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106-398: Both leagues play a regular season , after which the top three teams in each league compete against one another in a two-stage playoff. In the first stage, the teams that finish the regular season with the second- and third-best records play one another in a best-of-three series . The winners of these three-game series advance to the final stage to face each league's regular-season champion in

212-422: A PL playoff was an attempt to rectify this problem and increase the league's popularity. The new postseason plan initiated a two-stage playoff in which the top three PL teams competed. In the first stage, the teams that finished the newly shortened, 135-game regular season with the second- and third-best records played each other in a best-of-three series . The winner of this series faced the league's top finisher in

318-518: A best-of-seven series, where the first team to accumulate four wins advances to the Japan Series. The 2020 season , shortened to 120 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic , featured a modified Climax Series. The PL Climax Series had the season's top-two seeded teams play a best-of-five series, with the league's champion still being awarded the automatic one-win advantage. The CL forwent

424-442: A bit of trouble in the 3rd. Two singles leading off the inning brought up Fujimoto, who tried to sacrifice the runners to 2nd and 3rd, but a bad bunt with one strike put the pressure on Fujimoto to swing away. He ended up fouling out to Lee at first, and Hanshin would fail to score after the next two batters failed to reach as well. The Tigers would threaten again in the top of the 6th, when Akahoshi singled and stole second to start

530-478: A combination of strength and conditioning workouts, skill, development sessions, and team building activities. Athletes may also participate in recreational sports or activities to maintain their competitive edge while enjoying a break from the rigors of their primary sport. Furthermore, athletes may take advantage of the off-season to pursue personal interests, further their education, or engage in community service and outreach initiatives. Beyond individual training,

636-508: A complete game victory. Looking to rebound from the previous night's thumping, the Tigers sent Yuya Andoh to the mound, countering the Marines' star submarine pitcher, Shunsuke Watanabe . Again, the Marines got off to a fast start, with Nishioka doubling to right on the second pitch he saw from Andoh. With 2 down and Nishioka on 3rd, Saburo hit a ground ball to Imaoka at 3rd, but the throw

742-663: A desire to limit travel expenses. In the scheduling system used in the NFL , it is possible for two teams to only meet every four years, and to only have 2 common opponents in a season. Major League Baseball has the most uneven schedules of all the four major North American sports. In MLB, the conferences are called leagues instead, but have exactly the same effect as conferences (as with all North American major leagues , leagues, conferences, and division are not based on skill, but instead geography, history, and rivalries). Prior to scheduling changes in 2023, teams played 19 games against each of

848-468: A double round-robin "regular season". The Football League started its promotion playoffs in 1987, with the third up to the sixth-ranked teams participating for the final promotion berth (the two top teams are automatically promoted). Elsewhere, relegation playoffs are also held to determine which teams would be relegated to the lower leagues. One prominent top-level football league, the Eredivisie of

954-444: A double, and then Lee Seung-Yeop crushed his 3rd home run of the series to deep right field, putting the Marines on top, 2–0. In the home half of the 3rd, Akahoshi once again reached and was sacrificed to second, and for a moment it seemed that the Tigers would finally catch a break, but Sheets' liner was caught by a great effort from Franco to end the inning and keep the Tigers off the board. Franco and Lee teamed up again to lead off

1060-559: A dramatic five-game series with the favored Hawks. Despite being one out away from sweeping the Hawks, closer Kobayashi coughed up a 4–0 lead in Game 3 of the best-of-five series. SoftBank would win Game 3 in extra innings, and then also won Game 4. However, the Marines won Game 5 on a clutch double from Tomoya Satozaki . The first game would set the tone for the rest of the series for both teams. The Marines sent 10-game winner Nao Shimizu to

1166-508: A home run of his own for a 5–0 Marines lead. Andoh was visibly in tears as he pitched to Agbayani. Egusa was brought in to face the dangerous Lee, who clubbed the 3rd home run of the inning to put the game away at 7–0. In the 8th, Lotte added two more, one of the runs coming off the bat of Imae once again. Through two games, Imae was a perfect 8-for-8 with one home run. Lotte had taken an overwhelming 9–0 lead, but they weren't done yet. Platoon catcher Tasuku Hashimoto then followed Imae with

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1272-681: A league in a particular sport will operate their regular season at roughly the same time as the others, international tournaments may be arranged during the off season. For example, most European football league club competitions run from July or August to May, subsequently major international competitions such as the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Football Championship are organised to occur in June and July. The table represents typical seasons for some leagues by month. Blank or white denotes off-season and pre-season months and solid colors mark

1378-407: A playoff series completely, instead advancing their league champion directly to the Japan Series. The CL's decision to eliminate their Climax Series was due in part to just two of the league's six teams regularly playing in domed stadiums, making it unclear how many games would need to be made-up at the end of the season due to potential rainouts . Both leagues employ the same postseason format, with

