The Yokohama BayStars, the only team that had not yet played in the Climax Series since the postseason format was introduced in 2007, are up against a postseason regular, the Yomiuri Giants, as their best-of-three first-stage series begins Saturday at Tokyo Dome.
Under first-year manager Alex Ramirez, the BayStars finished the regular season with 14 wins, 10 losses and one tie against the Giants, one of his former teams.
Yokohama also boasts cleanup hitter Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, who won the Central League’s home run (44) and RBI (110) titles, and Jose Lopez, whose late-season performance led to his receiving the monthly award for September, with 12 homers and 26 RBIs.
But the team’s results at Yomiuri’s home stadium this season have not been as encouraging, with three wins and one tie in 10 games.
By contrast, Yomiuri, appearing in the Climax Series for the top three teams in the Central League for the 10th straight year, knows well how to work out strategies for fighting short-term battles and has the home-field advantage in the first stage.
The Giants also have third baseman Shuichi Murata, who knows a thing or two about the BayStars as he played for the team during the first nine years of his 14-year career.
“They have power hitters and their batting lineup can be pretty frightening if they get on a roll,” Murata said of this season’s BayStars. “They also have good starters, so I think we’re in for a tough battle.”
There are some concerns surrounding the Giants’ pitching staff as CL ERA leader Tomoyuki Sugano (9-6, 2.01 ERA) had been expected to start Saturday, but did not practice Thursday or Friday. Closer Hirokazu Sawamura has also been lackluster since September.
While Murata is looking forward to playing against his old team, the 35-year-old slugger said he hopes the Giants will utilize their home-field advantage to build momentum toward the final stage of the series against the CL champion Hiroshima Carp.
The winner of the first stage will face the Carp for the six-game final stage starting next Wednesday at Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima.
The Carp had winning records against all other CL teams this season in coming from behind to clinch the pennant for the first time in 25 years with an 89-52-2 record.
Hiroshima ended the regular season with 13-12 records against both Yomiuri and Yokohama, and finished with a 17½-game lead over the second-place Giants.
As the Carp wrapped up their season early this month, manager Koichi Ogata attributed the team’s performance to their red-hot fans.
“This season, the Carp were able to have many come-from-behind wins, avoid long losing streaks and fight stably and tenaciously thanks to the cheers from all of our fans until the very end,” Ogata said.
“We will take the momentum from this season to the Climax Series and do our best,” he added.
Keeping up the momentum may be difficult, as Hiroshima has an 11-day wait between the end of its regular season and its first postseason game.
“It’s kind of hard to tell,” fourth-year player Seiya Suzuki said recently of how the team’s condition might be by the time the final stage gets underway. “But I think the team will start getting up for it as we get close.”
The 22-year-old, whose .335 bating average was second best in the CL, said he will just go out on the field and do his best as he had been during the regular season.
“Our fans are great at cheering. I’ve never experienced playing in the Climax Series at Mazda Stadium, but I’m sure they’ll be going crazy, so I will do my best to respond to their support,” the outfielder said.
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