Aki 2026 Banzuke Prediction

So starting at the top with Yokozuna, you can interrupt me here.

This part's pretty, pretty dang easy.

[laughs] Uh, on the east side we are going to have Onosato, and on the west side we are going to have Hoshoryu.

This is gonna be the first time in 2026 that Onosato is going to be our Yokozuna East as his- Really? ...

nine wins was better than Hoshoryu's seven.

And since Hoshoryu looks primed to miss the upcoming basho due to, uh, knee surgery that he got in this past month, Onosato looks like he will finish off the year at Yokozuna East.

Uh, but that is where Onosato stands and Hoshoryu stands for now, uh, at Ozeki.

Jake, are you gonna update the, uh, our, our spreadsheet? There it is.

Oh, good.

You are paying attention.

You- I am ...

it was, it was a test.

[laughs] That does kind of- If you're- ... blow my mind that Onosato's been on the right the entire, uh- Mm-hmm ...

the entire time Yep.

And that is a good reminder.

If you're watching on YouTube, we have the results of the previous basho.

And as we go through this episode, we will be revealing where I think each rikishi will be ranked for the next basho.

Uh, at ozeki, all is right with the world as Aoishiki, after one horrible, horrible basho at sekiwake, is back to ozeki again.

Not only did he get the 10 wins he needed as a sekiwake to quickly return to the rank of ozeki, he became the first ever rikishi in that scenario to also win the yusho, winning his third career yusho already.

So Aoishiki back up to ozeki, but he will not be the top-ranked ozeki.

That honor goes to Kirishima, uh, as he had 12 wins and was previously ranked ozeki in the last basho.

And then Kotozakura will also be ahead of Aoishiki at ozeki one ea- west, uh, because once again, uh, as a...

He- Aoishiki was an ozeki and he was demoted down to sekiwake, and so he's gonna be treated as if it's the first time he was promoted up to ozeki.

The new ozeki is always the lowest ranked ozeki.

So despite the fact that Kotozakura had eight wins, uh, compared to Aoishiki's 12, since Aoishiki's being promoted up to ozeki, he will be the lowest ranked ozeki at ozeki to east.