1484-503: A playoff system (except during the two World Wars) since 1899. South Africa's Currie Cup has determined its champions by playoffs since 1968, and New Zealand's National Provincial Championship , the top level of which is now known as the Mitre 10 Cup , has used playoffs since its creation in 1976. Argentina's Nacional de Clubes has determined its champion by playoffs since its inception in 1993. Currently, two separate competitions feed into

1590-399: A playoff tournament played against the league's top teams to determine the league's champion; and the offseason, the time when there is no official competition. In association football, many clubs tour and then they have a series of exhibition games for training purposes. In baseball, many clubs go to spring camp and then they have spring training . The National Football League preseason

1696-714: A six-game series, which the regular-season champion starts with a one-game advantage. The winners of each league's final stage series compete against one another in that year's Japan Series. Since the creation of the Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) two-league system, the regular-season winner of the Central League (CL) had always advanced to the Japan Series , where it competed against the Pacific League (PL) champion. The PL used

1802-447: A triple that gave the Marines a 10–0 lead. Watanabe closed out the game with little resistance from the Tigers' batters, giving the Marines a commanding 2 games to none lead in the series. The Tigers had been in this exact situation before two years earlier, and came within one game of winning the Japan Series then. Going home to the friendly confines of Koshien Stadium , could they turn the series around? Having been outscored 20–1 in

1908-418: A two-round knockout stage to determine the champions. It has since been expanded to the 4-round knockout stage today. The Copa Libertadores has applied a knockout stage since the 1988 tournament, expanding to the current four-round format next season. All intercontinental club football competitions now feature a knockout stage. The off-season , vacation time , or close season is the time of year when there

2014-419: A whitewashing. Two singles set up catcher Tomoya Satozaki for a 3-run home run. Agbayani capped the scoring in the 7th through even thicker fog with a 2-run blast of his own for the Marines' 4th home run of the day and staking the team to a 10–1 lead. After Agbayani's home run, the umpires conferred and called for a fog delay. After a wait, the umpires decided to call the game after 7 innings, giving Shimizu

2120-462: Is a highly structured three-game series of games in which teams are afforded a larger roster limit and play games that do not count toward the record. It is used to evaluate and prepare talent for the upcoming regular season. In the highest levels of professional tennis , the preseason (November–December) consists of extensive period of training on and off the court (gym/fitness work as well as working on tennis-specific skills like for example improving

2226-741: Is more important than winning the regular season. This includes the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada ( MLB's World Series , the NBA Finals , the NFL's Super Bowl , the NHL's Stanley Cup Finals , the MLS Cup , and the CFL's Grey Cup ), and the major Australian sports (BBL Grand Final, NBL Grand Final , A-League Grand Final , AFL Grand Final and NRL Grand Final ). European leagues have also started holding playoffs after

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2332-417: Is no official competition. Although upper management continues to work, the athletes will take much vacation time off. Also, various events such as drafts , transfers and important off-season free agent signings occur. Generally, most athletes stay in shape during the off-season in preparation for the next season. Certain new rules in the league may be made during this time, and will become enforced during

2438-661: Is played in a double round-robin format in the same way as the European championships. A system similar to the Apertura and Clausura developed independently in Philippine professional basketball , with formerly two, now three tournaments (called "conferences") in one season, with each conference divided into an "elimination round" (the single round-robin group stage) and the playoffs in the North American sense. Winning

2544-419: Is reserved for the country's cup winner, only three of the four teams are guaranteed a place in the next season's European competitions (unless both the cup winner and runner-up are already qualified for Europe by other means). The playoff determines the country's second Champions League participant, and the points at which the two or three Europa League entrants join that competition. Conversely, some leagues like

2650-624: Is sometimes used instead of regular season. Many football leagues in Latin America have a very different system. Because most Latin American countries never had a football cup competition, they instead split their season into two parts, typically known as the Apertura and Clausura ( Spanish for "opening" and "closing"). Most countries that use this system, Argentina being one notable example, crown separate league champions for each part of

2756-487: Is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of September. In other team sports , like association football or basketball , it is generally from August or September to May although in some countries – such as Northern Europe, North America or East Asia –

2862-593: The Chunichi Dragons ), the Tigers managed to fill the gap missing by Arias by luring Hiroshima Toyo Carp shortstop Andy Sheets . The Marines finished second to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the Pacific League in 2005, giving them home-field advantage in the playoffs for the first round against the defending Japan Series Champion Seibu Lions . The Marines swept the Lions and then got into

