There are no examples of a regular season debt team advancing to the Japan Stakes.
The final round of the Climax Series (CS) 2022 will start on the 12th. A Se, Yakult, who won the championship for the second consecutive time, and Hanshin, who is in third place, will play against each other. Advancement to the final from 3rd place is 6 consecutive seasons in SE. However, there is no example of a team having been in debt in the regular season and moving to the Japan Series. Will Hanshin be able to create a new story?
Hanshin defeated DeNA with 2 wins and 1 loss in the first round of CS. He made it to the final for the first time in three years. Since DeNA in 2016, the 3rd place team has defeated the 2nd place team for 6 consecutive seasons (in 2020, Se’s CS was canceled due to the crown disaster). Among them, only DeNA in 2017 switched to the Japanese series. After winning the first stage with Hanshin with 2 wins and 1 loss, he defeated Hiroshima in the final with 4 wins and 2 losses (including 1 loss of lead).
Hanshin ended the regular season with 68 wins, 71 losses and 4 draws with 3 debts. This is the seventh time the debt team has made it to CS and the fifth time they have made it to the final. However, in the last four times, they have lost to the championship-winning team and there has never been a case where an indebted team has moved on to the Japan Series.
The match results of both teams this season are tied with Yakult’s 13 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw. When limited to matches at the Jingu Stadium, Hanshin has won with 7 wins and 5 losses. Looking at past examples, Yakult, who won the pennant contest, has an overwhelming advantage, but it will be interesting to see if Hanshin can make a new history by becoming the first team to advance to the Japan Series in debt.
(Full-Count Editing)
