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The story
In Game 1 of the Central League Climax Series, the Yokohama DeNA BayStars took the lead in the 9th inning on a hit from Ryuki Dokoe, winning 2-1. The Giants had a rough night, as starter Martinez gave up a late home run that let DeNA pull ahead. Mid-game, the Giants’ decision to bunt with a runner on second and no outs sparked debate on the forum, splitting fans between those who valued the higher run expectancy of swinging away and those who backed manager Hashigami’s call to prioritize tying the score. The 8th-inning double play and both teams’ track records in short playoff series were also hot topics.
DeNA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 | 2
Giants 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 1
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Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
What people said
Salary of ¥1.22 billion lol
Bunting with a runner on second, no outs lol
Comedy baseball lol
After sending out Rai-Maru, getting taken deep, and falling behind, saying "let's just tie it first"
doesn't fly.
You shouldn't bunt there unless it's an obvious case where extra innings would favor you — like if the other team's been burning through relievers since the early innings.
Doing it in front of Darbeck, who can't even make contact, is one thing,
but statistically, a runner on second with no outs is literally the ONE case where bunting is the right call to get 1 run.
Both teams are so weak, they're definitely losing to the Tigers.
In the end they couldn't even get a hit off Inoue, and they pulled him anyway.
I kept seeing clips of his comedy-tier defense going around on social media.
He finally broke out this year.
Today's game just made that a lot more likely.
I don't think it's wrong
since the tying run scored off a sac fly from the cleanup hitter, Darbeck
But if you call it the weak-minded choice, yeah, fair enough.
If DeNA had been burning through their bullpen, playing for extra innings would've been the right call
but given how the game was actually going, that kind of passive offense was a mistake.
Actually, they seem weak in short playoff series in general.
The Giants have never advanced after finishing 2nd or 3rd. If they don't win the pennant outright, their season's basically over right there.
Basically the Yankees.
It's been 13 years since they were Japan Series champions now, huh.
If they cut Darbeck, some other team will scoop him up for sure. Sounds like he wants to keep playing in Japan anyway
so it's really just whether the Giants re-sign him.
If you're running a cleanup hitter at Darbeck's level,
you're not winning a championship —
not if you're serious about going all the way.
It's common knowledge by now that bunting lowers run expectancy, and doing it while behind is just dumb.
In a no-outs, runner-on-second situation, bunting should actually raise the probability of scoring.
"Run expectancy favors swinging away" is really just about the odds of scoring 2 or 3 runs.
If all you want is 1 run, depending on the situation, bunting can actually be the better bet.
Yeah, they shouldn't have made that switch.
he's cut from the same cloth as bunt-obsessed Abe.
Even by sabermetric standards, setting up a 1-out runner on third is a valid way to try to scratch out a run.
If you can't tie it, it's over,
so Hashigami's choice to go for at least 1 run instead of the lead isn't wrong.
If it were Abe, they wouldn't even have had a winning interleague record — they'd be sitting 4th or lower.
That's what flipped the momentum.
Just stopping the hit would've been impressive enough,
but getting TWO outs out of that play is the real shocker.
It was so artistic the Giants dugout was shocked enough to challenge the call.
I actually know more BayStars guys at this point — times have really changed.
I only recognize Sakamoto, Maru, Richard, and Kai at this point.
the Giants are just paying for years of draft and development failures.
Honestly, whoever expected a sac fly out of strikeout king Darbeck is the one at fault.
Kai: ¥500 million
Norimoto: ¥300 million
What are they even doing lol
Blowing all the money they got from selling off Okamoto.
Nothing but bad investments lol
Background and Key Debate Points
The first stage of the Central League Climax Series is a best-of-2 format, where winning Game 1 gives a team a major edge. The Giants entered this series as the 2nd-place finisher, and the thread pointed to their shaky history in short playoff series — specifically that they’ve never advanced after finishing 2nd or 3rd. The main sticking point was whether the sacrifice bunt with a runner on second and no outs was the right call, splitting opinion between those favoring the higher run expectancy of swinging away and those backing the lower-risk path to securing the tying run. On the use of high-salary players like Martinez, Kai, and Norimoto, there were plenty of critical comments about how the money from Okamoto’s compensation transfer was being spent — though that reflects forum sentiment rather than a vetted breakdown of contract terms, and the article does not vouch for the exact figures cited. As for Dokoe, he’s often been talked about for his defensive miscues, but it’s worth noting he’s been earning praise for his hitting this season.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Baseball] Central League CS Game 1: G 1-2 DB [10/10] DeNA’s Dokoe hits go-ahead homer! Giants’ Martinez gets tagged.”
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