Big Upsets?

The first thing that springs to mind is the 2005 Japan Series when Chiba Lotte swept Hanshin.

Not so much the result, but the manner in which the Marines absolutely destroyed the fancied Tigers, especially those first 3 games. I remember watching on TV in disbelief (and no small amount of pleasure if I'm honest).

I don't think this is on the same magnitude as the recent Super Bowl though, but as I say, it's the first thing that springs to mind.

I don't watch American football, so I have no idea what this Super Bowl upset was all about. But the 2005 Lotte vs. Hanshin Nippon Series mentioned above is an excellent example of an upset.

Over the first three games, Lotte outscored Hanshin 30-2, the Marines scoring 10 runs in each of those games. This includes the first game which was called due to fog in the middle of the 7th inning. (I was there, and couldn't see Benny's 2-run shot clear the fence.)

The Chiba Lotte Marines then took the final game 3-2, bringing to total point spread to 33-4 for the four games.

I would not call this series an upset so much as a wipe out by Bobby and crew. In the case of the just past Super Bowl, the Giants were clear underdogs, they were given 12 points in the match for betting. As I recall the Tigers may have been favorites in the Series as Lotte had not been a Series in 50 years plus. But they were not as heavy favorites as were the Patriots. However the way Chiba thumped the Tigers was indeed shocking.

Prior to 2007 the PL had won four straight Japan Series matches.

I actually thought it was a pretty big upset in general (and it was what came to mind when I first read this post, too). As in, I seriously thought the Hawks were going to thump the Pacific League and then repeat their 2003 thumping of the Tigers. But - then everyone on Lotte aside from Masahide Kobayashi totally stepped up and went forward to win everything. So the Marines both upset the Pacific League and the Central League.

Speaking of 2003, that was a bit of an upset as well. That was a very good Hawks team, but the Tigers won the CL by so many games that year that they had to be reasonably big favorites.

I wouldn't have thought 2003 was that much of an upset. The Tigers had more time off after the end of the season, so they were always going to be rustier, especially in those first two games at Fukuoka against an experienced bunch of players who had handled post season play before. That was my fear anyway.

But after finding themselves down 2-0 they then fought back gallantly, sweeping the Hawks in the next three at Koshien. The Hawks turned out to be too strong at home, winning Game 6. And in Game 7 Hoshino made an uncharacteristic blunder by starting Irabu instead of Fukuhara, turning what would have been a tight game into a blowout.

So all games went with the home team, and the difference was probably the experience of the Hawks and Oh, and that single error by Hoshino. Upsetting for the fans of course, but not an upset in the true sense of the word. The Hawks were always going to be hard to beat.

It's hard to have that magnitude of an upset without a playoff system, which is still very young in NPB. When the regular season's best two usually face each other, it's hard for one team to really separate itself from the other.

That said, how about the 2006 Fighters? They came out of seemingly nowhere to steal 1st place in the standings (they needed both Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kazumi Saitoh to have bad outings at the end of the regular season, and they both did), shut down the Hawks in the playoffs, and held one of the best Dragons teams in their team's history (if you go by the regular season W-L record) to 8 runs in 5 games.

Heck, I can't really think of an upset of that magnitude in baseball period, except for maybe the 1987 Twins (just barely over .500 and beat the heavily-favored Tigers in the ALCS and Cardinals to win the World Series).