The
2015 Japan Series
was the 66th edition of
Nippon Professional Baseball
's postseason championship series. The
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
, champions of the
Pacific League
, played the
Tokyo Yakult Swallows
, champions of the
Central League
. The Hawks were the defending Japan Series champions, having beaten the
Hanshin Tigers
in
2014
.
[1]
The series was sponsored by the
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
(SMBC) and was officially known as the
SMBC Nippon Series 2015
.
The Hawks defeated the Swallows in five games.
Lee Dae-ho
won the
Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award
.
[2]
Kenji Akashi
,
Shota Takeda
, and
Rick van den Hurk
(all of the Hawks) won outstanding player awards, while
Tetsuto Yamada
of the Swallows won the Fighting Spirit Award.
[3]
Climax Series
[
edit
]
Summary
[
edit
]
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the series, 4?1.
Game
|
Date
|
Score
|
Location
|
Time
|
Attendance
|
1
|
October 24
|
Tokyo Yakult Swallows ? 2,
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
? 4
|
Fukuoka Dome
|
3:04
|
35,732
[4]
|
2
|
October 25
|
Tokyo Yakult Swallows ? 0,
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
? 4
|
Fukuoka Dome
|
3:35
|
35,764
[5]
|
3
|
October 27
|
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks ? 4,
Tokyo Yakult Swallows
? 8
|
Meiji Jingu Stadium
|
3:38
|
31,037
[6]
|
4
|
October 28
|
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
? 6, Tokyo Yakult Swallows ? 4
|
Meiji Jingu Stadium
|
4:06
|
31,288
[7]
|
5
|
October 29
|
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
? 5, Tokyo Yakult Swallows ? 0
|
Meiji Jingu Stadium
|
3:36
|
31,239
[8]
|
Series notes
[
edit
]
This was the fourth time in Japan Series history that two rookie managers met, with
Mitsuru Manaka
managing Yakult and
Kimiyasu Kudoh
managing SoftBank. The other occurrences were in 1986 (
Masaaki Mori
for the
Seibu Lions
and
Junro Anan
for the
Hiroshima Carp
), 2002 (
Tatsunori Hara
for the
Yomiuri Giants
and
Haruki Ihara
for Seibu) and 2004 (
Tsutomu Ito
for Seibu and
Hiromitsu Ochiai
for the
Chunichi Dragons
). In addition, Manaka is the first rookie manager of a Central League team to qualify for the Japan Series through the Climax Series playoff system.
[9]
[note 1]
Yakult won the Central League pennant
[10]
and defeated the
Yomiuri Giants
in the Central League Climax Series, making this their first Japan Series appearance since 2001, when they defeated the
Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes
four games to one.
[11]
The defending champion Hawks won the Pacific League pennant and defeated the
Chiba Lotte Marines
in the Pacific League Climax Series.
[12]
Game summaries
[
edit
]
Game 1
[
edit
]
Before the start of the game,
Seiichi Uchikawa
, the Hawks'
cleanup hitter
, was ruled out for the Japan Series due to broken ribs suffered during the
Climax Series
victory.
[13]
Shota Takeda
, the starting pitcher for the Hawks, pitched a
complete game
victory against the Swallows.
Nobuhiro Matsuda
, the Hawks'
captain
, scored the game's first
run
with a
home run
in the fourth inning. Swallows' starting pitcher
Masanori Ishikawa
allowed three
earned runs
.
[13]
Game 2
[
edit
]
The Hawks
shut out
the Swallows, with Hawks starting pitcher
Rick van den Hurk
pitching eight innings, allowing only three
hits
while
striking out
seven and issuing no
walks
.
Closer
Dennis Sarfate
pitched the ninth inning for the Hawks. On offense,
Lee Dae-ho
and
Akira Nakamura
hit home runs for the Hawks.
[14]
Game 3
[
edit
]
Tetsuto Yamada
hit three home runs in three consecutive
plate appearances
during Game 3 for the Swallows, becoming the first player to hit three home runs in a Japan Series game.
Shigeo Nagashima
hit home runs in three consecutive plate appearances spread across two games during the
1970 Japan Series
.
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama
also hit a home run for Yakult, while
Kenji Akashi
and
Kenta Imamiya
hit home runs for the Hawks.
[15]
Game 4
[
edit
]
Dae-ho, who assumed the cleanup hitter role from Uchikawa, batted 3-for-4 and recorded four
runs batted in
during Game 4. He had an RBI single in the first inning, and hit a
double
that scored three runs in the third inning.
Toru Hosokawa
recorded an RBI double in the third inning and hit a home run in the sixth inning.
