, +341.9pts

The U-Next Pirates were an unbeatable force during the 2023-24 season. As a team, they had the highest score ever during the regular season with a +887.6pts total. Individually, three of their players made the top 4, including Yu who won the MVP award. In the semifinals and finals, they were unmatched and they went on to win the team’s second championship, the only team in M-League history to do so. With this strong team, it was no surprise that they kept everyone.

The season didn’t start out as well as they would like with a -7,900 4th place by Mizuhara, but Kobayashi was able to cancel out most of it with a 1st in the next game. Over the next two weeks, they would make decent gains to rise in the standings. By the end of the third week, they were 3rd place in the standings with a score of +100.2pts.

In the fourth week, some struggles started forming. It started again with Mizuhara getting a big 4th place, this time a -12,000 4th. Unfortunately none of her teammates were able to get any points at all. With two 3rds and two 4ths by the end of the week, they went -159.3pts and dropped down into the negatives.

After that slip, the rise started to form again. After weeks 5 and 6 were both positive, they had exceptional gains in week 7 and 8, being the best performers in both weeks. Over those two weeks, they had a 4/3/0/1 record (including two Mizuhara + Yu daily doubles) and gained +204.2pts, taking them above +200.0pts.

Slowly but surely, the team continued to gain points. On November 29, the team briefly broke the +300.0pts barrier until Kobayashi had a really rough -29,500 4th place, the worst in his career. A week later, a Mizuhara+ Yu daily double on December 6 heled them move above the +300.0pts mark again. On December 10, a win by Mizuhara pushed the team above +400.0pts and they never looked back. By the end of week 13, they have been on a 9-week positive streak, the longest of any team this season.

Next Steps

The U-Next Pirates are off to a really good start, better than they had in the record breaking 2023-24 season. But even with a good start, they must have a good finish.

They usually do better in the second half, but history is not the present. Wins are earned, not given. They cannot be complacent.

Their current high-call playstyle has been working for the past few years and has resulted in a good scores for the team. If they continue to do that, they will continue to succeed.

The fight for the top is getting closer. If they really wanted to get a head start on the playoffs, they can start to target these top teams.

As for players, the team has had success in giving everyone a chance. If they continue their fairly even play, everyone will contribute and have some equal rest, leading to succes for the entire team.

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4th: Konami Mahjong Fight Club (+38.4pts)

Record: 11-13-12-12, +38.4pts

In the 2023-24 season, the Konami Mahjong Fight Club was looking to better their 2nd place finish the previous season. They made it through the regular season with a respectable 4th place result (and Date completed the triple crown with her third individual award), but had quite a bit of trouble in the semifinals. Losing over 300.0pts over the course of 20 games, the team ended up in 6th place, their worst placement ever. Their team bond and skill remains strong, though, and the team remained the same going into this season.

The Konami Mahjong Fight Club started off the season hot. In their first two games, Date and Hisato both got 1sts for the league’s first daily double of the season. Just a few days later, Hisato would get a big 60,300 win for another big boost. By the end of the week, they had +213.2pts, almost a 200.0pts lead over 2nd place.

Unfortunately, that high did not last long. In Week 2, Takamiya ended up with two 4ths to start off her season (including a -12,100 4th) and the team ended up dropping -121.6pts. They were the worst performers of the week and dropped down to 2nd place overall.

From there, the team stayed relatively stagnant, staying around the +100.0pts mark. Small gains, small losses, not really making waves. Even as Date got the team’s best score of 71,900, 3rds and 4ths from the week reduced its impact. As they stayed where they were, other teams stared to move above them, dropping them to 3rdm then to 4th.

Then, in Week 9, things started to look up. With a 59,300 1st place by Hisato and a win by Takizawa later in the week, the team gained +131.0pts to take the team above +200.0pts. In the following two weeks, they kept gaining points and moved up to 3rd place.

As temperatures fell in December, so did the team’s fortunes. In their first games in December, they had back-to-back 4ths, with the rest of the team unable to recover it. By the end of the that week, they dropped by -105.8pts to be the worst performers of the week. With more losses the week after, the team goes into the mid-season at +38.4pts and a 11/13/12/12 record.

