The Nippon Professional Baseball‘s Orix Buffaloes hopes to win a fourth consecutive Pacific League pennant were officially shattered after Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Although today marks the official end of the Buffaloes pennant run, it was a foregone conclusion that the Buffaloes’ success was over long before their loss to the Marines. Orix is currently No. 5 in the Pacific League with a 58-65-2 record.
The Buffaloes have had a great season on the mound but not in the batter’s box. Orix is second-to-last in the Pacific League in batting average, home runs, and RBIs while ranking No. 4 in hits and dead last in stolen bases. While the Buffaloes were still last in stolen bases in 2023, they were No. 1 in the Pacific League in hits, home runs, and batting average.
The past decade has been a rollercoaster for the Buffaloes. After Orix’s second-place finish in 2014, the Buffaloes never reached the NPB’s Climax Series until they won the Pacific League pennant in 2021. In that time frame, Orix placed last in the Pacific League in 2016, 2019, and 2020.
The Buffaloes were able to flip their franchise from perennial losers to consistent winners by winning the Pacific League from 2021-23, marking the first time they’ve won three consecutive pennants since Orix’s four-year pennant streak from 1975-78.
With around a month left in the regular season, the Buffaloes are 6.5 games behind the Marines for the last spot in the Climax Series.
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WBN NPB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/japan/
Photo Credit: Tomoya Mori of the Orix Buffaloes hits a solo home run in the 8th inning against Saitama Seibu Lions at Kyocera Dome Osaka on September 25, 2023 in Osaka, Japan. (Photo by Sports Nippon/Getty Images)
