Congratulations to Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on winning the World Series! In the Japan Series, after a pair of convincing wins by the SoftBank Hawks in Yokohama, the DeNA BayStars faced the daunting task of winning two of three games on the road just to stay alive. But they did more than that. Despite the Hawks’ dominant 52-21 home record coming into the series, the BayStars stunned the juggernauts, holding them scoreless for 26 consecutive innings and outscoring them 16-1 over three consecutive wins.
With the momentum fully on their side, DeNA clinched the Japan Series in Game 6 with an 11-2 trouncing in front of their home fans, securing their first championship since 1998 and just their third in franchise history. It was a true Cinderella story, as the BayStars pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NPB history, defeating a Hawks team that finished 20 games ahead in the regular season. Now, let’s dive into the details of Games 3-6.
Ace Katsuki Azuma returned from injury and pitched seven innings of one-run ball for DeNA, while Carter Stewart Jr. had some command troubles and only lasted four innings for SoftBank. Center fielder Masayuki Kuwahara got the momentum on DeNA’s side with a 5th inning home run off Ryosuke Ohtsu. Catcher Yasutaka Tobashira added an insurance run in the 8th with an RBI double while Hiromu Ise and Kohei Morihara held strong for a 4-1 victory. The Hawks out-hit the BayStars but struggled to capitalize on scoring chances.
Southpaw Anthony Kay dominated with seven scoreless innings for the BayStars, striking out seven. Tyler Austin went deep off Shuta Ishikawa in the 4th to put DeNA in front, and a big 7th inning led by Toshiro Miyazaki’s leadoff homer and Masayuki Kuwahara’s one-out, two-run double sealed a 5-0 win. SoftBank’s offense remained silent as DeNA evened the series. After their 14-game Japan Series win streak was snapped on the previous night, the Hawks dropped their second straight contest on the big stage.
Andre Jackson matched his teammates’ stellar pitching with seven shutout frames and eight strikeouts, putting Jackson and Kay in exclusive company with Matt Moore, Rick van den Hurk, and Joe Stanka as the only foreigners in Japan Series history to throw 7+ scoreless innings. The BayStars forced Hawks starter Tomohisa Ohzeki to labor hard as he exited in the 3rd after throwing 79 pitches. In the 4th, with DeNA up 1-0, captain Shugo Maki cranked a three-run homer to further the lead. DeNA added late insurance runs in the 9th to shut out SoftBank again, 7-0. Every BayStars hitter in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit, and Jackson’s economical pitching kept DeNA in complete control, flipping the series on its head.
After a strong Game 1 performance, veteran Kohei Arihara hoped to keep SoftBank’s season alive, but Yoshitomo Tsutsugo took him deep in the 2nd before Masayuki Kuwahara added a two-run single to make it 3-0. Arihara walked in a run in the 3rd to bring the deficit to four. Yuki Yanagita crushed a two-run bomb to dead center off Shinichi Ohnuki in the 4th, ending SoftBank’s 29-inning scoreless streak and cutting the lead in half, but DeNA didn’t let them seize the momentum.
The BayStars opened the floodgates in the 5th against Carter Stewart Jr. and Shunsuke Iwai as Kuwahara drew an RBI walk, Kouki Kajiwara hit an RBI single, Tyler Austin took an RBI hit by pitch, and Tsutsugo smacked a bases-clearing double to make it 10-2. Toshiro Miyazaki added a timely hit to cap off a seven-run inning. Kohei Morihara struck out Yanagita for the final out of the season.
SoftBank’s historically great lineup failed to deliver when it mattered most, and their pitching fell apart in the end, unable to contain DeNA’s relentless offense as the BayStars clinched their first Japan Series title in 26 years. DeNA out-scored SoftBank 27-3 in the final four games. Masayuki Kuwahara was named Japan Series MVP for making several great defensive plays in center and going 12 for 27 with one homer and nine RBIs in six games. Kenta Imamiya took the ‘Fighting Spirit’ award for the best player on the losing side.
Congratulations, Yokohama! What an end to the 2024 NPB season. Next week, it’s time for the Premier12 international baseball tournament!
- NPB Standings
- Central League Hitting Leaders
- Central League Pitching Leaders
- Pacific League Hitting Leaders
- Pacific League Pitching Leaders
- Yuri’s NPB Pitcher Rankings
- Yakyu Cosmopolitan’s Website
