On a cool afternoon and evening in Yokohama, the DeNA BayStars and SoftBank Hawks held worked out at Yokohama Stadium. I’d say these were the final pre-series workouts but those will come tomorrow before Game 1, since to paraphrase Thomas Edison, Japanese baseball is 10 percent inspiration during games, and 90 percent perspiration preparing to play them.

The Hawks, who play about 70 percent of their regular-season games in parks that can be sealed off from the elements, arrived in Yokohama earlier this week and have been working out in the great out of doors.

It was a chance to catch up with Tyler Austin and learn what kept him going when it seemed his career was turning into one injury-related dead end after another, and Carter Stewart Jr.. who talked about how a poor result this season gave him a fresh perspective.

The highlight, however, was a chance to take part in a discussion with Hawks chairman Sadaharu Oh, along with former Giants pitcher Hiromi Makihara, his TBS announcing partner and a couple of veteran journalists.