Outgoing Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager Trey Hillman obviously has only one thing on his mind right now — beating the Chunichi Dragons again and winning a second consecutive Japan Series title.

However, his next job as manager of the Kansas City Royals will be another big challenging and, if anyone can pull a team out of the doldrums, it's Hillman.

That's what he did with the Fighters, a club he took over in 2003 that had not been to the Japanese Series since 1981.