Twelve years ago, the Chunichi Dragons won four straight postseason games to move within one win of the Japan Series, only to be foiled when they ran out of starting pitchers the Yomiuri Giants hadn’t seen all year and lost three straight at Tokyo Dome.

For the past week, the DeNA BayStars have played as well as they have all season, and that got them to within one win of their first Japan Series since they won both foreplay postseason stages and reached the 2017 Japan Series, but the Giants’ strength, their pitching and defense made the difference this weekend’s elimination games, Yomiuri’s 4-1 win Saturday and its 1-0 win Sunday.