Next Steps

Over the past few weeks, the Konami Mahjong Fight Club has been going into freefall, going from over +300.0pts in late November to almost 0.0pts now. The first thing they have to do is stop the fall and kill the downward, negative momentum.

The Konami Mahjong Fight Club has the lowest deal-in rate in the league, but also has the second-lowest win rate. Though reducing the number of points lost is typically good, you must have points to defend in the first place. In order for them to rise in the ranks, they have to start increasing their win rate.

Everyone has been doing fairly well and equal. Even Takamiya’s poor scores can be accounted to bad luck, holding the second-highest deal-in rate while in riichi. Letting them play evenly should work in the meantime, but if someone starts to win big, let them run.

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5th: Team Raiden (+6.3pts)

Record: 10-17-12-9, +6.3pts

After making their first finals and winning their first prize money in the 2022-23 season, the team wanted to better it. Unfortunately, the momentum didn’t carry over. After a lot of struggles, none of the players finished the season positive and the team ended up in 8th place with -484.5pts, failing to make the playoffs. Knowing the stakes, the team decided to try again with the same roster.

In the first week of the season, they had a mixed bag of results. On the first day of the season, Honda finished with a 2nd place, followed by Hagiwara ended up with a big -16,700 4th place. On Thursday, Setokuma had a 57,600 win (the team’s biggest win so far this season) followed by Kurosawa getting a 4th place, pushing the team net negative on the week.

Through the first three months of the season, Team Raiden was stuck between +100.0pts and -100.0pts. On one hand, they end up dropping soon after they gain big. On the other, they make a big comeback when they are close to breaking -100.0pts.

In December, things leaned a bit more positive for the team, being above 0.0pts for a bit. When they approached the mid-season, they ended up falling below again. But, in their 48th game, a 2nd place by Hagiwara put them back to just above positive, their first mid-season in the positives.

Next Steps

The team has definitely improved compared to previous regular seasons, but they are still nowhere near a comfortable position.

What’s more, they are one of two teams under threat by the roster change rule. If they don’t make the playoffs, they will have to change their team (which would be their first player drop in the team’s history). Though they are currently quite a ways away from 7th place, they cannot put their guard down. A sudden drop by them or a sudden surge from their opponents could put them in big danger.

This season, Kurosawa has been a bit more aggressive with her calling and the her score seems to be increasing as well, having a decent chance to be positive for the first time since the 2020-21 season. If she is comfortable to continue with this aggressiveness, then she can be sent out a bit more. If not, they can keep their current arrangement of Honda being sent out more since he is currently getting good results.

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6th: Kadokawa Sakura Knights (-135.5pts)

Record: 13-6-15-14, -135.5pts

The Kadokawa Sakura Knights had a decent season in the 2023-24 season, finishing in 3rd place in the regular season, then finished 3rd place in the semifinals. In the finals, the team remained stuck in their position and finished the season in 3rd place. With 3rd place still being a good result, the team kept their roster, the same roster for the third year in a row.

In the first few weeks, the team bounced around a bit, but trended downwards. In Week 4, they had their first real big change, headed by Hori. Playing in three of the four games of that week, Hori won all three of them. Gaining +185.6pts, the team move up from 5th to 2nd place in the overall standings.

However, their big gains ended there. A week following, they lost two games despite Hori getting his fourth win in a row. The team continued to fall, but they still managed to hold onto a positive score going into the end of October.

But, at the start of November, disaster struck. On November 4, Okada got a 4th place and Hori got a 3rd place. They tried to recover on Thursday, but they both ended up getting 4ths. Losing points in every game that week, they dropped -180.1pts, the worst drop in a single week by any team so far this season. This catastrophe dropped them down to the negatives and into 6th place.

Through the rest of November and into December, the team experienced quite a lot of volatility. When they would gain decently one week, they would lose it (and a bit more) the next week. As Okada hit her fourth, fifth and record-breaking sixth 4th place in a row, the team kept moving downwards. Though the team recovered a bit in their final games before the midseason, the team remains in the negatives at -135.5pts in 6th place with a 13/6/15/14 record.

Next Steps

The team is currently sitting in the final playoff spot. Though there is a 246.8pts gap between them and 7th place, anything can happen in three and a half months.

