Sunday 13 October Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2024-10-13 Fighters-Marines went 10 innings
The Yokohama BayStars erupted for 4 runs on 5 hits off Hanshin Tigers starter Haruto Takahashi en route to a 10-3 destruction and elimination of the reigning Nippon champions. The victory advances the BayStars to the Central League Climax Series Final Stage where they will face the CL pennant winning Yomiuri Giants. Shota Morishita opened the scoring with a solo home run off Yokohama starter Andre Jackson in the opening frame at which point the BayStars took over and never looked back. Jackson finished with 9 strikeouts over 5-2/3 innings. Catcher Yasutaka Tobashira did the damage in the four-run 2nd with a bases clearing double. It was first time Takahashi had surrendered more than three runs since returning from a two-year absence through injury. Mike Ford and Keita Sano each homered in the six-run 7th inning, just the sixth and seventh left-handed batters to homer at Koshien this year. DeNA will play in the CS Final Stage for the first time since 2017 but their win comes at a cost as after having pitcher Katsuki Azuma limp off early from Saturday's game, clean up hitter Toshiro Miyazaki was forced out on Sunday after being unable to walk on his own. The defeat brings to a close the career of Tigers manager Akinobu Okada who had announced his retirement last month. A member of Hanshin's 1985 Japan Series championship winning team, Okada managed the club to just their second Nippon Series title last season. Two outs away from elimination, the Nippoon-Ham Fighters staged a dramatic come-from-behind win when Chusei Mannami crushed a game tying home run in the 9th inning and Daiki Asama walked it off in the 10th for a 3-2 win to even their Pacific League Climax Series First Stage with the Lotte Marines at 1-1. Just as in Game 1, the Marines led 2-0 on two solo home runs from Hisanori Yasuda (5th inning) and Katsuya Kakunaka (7th). The Fighters finally scored their first run of the series in the bottom of the 7th when Ariel Martinez's fielder's choice to short scored Mannami from third base. After Mannami's bomb to tie the score in the 9th, former Boston Red Sox reliever Hirokazu Sawamura fanned the first two batters in the 10th but then walked Go Matsumoto and gave up a single to Kotaro Kiyomiya to set up Asama's sayonara hit into right field. Everything to play for on Monday as the SoftBank Hawks await the winner.
Monday 14 October Game 3 Probables Nippon-Ham: Koki Kitayama (5-1, 2.31) Lotte: Atsuki Taneichi (7-8, 3.05)
Tatsuki Mizuno's two-out triple broke a 2-2 tie in the 7th inning and Chusei Mannami singled home an insurance run in the 8th to give the Nippon-Ham Fighters a 5-2 victory over the Chiba Lotte Marines in the decisive Game 3 of the First Phase of the Climax Series on Monday. After staring elimination in the face with two outs to go in Game 2 on Sunday, the Fighters are headed to Fukuoka to take on the Pacific League champion SoftBank Hawks for a spot in the Japan Series. For the third consecutive game the Marines took a 2-0 lead although no solo home runs were involved this time. With one out in the 2nd inning Toshiya Satoh doubled, advanced to third on Shōgo Nakamura's bloop single to short and scored on a safety squeeze by Atsuki Tomosugi. Nakamura than went to third on Kyōta Fujiwara's single to left and scored the second run on Takashi Ogino's sacrifice fly to center. The Fighters hit right back with two runs in the 3rd when Kotaro Kiyomiya singled to right scoring Mizuno and and Gō Matsumoto. In guiding the Fighters to the Final Phase of the Pacific League Climax Series manager Tsuyoshi Shinjō, who has often been criticized for his unorthodox style of play, took a huge risk in not using ace pitcher Hiromi Itoh against the Marines during this series. Itoh, who has five complete game wins this season - four by shutout - is now set to start Game 1 on Wednesday against the big bats of SoftBank. In six outings against the Hawks this year Itoh is 4-1 including a complete game shutout when he last faced them on 18 September, and has a total of 47 strikeouts over those six starts.
it's a bit of a shame that all of the First and Final Stage games are hosted by the higher-ranking team. I would have preferred more of a back-and-forth, personally - akin to how the CPBL handled things for this year's Playoff Series. Still, it'll be interesting to see how the pending "Retractable Roof Stadium Series" plays out! Well, in fairness, only one of those two stadiums actually opens and closes its roof on a regular basis...