2968-607: The Los Angeles Clippers (a team within their division, a subdivision of the conference) four times in a regular season, while both will only play the Toronto Raptors , who are in the opposite Eastern Conference , twice. Part of this is due to the vast geographic distances between some teams in North America — measured in a straight line, Los Angeles is 3,494 kilometres from Toronto, for instance — and

3074-687: The Premier League do not hold a postseason, and therefore these leagues' champions and relegation are instead based on the regular season records. Although rugby union did not become professional until 1995, that sport has a long history of playoffs, primarily in France and the Southern Hemisphere. The French national championship, now known as Top 14 , staged a championship final in its first season of 1892, first used more than one round of playoffs in 1893, and has continuously operated

3180-408: The "phantom win" gives the pennant winner too much of an advantage. According to him, the first stage bye plus all home games during the final stage should be advantage enough for the top- seeded team. He describes the situation as NPB "trying to have its cake and eat it too" by trying to reap the benefits of a playoff system while also trying to maintain the traditional showdown of pennant winners in

3286-430: The 3rd inning with Franco drawing a walk and then Lee doubling, driving Franco in all the way from first. The 3–0 lead seemed safe, especially given the Tigers' late-inning collapses. In the 5th, Serafini found himself in trouble yet again, as he had runners on first and 2nd with nobody out. But once again, the Tigers could not score, as Serafini got a strikeout, then induced a 4-6-3 double play on Akahoshi. However, in

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3392-443: The 4th. Hori and Kazuya Fukuura both singled to start the inning. After an out and a walk, the bases were loaded with 1 down for Satozaki, who hit a slow roller to short. It was fielded by Toritani at short who tossed it to Sekimoto at 2nd for one out, but Sekimoto's relay to Sheets at first was apparently too late to get Satozaki at 1st, allowing Hori to score and give the Marines the 2–1 lead. However, replays showed that Satozaki

3498-446: The 5th. A single and a beautifully executed push bunt by Nishioka led to an RBI single by Imae. With a run already in, normally light-hitting Saburo Ohmura doubled in both Nishioka and Imae to put Lotte ahead 4–1. In the 6th inning, Seung-Yeop Lee crushed a belt-high Igawa pitch into the right-field stands for a home run to make it 5–1. With the fog rolling into Chiba Marine Stadium, the Marines turned an already one-sided affair into

3604-410: The 6th the Tigers finally made the most of one of their chances. Serafini gave up a single to Sheets and then walked Kanemoto with one out. Valentine went to his bullpen, sending Shingo Ono to the mound to try to stem the tide. Ono gave up a bloop single to Imaoka that scored Sheets to put the Tigers on the board at 3–1. Shinjiro Hiyama then kept the rally going by singling just past second to pull

3710-535: The CL's lack of postseason play was a disadvantage. Ellsesser believed that the 17 days between their last regular-season game and the first Japan Series game did nothing to prepare the Tigers for the eventual championship series against the Chiba Lotte Marines , who had played continuously. Like Ellsesser, after seeing the "excitement" that the 2004 PL Playoffs caused, then-Marines manager Bobby Valentine

3816-516: The Climax Series is the one-game advantage that is awarded to the regular-season champions for the final stage. When the rule was implemented the for the 2008 Climax Series, many players reacted negatively with some describing the rule as "unfair", "bad", "bull" and "messed up". Former player and current manager Alex Ramírez , however, believed that the league champion deserves the advantage. The Japan Times columnist Jason Coskrey believes that

3922-634: The Climax Series to the Japan Series in all but seven cases. Of the seven, four were from the Central League and three were from the Pacific League and five went on to win the Japan Series. After being implemented for the 2007 season, the Climax Series drew mixed reviews. The implementation of a unified playoff system in NPB was welcomed by some. Robert Whiting described its creation as "long overdue" and believes it stimulates more interest in Japanese baseball. Japanese baseball writer Asa Satoshi explains that while

4028-420: The Japan Series undermines the purpose of a long regular season. Through the years, various modifications the Climax Series' rules or format have been suggested. To address the matter of lower or losing teams possibly advancing, some have proposed giving the league champion an extra game advantage in the final stage if they won the league by ten or more games or, even stricter, a team would simply be excluded from

4134-409: The Japan Series, however at the same time the team wasn't crowned the best team in their respective league. Furthermore, the system allows for teams with sub-.500 winning percentages to qualify for the Climax Series. Satoshi proposes the hypothetical situation in which a team that won less than 50% of their regular-season games wins a Japan Series title and questions if that team could be rightfully named

4240-436: The Japan Series. Looking back over the first ten years of the Climax Series, Satoshi believed that it was an ideal form postseason entertainment. Through that time, the league champion won the Climax Series and advanced to the Japan Series almost 82% of the time. He believed this to be the right balance as it maintained the importance of the regular season while also allowing for an occasional surprise that excited fans. In 2017,

