2008 Central League Climax Series

2008 Central League Climax Series

First stage
Team (Wins) Manager Season Chunichi Dragons (2) Hiromitsu Ochiai 71–68–5, .511, GB: 12 Hanshin Tigers (1) Akinobu Okada 82–59–3, .582, GB: 2
Dates:	October 18 – October 20
Final stage
Team (Wins) Manager Season Yomiuri Giants (3) Tatsunori Hara 84–57–3, .596, GA: 2 Chunichi Dragons (1) Hiromitsu Ochiai 71–68–5, .511, GB: 12
Dates:	October 22 – October 25
< 2007 CLCS 2009 >
2008 PLCS	2008 Japan Series

The 2008 Central League Climax Series (CLCS) consisted of two consecutive series, Stage 1 being a best-of-three series and Stage 2 being a best-of-six with the top seed being awarded a one-win advantage. The winner of the series advanced to the 2008 Japan Series, where they competed against the 2008 Pacific League Climax Series (PLCS) winner. The top three regular-season finishers played in the two series. The CLCS began on with the first game of Stage 1 on October 18 and ended with the final game of Stage 2 on October 25.

First stage

Summary

The Hanshin Tigers were awarded home-field advantage for the entirety of Stage 1; however, all three games were played in the Orix Buffaloes' Kyocera Osaka Dome, a neutral field, as renovations to Koshien Stadium prevented postseason play.^[1]

Chunichi Dragons (2) vs. Hanshin Tigers (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 18	Chunichi Dragons – 2, Hanshin Tigers – 0	Kyocera Dome Osaka	2:49	33,824[2]
2	October 19	Chunichi Dragons – 3, Hanshin Tigers – 7	Kyocera Dome Osaka	3:16	33,881[3]
3	October 20	Chunichi Dragons – 2, Hanshin Tigers – 0	Kyocera Dome Osaka	2:38	33,021[4]

Game 1

Saturday, October 18, 2008 at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	5	0
Hanshin	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
WP: Kenshin Kawakami (1–0)   LP: Yuya Ando (0–1)   Sv: Hitoki Iwase (1) Home runs: CHU: Masahiko Morino (1) HAN: None

Game 2

Sunday, October 19, 2008 at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	10	0
Hanshin	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	X	7	11	0
WP: Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi (1–0)   LP: Chen Wei-Yin (0–1) Home runs: CHU: Masahiko Morino (2), Tyrone Woods (1) HAN: Takashi Toritani (2)

Game 3

Monday, October 20, 2008 at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	3
Hanshin	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2
WP: Kazuki Yoshimi (1–0)   LP: Kyuji Fujikawa (0–1)   Sv: Hitoki Iwase (2) Home runs: CHU: Tyrone Woods (2) HAN: None

Final stage

Summary

Yomiuri Giants (3) vs. Chunichi Dragons (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 22	Chunichi Dragons – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	4:05	44,072[5]
2	October 23	Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 11	Tokyo Dome	2:45	43,536[6]
3	October 24	Chunichi Dragons – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 5	Tokyo Dome	4:42	45,846[7]
4	October 25	Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 6	Tokyo Dome	3:27	46,797[8]

Game 1

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	4	9	0
Yomiuri	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	7	1
WP: Masato Kobayashi (1–0)   LP: Marc Kroon (0–1)   Sv: Hitoki Iwase (1) Home runs: CHU: Lee Byung-Kyu (1), Tyrone Woods (1) YOM: Yoshitomo Tani (1)

Game 2

Thursday, October 23, 2008 at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
Yomiuri	2	4	0	2	0	0	1	2	X	11	17	0
WP: Koji Uehara (1–0)   LP: Kenta Asakura (0–1) Home runs: CHU: Masahiko Morino (1), Ryosuke Hirata (1) YOM: Michihiro Ogasawara (2), Alex Ramírez (1), Lee Seung-Yeop (1)

Game 3

Friday, October 24, 2008 at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	5	8	0
Yomiuri	0	0	1	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	8	0
Home runs: CHU: Kazuhiro Wada (1), Tyrone Woods (2) YOM: Kazunari Tsuruoka (1), Lee Seung-Yeop (2)

Game 4

Saturday, October 25, 2008 at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	7	0
Yomiuri	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	X	6	11	1
WP: Marc Kroon (1–1)   LP: Akifumi Takahashi (0–1) Home runs: CHU: Tyrone Woods (3) YOM: Alex Ramírez (2)

References

1. Graczyk, Wayne (September 21, 2008). "Stairs still slugging away 15 years after Japan stint". The Japan Times. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
2. "Saturday, October 18, 2008". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
3. "Sunday, October 19, 2008". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
4. "Monday, October 20, 2008". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
5. "Wednesday, October 22, 2008". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
6. "Thursday, October 23, 2008". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
7. "Friday, October 24, 2008". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
8. "Saturday, October 25, 2008". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 16, 2009.