Both the Central and Pacific Leagues have finished stage 1 of their Climax Series. The Chunichi Dragons and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles now move on to stage 2 to face their leagues’ regular season champions (the Yomiuri Giants and the Nippon-Ham Fighters, respectively) with a one-game disadvantage. Each stage 2 matchup begins Wednesday and proceeds for consecutive days at the regular season champions’ home domes until the Japan Series competitors are decided. (Final regular season standings via Japanball.)
Central C.S. 1st Stage
Gm 1 – Yakult 3, Chunichi 2 [boxscore]
Gm 2 – Chunichi 3, Yakult 2 [boxscore]
Gm 3 – Chunichi 7, Yakult 4 [boxscore]
Chunichi wins series, 2-1
Central C.S. 2nd Stage – Yomiuri vs. Chunichi
(Yomiuri already ahead 1-0; all games at Tokyo Dome)
Gm 1 – Wed. Oct. 21
Gm 2 – Thu. Oct. 22
Gm 3 – Fri. Oct. 23
Gm 4* – Sat. Oct. 24
Gm 5* – Sun. Oct. 25
Gm 6* – Mon. Oct. 26
* if necessary
Pacific C.S. 1st Stage
Gm 1 – Rakuten 11, Softbank 4 [boxscore]
Gm 2 – Rakuten 4, Softbank 1 [boxscore]
Rakuten wins series, 2-0
Pacific C.S. 2nd Stage – Nippon-Ham vs. Rakuten
(Nippon-Ham already ahead 1-0; all games at Sapporo Dome)
Gm 1 – Wed. Oct. 21
Gm 2 – Thu. Oct. 22
Gm 3 – Fri. Oct. 23
Gm 4* – Sat. Oct. 24
Gm 5* – Sun. Oct. 25
Gm 6* – Mon. Oct. 26
* if necessary
Above: highlights from Chunichi’s series-clinching win over Yakult. Plays include Dragons rightfielder Kei Nomoto throwing out Kazuhiro Hata at home in the 5th (Motonobu Tanishige also did a good job in blocking the plate), veteran Kazuyoshi Tatsunami (age 40) driving in 2 runs on a pinch-hit double and getting cheers when he is replaced by pinchrunner Masaaki Koike, Takuya Asao getting out of a bases-loaded situation in the 8th by inducing an inning-ending double play, and Hitoki Iwase striking out Norichika Aoki to finish it. [In a case of bad timing, five Yakult players tested positive for influenza A during the series including Ryohei Kawamoto, who hit a 2-run home run in Game 2.]
In the Pacific, Rakuten easily handled Softbank with its combination of solid pitching – both Eagles starters, Hisashi Iwakuma (Game 1) and Masahiro Tanaka (Game 2), went the full nine innings – and chunks of offense, scoring 3 runs in the 1st, 4 in the 3rd, and 3 in the sixth during Game 1. However, Iwakuma wasn’t perfect in his win as he gave up 4 runs in the fourth, two of them unearned. (Skip to 1:57 in the above video to see Softbank’s runs in Game 1.)
The Japan Series begins on October 31st, just to let you know, and we should know which team will represent each league by next Tuesday.