4346-444: The Marines a 5–1 lead. Nishioka then came up and singled up the middle to put Lotte ahead 6–-1. After re-loading the bases, Fukuura then put the nail in the coffin by crushing a grand slam to extend the Marines' lead to 10–1. That would be how the game would end, as Soichi Fujita worked the 8th, striking out a visibly frustrated Sheets to end the inning. Yasuhiko Yabuta then worked the 9th and struck out Kanemoto and Hiyama to end

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4452-753: The Nacional, the Torneo de la URBA (for Buenos Aires clubs, held since 1899) and Torneo del Interior (for the rest of the country); both use playoffs to determine their champions. Super Rugby , involving regional franchises from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa and national franchises in Argentina and Japan, has used playoffs to determine its champions since its creation as Super 12 in 1996. By contrast, other European countries were slow to adopt playoffs in rugby union. The English Premiership only began playoffs in 1999–2000 , and did not use them to determine

4558-631: The Netherlands, uses two different playoffs—one for relegation purposes, and the other to determine one of the league's entrants in the following season's UEFA Europa League . In Superleague Greece , which currently has two places in the UEFA Champions League and three in the Europa League, the teams that finish second through fifth in the regular season enter a home-and-away "playoff" mini-league. Since one Europa League place

4664-466: The PL's playoff series, CL officials announced their intention to introduce postseason playoffs for the 2007 season to help boost declining attendance. During meetings held later that year, PL and CL officials disagreed over proposed plans detailing the new playoff system. Since the creation of the PL playoffs in 2004, the league awarded its pennant titles to the playoff winners rather than the team who finished

4770-445: The Tigers ever closer at 3–2. In just one inning, the Tigers had matched their offensive output over three games. Akihiro Yano came up with a chance to keep it going, but he grounded into yet another inning-ending double play for the Tigers. From there, the last three innings were a battle of the bullpens. Both teams fired scoreless 7th innings, and with one on and one out in the 8th, Yabuta struck out both Kanemoto and Imaoka to end

4876-532: The Yomiuri Giants voted to approve the playoff idea in 2006 because they had not finished atop the standings in the regular season since 2002 and the playoff concept would increase the Giants' chances of winning the Japan Series. However, the plan backfired on them. In the Climax Series' inaugural season, the Giants finally won the CL pennant but were still denied a Japan Series berth when they were defeated by

4982-501: The accuracy of serve). In sport, the term "regular season" or "home-and-away season" refers to the sport's league competition . The regular season is usually similar to a group tournament format: teams are divided into groups, conferences and/or divisions, and each club plays a set number of games against a set number of opponents. In most countries the league is played in a double round-robin format, where every team plays every other team twice, once at their home venue, and once away at

5088-464: The best in Japan. Others, however, believe that the Climax Series is wholly unnecessary. Former NPB player and coach Katsumi Hirosawa believes that it is unreasonable for a team that overwhelmingly won the regular season to be defeated in the Climax Series, even if that defeat generates excitement. He also argues that a system that allows for half of the teams to advance to the playoffs and potentially win

5194-495: The best record. The disparity between the two leagues' postseasons provoked some criticism from baseball analysts and insiders. During the 2005 Japan Series , The Japan Times ' Stephen Ellsesser called NPB's unbalanced postseason a "bad system" and believed that the CL's decision to not implement a playoff system of their own was "foolish". Citing the Hanshin Tigers ' poor Japan Series performance, he speculated that

5300-409: The bottom of the 2nd, the Tigers again seemed to have something going as Imaoka singled and Shinjiro Hiyama drew a full count walk with nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt, Imaoka scored on a fielder's choice by Kentaro Sekimoto . This was the first time that Hanshin had scored in 11 innings, and it tied the score, 1–1. Pesky as ever, the Marines answered right back against Shimoyanagi in the top of

5406-438: The demands of competitive play. This period of rest is essential for preventing burnout, reducing the risk of injuries, and allowing the body to recover from the wear and tear of regular training and competition. Athletes may use this time to focus on rehabilitation from any lingering injuries, undergo medical evaluations, and engage in cross-training activities to maintain overall fitness levels. In addition to rest and recovery,

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5512-411: The end of the regular season, that team would also receive a one-game winning advantage in the second stage's best-of-five series. For the 2006 Pacific League Playoffs , PL officials removed the five-game lead requirement in favor of automatically awarding the first-place team the one-win advantage. In conjunction with this change, the first-place team no longer had home-field advantage for the entirety of

5618-413: The extra game. The winning teams advance to the Japan Series, where they compete against one another. Unlike Major League Baseball (MLB), NPB games may end in a tie if there is no winner after 12 innings of play. If a Climax Series game results in a tie, the win is credited to neither team. If this causes the series to end in a tie, the higher-seeded team advances. League champions advanced through

