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The story
In Game 3 of the Pacific League Climax Series First Stage on October 12, Nippon-Ham defeated Seibu 4-1, clinching a Final Stage berth with a 2-1 series record. Seibu, who finished second in the regular season, were eliminated after dropping two straight games. On the thread, discussion centered on reactions to Nippon-Ham winning a game that anti-fans had written off as a “throwaway,” how the win-advantage system works in favor of SoftBank in the Final Stage, and Seibu’s long history of struggling in the Climax Series.
Nippon-Ham 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0｜4
Seibu. 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0｜1
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Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
What people said
Both the Giants and Seibu finished 2nd place and now this… (´・ω・｀)
Seibu just lost on their own, that's all.
Anti-fans nationwide must be grinding their teeth right now. There was even a hater today saying it was a "throwaway game" just because Yamagata was starting, lol
Is that really how this is supposed to work?
Can't really blame a team for making the Japan Series even if they end up with 5 losses along the way.
In that case it's better for everyone if Nippon-Ham goes through instead.
Even if Ham goes through, the advantage is still 2 wins.
It's there because Ham lost to Bank so many times during the season.
Seibu finished 2nd place, what are you even talking about.
Go ahead and let two third-place teams fight over the "Japan Championship" (lol).
You don't have to come in here making excuses just because your team lost, lol
sounds like it's going to be a hype-filled grudge match.
I'm a Seibu fan, and honestly I don't even hate them.
There's no way SoftBank doesn't walk through this.
Whoever hits 5 wins first takes it — looks like SoftBank starts with a 2-win advantage baked in.
SoftBank needs 3 wins, Nippon-Ham needs 5.
Probably for revenue reasons — they built this convoluted rule so the advantage doesn't cut down on the number of games played.
Has Seibu ever actually won a CS?
Sounds like the last time they won a CS was 15 years ago.
This was back in the old playoff era, but 2004 was incredible.
The Hawks ran away with the regular season, but Seibu, who finished 2nd, pulled off a stunning Japan Series berth in the decisive final playoff game by starting Ishii Taka — a guy who'd won only 1 game all year.
Then in the Japan Series they started Ishii Taka again, and he went 2-0 with no runs allowed over two starts to win MVP.
Imagine taking a guy who was basically useless all season and turning him into the short-series MVP.
2008 was strong too — there was that legendary play where Kataoka scored a run on pure baserunning speed even though the team got no-hit.
They started falling off after barely losing the pennant race to SoftBank in 2010.
Since then, under manager Tsuji, they've managed to win the pennant two years running and then get eliminated two years running, and there's zero sign of any upset magic left in this team.
But watching from the outside, this roster really doesn't look like championship material.
Third place gets nothing, after all — they even have to cover their own travel and hotel costs.
Though to be fair, SoftBank's only really popular in Fukuoka anyway. Nippon-Ham has more nationally recognized star players.
No, it doesn't work that way. The advantage is 2, so they still need 3 wins.
Feels like the edge goes to Ham for knowing how to manage a short series.
Yesterday was do-or-die for Ham — lose and they're out — so starting ace Ito in Game 2 was absolutely the right call.
2004 vs 公 W-L-W → Won
2006 vs Hawks(鷹) W-L-L → Eliminated
2010 vs Marines(鴎) L-L → Eliminated
2012 vs Hawks(鷹) L-W-L → Eliminated
2013 vs Marines(鴎) L-W-L → Eliminated
2017 vs Eagles(鷲) W-L-L → Eliminated
2026 vs 公 W-L-L → Eliminated
Whoa, data like this actually exists. That's pretty interesting.
Wasn't 2004 the year a typhoon forced a Japan Series game to be canceled at Seibu Stadium even though it's a dome…?
When the outcome is this predictable under the rules, it doesn't really work as an exciting event.
Giving out a win-advantage in a best-of series — NPB is the only league in the world doing something like that in the postseason.
Nah, forget about Ham for a second — Seibu needed to manage their rotation so Sumida could start one of those three games.
When there's a title on the line, they pitch him all the way to the final game. Kitayama wasn't being saved for the CS so much as thrown out there to lock up the wins title.
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
NPB’s Climax Series uses a distinctive system that grants the first-place regular-season team a built-in 2-win advantage in the series standings. Handicapping the win count in a best-of series like this is rare even among postseason formats in professional sports worldwide, and posters on the thread pointed out that “NPB is the only one doing this.” Seibu’s performance has been in decline ever since they narrowly lost the pennant race to SoftBank in 2010, and commenters cited old data showing the team’s last CS win dates back to the playoff era in 2004. Opinions split between fans who treat the regular-season standings as the “true” rankings and those who weight the results of the short postseason series more heavily — a divide that fueled much of the back-and-forth on the thread.
*This article is compiled by excerpting and summarizing the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Baseball] Pacific League CS Game 3: L 1-4 F [10/12] — Nippon-Ham advances to CS Final Stage with 2-1 record, 2nd-place Seibu eliminated after back-to-back losses“.
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