The baseball season is winding down, but this was one of the busiest weeks on the NPB calendar, with the amateur draft and the start of the Japan Series making big headlines.
Yomiuri also hired the great Hideki Matsui as its new manager, bringing the former Giants and New York Yankees slugger back to lead his original club. Godzilla joins the legendary Kimiyasu Kudo, who led SoftBank to five Japan Series titles and is now the Chunichi Dragons’ new skipper, among new managerial hires for the 2027 season.
Plus, Hanshin Tigers left-hander Haruto Takahashi was named the 2026 Sawamura Award winner. The 30-year-old finished 16-3 with a 1.87 ERA, 150 strikeouts, and five complete games over 159 innings, leading all of NPB in wins, shutouts, and groundball rate. He became the first pitcher from the CL to take home the coveted prize since Yudai Ohno in 2020.
Before moving on to the Japan Series results, please check out our review of Diamond Diplomacy, a documentary that showcases U.S.-Japan relations through the lens of baseball.
The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have taken a 2-0 lead over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in the Japan Series, winning two extra-inning thrillers on the road at Yokohama Stadium. It marks only the second time in Nippon Series history that both opening games went to extras, following SoftBank’s matchup with Chunichi in 2011.
In Game 1, Naoyuki Uwasawa threw seven shutout innings before Shugo Maki tied it with an eighth-inning homer, already his fifth of the postseason. PLCS MVP Yudai Shoji’s RBI double in the 11th put SoftBank back ahead, and the Hawks went on to win 3-1.
Reigning PL MVP Liván Moinelo (Hawks) followed with seven scoreless frames in Game 2, but Yoshitomo Tsutsugo’s clutch three-run homer put DeNA ahead 3-2 in the eighth.
However, pinch-hitter Hotaka Yamakawa tied it with a towering solo shot in the ninth, and Yuto Kawamura’s homer in the 10th gave SoftBank a 4-3 comeback victory. Kawamura has just one career NPB home run and batted .095 during the regular season, making him the unlikeliest of heroes.
The BayStars had chances to walk off both games but couldn’t cash in. The series now moves to the Fukuoka PayPay Dome for Game 3 on October 27, with SoftBank two wins from consecutive championships. DeNA also lost the first two games at home in 2024 before winning four straight against the Hawks. They will hope for a similar miracle turnaround as ace Katsuki Azuma takes the mound against Haru Matsumoto in a battle of the southpaws on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, in Thursday’s NPB Draft, Yomiuri selected Yokohama High School ace Shoki Oda in the first round despite his stated plans to pursue an NCAA or MLB opportunity. The Giants will try to convince him to start his career in Japan, as Nipponham successfully did with Shohei Ohtani in 2012 and SoftBank unsuccessfully attempted with Rintaro Sasaki this past year. They will forfeit the pick if he does not sign.
Nipponham selected big two-way prospect Haruki Komoda without even needing to go to a lottery, adding the most talented player of the class to an organization known for developing two-way talent.
SoftBank won the two-way lottery for Aoyama Gakuin University right-hander Taisei Suzuki, while the Rakuten Eagles secured his batterymate, catcher Kai Watabe, in a two-way lottery. The Hawks also drafted Penn State righty Genei Sato in the ninth round, another top prospect who is eyeing a move to MLB. Like Sasaki and Oda, he is unlikely to sign.
Other intriguing picks with international appeal included DeNA’s third-round selection of two-way player Kansai Sugimoto from the University of British Columbia. SoftBank also scouted more Japanese talent overseas, drafting pitcher Koki Sugimoto from the KBO’s KT Wiz and infielder Fudai Nerei from Fresno City College in the developmental rounds.
For analysis of every team’s draft, check out my latest free Substack article.