Wladimir Balentien
scored the Swallows' first run on a
fielder's choice
in the fourth inning, and the Swallows scored three more runs in the sixth inning. Though he allowed four runs in five innings and left the game with the
bases loaded
and no outs in the sixth inning,
Tadashi Settsu
was the winning pitcher.
Shohei Tateyama
took the loss in the game for the Swallows, as he walked too many Hawks' batters. Sarfate ended a potential ninth inning rally by Yakult to record the
save
.
[16]
Game 5
[
edit
]
Thursday, October 29, 2015, 6:15 pm (JST) at
Meiji Jingu Stadium in Shinjuku, Tokyo
Team
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
R
|
H
|
E
|
SoftBank
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
10
|
0
|
Yakult
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
1
|
WP
:
Jason Standridge
(1?0)
LP
:
Masanori Ishikawa
(0?2)
Home runs
:
SBH:
Lee Dae-ho
(2)
YAK: None
Attendance:
31,239
|
Dae-ho hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning for the Hawks' first runs of the game. They scored two more runs in the fourth inning and one run in the ninth inning. Meanwhile, the Hawks pitchers, led by starting pitcher
Jason Standridge
, who pitched six innings, recorded another shutout of the Swallows to win the series in five games.
[17]
[18]
Dae-ho, who batted 8-for-16 (.500) with two home runs and eight RBIs in the five game series was named the
Japan Series Most Valuable Player
(MVP). He became the first Korean player to win the Japan Series MVP Award, and the first foreign player since
Troy Neel
in the
1996 Japan Series
.
[2]
Kenji Akashi
,
Shota Takeda
, and
Rick van den Hurk
of the Hawks won outstanding player awards. The Fighting Spirit Award, given to the best player on the losing team of the series, went to
Tetsuto Yamada
of the Swallows.
[3]
Masayoshi Son
, the owner of the Hawks who also owns the
Sprint Corporation
, based in
Kansas City, Missouri
, joked that he would like the Hawks to play against the
Kansas City Royals
of
Major League Baseball
, if they won the
2015 World Series
, to determine a true champion of baseball.
[18]
Interestingly, the Royals did win the World Series by the same count of four games to one over the
New York Mets
. However, no series happened between SoftBank and the Royals.
Notes
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Japan Series Schedule"
.
NPB.org
. Nippon Professional Baseball. October 21, 2015
. Retrieved
October 21,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Lee Dae-ho wins MVP in Japan Series"
.
koreatimesus.com
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Hawks claim back-to-back Japan Series titles"
.
The Japan Times
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
"Saturday, October 24, 2015"
.
Nippon Professional Baseball
. Retrieved
May 16,
2018
.
- ^
"Sunday, October 25, 2015"
.
Nippon Professional Baseball
. Retrieved
May 16,
2018
.
- ^
"Tuesday, October 27, 2015"
.
Nippon Professional Baseball
. Retrieved
May 16,
2018
.
- ^
"Wednesday, October 28, 2015"
.
Nippon Professional Baseball
. Retrieved
May 16,
2018
.
- ^
"Thursday, October 29, 2015"
.
Nippon Professional Baseball
. Retrieved
May 16,
2018
.
- ^
"[10/17/2015] Yakult Swallows advance to Nippon Series with 3?2 win over Yomiuri Giants ? Yakyu Baka"
.
yakyubaka.com
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
"Swallows claim first CL pennant since 2001"
.
The Japan Times
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
"Swallows advance to Japan Series for first time since 2001"
.
The Japan Times
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
"Reigning champion Hawks advance to Japan Series"
.
The Japan Times
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Hawks win Game 1 of Japan Series against Swallows ? Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion"
.
japantoday.com
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
"Hawks silence Swallows, take 2-0 lead in Japan Series"
.
The Japan Times
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
"Yamada slugs three homers in historic performance as Swallows overcome Hawks in Game 3"
.
The Japan Times
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
"Hawks move to brink of Japan Series glory"
.
The Japan Times
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
"Softbank Hawks beat Yakult Swallows 5-0 to win Japan Series"
.
USA TODAY
. October 29, 2015
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Axisa, Mike.
"Fukuoka Softbank Hawks win Japan Series title, want to play Royals"
.
CBSSports.com
. Retrieved
October 31,
2015
.
|
---|
- Established in
1950
- Formerly the
Kokutestu Swallows
, the
Sankei Swallows
, the
Sankei Atoms
, the
Atoms
,
Yakult Atoms
, and the
Tokyo Swallows
- Based in
Tokyo
|
The Franchise
| |
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Ballparks
| |
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Key personnel
| |
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Japan Series
championships (6)
| |
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Central League
championships (9)
| |
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Climax Series
berths (7)
| |
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Seasons (73)
|
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