Nippon Ham Fighters

Yuki Saito threw eighty pitches in the bullpen on Sunday.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/21/2012

Chunichi Dragons

The Dragons became the first team in playoff/Climax Series history to user eight pitchers in one game.  The eight did tie a postseason high of eight that was set by the Seibu Lions during the 1997 Nippon Series (Game 4).  The 1997 Lions also lost their game. The walk-off loss was also the second in franchise postseason history (the other came during the 1988 Nippon Series, Game 5).  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/22/2012

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Soma Yamauchi took a batted ball off his left shin during the 4th inning of Sunday's game against the Yomiuri Giants and had to be helped off the field.  Yamai was treated with ice and was not taken to the hospital.  Source: Sports Hochi 10/21/2012

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Morimichi Takagi was not happy with how pitching coach Hiroshi Gondo handled the pitchers in the 9th inning -- he threw his hat in disgust after Daisuke Yamai was called in to relieve Hitoki Iwase. Source: Daily Sports 10/22/2012, Sports Hochi Osaka 10/22/2012

Yomiuri Giants

TV ratings for Sunday's game were at 17.5% for the Kanto region.  Ratings for Games 3 and 4 were 11.5% and 14.4%, respectively.  Source: Daily Sports 10/22/2012

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Sunday's walk-off victory was the seventh in NPB playoff/Climax Series history and first in the franchise's playoff/Climax Series history.  It was also the first pinch-hit walk-off hit in NPB playoff/Climax Series history.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/21/2012

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Yoshihito Ishii has the letters and number YYKT33 stitched on his batting gloves.  The letters: his first name, his wife's first name (Yumi), the names of his two dogs (Kinoko and Takenoko), and his uniform number.  Source: Sanspo 10/22/2012

Ishii was 15-for-37 with 13 RBI as a pinch-hitter this year.

Nippon Ham Fighters

The Fighters are planning to celebrate with champagne, instead of the usual beer, if they win the Nippon Series.  The celebrations will take place on the field, assuming the series is decided at Sapporo Dome.

The 1997 Yakult Swallows and 2000 Yomiuri Giants celebrated with sparkling wine.  No Pacific League team has used a non-beer beverage to celebrate.

The Fighters will also attempt to set a world record for most people toasting at once by getting everyone in attendance involved.

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/21/2012, Sponichi 10/21/2012

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Masaru Nakamura, Keisuke Tanimoto, and Yuki Saito arrived in Miyazaki on Saturday.  Nakamura was scheduled to start Game 4 of the Final Stage; Tanimoto Game 5 of the Final Stage; and Saito was a back-up option for the bullpen.  None of them were able to pitch because the series ended after just three games.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/20/2012, Nikkan Sports 10/20/2012, Nikkan Sports 10/20/2012

Saito told reporters that he is ready to pitch in whatever role is necessary.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/21/2012

Nakamura will pitch in a Phoenix League game against Chunichi on the 23rd; Saito against Orix on the 25th.  Source: Daily Sports 10/21/2012

A total five pitchers and four position players were sent to Miyazaki on Saturday.  Source: Sanspo 10/21/2012

Chunichi Dragons

Yohei Oshima has hit safely in seven straight Climax Series games so far: First Stage, Gm 1: 3-for-5; Gm 2: 4-for-4; Gm 3: 2-for-4; Final Stage, Gm 1: 1-for-5; Gm 2: 2-for-5; Gm 3: 1-for-6; Gm 4: 2-for-5.

Yomiuri Giants

Hirokazu Sawamura became the first pitcher in franchise history to record a victory in his first Climax Series start while not allowing any runs.  Source: Sponichi 10/21/2012

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Hayato Sakamoto and Shinnosuke Abe became the first three/four hitters to collect back-to-back run-scoring hits in a Climax Series game in franchise history.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/21/2012

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During the regular season, Abe was 30-for-65 when he made contact on the first pitch.  Source: Sponichi 10/21/2012

Nippon Ham Fighters

Brian Wolfe joined Marc Kroon as the only two foreign players in NPB history to win the deciding playoff/Climax Series game leading to the Nippon Series.  Kroon got his win in relief and Wolfe got his as a starter.

Hisashi Takeda saved three games during the Final Stage and tied Masahide Kobayashi (2005) and Hitoki Iwase (2007) for most saves during one playoff/Climax Series stage.

