NPB Playoffs: Game 1 Recap

The 2026 Nippon Professional Baseball postseason opened Saturday, October 10, with the Saitama Seibu Lions hosting the Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters in the Pacific League and the Yomiuri Giants hosting the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in the Central League.

Lions 3, Fighters 2 (F/10)

Kaima Taira, who led Japan in ERA during the regular season and is expected to be posted to MLB this offseason, took the hill for the Lions against veteran Kohei Arihara, a surprising choice to start Game 1 for the Fighters.

Taiga Hirasawa opened the scoring with a solo home run in the first inning. Taiki Narama answered with a go-ahead two-run shot in the fourth as the Fighters continued to drive up Taira’s pitch count.

Manaya Nishikawa tied the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. Both starters lasted five innings, with Taira throwing 105 pitches and striking out eight. Arihara was more economical, recording five strikeouts on just 63 pitches.

The game remained tied into extra innings. The Lions missed a chance to take the lead in the eighth when Seiya Watanabe grounded into an inning-ending double play with runners on the corners.

With one out in the tenth, Alexander Canario hit a clutch walk-off home run on a splitter from Haruki Hosono, giving Seibu a 3-2 victory and a 1-0 series lead.

"This feels unbelievable," Canario told Japanese media after the game.

The Lions are now one win from advancing to face the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, while the Fighters need to win both remaining games.

Game 2 is expected to match Seibu’s Kona Takahashi against Nipponham’s Kota Tatsu. Star left-hander Chihiro Sumida was in line to start for the Lions but was ruled out because of a left-arm contusion he suffered in his final regular-season start. His availability for the rest of the playoffs remains uncertain.

Game 3, if necessary, would likely feature Natsuki Takeuchi against Hiromi Itoh.

The teams entered the series after splitting their 25 regular-season meetings, 12-12-1. Nipponham led NPB with 177 home runs, while Seibu relied on its starting pitching and defense to reach the postseason for the first time since 2022.

Fans can watch the rest of the series on Pacific League TV with a paid subscription.

BayStars 2, Giants 1

The opener at Tokyo Dome featured a battle of the southpaws between Haruto Inoue and Katsuki Azuma, both of whom ranked among NPB’s top seven in ERA+ during the regular season.

Superstar Shugo Maki gave the BayStars an early lead with a solo home run in the first inning. The Giants answered in the bottom half after Naoki Yoshikawa led off with a double, advanced on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a groundout by Yuta Izuguchi.

Neither team scored again until the ninth. Inoue allowed just three hits and one run over eight innings, striking out 10 and issuing no walks. Azuma held Yomiuri to one run on five hits over seven innings, with two strikeouts and no walks.

After Atsushi Katsumata flew out to the warning track for the first out of the ninth, Ryuki Watarai broke the tie with a solo home run off the Giants’ star closer, Raidel Martinez, stunning the crowd and putting DeNA ahead 2-1.

The Giants threatened in the bottom half when Go Matsumoto led off with a hustle double and moved to third on Izuguchi’s sacrifice bunt. But Sean Reynolds stranded him there, retiring Bobby Dalbec on a popup and Takumi Ohshiro on a flyout to secure the victory.

DeNA now leads the series 1-0 and is one win from reaching the Final Stage for the third consecutive year. Game 2 is scheduled to feature Yomiuri’s Kazuyuki Takemaru against DeNA’s Yutaro Ishida. Shosei Togo and Kentaro Taira are the likely starters for Game 3, if necessary.

The Giants and BayStars are meeting in October for the third straight year. Yomiuri won the season series 13-12, but DeNA took nine of the final 11 head-to-head games.

The Giants were a consistent force in the CL, thanks to a steady pitching staff that led NPB in ERA+. The BayStars surged in the second half, similar to what preceded their miracle championship run in 2024, backed by an offense that ranked among NPB’s top four in home runs and OPS+.

What Comes Next

Both First Stage matchups are best-of-three series, with all games played at the higher seed’s home park. Game 2 is scheduled for Sunday, October 11, with Game 3 on Monday, October 12, if necessary. The remaining games begin at 2:00 p.m. Japan time (1:00 a.m. EST).

The winners will face the pennant winners, the SoftBank Hawks and the Hanshin Tigers, in the Final Stage beginning October 14. All games will be played at the pennant winners’ home parks.

SoftBank starts with an automatic 2-0 lead and needs three more wins to reach the Japan Series. Its opponent must win five of a possible seven games to advance. Including the two ghost wins, the series is effectively a best-of-9.

Hanshin starts with an automatic 1-0 lead and also needs three more wins. Its opponent must win four of a possible six games to advance. Those advantages make a rematch of the 2025 Japan Series a strong possibility.

The Nippon Series begins October 24, with a potential Game 7 scheduled for November 1. The Central League representative will host Games 1, 2, 6, and 7.