There is no example of a regular season debt team advancing to the Japan Stakes.
The final stage of the 2022 Climax Series (CS) will begin on the 12th. In Se, Yakult, who have won the league for the second time in a row, and Hanshin, who are in third place, will play against each other. Progress to the final from 3rd place is 6 seasons in a row in the South East. However, there is no example of a team that has been in debt in the regular season and advanced to the Japan Series. Will Hanshin be able to make new history?
Hanshin defeated DeNA with 2 wins and 1 loss in the first stage of the CS. He progressed to the final for the first time in three years. Since DeNA in 2016, the 3rd place team has defeated the 2nd place team for 6 seasons in a row (in 2020, CS Se was canceled due to the corona disaster). Among them, only DeNA in 2017 advanced to the Japan series. After winning the first leg with Hanshin with 2 wins and 1 loss, he defeated Hiroshima in the final with 4 wins and 2 losses (including 1 loss of advantage).
Hanshin finished the regular season with 68 wins, 71 losses and 4 ties with 3 debts. This is the seventh time the debt team has progressed to CS, and the fifth time they have progressed to the final. However, in the last four times, they have lost to the winning team in the league, and there has never been a case where a debt team has progressed to the Japan Series.
The results of the games of both teams this season are equal with Yakult 13 wins, 11 losses and 1 draw. Restricted to matches at Jingu Stadium, Hanshin has won 7 and lost 5. Looking at past examples, Yakult, who won the pennant race, have a huge advantage, but it will be interesting to see if Hanshin can make new history by becoming the first team to advance to the Japan Series in debt.
(Full Account editorial section)
