True, it is a best-of-three series. But it looks like the first game will be the pivotal battle.
With the first stage of the Pacific League Climax Series getting under way on Saturday, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and Seibu Lions took the field at Sapporo Dome for a final tune-up on Friday.
"It's tough to narrow it down to one player," Fighters skipper Masataka Nashida said when asked who the key player would be for his team in the series. "But I'd have to say it's going to be (Yu) Darvish, because he's the Fighters' ace pitcher. So I expect nothing but a positive outcome from him."