Japan Series Game 7 was held Sunday, and Japanese baseball didn’t have to wait for Halloween for tricks and treats. The victory was Orix’s fifth championship in franchise history. All of the Hankyu Braves’, Orix BlueWave’s, and Orix Buffaloes’ series have been again against the Yomiuri Giants, the Hiroshima Carp and the Yakult Swallows, the only team the franchise had yet to beat until Sunday night after losing in 1978, 1995 and 2021.
Game 7
Buffaloes 5, Swallows 0: At Jingu Stadium, Ryo Ota hit a tough first pitch for a leadoff homer and laid down one of the best bunts you’ll see to energize a four-run fifth-inning rally that ended when normally reliable center fielder Yasutaka Shiomi missed a liner for a three-run error.
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Another Japan Series game between Orix and Yakult meant their 10th straight decided by two runs or less, when a late three-run lead was blown, while the first tie since Game 1 of the 2018 series opened the door to a possible Game 8.
The Japan Series is not technically a best-of-seven series, but is rather the first to four wins, with any 12-inning ties through Game 7 not counting.
Game 2 continued the pattern of both teams struggling to drive in their runners outdoors with timely hits, and Yakult doing the big damage via the home run.