' CLIMAX SERIES - FINAL PHASE Best of six The league champions (Giants / Hawks) are awarded a one-win advantage and will host the entire series Games will end in ties after 12 innings. If tied game(s) results in the series ending in a tie, the higher-seeded team (league champions) advances. CENTRAL LEAGUE Yomiuri Giants vs Yokohama BayStars Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo Giants won season series 16-8-1 (6-4-1 at Tokyo Dome) Game 1 : Wednesday 16 October, 18:00 Game 2 : Thursday 17 October, 18:00 Game 3 : Friday 18 October, 18:00 Game 4 : Saturday 19 October, 18:00 Game 5 : Sunday 20 October, 18:00 Game 6 : Monday 21 October, 18:00 PACIFIC LEAGUE SoftBank Hawks vs Nippon-Ham Fighters Mizuho PayPay Dome in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka Season series tied 12-12-1 (Hawks won 7-6 at Mizuho PayPay Dome) Game 1 : Wednesday 16 October, 18:00 Game 2 : Thursday 17 October, 18:00 Game 3 : Friday 18 October, 18:00 Game 4 : Saturday 19 October, 14:00 Game 5 : Sunday 20 October, 14:00 Game 6 : Monday 21 October, 18:00
Wednesday 16 October Game 1 Probables Yomiuri: Shosei Togo (12-8, 1.95) Yokohama: Anthony Kay (6-9, 3.42) SoftBank: Kohei Arihara (14-7, 2.36) Nippon-Ham: Hiromi Itoh (14-5, 2.65)
A solo home run by Keita Sano in the 4th inning was all the Yokohama BayStars needed to take Game 1 of the Central League Climax Series against the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome. Yoshitomo Tsutsugo added an insurance RBI single in the 7th to make the final score 2-0. BayStars starting pitcher Anthony Kay delivered 6 innings of one-hit ball. Two of the four walks he allowed were by pitching around Giants slugger Kazuma Okamoto. Yokohama's win effectively eliminates Yomiuri’s ghost win, evening the series at 1-1 and making is a Best-of-5 series. Leading up to Wednesday's opener both teams rece3ved news that each would be without a key player for this series. Infielder Naoki Yoshikawa, who played in all 143 regular season games for Yomiuri, was ruled out by manager Shinnosuke Abe after he injured himself falling down avoiding an inside pitch during practice this week. Yokohama ace hurler Katsuki Azuma was diagnosed with a pulled hamstring in his left leg and is unable to be re-registered onto the roster until 23 October at the earliest. The team would have to reach the Japan Series if he is to step on the mound again this season. Solo home runs from Kenta Imamiya, Ryoya Kurihara and Hotaka Yamakawa powered the SoftBank Hawks to a 5-2 win over the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Franmil Reyes also homered for the visitors. Hawks starter Kohei Arihara pitched an excellent 7 innings with 8 strikeouts to pick up his 4th career Climax Series Win, tying him for third all-time in CS history with Kodai Senga and Shuta Ishikawa. The Fighters Hiromi Itoh, who pitched well against SoftBank during the regular season, registered another 9 strikeouts against the strong Hawks lineup but was unable to keep them off the board allowing 4 earned runs on 10 hits. Along with the automatic win as Pacific League champions, the Hawks now lead the series 2-0 and have history on their side. In the annals of the PL CS, teams that entered with a one-win advantage and won Game 1 to go up 2-0 have never failed to advance to the next round.