5724-408: The first and second halves of the 1976 and 1978 seasons , making a playoff series unnecessary. It was eliminated after the 1982 season , and instead the PL announced the following season that the first- and second-place teams would compete in a best-of-five playoff series after the 130-game regular season if five or fewer games separated the two teams. Unpopular with most baseball media and fans,

5830-447: The first two games, the Tigers were not only in need of a win, but also of a way to somehow stop (or at least slow down) the dominant Lotte lineup. Things bode well for the Tigers, however, as they headed home to Koshien Stadium , where they had reeled off three straight wins in the 2003 Japan Series against the Hawks. Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi took the hill for the Tigers and had a clean first inning. Big right-hander Hiroyuki Kobayashi

5936-498: The first with Akahoshi beating out a high chopper to short and Toritani laying down a bunt, then beating Serafini's throw to first. However, the Tigers once again could not capitalize and take their first lead of the series, with the next three batters in Andy Sheets , Tomoaki Kanemoto , and Makoto Imaoka all failing to drive in runs. Sugiyama could not duplicate the success of the previous inning, as Matt Franco led off with

6042-465: The game and give the Marines a commanding 3 games-to-none lead. The only close game of the series ended Hanshin's hopes of winning their first Japan Series championship since 1985. Naohisa Sugiyama took the mound for the Tigers to try to stage a miracle comeback. Considering the Tigers had been outscored 30–2 in the first three games, a miracle was what they would need. On the other side was foreign lefty Dan Serafini . Serafini got into some trouble in

6148-463: The game and resumed where it left off the next day or even postponed the game entirely until the next day. Similarly, in an article for Yahoo Sports , Craig Calcaterra called the Climax Series "super unfair" after the incident and imagined a similar hypothetical situation in the MLB playoffs and concluded that fans would "riot". Regular season In an organized sports league , a typical season

6254-487: The game and the series. The final aggregate score for the series was 33–4, the most one-sided Japan Series in the event's history. With the win, the Marines won their first Japan Series Championship since 1974, when they were known as the Lotte Orions. In addition, Bobby Valentine was the first foreign manager to win a Japan Series championship. The series MVP was Toshiaki Imae , who recorded eight straight hits in

6360-481: The game open in the late innings. Young reliever Kyuji Fujikawa worked a clean 6th, but Satozaki walked and once again Imae came through with a double to right-center to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out to start the 7th. Matt Franco then drew a full-count walk to load the bases with nobody out. The walks came back to bite Fujikawa. Hashimoto rifled a single up the middle to score both Satozaki and Imae and give

6466-424: The idea was scrapped after three seasons with a series never needing to be played. The two leagues returned to sending the team with the best regular season record in their respective league to compete against each other in the championship series. It's stupid for the other league to be operating under a different system. If we win the C.L. pennant next year, we'll boycott the [Japan] Series. — Tsuneo Watanabe ,

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6572-561: The implementation of the Climax Series, Hiroo concludes that the addition of a playoff has had a positive effect on NPB from an entertainment and business perspective. In 2003, with the Japan Series as the only postseason series, only two teams were involved in seven games over ten days that had a total attendance of 286,197 people. In contrast, when both leagues first implemented a playoff system in 2007, six teams were involved in 18 games that spanned 24 days and drew 708,220 people, demonstrating that more fans were engaged with

6678-421: The inning. Masahide Kobayashi came in to end the series, his first appearance in the series. It did not start well, as Kobayashi issued a four-pitch walk to Hiyama to start the inning. Yano tried to sacrifice Hiyama to 2nd, but his sacrifice bunt attempt was popped up and caught by Fukuura, and Hiyama was doubled off at 1st for the Tigers' 3rd double play of the game. Kobayashi then got Fujimoto swinging to end

6784-475: The inning. Toritani then singled himself to put runners on the corners with nobody out. However, after an out, Sheets lined a Watanabe pitch up the middle which was fielded for a 4–6–3 double play, Hanshin's 2nd twin-killing of the game. With the Tigers failing to at least pull closer, the Marines then went in for the kill. With a runner on first and one out, Saburo lined a home run to left field to put Lotte ahead 4–0. Matt Franco then immediately followed with

6890-588: The league champion until 2002–03 . The Celtic League, now known as Pro14 , resisted a playoff system even longer; its champions were determined solely by league play from its inception in 2001–02 until playoffs began in 2009–10 . When the UEFA Champions League reformatted in 1993, it added a "knockout stage" involving four teams that finished at the top two places in their respective groups. Like North American sports leagues, this setup prevented some participants from facing each other, necessitating

