The 1998 Japan Series was the 49th edition of

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

's postseason championship series. The

Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, ...

represented the

Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...

, while the Yokohama BayStars represented the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

. The BayStars won the series in six games, giving them their first Japan Series championship since 1960.

Background

This was a matchup of one of the most successful teams in the last two decades against one of the least successful. The Lions were the team of the 1980s, winning eight championships from 1982 to 1992, and making five straight appearances in the championship series from 1990 until 1994. On the other hand, the BayStars had not won the Japan Series since 1960, when the team was known as the Taiyō Whales, and had not made any appearances since.

Seibu Lions

This Seibu team was far different from the dominating teams that they enjoyed in the 1980s. Fumiya Nishiguchi (13-12, 3.38) led the Lions pitching staff, which was also anchored in the bullpen by

Denney Tomori also known as or is a former Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher. External links

1967 births Butte Copper Kings players Chunichi Dragons players Japanese baseball coaches Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Livin ...

, Shinji Mori, and Kiyoshi Toyoda. Offensively, the Lions had Kazuo Matsui at the top of the lineup, as he batted .311 and stole 43 bases. Rudy Pemberton and Ken Suzuki supplied the power numbers for the Lions.

Yokohama BayStars

The team's offense was known as the "Machine Gun Offense", since the BayStars led the league in batting average and were capable of rapping out hits in quick succession at practically any time. Takanori Suzuki (.337), Bobby Rose (.325), and team captain Takuro Ishii (.314) led the team with their hitting prowess, and their teammates in the batting order all followed suit. Pitching-wise, Yokohama was led by Takashi Saito and Daisuke Miura for starters, and

Kazuhiro Sasaki Kazuhiro Sasaki (佐々木主浩 ''Sasaki Kazuhiro'', born February 22, 1968) is a Japanese former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played his entire Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) career with the Yokohama Taiyō Whales / Yokohama ...

was practically automatic at closer, recording 45 saves and posting a microscopic 0.64 ERA.

Summary

References

{{Saitama Seibu Lions Japan Series

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series between the winning cl ...

1998 Nippon Professional Baseball season Yokohama BayStars Seibu Lions

Background

Seibu Lions

Yokohama BayStars

Summary

See also

References