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Dates: October 15-18, 2014
To better understand the significance of this moment, you need to know the Central League’s playoff system. Until and including 2006, the team that finished first in the regular season standings automatically advanced to the Nippon Series. However, in 2007, the CL introduced the Climax Series. The third place team traveled to the second place team’s stadium for a best-of-three, and the winner of that series would travel to the first place team’s stadium for a best of six seven six seven I’m not sure. See, there are only six games played, and the first place team not only hosts the entire series, but gets a one-game advantage on paper. In other words, the road team has to win four of six on the road against a (theoretically) superior team. Tall task.
The Tigers advanced to the Climax Series several times in the early going. They…
- Got swept in Round 1 on the road against the Chunichi Dragons in 2007
- Lost 2 games to 1 in Round 1 at home against the Dragons in 2008.
- Got swept in Round 1 at home against the Yomiuri Giants in 2010.
- Got swept in Round 1 at home against the Hiroshima Carp in 2013.
One playoff game win in 9 attempts.
And then they squirmed their way into second place at the end of the 2014 season, setting up a best-of-3 against the Carp at Koshien Stadium. They won the first game 1-0 and tied the second 0-0. Hardly impressive, but it got them to the next round, at long last.
What awaited them was a series at Tokyo Dome against the three-time defending champion Yomiuri Giants.
But they took Game 1 by a 4-1 score, thanks to a quick 3-run scoring spree in the top of the first and some strong pitching by Shintaro Fujinami.
They won Game 2 by the same margin, 5-2, scoring two runs in the third and then three more in the fifth. Minoru Iwata picked up the win.
The only game in the series that looked like it might go to the Giants was Game 3 – they held the lead after five innings – but the Tigers pushed two across in each of the sixth and seventh innings, pushing their rivals’ backs up against the wall with a 4-2 win.
And they made sure they finished the series in style in Game 4. Matt Murton and Kosuke Fukudome hit back-to-back homers in the first, and Tsuyoshi Nishioka added another the next inning. Even though they were up six runs heading into the ninth, they gave the ball to closer Seung-hwan Oh. He let the Giants score two, but what did it matter?
WE SWEPT THE GIANTS!
The Tigers made it known to their fans that they could win in the playoffs, after all! At least for one year. In 2015 and 2017, they bowed out in the first round again. Methinks it’s time for the Tigers to make more playoff history this year!