Climax Calendar?

Yes, they have. You can see the general start dates of each series in English on the left bar of the NPB english site.

Or detailed schedules in Japanese:
Central
Pacific

There aren't any changes to the postseason system this year, are there? Just checking because it seems like there's some silly change every season.

Looks like there is at least a week off in the CL between end of season and start of Climax 1. Do the schedule makers never learn?

No, they don't.

What I found interesting this year with the schedule was that many of the teams didn't create a complete schedule at the start. Instead, when the rain outs were being decided, they added the remainder of their games. At the end of those, the Giants went and slipped in some games at Tokyo Dome, presumably because they usually have a few weeks off while others are making up games, giving them a huge rest, but also killing any momentum going to the playoffs.

Maybe I'm reading into it more than there really is. But this looks like a conspiracy to me.

It's not the schedule makers but broadcasting right holders. Since quite a few teams have ties with media, they need time to set their schedules depending on who makes it to the playoff.

Hey Commish, did you say something before that no doubleheaders in Japan has something to do with the labor laws? They really need to do something to fix these weird pennant races. As much as I love the Japanese game, these ridiculous schedules just make me lose interest. MLB plays a longer schedule involving much longer travel, yet they still manage to have every team finish the season within a day or two of each other. Is that too much to ask with only 12 teams? Granted the rainy season makes things tough in Japan, but there must be some solution.

It's not double headers, it's having more than 9 consecutive days of scheduled work. That's why they can't make up a Sunday game on the following Monday (usually a day off).

The schedule the past couple of seasons has completely baffled me. First they slowly crept into March for the official start of the season. Now post-season has been extended into November. Not only has the number of games not increased, but the increased number of domes have reduced the number of rain outs compared to 15 or more years ago.

If you look at the Inter-league schedule, you'll see that they did a very good job of finishing all the games in a fixed span of dates. But you'll also see the strange 2-game series followed by a day or two off. During that time, if a Tuesday night game was rained out, it could be played on Thursday, because that would just make it 5 consecutive days (counting the rained out game, since it was scheduled) of work.

The owners and players need an incentive to finish up earlier. Would having a deadline to participate in a "True World Series" be a motivator? Perhaps. If they sincerely want to work around such labor laws, I'm sure that there's a way (both sides agreeing that a rain out isn't a day "in the office"?). They just need to realize that this is needed.

Thanks for the clarification. It does seem excessive to have all those days off during Inter-league play. It would make sense to try to squeeze some make ups in during those days, especially considering the lesser travel times between cities in Japan. I guess they don't want to interfere with the "Inter-league championship," which no one really cares about.