6996-502: The league for a longer period of time. Baseball analyst Yusuke Okada believes that Japanese and American baseball fans' perceptions of the postseason differ. He asserts that in the US, the regular season is viewed as a kind of "qualifying round" for the postseason, which is considered the season's "main event". Japanese fans, in contrast, tend to place a higher importance on the results of a long, hard-fought regular season and see it as unfair if

7102-506: The league winners automatically advancing to the second round along with the winner of a series between two wild card teams that finished the season with the highest winning percentage but did not win a league. Taro Bando, a lecturer at Jumonji University , also suggests restructuring the NPB, however he goes farther by proposing that four new teams should be added to create four divisions allowing for two series between division winners. When looking at two postseasons, one before and one after

7208-408: The most one-sided Japan Series in history, as the Marines outscored the Tigers 33-4 throughout the series. On the other hand, the Tigers had several worst records in the Japan Series, scoring only 4 runs, an earned run average of 8.63, and getting no home runs. The Marines, led by charismatic manager Bobby Valentine , pulled off an incredible season, finishing 2nd in the Pacific League, qualifying for

7314-457: The mound against Tigers ace Kei Igawa, who won 13 games in 2005. The Tigers threatened in the first with two on and one out, but Shimizu managed to get Kanemoto to ground into an inning-ending double play, started by shortstop Nishioka. This would be the first of seemingly endless rally-killing double plays for the Tigers in the Series. In the bottom of the inning, Imae would set his own pace for

7420-519: The newly created Pacific League Climax Series. They defeated the defending Japan Series champion Seibu Lions , then squeaked by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks , 3 games to 2, in a series where they were just one out away from sweeping the heavily favored Hawks. Naoyuki Shimizu and submariner Shunsuke Watanabe led the Marines pitching staff, one that allowed the fewest runs in Nippon Professional Baseball . Masahide Kobayashi

7526-451: The next regular season. The Off-season is characterized by a break in regular league or tournament play, allowing athletes, coaches, and staff to rest, recover, and prepare for the upcoming season. The off-season typically follows the conclusion of the regular season or playoffs and precedes the start of preseason training or conditioning camps. During the off-season, athletes often take time off to recuperate both physically and mentally from

7632-454: The off-season is also a critical time for teams to regroup, strategize, and plan for the upcoming season. Coaching staff and management may conduct player evaluations, analyze performance data, and make personnel decisions such as trades, drafts and free agent signings. Team bonding activities, such as retreats, workshops, and social events, may be organized  to foster camaraderie and cohesion among teammates. As most countries which have

7738-459: The off-season provides athletes with an opportunity to address weakness and areas for improvement in their performance. Many athletes use this time to work on specific skills, refine techniques, and build strength and conditioning through targeted training programs. Coaches and training staff often collaborate with athletes to develop individualized offseason training regimens tailored to their specific needs and goals. Off-season training may include

7844-457: The opposition's venue as visitors. The results over all games are accumulated and when every team has completed its full schedule of games, a winner is declared. In North America, the scheduling is different. Rather than every team playing all others twice, teams usually play more games against local rivals than teams in other parts of the country. For example, the NBA 's Los Angeles Lakers will play

7950-483: The owner of the Yomiuri Giants In February 2003, the Pacific League board of directors agreed to reintroduce a playoff system to be used for the 2004 NPB season . If a first-place team had a substantial lead in the standings nearing the end of the regular season, the league's champion would have been decided and there was little excitement until the start of the Japan Series. The decision to add

8056-498: The playoffs is the ultimate goal of every team for every conference; while there is no season championship, winning all conferences within a single season is rare and has only happened five times since 1975, with the two most recent examples occurring in 1996 and 2013–14 . The qualifying round and playoffs setup has permeated down to the local level and in most team sports, although seasons are not divided into conferences. Many sports leagues have playoffs or "finals" that occur after

8162-435: The postseason World Series , and thus MLB teams did not play the other league's teams at all). In 2023, teams played all interleague teams in a single season for the first time; teams now play a 3-game series against all teams, except their designated interleague rival with 4 games, totalling to 46 games (later increased to 48 games and a 6-game series with their interleague rival for the forthcoming 2025 season). In Australia,

8268-404: The postseason if they finished the regular season with a record below .500. Others, however, suggest that NPB could instead fundamentally change their league structure and postseason format. Sportswriter Ko Hiroo takes inspiration from MLB's Wild Card Series and proposes that NPB's twelve teams should be restructured from two leagues to three divisions. A new restructured postseason would then have

8374-419: The postseason. —Hajime Toyokura, Central League President In September 2006, both leagues agreed on a unified postseason system. The CL implemented a playoff system identical to the PL's, and the entire playoff series was dubbed the "Climax Series". The PL agreed to name the regular season first-place finishers league champions rather than the team that won the leagues' respective playoffs—a reversal from

