Society

Hawks capture predictable pennant in unpredictable season

Oct 29 (Japan Times) - The most unpredictable of pennant races ended with among the most predictable of results: The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, once again, on top of the Pacific League and looking toward the Climax Series and possibly a fourth straight Japan Series title.

Japanese baseballâ€™s reigning dynasty wrapped up the 2020 pennant with a 5-1 win over the Chiba Lotte Marines Tuesday night, getting six shutout innings and eight strikeouts from 39-year-old veteran Tsuyoshi Wada and a two-run homer from catcher Takuya Kai. The Hawks win so much itâ€™s easy to forget this is their first PL title since 2017, despite their recent dominance of the Japan Series.

This one was anything but normal, coming in a season that was altered by the coronavirus pandemic. Even the SoftBank celebration was a sign of the times we currently live in. Manager Kimiyasu Kudo and team chairman Sadaharu Oh touched wrists in lieu of a handshake. Instead of players gathering near the mound to fling Kudo into the air during a doage, they formed a giant circle around the infield and watched as golden confetti was fired into the air and led the crowd in a banzai cheer.

An abnormal celebration for an abnormal year.

â€œOpening day was pushed back from March 20 to June 19 this year due to the coronavirus,â€ Kudo said during the winning manager interview. â€œDuring that time, many people worked to start the season. Thanks to the efforts of NPB, the teams and officials, we were able to start on June 19.

â€œMoreover, without the dedication of the medical professionals, pro baseball might not have been able to start. We got a lot of courage from the medical community.â€

SoftBank persevered during this weird 2020 season. Through Tuesday, the Hawks had the second-best team batting average in the PL and a 2.94 team ERA that led the league by a wide margin and was also tops in NPB.

“I think we’ve got a lot of amazing pitchers,” outfielder Akira Nakamura said.

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