There are no more excuses for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.
The most disappointing postseason team of the short Climax Series era made an improbable late-season surge to capture the Pacfic League pennant and now everything is set up for the Hawks to reach the Japan Series for the first time since 2003.
Softbank has two of the best pitchers in Japanese baseball, homefield advantage and an automatic one-game lead over either the Seibu Lions or Chiba Lotte Marines in the second stage of the PL Climax Series.