Source: Sponichi 10/20/2012

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Hideki Kuriyama will send a number of Ichi-gun players, including Yuki Saito, to the Phoenix League for additional playing time.  Source: Sanspo 10/20/2012

Kuriyama joined Tsutomu Ito (2004), Hisanobu Watanabe (2008), Norifumi Nishimura (2010) as the only first-year managers to make the Nippon Series by making it through the playoffs/Climax Series.  All three of the past first-year managers went on to the win the Nippon Series.  Kuriyama is also the fifteenth first-year manager in NPB history to make it to the Nippon Series.  Source: Sponichi 10/20/2012

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Up until Friday night, Sho Nakata had zero hits in seven postseason trips to the plate with runners on base: strikeout, double play, walk, ground out to the catchers, fly out to center, E7, walk.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/20/2012

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Atsunori Inaba showed up to workouts early on Friday in order to get a few more cuts during batting practice.  Source: Sanspo 10/20/2012

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About three hundred fans attended an outdoor public viewing of Friday's game at Kamagaya.  Source: Sponichi 10/20/2012

Chunichi Dragons

Masahiro Yamamoto has pitched in ten postseason games and is still looking for his first victory.  Source: Sponichi 10/20/2012

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Of the twenty-two teams that were the first to move to within one playoff/Climax Series victory from advancing to the Nippon Series, only two failed to make it: Lotte in 1977 and Softbank in 2010.

Friday's extra inning victory was the eighth in playoff/Climax Series history.

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/20/2012

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Morimichi Takagi praised Takehiro Donoue for driving in the game-winning run in the top of the 10th and thanked him because he erased his bad decision to have Motonobu Tanshige attempt and fail a squeeze bunt.

"We have come to this point and the players are out there playing with confidence I have not seen [this year].  They are focused.  And I had to go in and mess things up.  I should not have done anything today and just let the players take care of things," said Takagi.

He continued, "I asked Take[hiro] to hit one for me.  He really came through.  He basically saved me.  I would not mind doing anything for Donoue."

Source: Daily Sports 10/20/2012

Yomiuri Giants

Tatsunori Hara cut his post-game press conference short on Friday night.

Said Hara, "The team is beginning to move a little better, but we could not translate that into a victory.  After playing without all our energy, the bottom line is that we can not lose another game.  We will look toward tomorrow and do our best."

When asked a question he replied, "There is nothing more or less to say. ... That should be good enough," and left.  Source: Daily Sports 10/20/2012

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Michihiro Ogasawara was added to the active roster today.

Softbank Hawks

Masahiko Morifuku had gone eleven consecutive post-season appearances (10.1 innings) without allowing a run until his outing on Thursday.

Nippon Ham Fighters

Yoshio Itoi became:

...the first player in the NPB to homer in two straight Climax Series game since Wladimir Balentien in the First Stage this year.

...the second Fighter in franchise history to homer in two straight playoff/Climax Series games.  The other was Michihiro Ogasawara in 2004.

...just the third player in NPB history (first in PL history) to record both a triple and a home run during a single playoff/Climax Series game.  The other two: Byung-Kyu Lee in 2007 and Alex Ramirez in 2008.

And since the one-win advantage was implemented in 2008, the CL or PL home team has won the first two games four times: Chunichi in 2010, Nippon Ham in 2009, Softbank in 2011, and Nippon Ham in 2012.  The three prior teams all ended up advancing to the Nippon Series.

Source: Sponichi 10/19/2012

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Masaru Takeda has pitched in ten postseason games and recorded three victories.  Source: Sponichi 10/19/2012

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Yuki Saito joined the Ichi-gun team at Sapporo Dome today.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/18/2012

He could be added to the active roster on the 20th, if the series requires a game four.  Source: Sanspo 10/19/2012

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The Fighters do not plan on holding anymore celebrations unless they win the Nippon Series.  Source: Sanspo 10/19/2012

Chunichi Dragons

The Dragons could become the first team in the CL to overcome the one-win home advantage and make it out of the Final Stage.  Note: the one-win home advantage was implemented in 2008.

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Yohei Oshima has collected at least one hit in all five Climax Series games so far: 9-for-13 in three games during the First Stage and 3-for-10 in two games during the Final Stage.

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Junki Ito became the first pitcher to record just one regular season victory AND win a game during the playoffs/Climax Series.  He also joined Hisashi Yamada (1973), Kenshin Kawakami (2007), and Wirfin Obispo (2009) to collect two hits in a playoff/Climax Series game.  Source: Sponichi 10/19/2012

Yomiuri Giants

Michihiro Ogasawara and Edgar Gonzalez joined the Ichi-gun team for workouts at Tokyo Dome today.  Neither were added to the active roster today.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/19/2012

Nippon Ham Fighters

Former Nippon Ham Fighter Yu Darvish tweeted the following on Wednesday:

日ハムーソフトバンクをテレビ観戦してます(^^) 吉川、フォーム変わったな〜 てか札幌ドーム満員になってないね^^;

I am watching the Nippon Ham-Softbank game.  Yoshikawa, his delivery has changed.  Wait, Sapporo Dome is not a full house.

