{"id":175106,"date":"2025-12-19T14:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T05:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=175106&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2025-12-19T14:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T05:27:10","slug":"softbank-hawks-extend-manager-kokubo-through-2028","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/softbank-hawks-extend-manager-kokubo-through-2028\/","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank Hawks Extend Manager Kokubo Through 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks announced on December 18 that they have signed manager Hiroki Kokubo to a new three-year contract through the 2028 season. Kokubo took charge last year and led the team to a Pacific League title in his first season. In his second year, the Hawks struggled early amid injuries to key players but rebounded by promoting younger talent. The team went on to win a second straight league championship and captured the Japan Series for the first time in five years. <\/span><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softbankhawks.co.jp\/news\/detail\/202500908328.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fukuoka Softbank HAWKS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_141228\" style=\"width: 1410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141228\" class=\"size-full wp-image-141228\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/momo-now-nun-2021-beach-web-41.jpg?resize=1400%2C1050&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/momo-now-nun-2021-beach-web-41.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/momo-now-nun-2021-beach-web-41.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/momo-now-nun-2021-beach-web-41.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/momo-now-nun-2021-beach-web-41.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-141228\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Fukuoka Now<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks announced on December 18 that they have signed manager Hiroki Kokubo&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":141228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-175106","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-chuo-ku","news-category-sports","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/175106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}