Finished Third After 143 Games—and Still Able to Become Japan's Champion: The Strange Structure of Japanese Professional Baseball

This year’s Japan Series has produced a rather interesting matchup.

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, who dominated the Pacific League, are playing the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, who advanced after finishing third in the Central League.

SoftBank played 143 games, won 91 of them, and comfortably captured the league championship.

DeNA, meanwhile, finished third with 71 wins.

Yet these two teams are now competing to become the champions of Japan.

A team that finished third after playing 143 games can still become Japan’s champion?

I am not such a passionate baseball fan that this makes me angry.

I simply think that whoever designed this system had an impressive talent for business.

Six Months of Effort Can Be Erased in a Few Final Games

The regular season in Japanese professional baseball consists of 143 games.

The teams compete for more than half a year, from spring through autumn, before the standings are finally decided.

By ordinary logic, the first-place team is the champion, the second-place team comes next, and the third-place team comes after that.

Japanese professional baseball, however, works differently from this point onward.

“All right, the standings are settled. Now let us compete all over again!”

This is the Climax Series, commonly known as the CS, Japanese professional baseball’s postseason playoff.

And the top three teams in each league can participate.

In other words, even a team that spent six months finishing first can be denied a place in the Japan Series by losing a short playoff at the end.

The first-place team does receive advantages based on factors such as its number of wins.

Even so, a championship earned over 143 games can be overturned in the final few games.

That is remarkably generous.

Why Does This System Exist?

The reason is simple. It makes the competition more entertaining as a business.

In the past, if a team secured the championship early, the remaining games became meaningless fixtures and lost much of their excitement.

The CS changes that.

Even a team that cannot win the league still has a chance if it finishes third.

The contest for third place gains meaning, keeping fans interested until late in the season.

Both the teams and the fans receive more to enjoy.

It is an extremely well-designed system.

The only problem is that, at some point, you begin to wonder why they play 143 games in the first place.

Why Not Let All Six Teams Participate?

If generating excitement is the priority, why not let even the last-place team participate?

The sixth-place team would also have a chance to become Japan’s champion.

Then no game would ever be meaningless.

Fans of the last-place team could maintain hope until the end, and team revenues would increase.

If the last-place team went on to become Japan’s champion, the greatest upset in history would generate enormous excitement.

Of course, that would raise the question of what the regular-season standings had been for.

But when you think about it, allowing the top three teams while rejecting all six is also rather strange.

The point at which the line is drawn is ultimately a matter of what works best as entertainment.

What Does “Champion of Japan” Even Mean Now?

This year, DeNA finished third in the Central League during the regular season.

Even so, it advanced through the CS and reached the Japan Series.

If it wins the Japan Series too, it will officially become the champion of Japan.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that under the rules.

But it means that “the strongest team over the full year” and “the team that won the final short series” can be two different teams.

Of course, that kind of possibility is part of what makes sports entertaining.

I have no intention of loudly demanding the abolition of the CS. I understand the view that if it is entertaining, that is enough.

Still, after completing a long contest of 143 games, starting the competition over again remains a strange idea.

Why not simply call the entire regular season a set of exhibition games and begin the real competition in October?

At least that would make the arrangement easier to understand.