NPB: SoftBank Hawks Win Third Straight Pacific League Pennant

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks are 2026 Pacific League champions, completing a three-peat for the first time in 60 years.

SoftBank clinched the regular season pennant Thursday with a 7-1 victory over the Orix Buffaloes at Kyocera Dome Osaka. The Hawks entered the night with a magic number of two and needed both a win and a loss by the second-place Saitama Seibu Lions.

The latter came shortly before the final out in Osaka, as the third-place Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters defeated Seibu, 4-2, at Es Con Field Hokkaido, setting the stage for the Hawks to celebrate on the field after closing out their own victory.

After falling behind Orix, 1-0, SoftBank broke the game open with four runs in the sixth inning. Tatsuru Yanagimachi tied things up with an RBI single before Taisei Makihara ripped a two-run triple to put the Hawks ahead. Southpaw Haru Matsumoto threw five innings of one-run ball, helping SoftBank secure its season-best ninth consecutive victory.

The Hawks have once again been the team to beat in NPB this season under third-year manager Hiroki Kokubo with an impressive 84-45-3 record and 11 games remaining.

The championship is SoftBank’s third in a row and the franchise’s first three-peat since the Nankai Hawks did so from 1964 to 1966. It is also the first since the franchise moved to Fukuoka in 1989. Remarkably, even during the Hawks’ dynastic run of six Japan Series titles in seven years from 2014 to 2020, they never won three consecutive regular season pennants.

With 22 PL titles and two more from the one-league era before Japanese professional baseball split into the Central and Pacific Leagues in 1950, the Hawks now have 24 league pennants in franchise history.

Collectively, their 123 OPS+ ranks first in NPB, while their 115 ERA+ ranks second best. Kensuke Kondoh owns an NPB-best .428 on-base percentage, while Ryoya Kurihara leads all 12 teams with 37 home runs and 111 RBI. Tomoya Masaki has broken out with 27 homers, while veteran Yuki Yanagita has chipped in with 17 of his own. Meanwhile, Ukyo Shuto and Yudai Shoji have combined for 46 stolen bases, adding another dimension to the offense.

On the mound, 21-year-old Yugo Maeda is running away with the PL Rookie of the Year race, still a perfect 12-0 with a 1.90 ERA. Ryosuke Ohtsu has also been integral in stabilizing the rotation — particularly during ace Livan Moinelo’s four-month absence earlier in the campaign — posting a 2.36 ERA over a team-best 133 ⅓ innings. In the bullpen, Kazuki Sugiyama remains in contention for the PL saves title with 33. 

SoftBank will now turn its attention to the postseason, where it will receive a first-round bye and host the PL Climax Series Final Stage against either the Lions or Fighters beginning October 14. New rules introduced this season could also give the Hawks an additional advantage.

SoftBank will start the Final Stage with a two-win advantage if it finishes at least 10 games ahead of its opponent during the regular season, rather than the traditional one-win advantage. The Hawks currently lead Seibu by 11 games and Nippon-Ham by 11.5 games.

The ultimate goal for NPB's richest franchise is a 13th Japan Series championship. SoftBank was upset by the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in 2024 but returned to the top for the first time in five years last season, beating the Hanshin Tigers 4-1 in the Japan Series.

This season, the Hawks will look to convert their third straight first-place finish into back-to-back Japan Series titles. The Hanshin Tigers currently lead the Yomiuri Giants by one game in the race for the CL pennant.