Thursday 17 October Game 2 Probables Yomiuri: Tomoyuki Sugano (15-3, 1.67) Yokohama: Shinichi Ohnuki (6-7, 2.85) SoftBank: Livan Moinelo (11-5, 1.88) Nippon-Ham: Takayuki Katoh (10-9, 2.70 ... PS: 0-1, 2.84)
A pleasant surprise! The Pacific League's English Youtube channel will live stream Game 2 of the PL CS. SoftBank Hawks vs Nippon-Ham Fighters Thursday 17 October 18:00 Japan 5:00am U.S. Eastern 2:00am U.S. Pacific
Shinichi Ohnuki allowed just one earned run in 6-2/3 innings and Tyler Austin homered to break a 1-1 tie in the 7th as the Yokohama BayStars took a 2 games to 1 lead in the CL CS following their 2-1 victory over the Yomiuri Giants. Ohnuki allowed just 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7 batters as the Giants only managed to get runners into scoring position on three occasions throughout the game. One of those runners, Louis Okoye, scored Yomiuri's lone run (of the series!) on Kazuma Okamoto's two out single to center that tied the score at 1-1 in the 6th inning before Austin promptly restored Yokohama's lead with his first homer in post-season play. The Giants set a single game Climax Series record by turning 5 double plays. The Baystars are now 4-0 in the playoffs, just the fourth team in Climax Series history to begin play in the First Phase and win four in a row. The previous three teams all advanced to the Nippon Series. Hotaka Yamakawa went 3-for-4 with two home runs to help lead the SoftBank Hawks to a 7-2 win and give the Pacific League champions commanding 3-0 lead against the Nippon-Ham Fighters in the PL CS. The Fighters opened the scoring in the 1st with consecutive doubles from Chusei Mannami and Kotaro Kiyomiya, but the Hawks immediately hit back with three runs in the bottom of the frame including a two-run shot by Kensuke Kondoh. Fighters starter Takayuki Katoh worked on just four days rest after starting Game 1 of the First Phase last Saturday but was only able to go through the SoftBank lineup just once having allowed four earned runs in 1-2/3 innings. The Pacific League champion Hawks, who have hit 6 home runs the past two days (3 from Yamakawa), are the 21st team in Climax Series history to take a 3-0 lead with the previous 20 advancing to the Japan Series.
Friday 18 October Game 3 Probables Yomiuri: Foster Griffin (6-4, 3.01) Yokohama: Teruki Yoshino (3-2, 4.31) SoftBank: Carter Stewart Jr. (9-4, 1.95) Nippon-Ham: Sachiya Yamasaki (10-6, 3.17)
1847246858751758783 is not a valid tweet id The SoftBank Hawks advanced to the Nippon Series for the first time in 4 years after defeating the Nippon-Ham Fighters 3-2 on Friday to sweep their Pacific League Climax Series 4 games to 0. It will be the Hawks' 21st appearance in the Japanese Fall Classic which equals the Seibu Lions for most appearances for Pacific League club. The Yomiuri Giants hold the NPB record with 36 appearances in the Japan Series. Ukyo Shuto drove in the game winning run when his two out single to left field brought home Kensuke Kondoh from third base in the 4th inning. Carter Stewart Jr. earned the win after going 5 innings despite allowing two runs including a solo home run by Torai Fushimi. Slugger Hotaka Yamakawa was named MVP of the series with 3 home runs, 6 RBIs and a .500 batting average (6-for-12). A few years ago Nippon-Ham manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo said that his dream was to rebuild the Fighters then possibly move on to a different project. A couple of weeks ago at the end of the regular season he implied that he would step down if he felt content and didn't have the drive to keep managing the team. After Friday's game Shinjo stated, "I will give a clear answer as to what I will do in the future after the draft meeting (October 24th)."
A wild pitch by Yuji Akahoshi allowed Kouki Kajiwara to race home with what proved to be the game winning run in the 5th inning as the Yokohama BayStars stunned the Yomiuri Giants for the third consecutive night with a 2-1 win in Game 3 of the Central League Climax Series. The BayStars now lead the series 3-1 having won all three games played on the diamond. Kazuma Okamoto homered in the 2nd inning to put the Kyojin up 1-0 but Tyler Austin tied it in the 4th with his second bomb in as many games. Overall, the pitching staff of Yomiuri has done their jobs this week, including star reliever Taisei Ota who struck out the side in the 9th inning in his post-season debut. It's the bats on offense that has let the team down this series against a BayStars team that's extremely short on pitching including the unavailability of #1 starter Katsuki Azuma who could return if the team advances. The Yokohama fielding has also greatly contributed having committed no errors through their 5 Climax Series games played after having led all of NPB with 96 errors during the regular season.