Chunichi Dragons

Morimichi Takagi originally wanted Motonobu Tanishige to advance the runner on first with a sac bunt in the 9th, but removed the bunt sign when the count went 1-1 and instead went with the hit-and-run.  That ended up being the right decision since Tanishige hit an RBI double and snapped his sixty trips to the plate without a hit streak.  Source: Daily Sports 10/18/2012

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The Dragon have faced the Yomiuri Giants in the Final Stage five times -- 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 -- since it was implemented in 2007.  They have also won the first game of each of those five encounters.  Source: Sponichi 10/18/2012

Yomiuri Giants

TV ratings for the Final Stage game on Wednesday were 12.1% for the Kanto region.  Source: Daily Sports 10/18/2012

Softbank Hawks

When Dai-Kang Yoh steps into the batter's box against his brother Yao-Hsun Yang, they will become the first set of brothers to face each other during a Climax Series.

FYI: The brothers have the same last name (Chinese character), but are using different readings.  Yang is the way it is read in Taiwan.  Yao-Hsun came over to Japan after college and was therefore accustomed to people reading his last name as Yang.  Dai-Kang entered the NPB after Fukuoka Daiichi High School in Japan where classmates used the Japanese reading of his last name -- Yoh -- and decided to stick with that after turning pro.

Source: Sponichi 10/17/2012

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The Hawks will be prepared to go to the bullpen early, especially during the first two games of the Final Stage.  Source: Sports Hochi 10/17/2012

Nippon Ham Fighters

Hideki Kuriyama will play games as if they are six-innings long.  That is, since both teams have good bullpens, the best scoring opportunities may take place within the first six innings when the starting pitchers are still in it.  Source: Sports Hochi 10/17/2012

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Yuki Saito will rejoin the Ichi-gun team on Thursday as part of a back-up group of pitchers.  Source: Sponichi 10/17/2012

Chunichi Dragons

Enyelbert Soto (left shoulder) did not participate in workouts at Tokyo Dome on Tuesday (he was still in Nagoya) and may not be able to pitch during the Final Stage.

Said Morimichi Takagi, "[Soto] is out of the picture.  He cannot pitch if he still feel discomfort.  I think he may be done for the season."

Source: Sports Hochi 10/17/2012

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Takagi on facing the Yomiuri Giants: "One win advantage to the Giants?  We need an advantage too.  They can hit, run, and field.  They are better than us in all areas.  It would be good if we can get even one blow in.  But that is something only a weak team can say.  We have no room for error with the starting rotation and I have no idea which pitcher to go with.  We also used up the bullpen.  We only lasted this long because the Yakult series maxed out at three games.  But I think this will be a three game series too."

This should not be taken at face value since Takagi may be trying to play mind games with the Giants (and media), i.e. pretending to play dead.

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/17/2012

Yomiuri Giants

The Giants worked out for about two hours at Tokyo Dome on Tuesday.  Source: Sanspo 10/17/2012

Sponichi reports that a bomb threat for Sapporo Dome was found at 2-chan (a popular Japanese bulletin board) at around 1:30pm today.  The City of Sapporo contacted the authorities and Hokkaido Police and the Nippon Ham Fighters' organization did a sweep of stadium.  Nothing suspicious was found.

According to the police and the Nippon Ham Fighters, the 2-chan messages included sentences like "I will blow up Sapporo Dome!" and "Cancel tomorrow's games!"

The Final Stage of the Climax Series is set to begin on Wednesday.  About 350 people (players, press, team staff) were at Sapporo Dome today; practices were held as usual.

A similar bomb threat was made for Seibu Dome just before the start of the First Stage of the Climax Series.

Source: Sponichi 10/16/2012

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UPDATE 10/18 @ 9:48am - Hokkaido Police and the Nippon Ham Fighters' organization did a sweep of Sapporo Dome on Wednesday morning and found no suspicious items.  Source: Sponichi 10/18/2012

Softbank Hawks

Yao-Hsun Yang will start Game 1 of the Final Stage.  He could be followed by Nagisa Arakaki.  After that, it will probably go back to Tadashi Settsu, Shota Takeda, and Kenji Otonari.  Source: Sports Hochi Osaka 10/16/2012

