SoftBank Hawks Sweep BayStars to Win Second Straight Japan Series

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks are Japan Series champions for the second straight year after beating the Yokohama DeNA BayStars 4-2 in Game 4 on Wednesday, October 28, at Mizuho PayPay Dome. SoftBank completed a 4-0 sweep to secure the franchise’s 13th Japan Series title and ninth of the SoftBank era.

The clincher followed the same pattern as a series filled with late pressure: DeNA struck first, but the Hawks found the decisive response. Keita Sano put the BayStars ahead with a two-run homer in the first inning before SoftBank turned the game in the fourth.

Yudai Yamamoto and Yuki Yanagita flip Game 4

With two outs and runners on first and second, former BayStars catcher Yudai Yamamoto drove a two-run triple to tie the game. Yuki Yanagita followed with a go-ahead single, giving SoftBank a 3-2 lead that it never surrendered.

Yamamoto added a sacrifice fly in the sixth for his third RBI of the night. The Hawks’ pitching staff held DeNA scoreless over the final eight innings, and the bullpen allowed only one hit across 4 1/3 innings. Darwinzon Hernandez earned the win, while Yuki Sugiyama worked a scoreless ninth for his third save of the series.

SoftBank’s victory ended the only game of the series that did not require extra innings. The Hawks won Game 1 by a 3-1 score in 11 innings, took Game 2 by 4-3 in 10, and won Game 3 by 2-1 in 10 on Tomoya Masaki’s walk-off homer. Masaki was named Japan Series MVP after batting .438 with two home runs.

A sweep completes SoftBank’s repeat

The championship capped a season in which the Hawks also won a third consecutive Pacific League pennant. That three-peat was the franchise’s first since the Nankai Hawks won three straight league titles through 1966, and the first since the club moved to Fukuoka.

SoftBank entered Game 4 with the chance to finish the series at home and did so in front of 36,840 fans. After three straight extra-inning wins, the Hawks erased an early deficit in the clincher and closed the series without allowing DeNA another run after the opening inning.

For Yokohama, Sano’s homer briefly created the possibility of extending the series. Yamamoto’s triple against his former club changed the game, and Yanagita’s single put the Hawks ahead for good.