Between 1978 and 2008, the team logo and mascot were based on the adult version of Kimba the White Lion, a classic Japanese anime and manga series by Osamu Tezuka.

[3] The team finished sixth that year, and at the end of the season, Nishitetsu was merged with another professional baseball club in Fukuoka, the Nishi-Nippon Pirates, which belonged to the Central League and managed by a local newspaper company the Nishinippon Shimbun.

In 1969 and 1970, the team was caught up in the infamous Black Mist game-fixing scandal, which resulted in four Lions pitchers being banned from NPB for life, as well as other players receiving lesser punishments.

Nishi-Nippon Railroad, founded by Nagayoshi Nakamura, then owner of Lotte Corporation and the Orions, sold the team's sponsorship rights to Taiheiyo Club, a golf course and resort developer in 1973.

However, the following seasons would mark the beginning of a period of sustained success for the team under new manager Tatsuro Hirooka and with star players such as Osamu Higashio and Kōichi Tabuchi.

Tatsuro Hirooka told the players that meat and other animal foods increase athletes' susceptibility to injury, and decrease their ability to perform.

The Lions had a powerful lineup in this period, loaded with sluggers such as Koji Akiyama, Kazuhiro Kiyohara and Orestes Destrade.

Their defense also benefited from the services of skilled players such as Hiromichi Ishige, Romeo Calhoun, Hatsuhiko Tsuji and catcher Tsutomu Ito.

Among the pitchers employed by the Lions in this period was "The Oriental Express" Taigen Kaku, Kimiyasu Kudoh, Hisanobu Watanabe, and relievers Yoshitaka Katori and Tetsuya Shiozaki.

Between 2010 and 2019, the Lions made the Pacific League Climax Series 1st stage 5 times, (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017) but lost to the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2010 and 2013, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2017, and to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in 2011 and 2012.