Mitakeumi in 2018

[Jejima 1,000]

Mitakeumi has only been in Ozumo for less than three years,  but established himself as a lower sanyaku stalwart last year.  

How will he do in 2018?  Will he drop down from the Sekiwake ranks?  If yes, how far will he drop?

Please note, question 1 has been changed to LOWEST rank for Mitakeumi during the year.
Question 2 now requires TWO defeats (one of which may be a fusensho win) by Mitakeumi over a Yokozuna or Ozeki.  (If any of the current Yokozunas or Ozekis retires during the year, they will be ignored for the purpose of this question, when checking the results at the end of next year.)

Previous polls:

2017
2016

Edited December 7, 2017 by Jejima

[Shatsume 113]

, 2 defeats you say... oh well

[WAKATAKE 2,381]

He'll drop to M5W

He'll lose to an M8W

He'll defeat Kisenosato, Takayasu, and Goeido at least twice

[wys 55]

He'll drop to M1-M2, , will not defeat anyone on the list at least twice, and will lose to M10.  I fail to understand Mitakeumi's popularity. He's a very good rikishi but I fail to understand the hype, just like the hype for Ura.

[chishafuwaku 450]

He will be Ozeki, never below than sekiwake

Defeat 3 times Goeido and Takayasu and one time Hakuho

Only defeat Kisenosato and Kakuryu one time because they will be intai some time during 2018

Who is the M3 that defeats him? Shodai 

 

chishafuwaku

[RabidJohn 1,257]

21 hours ago, wys said:

I fail to understand Mitakeumi's popularity. He's a very good rikishi but I fail to understand the hype, just like the hype for Ura.

You said it!

I believe he's the only makuuchi rikishi who managed 6KK in 2017, the last two or three while fighting with injury at sekiwake. That takes a measure of doing! Definite ozeki material if he can get back to full fitness.

[Benihana 1,750]

Never below sekiwake, defeats all Y/Os twice (if there's no intai), loses to M3. Better ozeki-material than Goeido and Takayasu, so by end of 2018 he will be ozeki.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Benihana

[Oshirokita 160]

promoted to ozeki so never lower than sekiwake, defeats all Y/O twice (but since Kakuryu goes intai, those won't count), loses to M3

hmm, Benihana seems to have the same idea, looks like I am in good company

[Jejima 1,000]

He will have one bad basho (injury?) and drop to M6 as a consequence.

He will defeat all of the top guns twice, except Hakuho.

[Morty 1,423]

Ozeki before the year is out

[Benihana 1,750]

On 19.12.2017 at 05:16, Oshirokita said:

promoted to ozeki so never lower than sekiwake, defeats all Y/O twice (but since Kakuryu goes intai, those won't count), loses to M3

hmm, Benihana seems to have the same idea, looks like I am in good company

That's because we both have seen the light.

 

 

[Churaumi 688]

I’m not certain he’ll even face Kakuryu twice in 2018...hardly anyone did in 2017.

[Tenshinhan 1,567]

As he will never go mk (and gets promoted to ozeki too), his lowest rank will be Sekiwake.

He defeats Kisenosato, Goeido and Takayasu at least twice.

He will lose to a Maegashira 4 (either Tamawashi or Arawashi...). 

[inhashi 2,363]

Lowest between M1-M2
Hak (with 1 fusen), Kise, Goeido, Takayasu
Losing to M5 at the lowest, maybe Sokokurai if he's able to climb back up
(which I doubt he can go higher than M8, but thinking he is capable of winning against a sanyaku Mitakeumi)

[Jejima 1,000]

Poll closed - round-up

Amazingly (to me at least), nearly 40% of us do not think that Mitakeumi will drop in rank below his current Sekiwake!  If you include komusubi, over half of us believe that he will be ranked in sekiwake for the whole of 2018.

According to us, Goeido will be the most vulnerable to Mitakeumi - whereas Hakuho will be the most resilient.

M5 gets the most picks (about a third) - which makes sense. (Typically the lowest part of the joi-jin, so if ranked in sanyaku, Mitakeumi should expect to face perhaps once or twice per basho, depending on kyujos...)

[Jejima 1,000]

Mitakeumi's 2018 went like this (sumo-wise)....

Jan: S1E 8-7
Mar: S1E 7-8
May: K1E 9-6
Jul: S1W 13-2 (yusho)
Sep: S1E 9-6
Nov: S1E 7-8

So, he was mostly ranked as a Sekiwake throughout the year, with one stint as a Komusubi. He will almost certainly be ranked as a Komusubi for the January 2019 banzuke.

So his lowest banzuke position is/will be komusubi.. This was predicted by Shatsume, eternalnaaki, kawika, I am the Yokozuna and Rocks.

In 2018, Mitakeumi had the following records against the Yokozunas and Ozekis (not including Tochinoshin, who was promoted during the year).

High-ranked Aite    Win-Loss-Did not meet
Hakuho                    0  -  2  -  4
Kisenosato              0  -  1  -  5
Kakuryu                    1 -   2   -  3
Goeido                     3*  - 2  -  1
Takayasu                  2  -  3  -  1
Total                          6*  -  10  -  14

*one win by fusensho

Two players predicted correctly for all five of these aites vs Mitakeumi. They were chishafuwaku and Wakaebala.

These are the lowest ranked opponents that Mitakeumi lost to in each basho of 2018....

Jan - M5E Okinoumi
Mar - M5E Chiyomaru
May - M4W Shodai
Jul - M9W Yutakayama
Sep - M1W Kaisei
Nov - M5E Chiyotairyu

(That M5E rank seems to be a bete noire!)

So, the lowest rank that he lost to during the year was M9W - only one of two in that basho, when he won the yusho!

Nobody predicted M9, but WAKATAKA and Jejima predicted M8, and Wys and Wakaebala predicted M10.

He was way-off with the lowest rank for Mitakeumi, but for his impressive 5-out-of-5 for question 2, and a near-miss for question 3, I am awarding the yusho to @Wakaebala  

Edited November 27, 2018 by Jejima
Chiyotaikai --> Chiyotairyu

[Nantonoyama 224]

44 minutes ago, Jejima said:

Nov - M5E Chiyotaikai

 

Takakeisho has some Chiyotaikai in him for sure. Feels like he's back