It remains to be seen if the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes can this week win their first Japan Series in franchise history. The Buffs should have won it the last time the club appeared in the J.S., 12 years ago in 1989, but Kintetsu blew a three games-to-none lead to the Yomiuri Giants in a most memorable series, the first of Japan's Heisei Era. There have been a few changes in the ensuing dozen years.
Ralph BryantThat '89 Series opened in Osaka -- at least in the prefecture, in the suburban 32,000-seat Fujiidera Stadium -- on Saturday, Oct. 21. Japan Series games were still played in the daytime then, and it felt great to be out there under the warm October sun, with the sky as blue as the fences and seats in Fujiidera's indoor successor the Osaka Dome, where this year's Series opened last weekend.
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