the Japan Series to the Yomiuri Giants. In 2012, the Fighters drafted Shohei Ohtani, who made his debut in 2013. Despite Ohtani wanting to play in MLB, the Fighters drafted him anyways as they would have lost him to an MLB team. Ohtani signed with the Fighters nonetheless. Ohtani, with his ability to both pitch and hit, quickly became a star for the team. He was selected as an NPB all-star five times and was named Pacific League MVP in 2016. Behind Ohtani, the Fighters returned to the Japan Series in 2016, facing the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. After dropping the first two games on the road, the Fighters rallied to win the next four games en route to their first championship since 2006. In 2017, the Fighters drafted Kotaro Kiyomiya, a child prodigy entering the draft with high expectations and a number 1 overall pick. The Fighters got his contract negotiation rights after winning a lottery in the draft between 6 other NPB teams. As Japan would soon find out however, he became a draft bust. What made it even worse was Munetaka Murakami, also on Kiyomiya's draft class, who was drafted by the Swallows after losing out to him, was hitting more home runs than him at a rapid pace and already won a Japan Series title with the Swallows. As of 2022, Kiyomiya only had 21 home runs, while Murakami already had 104, and became the youngest NPB player to hit 100 home runs, at only 22 years old. Kiyomiya also did not play on the first squad in 2021. Kiyomiya was also being plagued by injuries, whilst Murakami managed to stay healthy and has played the full 143 game schedule with the Swallows. In 2017, Ohtani left the Fighters to sign with the Los Angeles Angels. On January 8, 2018, the Fighters signed a partnership agreement with the Texas Rangers that they will exchange scouting info with each other and the Rangers will be sharing advise to the Fighters for their plans to help the Fighters build ES-CON Field Hokkaido and it would be similar to the then-under construction Globe Life Field in Arlington. Both ballparks would have mixed use community districts, and similar structure, hence why both ballparks look very similar. Also, this was due to the stadium being designed by HKS Architects, who also designed Globe Life Field. In October 2021, the Fighters replaced longtime