Playoffs?

I'm afraid that there is no schedule as of yet, since the top three teams' order has not yet been decided. If the Hawks finish in second place, then they'll host Stage One of the Climax Series starting on October 8 (best of 3 games). If they finish in first place, then they'll host Stage Two (best of 5 games) starting on October 13. The venue will change accordingly depending on the final ranks for Nippon Ham (in Sapporo) and/or Lotte (in Chiba).

If it comes down to the last day of the season (as it looks like it might), it does make things rather difficult to plan in advance, doesn't it?

I guess I'll just have to go to Japan before the Climax Series starts and wait for the results there.

Thank you so much Mr. Westbay.

I have a question about the Climax Series. If the season ended today, the Hawks would come in 2nd and Lotte 3rd, does that mean that the Hawks would host all 3 games at Yahoo! Dome? Or will they split the games, say 2 at the dome and 1 in Chiba, assuming the Hawks don't win the first two games.

I have the same question about the league championship, does one team host all 5 games? If not, how are the games split?

Thanks.

The team with the higher end of year standing hosts all of the games for each given "Stage." So, yes, if the season ended today the Hawks would host the 2 to 3 games of Stage One and the Fighters would host the 2 to 4 games of Stage Two (while it's a best of 5, the first place finisher gets an automatic win going into the series).

Hope this clears things up.

Are the rules about home field and the one game advantage the exact same for both the Pacific and Central Leagues? I believe they are, but just wanted to check because you never know what silly rules they will come up with.

Thanks for the info! I thought that this year the automatic win would be scrapped.

Hmm. Now that you mention it, it seems to me that the Central League put up a fuss just to make something different (and thus their own). I know that forcing through reduced number of intra-league games was one of the things. So let me look this up.

[...]

Ah, it looks like they did do away with the 1-game advantage for the top team. [See NPB CL Q&A - in Japanese.] So I was incorrect above. Stage Two will be the best of 5 games with no advantage to the top team.

Thanks for pressing me on that. I'm not always correct, so it's good to challenge my answers.

Yes, I was wondering about that. I asked the same question here, but didn't have a chance to follow it up.

Thanks to you for doing the research for us and confirming it! I guess my next question is, say the playoffs were to start today, Nippon Ham would host all 3-5 games, right? So then, what about revenue? The team that doesn't win the league title would play all away games and would not earn any money from gate takings, etc., right? That seems very unfair!

Correct on all counts, except perhaps the "unfair" comment. There have been a number of critics of the playoffs that there was a lack of incentive to finish higher up. The Pacific League had a "free win" in Stage Two if the team won by more than 5 games as an incentive the first couple of years. Hosting the most events (first place) would be a very good incentive.

I'd also like to mention that I'm once again not sure about the free game - but only in the Pacific League. The Q&A linked to above is for the Central League Climax Series. I haven't yet found mention about the Pacific League, and CJ mentions that the first place team gets a free win in his blog September 20th blog report. Sorry for going back and forth with this. When I get something official, I'll post it.

So neither league is doing the 1-game advantage nonsense? Or one is and one isn't? I do remember them fighting over the rules, but forgot what they decided on.