The team is in the middle of the pack in terms of win rate, but has the lowest average value for their wins. Much of this is because only 48% of of their hands won are by riichi, the lowest of any of the teams. If they can increase that proportion to above 50%, their average hand value will follow.

The other thing that they can do is be a bit more aggressive when in close quarters. Out of their 15 3rds, 9 of them had the team within 5,000 of 2nd place. With a rank gain being worth 20.0pts, a stronger push to move up can earn them quite a bit in uma alone.

Okada has been really struggling, getting six 4ths in a row. However, her biggest clear strength is her post-season performance, being positive in 4/5 semifinals and the team’s top performer in 3/4 finals. Okada can put in a few tries at getting her stride back in the regular season, but if it fails, she can step back and focus on doing her best in the playoffs.

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7th: Shibuya Abemas (-382.3pts)

Record: 10-11-12-15, -382.3pts

After four straight years of 3rd place followed by a championship, the Shibuya Abemas had high hopes going into the 2023-24 season. However, their momentum seemd to have run out. In the semifinals, they finished in 5th place and failed to make the finals for the first time in team history. With all their previous seasons being so good and the 2023-24 season simply being an anomaly, they kept the team together going into this season.

In an unusual turn for the Shibuya Abemas, the team started out quite poorly. It took them seven games before they got their first 1st. Through the third week, the team was at the bottom of the rankings. The team dropped slowly even as each player got their first 1st. Every player except for Matsumoto.

With each week, Matsumoto keeps trying to get a 1st place, but keeps missing. In the fifth week, Matsumoto missed 1st place by just 200, then ended up getting 4th in his next game. By his 8th game, he had five 4ths, more 4ths than more than half of the teams.

Through seven weeks, the team dropped. In the fifth week, Ooi had a -14,300 4th place, his worst 4th place in his entire M-League history. In combination with Matsumoto’s loss that week, the team dropped =112.7pts. 25 games into their season, they went below -400.0pts and were at the bottom of the standings.

A bit of relief came in the 8th week, where they avoid 4th for the entire week and had their first gain. However, they would have triple digit losses over the next two weeks. On Matsumoto’s sixth 4th place, the team dropped below -500.0pts.

The team gained just a bit going into the midseason, but they are still down to -382.3pts with a 10/11/12/15 record.

Next Steps

This is by far one of the worst seasons that the team has played. For a team that is as distinguished as the Shibuya Abemas, this is both unusual and worrying.

Though the team’s usual style is overall good, their position is not. With their current position, it might be good to be a smidge more aggressive. Aim for slightly bigger hands and maybe push a bit more. At the same time, they have to make sure to estimate the value of their opponents’ hands and avoid pushing too hard against big hands.

For Matsumoto, the last time he had this bad of a score was the 2019-20 season when he had -246.3pts. However, Matsumoto is an overall good player and seems to be having some bad luck. He has a high riichi rate, but they don’t seem to be converting to wins. With time, I think that things will even out and he will get some wins under his belt.

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8th: EX Furinkazan (-465.2pts)

Record: 8-9-16-15, -465.2pts

In the 2022-23 season, the team made it through the regular season and semifinals, but ended up failing during the finals with a 1/5/5/5 record, finishing in 4th place. In the 2023-24 season, it was deja vu. They made it into the semifinals in 2nd place and very close to the top, but they ended up with a 1/5/3/7 record to finish yet again in 4th place. Going into the 2024-25 season, they decided to keep their roster.

Staying relatively stagnant in the first two weeks, Week 3 is where the pain began for the team. With two 3rds and two 4ths (including Rumi’s third 4th of the season), the team dropped -130.1pts to put the team in 8th place. With a -77.5pts drop a week later (including Rumi’s fourth 4th of the season), the team went below -200.0pts and down in 9th place.

Over the following two weeks, the team had a bit of a reprieve (and not just the two-game week of Week 5). WIth the two games that the team played in mid-October, a 3rd/1st result got them a small gain. A week after, as if with renewed energy, the team avoided 4th place with a 2/1/1/0 record, netting them a +95.8pts gain, making them the best performers of the week and putting them just shy of -100.0pts.

