The regular season in Nippon Professional Baseball has been concluded and the postseason got underway this weekend. The Yomiuri Giants and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters won the regular season titles in the Central and Pacific Leagues.
In the first round of postseason play, in the first stage of the Climax Series, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows take on the Chunichi Dragons and the Saitama Seibu Lions take on the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The Yomiuri Giants and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters have byes.
Following these best-of-three series the winners will face the Yomiuri Giants and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in the final stage of the Climax Series, determining the Nippon Series participants. The championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball will start on Saturday, October 27.
Regular Season Standings:
| Central League |
| Team |
G |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
GB |
| Yomiuri |
144 |
86 |
43 |
15 |
.667 |
— |
| Chunichi |
144 |
75 |
53 |
16 |
.586 |
10.5 |
| Yakult |
144 |
68 |
65 |
11 |
.511 |
20.0 |
| Hiroshima |
144 |
61 |
71 |
12 |
.462 |
26.5 |
| Hanshin |
144 |
55 |
75 |
14 |
.423 |
31.5 |
| DeNA |
144 |
46 |
85 |
13 |
.351 |
41.0 |
| Pacific League |
| Team |
G |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
GB |
| Nippon-Ham |
144 |
74 |
59 |
11 |
.556 |
— |
| Seibu |
144 |
72 |
63 |
9 |
.533 |
3.0 |
| SoftBank |
144 |
67 |
65 |
12 |
.508 |
6.5 |
| Rakuten |
144 |
67 |
67 |
10 |
.500 |
7.5 |
| Lotte |
144 |
62 |
67 |
15 |
.481 |
10.0 |
| ORIX |
144 |
57 |
77 |
10 |
.425 |
17.5 |
