Orix Buffaloes manager Akinobu Okada will return in 2012 to see out the third and final year of his contract, the team said Tuesday.
After a gutting defeat to the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks that saw Orix miss the Pacific League Climax Series in its last game of the regular season, the team's head of operations, Yoshio Murayama, made it clear Okada would be back.
The Buffaloes finished fourth, fractions of a winning percentage behind the Seibu Lions, who nabbed third place with a win against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.
"We need to face up to the bitterness of this defeat together and I want to rebuild for next year with him," Murayama said. "We fought for the Climax Series until the very end."