Then in the final week of October, spooky things began again. With two 4ths by Matsugase, the team lost -117.0pts that week, erasing any gains that they previously made. With further bad results, the team dropped below -200.0pts yet again, then below -300.0pts. And though they had their best result of a +98.5pts in Week 10, they would have their biggest loss in Week 11 of -142.9pts due to a big -10,500 4th place by Matsugase.

On December 5, the EX Furinkazan send Rumi to play in her 10th game of the season, still searching for her first 1st. In E2-0, Rumi was the dealer had a hand with a triplet and two pairs. As the hand went along, Rumi drew more pairs and turned them into triplets. In the middle of the second row, she called riichi and waited with suuankou tenpai, needing to tsumo to win it. A few turns later, she gets it, the first yakuman in more than 18 months. WIth that big hand, she was able to get her first win with a score of 78,500, the team’s biggest win so far this season.

They weren’t able to sustain the momentum, however, as they lost games soon after. In their final games before the mid-season, they had back-to-back 4ths to get them to -465.2pts and a record of 8-9-16-5, placing them in 8th place

Next Steps

Besides having the most yakuman this season, the EX Furinkazan really isn’t excelling in any category. They are in the middle of the pack for win rate, on the lower end for average hand value and on the upper end of deal-in rate. Though improving in all of them is nice, even improving in just one of them will pay dividends.

A lot of the losses by the EX Furinkazan are due to losses in oka/uma. With only 8 wins, thats a lot of placement points lost. Considering their current position, improving the average hand value (through keeping more dora) can help them hit the 1st place range more often and give them those 1st place bonuses.

Though Rumi started out in a rough position at the start of the season with four 4ths in a row, she has been doing quite well in her more recent games, going 7 games without a 4th and hitting the league’s 1st yakuman in 18 months. If the team lets her play even more, she can be one of the team’s big earners.

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9th: Beast X (-733.3pts)

Record: 7-7-18-16, -733.3pts

In the 2023-24 season, people had high hopes. The Beast Japanext was a new team and featured four new M-Leaguers. Unfortunately, they didn’t do so well in their inaugural season, finishing in 7th place and missing the playoffs. With everyone just getting settled, they kept the team, knowing that someone will have to leave if they fail to make the playoffs again.

The team started off the season with a 4th place and a 3rd place. Even though Daisuke got the team’s first 1st place that Friday, Sarukawa ended up losing really badly right after, registering a -17,800 to erase any gains that Daisuke had made. By the end of the week, they were at the bottom of the rankings.

In the 3rd week, though, thing were looking up. With a daily double by Nakada and Daisuke on September 30, the team peeked up into the positives for the first time since October 2, 2023. Though a 3rd by Sarukawa and a 2nd by Sugawara dipped them back below, they were the winners of Week 3 with a +122.7pts gain.

Through the rest of October and through November, the team struggled greatly. In all of November, the team only had two positive results, both of them 2nds. In Week 9 and 10, they were the worst performers of the week. With a 0/2/7/5 record in the month, they had a -385.1pts drop, breaking the -300.0pts, -400.0pts, -500.0pts and -600.0pts barrier.

Then came December 2, Sugawara’s birthday. Starting off the day, Sugawara won a haneman to take the early lead. She would end up getting two more hanemans in the game and finish with a big 65,200 1st place, the team’s first 1st since October 21 and breaking an 18-game firstless streak. In the second game, Sugawara went again, won another haneman and snuck into 1st place in the last hand. With the two 1sts, it marks the first time in Beast X history that a player has completed a double duty daily double.

However, that marked the end of their good fortunes. A week later, they had their fifth week of being the worst performers and dropped below -700.0pts. By the midway point the team was down to -733.3pts and hold a 7/7/18/16 record.

Next Steps

This is truly a “do or die” moment for the Beast X. SInce they failed to make the finals last season, failing to make the finals this season will force the team to change their roster.

Ideally, they do well enough to make the playoffs and no one gets kicked. But, in the case that they don’t, they will be looking at performance metrics to see who will go. The better one plays, the lower the chances that they will be dropped.

Every player will have to prove that they deserve to stay on the team. As a result, each player should play around the same number of games, giving everyone an equal chance to show their worth.

Though no team has ever been this low and still qualified for the playoffs, it is not impossible. With high-skill performances and a bit of luck, they can place above the cutoff and the team will stay together.