8480-451: The previous three seasons. It was decided that both leagues would play 144 regular-season games, the first time both leagues would play the same number of games since the PL introduced its playoff system in 2004. The two leagues also agreed that neither regular-season champion should receive a one-game advantage in the final stage of the Climax Series, claiming that it was unnecessary from a business point of view. It had been suggested that

8586-411: The regular season is complete. A subset of the teams enter into a playoff tournament , usually a knockout tournament , generally a pre-determined number with better overall records (more wins, fewer losses) during the regular season. There are many variations used to determine the champion, the league's top prize. In many of these leagues, winning the league's top prize at the conclusion of the postseason

8692-421: The regular season winner is eliminated in a single series prior to the Japan Series. Okada believes the Climax Series strikes a balance between these two completing perspectives while also providing fans with more dramatic baseball. Various other details in how the system operates has been debated and criticized. The tiebreaker that determines which team moves on to the Climax Series in the event that two teams end

8798-467: The regular season with the best record. The PL disapproved of the CL's intentions to continue awarding their league title to the first-place finisher in the regular season while using the playoffs to determine which team would compete against in the Japan Series. We stuck with the principle of not having playoffs for a long time, but it's true that the playoffs in the Pacific League have had positive effects. We've decided to add some thrills and excitement to

8904-524: The regular season with the same record has also drawn criticism. Currently, the team that finished higher in the league standings the previous season holds an advantage. This contrasts with MLB, which formerly employed a one-game playoff (if only one team advances), or other professional leagues that may use head-to-head season records (and further tiebreakers such as non- interleague play records, second half records, et al.). Former Hiroshima Carp bench coach Jeff Livesey explained that in one instance his team

9010-583: The rest of the year. Leagues in the same sport use the same color. (See Domestic association football season for details.) 2005 Japan Series The 2005 Japan Series , the 56th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball 's championship series, began on October 22 and ended on October 26, and matched the Central League champion Hanshin Tigers against the Pacific League Champion, Chiba Lotte Marines . It would become

9116-550: The same system until 1973, when the league created NPB's only postseason play prior to 2004 (other than the Japan Series). This new system matched the team with the season's best first-half record against the team with the best second-half record. The winner of this best-of-five series advanced to the Japan Series, where they played against the CL champion. This system proved problematic when the Hankyu Braves won both

9222-410: The season for oudoor summer sports starts in the spring and finishes in autumn, mainly due to weather conditions encountered during the winter. A year can often be broken up into several distinct sections (sometimes themselves called seasons). These are: a preseason, a series of exhibition games played for training purposes; a regular season, the main period of the league's competition; the postseason ,

9328-679: The season, using only league play. A few others, such as Uruguay, crown one champion at the end of a playoff involving top teams from each half of the season. Mexico operates its Apertura and Clausura as separate competitions that both end in playoffs. Brazil has a different system, the season starts with the state championships in January (every Brazilian state have his own championship), these state championships ends in April. The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A itself starts in May and ends in early December, and

9434-421: The second stage; instead, the remaining four games were to be split evenly between both teams' stadiums. This rule change became a non-factor after the eventual first-place Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters clinched a Japan Series berth in two straight games. During the three years of the PL's playoff system, the winner of the PL's postseason tournament competed against the CL team who finished the regular season with

9540-473: The second, final stage. The second stage winner advanced to the Japan Series, where they competed against the CL's Climax Series champion team. Originally, the top finisher in the league at the end of the season was only supposed to receive home-field advantage throughout the second stage, but in August 2003, PL officials announced that if the first-place team led the second-place team by more than five games at

9646-412: The second-place Chunichi Dragons in a three-game sweep during the final stage of the 2007 Central League Climax Series . The next season, the leagues overturned their decision on the final stage advantage and agreed to award their champions an automatic one-win advantage in the final stage starting with the 2008 Climax Series. At the same time, the final stage changed from a best-of-five series and became

9752-414: The second-place team's home field. The winner of this series goes on to face the league's pennant-winner in the final stage. This series is best-of-six. The league champion is awarded a one-win advantage as well as home field advantage for the entire series, unlike most professional leagues where a 5-game playoff series runs 2-2-1 or 2-3 or a 7-game playoff series that runs 2-3-2 with the higher seed receiving

9858-403: The series with a towering home run to left field to put the Marines up 1–0. The teams matched zeroes until the 5th, when Makoto Imaoka singled and Yano doubled, sending Imaoka to 3rd. Atsushi Fujimoto then lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Imaoka on a close play. Shades of the 2003 Japan Series opener were in the public's mind, however it all started to fall apart for the Tigers in