Nippon Ham Fighters

Mitsuo Yoshikawa will start Game 1 of the Final Stage.  Masaru Takeda will most likely start Game 2.  Brian Wolfe, Masaru Nakamura, and Keisuke Tanimoto could follow.  Source: Sports Hochi 10/16/2012

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Yoshikawa threw about forty pitches in the bullpen today.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/16/2012

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Kensuke Kondo will reportedly make the roster for the Final Stage.  If he does, he will be the first rookie out of high school to make the postseason roster in franchise history.  Source: Sponichi 10/16/2012

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The bullpen will likely include Hisashi Takeda, Hirotoshi Masui, Naoki Miyanishi, Yuya Ishii, Kazuhito Tadano, Toshiharu Moriuchi, and Dustin Molleken.  Yuki Saito, Toshiyuki Yanuki, and Tomohisa Nemoto will be back-ups.  Source: Sponichi 10/16/2012

Chunichi Dragons

The Dragons worked out for about two hours at Tokyo Dome today.  Source: Daily Sports 10/16/2012

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Junki Ito, Yudai Kawai, Akifumi Takahashi, and Nobumasa Fukuda left Miyazaki and joined the Ichi-gun team for workouts today.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/16/2012

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Masahiro Yamamoto (forty-seven years and two months) and Motonobu Tanishige (forty-one years and nine months) became the first over-forty pitcher/catcher combo in post-season history.  Their combined age of eighty-eight years and eleven months also set a new record.

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/16/2012, Sponichi 10/16/2012

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Down 1-0, Tony Blanco hit a grand slam to give the team a 4-1 victory on Monday night.

Eleven grand slams have been hit during playoff/Climax Series games.  Of the eleven, four have been the come-from-behind variety: Terry Whitfield (1982); Alex Cabrera (2004); Terrmel Sledge (2009), and Blanco (2012).  And of the eleven, three have been hit by CL players: Michihiro Ogasawara (2008), Yoshitomo Tani (2009), and Blanco (2012).

Only two Chunichi players have hit a grand slam during the postseason: Tanishige (2004) and Blanco (2012).

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/16/2012, Sponichi 10/16/2012

Yomiuri Giants

Same-day tickets for the first two games of the Final Stage will be available at the ticket office near Gate 22, beginning at 10am.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/16/2012, official announcement

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The Giants were hoping to go with Toshiya Sugiuchi (left shoulder, fatigue) for Game 3, but it seems they may instead turn to Hirokazu Sawamura.  Source: Sanspo 10/16/2012

It seems Sugiuchi may not even be able to pitch during the Final Stage.  That could mean a Final Stage starting rotation of Tetsuya Utsumi, Dennis Houlton, Sawamura, Ryosuke Miyaguni, and either Dicky Gonzalez or Yuki Koyama.

Source: Sponichi 10/16/2012

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Tatsunori Hara told reporters his starting line-up for the Final Stage will more or less be the same as the regular season -- everyday players will most likely remain in their usual spots.  Source: Daily Sports 10/16/2012

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Taishi Ota worked out with the Ichi-gun team at Tokyo Dome on Monday but headed back to Miyazaki today.  Daisuke Nakai likely made the Climax Series roster over Ota.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/16/2012

Sanspo figures catcher Ken Kato will be added to the roster over Ota because the Giants will end up carrying three catchers instead of two -- there is concern about Shinnosuke Abe's legs.  Source: Sanspo 10/16/2012

ManuLife, Pacific League Climax Series sponsor, gave Softbank's Tadashi Settsu their Special Award for his performance in Game 1 of the First Stage of the Climax Series (8 IP, 119 NP, 30 BF, 4 H, 0 HR, 5 SO, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 0 R, 0 ER).  Source: Sponichi 10/16/2012

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The Chunichi Dragons drew 23,264 fans to their game on Monday and set a new low for a Central League Climax Series games since the series was instituted in 2007 (this was also the first time a CL CS game attracted less then 30,000).  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/15/2012

2012 First Stage Attendance Figures

Nagoya Dome Max Cap: 38,500
Seibu Dome Max Cap: 33,921

Nippon Ham Fighters

The Fighters arrived in Sapporo on Monday.  Atsushi Ugumori spent about an hour taking batting practice.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/15/2012

Yakult Swallows

Junji Ogawa on Tony Barnette's outing: "I used [Barnette] in an unfair situation.  The result cannot be helped. ... Scoring just three runs in three games is tough.  More runs are needed in order to win.  I think it is a difference in ability."  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/15/2012

Yomiuri Giants

The Giants are still unsure if Toshiya Sugiuchi (left shoulder, fatigue) is going to be able to pitch during the Final Stage of the Climax Series.  Source: Nikkan Sports 10/15/2012