Saturday 19 October Game 4 Probables Yomiuri: Haruto Inoue (8-5, 2.76) Yokohama: Andre Jackson (8-7, 2.90 ... PS: 1-0, 1.59)
An aggressive three-run 7th inning spurred the Yomiuri Giants to a 4-1 victory over the Yokohama BayStars to stay alive in the Central League Climax Series which the BayStars now lead 3 games to 2. The rally equaled the number of runs the Giants had scored over the previous 33 innings of the series. Yomiuri reinstated Domincan outfielder Elier Hernández into the starting lineup while Naoki Yoshikawa, who was thought to be unavailable for the Climax Series, was healthy enough to be available from the bench as the team tried to avoid elimination. Starting pitcher Haruto Inoue was superb, tossing 5-1/3 innings of perfect ball before Yasutaka Tobashira broke up the no-hitter and shutout with a game-tying home run. Inoue departed after the inning having given up just the one hit over 6 full while averaging one strike out per frame. The Kyojin broke the 1-1 deadlock with one out in the 7th when 35 year old Hayato Sakamoto singled to left, advanced to third on Raito Nakayama's single to right then scored when Yukinori Kishida surprisingly dropped a squeeze bunt. A throwing error by Yokohama first baseman Tyler Austin added two insurance runs for the CL pennant winners. The BayStars threatened to send the game into extra innings but with one out and two runners on base Giants closer Taisei Ota fanned Austin and Toshiro Miyazaki to shut down the potential rally and send the series to a fifth game.
Sunday 20 October Game 5 Probables Yomiuri: Iori Yamasaki (10-6, 2.81) Yokohama: Haruhiro Hamaguchi (2-4, 3.25)
Well was just going to come and ask about this. Noticed that Giants have only won one game, but have 2 wins on the series score. I kept rereading the scores and trying to figure out why... kind of assumed that was why but a bit dumb imo. The odds really are stacked against the lower seeded side, no home advantage, a game down, and the ties being decided like that. One of those advantages would be enough. Anyway, why are the Giants doing so badly in the series?
While I'm sad about the Fighters getting swept by the Hawks, I'm glad that they made such a successful turnaround from last year, in order to get this far in 2024. Actually, what I'm even sadder about is that the natural grass infield at Es Con Field is going to be replaced with artificial turf during the off-season. ----- If Shinjo-senshu feels like he needs a new challenge, and if he also happens to be open to the idea of staying in Hokkaido (I don't know if that's been stated or not), then perhaps he could take over as Consadole's manager? Since it's looking like Consa are going to get relegated this season, they might need someone to help them get things turned around in 2025...
Another way to look at it... No ghost win. Series is best of 6. If the series ends tied 3-3 then the 1st place league champion advances for finishing ahead in the regular season standings. i.e. The lower seeded team MUST win more games than the team that finished ahead of them in the table. Sound reasonable? Post-season NPB playoffs have 'only' been in place since 2004 (by the Pacific League, adopted by the Central League in 2007). The format you highlighted is a compromise between those (mainly in the Pacific League) who wanted the drama and viewership ratings that the playoffs bring, and those (very much in the Central League) who believe the team that finishes in first place in the standings after the marathon 143-game regular season is more deserving to play in the Japan Series than a team that finishes below first place and goes on a 10-day winning/hot streak. Both the CL and PL award their league pennants to the regular season first place finisher. So, for example, if the Giants are unable to beat the BayStars in the Climax Series they will still be considered the Central League champions despite not reaching the Japan Series..This situation has happened 6 times in Climax Series history, thrice in each league.