9964-539: The system again drew criticism, this time for allowing games to be called early because of weather and treating them as official games (postseason games in North America's Major League Baseball since 2009 must be played to the full nine innings). After the Yokohama DeNA BayStars lost a 5-inning game in the 2017 Central League Climax Series , Coskrey wrote that playoff games should never end in that manner. He suggested that NPB could have easily suspended

10070-403: The system isn't perfect, it reduces the number of throwaway dead rubber games played and its need is reinforced by its popularity with fans. However, Satoshi goes on to question the decision to award the league pennant to the team with the highest winning percentage instead of its Climax Series champion. The decision leads to scenarios where a team can be named the best team in Japan after winning

10176-428: The teams in their own division each year but only played 20 games total against all of the teams in the other league. Because each of the inter-league match-ups was part of a 3-game series or a 2-game series, teams played no games at all against most teams from the other league. They played 6 of the 15 teams in the other league, a historically high number (until 1997, interleague play was limited to exhibition matches and

10282-512: The then-Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 2003. The team from that year was largely the same, but also featured some new faces. One of which was a managerial change, as after then-manager Senichi Hoshino stepped down due to health problems, former Tiger and 1985 Japan Series champion Akinobu Okada was called to fill his spot as manager. The Tigers' pitching staff was headlined by the trio called JFK , short for setup men Jeff Williams , Kyuji Fujikawa , and closer Tomoyuki Kubota . The team's #1 starter

10388-409: The top three teams from each league participating in their own two-stage playoff. Teams are ranked via their regular-season winning percentage. If teams finish with the same winning percentage, the following criteria are used to rank them: Central League Pacific League The first stage is a best-of-three series involving the regular season's second- and third-place finishers, with all games played at

10494-460: The two largest football leagues, the AFL ( Australian rules football ) and NRL ( rugby league ), both grew out of competitions held within a single city (respectively Melbourne and Sydney) and only began expanding to the rest of the country when inexpensive air travel made a national league possible. These leagues use a single table instead of being split into divisions. The term "home and away season"

10600-412: Was "incredulous that the Central League didn't follow suit" and create a playoff series of their own. The Central League had situational playoff scenarios written into its bylaws that required either a tie in the standings or a team with more wins finishing with a worse winning percentage than the top team, but a permanent playoff plan had never been created. In March 2006, encouraged by the success of

10706-474: Was Yuya Andoh, who had a fine season himself in 2005. The Tigers' offense was buoyed by league MVP Tomoaki Kanemoto , who hit four home runs in the 2003 Series. Catcher Akihiro Yano was also an integral part of the team's power. The Tigers also had speed to burn in shortstop Takashi Toritani and center fielder Norihiro Akahoshi . After losing George Arias in an attempt to get then Yokohama BayStars star foreigner Tyrone Woods (only for Woods to sign with

10812-616: Was actually a full game further behind the Hanshin Tigers than the standings showed because unlike the Tigers, the Carp could not enter the Climax Series in the event of a tie. Former player Scott McClain believes that "[the tiebreaker] should have nothing to do with last year", pointing out that players and managers change from year to year. The Japan Times columnist Wayne Graczyk has suggested that this format be scrapped in favor of MLB's one-game playoff. The most scrutinized aspect of

10918-399: Was called on to start for the Marines, and he found trouble with one out in the first as Toritani doubled off the wall in left. However, neither Sheets or Kanemoto could send Toritani home, and the first inning ended scoreless. Saburo led off the second with a double off Shimoyanagi. After reaching 3rd, Agbayani hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Saburo and give the Marines a 1–0 lead. In

11024-472: Was one-hopped to the first baseman Andy Sheets and got away from him. Saburo reached and Nishioka scored to put the Marines on top, 1–0. In the 2nd inning, Lee drew a walk, setting up Imae, who hit a double and advanced the Korean slugger to 3rd. A double play followed, but the Tigers were willing to trade a run for 2 outs, as Lee scored. Watanabe had little resistance in the first two innings, but ran into

11130-448: Was out by the smallest of margins. With runners on the corners and 2 out, Imae came up and again knocked in a run, this time on a swinging bunt which was fielded, but too late to get Imae at first, which allowed Fukuura to score from 3rd, giving the Marines a 3–1 lead. Keeping with the theme of the past two games, the Tigers kept it close, but failed to score to tie the game up. In the 7th, the Marines kept their own theme going by breaking

11236-421: Was the team's closer, although he did blow his fair share of saves over the season. The Marines offense scored the most runs in the league with a hard-hitting lineup featuring Benny Agbayani , Tsuyoshi Nishioka , Toshiaki Imae , and star Korean import Lee Seung-Yeop , who led the team in home runs. The Tigers were two years removed from their last Japan Series appearance, when they were defeated in 7 games by

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