(ライデル) The story behind this trend in Social Media today
01-10-2026
I’ll look up what the (ライデル) trend refers to and summarize the story behind it in plain text only.The posts point to a Giants game today. I’ll pull a bit more on what happened with the pitcher.Today’s (ライデル) trend is about Yomiuri Giants closer Raidel Martínez (ライデル・マルティネス) failing to protect a lead in the ninth inning.In the October 1 Central League game at Koshien against the Hanshin Tigers, the Giants led 2–1 when he came in. He got the first batter out on a grounder, then gave up a double to the right field, walked the next batter, and after a fly-out left runners on second and third with two outs. Hanshin’s Yuki Oyama then singled to center to tie the game. Fans immediately posted reactions ranging from frustration over the blown chance to sarcastic comments about his large salary, which pushed the name onto trending topics.The wider story is his rapid rise. Born in Cuba in 1996, he arrived in Japan in 2017 as a developmental player for the Chunichi Dragons after a long-time Dragons figure spotted his tall, downhill delivery on a Cuban-league broadcast. His first estimated salary was only about 10 million yen. Early on he was thin, struggled with conditioning and Japanese food, and at times talked about going home. Staff guidance and steady work turned him into a hard-throwing closer (fastball up to the low 160 km/h range). He piled up saves with Chunichi, then moved to the Giants. On September 10, 2026, against his old team, he recorded his 250th career save in his 411th appearancethe fastest such mark in NPB history, the youngest, and the first by a foreign pitcher, which also qualified him for the Meikyukai. Reports around that milestone described a multi-year Giants deal valued at roughly 1.2 billion yen and noted that he has said he wants to stay in Japan for good. Season numbers through late September still showed a very low ERA and a large save total, so the October 1 tying hit stood out against that reputation and fueled the online reaction.