1988 Japan Series - Misplaced Pages

Baseball championship series

1988 Japan Series

Team (Wins)	Manager(s)	Season
Seibu Lions (4)	Masaaki Mori	73–51–6, .589, GA: 0
Chunichi Dragons (1)	Senichi Hoshino	79–46–5, .632, GA: 12

Dates

October 22–27

MVP

Hiromichi Ishige (SEI)

FSA

Masaru Uno (CHU)

Broadcast

Television

THK (Game 1), CBC (Game 2), TBS (Games 3-4), NHK General TV (Game 4), TV Asahi (Game 5)

Radio

NHK Radio 1, TBS (JRN), JOQR (NRN), NBS (NRN), Radio Nippon

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The 1988 Japan Series was the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) championship series for the 1988 season. It was the 39th Japan Series and featured the Central League champion Chunichi Dragons against the Pacific League champion Seibu Lions. Chunichi won the Central League pennant by a comfortable 12 games to advance to the championship. However, the representative from the Pacific League was undecided up until 3 days before Game 1 of the Japan Series. Seibu fought neck-and-neck for first place with the Kintetsu Buffaloes over most of the season and finished their regular-season schedule with a 0.5-game advantage over Kintetsu, with Kintetsu having 4 games left to play. On the last day of the season (October 19), Kintetsu had to win both games of an away double-header against the last-place Lotte Orions to claim the PL pennant. Kintetsu won the first game by one run (by scoring one run in the top of the ninth inning), but Lotte forced a comeback tie in the second game, capping a dramatic finish to the season (known to Japanese baseball fans as 10.19) and giving Seibu the PL spot in the Japan Series for the fourth year in a row.

Played at Nagoya Stadium and Seibu Dome, the Lions won the series four games to one, winning the final game on a walk-off base hit by catcher Tsutomu Ito. The 1988 contest was the third in Japan Series history to end on a walk-off (after 1950 and 1965). Seibu shortstop Hiromichi Ishige was named Most Valuable Player of the series. The series was played between October 22 and October 27 with home field advantage going to the Central League.

Summary

PL Seibu Lions (4) vs. CL Chunichi Dragons (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 22	Seibu Lions – 5, Chunichi Dragons – 1	Nagoya Stadium	3:03	28,963
2	October 23	Seibu Lions – 3, Chunichi Dragons – 7	Nagoya Stadium	2:39	28,953
3	October 25	Chunichi Dragons – 3, Seibu Lions – 4	Seibu Dome	2:30	32,081
4	October 26	Chunichi Dragons – 0, Seibu Lions – 6	Seibu Dome	2:44	32,261
5	October 27	Chunichi Dragons – 6, Seibu Lions – 7	Seibu Dome	4:09	32,304

Matchups

Game 1

Saturday, October 22, 1988 at Nagoya Stadium, Nagoya, Gifu
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Seibu	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	5	9	0
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	7	1
WP: Hisanobu Watanabe (1–0) LP: Kazuyuki Ono (0–1) Sv: Osamu Higashio (1) Home runs: SEI: None CHU: Kazuhiro Kiyohara (1), Hiromichi Ishige (1)

Game 2

Sunday, October 23, 1988 at Nagoya Stadium, Nagoya, Gifu
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Seibu	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3	8	0
Chunichi	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	4	X	7	9	0
WP: Genji Kaku (1–0) LP: Tai-Yuan Kuo (0–1) Home runs: SEI: None CHU: Yonetoshi Kawamata (1)

Game 3

Tuesday, October 25, 1988 at Seibu Dome, Tokorozawa, Saitama
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	4	2
Seibu	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	X	4	3	0
WP: Kimiyasu Kudoh (1–0) LP: Masahiro Yamamoto (0–1) Home runs: CHU: Toshikatsu Hikono (1), Masaru Uno (1) SEI: Hiromichi Ishige (2)

Game 4

Wednesday, October 26, 1988 at Seibu Dome, Tokorozawa, Saitama
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
Seibu	0	0	2	1	2	0	1	0	X	6	8	0
WP: Ryoji Moriyama (1–0) LP: Tadashi Sugimoto (0–1) Home runs: CHU: None SEI: Koji Akiyama (1), Kazuhiro Kiyohara (2), Hatsuhiko Tsuji (1)

Game 5

Thursday, October 27, 1988 at Seibu Dome, Tokorozawa, Saitama
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Chunichi	1	1	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	6	8	0
Seibu	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	7	11	2
WP: Hirohisa Matsunuma (1-0) LP: Genji Kaku (1–1) Home runs: CHU: Masaru Uno (2) SEI: Kazuhiro Kiyohara (3), Hiromichi Ishige (3)

References

^ 1988年度日本シリーズ　試合結果 (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 30, 2012.

External links

Nippon Professional Baseball—Official website (in English)

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Saitama Seibu Lions

Established in 1950
Formerly the Nishitetsu Clippers, the Nishitetsu Lions, the Taiheiyo Club Lions, the Crown Lighter Lions, and the Seibu Lions
Based in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture

The Franchise

Ballparks

Heiwadai Stadium
Belluna Dome

Culture

Retired numbers

Key personnel

Owner: Takashi Goto
Management: Seibu Railway
Manager: HKazuo Matsui

Japan Series championships (13)

Pacific League championships (23)

Playoff berths (13)

Seasons (75)
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Chunichi Dragons

Established in 1936
Formerly the Nagoya Club, the Sangyo Club, the Chubu Nippon, the Chubu Nippon Dragons, and the Nagoya Dragons
Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture