The Aki basho is just around the corner and you can still sign up to play Fantasy Basho on Fantasizr.
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Now that the opening Torikumi is announced, we can get down to the regular pre-basho predictions. The only rikishi in the top division who is out from Day One is Yokozuna Terunofuji. This shouldn’t be a surprise, even after his Emperor’s Cup winning performance in July. He hasn’t completed back-to-back basho in years.
One of my biggest misses in the Nagoya predictions was that I guessed Terunofuji would be middling. It appears he isn't going to just do okay anymore. He'll compete if he can dominate. I also missed that Takanosho would be the secondary star performer. Hiradoumi's success was also something I did not foresee two months ago.
Otherwise I feel okay about my predictions last time out. Kotozakura, Hoshoryu, and Onosato were all around the yusho race. Wakatakakage did well in his return. Those seem like safe bets, although going for a big prediction just to go for it might also be a recipe for looking foolish. (But if you want a big prediction of a kind, I think Takakeisho may retire this basho. Don't want to say for certain, but he struggled last time, lost his Ozeki rank, and his injuries don't seem to be getting better.)
Here are the predictions for Aki 2024, and the recaps will start on Sunday.
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