The stage is set for the 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball postseason, known as the Climax Series. This week, the SoftBank Hawks clinched the Pacific League pennant for the second straight year, and the 21st time in franchise history, earning a first-round bye and an automatic 1-0 advantage in the Championship Series, with every game to be played at home.
Meanwhile, the Orix Buffaloes secured third place, setting up a date with the Nipponham Fighters in Hokkaido. In the Central League, the DeNA BayStars and Yomiuri Giants had already punched their tickets, but DeNA has now guaranteed home field for the opening best-of-three series, which will be played from October 11-13. The winner will face the pennant-winning Hanshin Tigers.
Now, let’s look back at the past week of action, featuring a perfecto-bid by Yuto Kimura, a historic night from Atsuki Taneichi, another dominant outing for Shunpeita Yamashita, 20th home runs from Munetaka Murakami and Tyler Nevin, and more!
Monday (September 22)
- Teruaki Sato (Tigers) hit his 39th homer against former teammate Koyo Aoyagi (Swallows).
- Neftali Soto (Marines) homered off Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) for the third time this season in a 2-0 win.
Tuesday-Wednesday (September 23-24)
- Naoki Miyanishi (Fighters) made his 900th career appearance. He has the all-time Holds record, with 424 and counting.
- The Buffaloes completed a four-game sweep of the Hawks on the road.
- Yuto Kimura (Marines) took a perfect game into the seventh inning and threw his first career shutout against the Lions.
Thursday (September 25)
- Tyler Nevin (Lions) hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh to spark a 5-4 comeback against the Fighters.
- Tomohisa Ohzeki (Hawks) threw seven shutout innings against the Eagles, lowering his ERA to 1.66.
Friday (September 26)
- Tatsuki Mizuno (Fighters) hit a three-run shot in an 8-5 victory versus the Lions.
- Kazuma Okamoto (Giants) hit his 15th homer in a 5-4 loss to the BayStars.
Saturday (September 27)
- The Hawks clinched the PL pennant after defeating the Lions, 4-1!
- Atsuki Taneichi (Marines) set a career-high 15 strikeouts in a 2-0 loss to the Fighters. He also had 42 whiffs, the most by any NPB or MLB pitcher in the Statcast era!
- Shunpeita Yamashita (Buffaloes) struck out 11 across seven scoreless frames in a 2-0 win versus the Eagles. The Buffaloes clinched a postseason berth.
- Munetaka Murakami (Swallows) hit his 20th home run, giving him seven straight seasons with 20+ homers.
- The Giants scored five runs in the ninth to come from behind against the BayStars, 9-8.
Sunday (September 28)
- Tyler Nevin (Lions) hit his 20th dinger of the season.
- Chihiro Sumida (Lions) threw 143 pitches and struck out 14 batters in a 4-1 loss to the Hawks.
- The BayStars had an eight-run eighth inning to blow past the Carp, 10-2.
Central League Standings
Pacific League Standings
- NPB Standings
- Central League Hitting Leaders
- Central League Pitching Leaders
- Pacific League Hitting Leaders
- Pacific League Pitching Leaders
- Yakyu Cosmopolitan’s Website
