The Central League announced Thursday the outline for this year's Climax Series playoffs in which the top three teams vie for a berth in the Japan Series. The second- and third-place teams will meet in a best-of-three first stage series from Oct. 13, with the winner of the series to play the league champions in the second stage (best-of-five) series which will get under way on Oct. 18. In both stages, the series will be held at the home stadium of the top team during the regular season.
