In a sense, the Hawks know how big it is to do damage to an opponent first in a postseason more than anybody else in Japanese baseball.
After all, they've historically dropped Game 1s and this has spoiled their ambition of advancing to the Japan Series.
But this time, the 2011 Pacific League champions got off to an ideal start with a 4-2 win over the Seibu Lions in Game 1 of the PL Climax Series final stage on Thursday night.