What a Way to End a Season

[kq76]

Let me set the stage...

It's 1936, in Yokohama, Japan. Yokohama is a fairly well populated, even then, city just southeast of Tokyo.

It's the first season of the Japan Baseball League (translated from the Japanese name of course). There are 12 teams. The east division is comprised of 6 teams in or close to Tokyo while the west division is made up of 2 teams in Osaka, 2 in Nagoya, and 1 each in Kyoto and Kobe, all of which are also pretty close geographically.

For much of the year the east is dominated by 2 teams: the Setagaya Sohei and, my team, the Yokohama Wokou. (Sohei is their word Monks, while Wokou means Pirates.) In September, however, Setagaya stumbles and Yokohama runs away with the division by 8 games with a 113-49 record.

Meanwhile in the west it's much more competitive. The two Osaka teams, the Black Bears and the Calico Cats, along with the Nagoya Golden Tanukis compete for first for much of the season. But after a bad start, the Nagoya Red Foxes start playing really well around mid June. The Bears and the Tanukis start to fall apart starting in late August, but the Foxes stay on their torrid pace and end up winning the division over the Calicos by 4.5 games with an 88-71-3 record.

So in the postseason we have the Red Foxes hosting the Sohei, while the Wokou (again, my team) are hosting the Calico Cats.

The Red Foxes make quick work of the Sohei, sweeping them in 4. The Wokou, while heavily favoured in their series, struggle a bit and only manage to best the Cats in 6.

So in the final we have a matchup of the division leaders, the Nagoya Red Foxes and the Yokohama Wokou.

While the Red Foxes have some very good players, they have a pretty average offense and only the 3rd best defense in the league. Meanwhile, the Wokou are ranked 1st in most offensive categories and 2nd in most defensive categories. While we might not have the very best 2 players of the 2 teams, I'd say we're still heavily favoured.

Nagoya take game 1 behind the CG SHO effort of Nishikawa who is probably the best pitcher in the series. Our 30-game winner Suzuki pitched great too, but gave up 2 runs.

After being down 7-2 in the bottom of the 7th, we win game 2 9-8 in 10 innings. I made some dumb moves, but I also made a great one.

Game 3 we win 7-2. There was nothing else particularly noteworthy about the game.

Game 4 they win 7-4. There was nothing else really noteworthy about this game either.

Game 5 we lost 7-4 after being up 4-2 in the 5th. This one hurt. Our young stud SP Ogawa, who pitched so well throughout the season, just ran out of gas.

Game 6 we obliterated them, winning 8-1. Our 2nd best SP, Kageyama, pitched a great 7.1 innings and our reliever closed it out.

So it's on to game 7.

We've got our 30-9 ace RHP Suzuki starting for us while they have their 13-5 RHP Miyamoto starting for them.

Suzuki has not gotten the best of decisions during the PostS, but he has still pitched well and he's rested. So it's got to be him.

The two SPs are actually pretty similar. Suzuki is better at getting Ks while Miyamoto is better at keeping the ball in the park.

Suzuki pitched almost twice as much this year so while their FIPs are close, Suzuki's stats are better and he's more proven.

But is Suzuki tired after pitching 306 IP in the RS and 32 in the PS? We'll soon find out.

Suzuki does not get off to a great start. Top of the 1st he gives up a 2-run HR to the probable league MVP, LF Kira, and then he immediately gives up a solo shot to RF Kawasaki, their other great batter.

In the top of the 3rd Suzuki gives up a hit-by-pitch, a double, and then a 3-run homer to 2B Deguchi. I'm already warming up SP Ogawa, who you might remember faltered in game 5, and then after 2 Ks induced by Suzuki, Ogawa is ready. I decide to leave in Suzuki thinking I'll let him just get this last out and then I'll probably let Ogawa start the 4th. But what happens? You guessed it. Catcher Matsumoto, their #9 hitter, hits a solo shot. We're down 7-0, in game 7, of the championship series. I'm thinking it's most likely over. I bring in Ogawa and he ends the inning with a K.

It's the bottom of the 3rd now. We get a single, a ROE, a BB. The bases are loaded and there are no outs. Is this the start of a storybook comeback? They walk another, which walks in a run. The bases are loaded and our best hitter, RF Kamiya, is up with the bases still loaded. He strikes out. 2B Ogawa flies out, but CF Kurihara scores and the other 2 advance. LF Sato singles and both 3B Shinoda and DH Shimizu score. Sato steals 2nd. 1B Kotani doubles and Sato scores. And, finally, C Hirano strikes out to end the inning. But we scored 5 runs! We're only down 7-5 and it's only the 4th. We can do this.

A few half innings go by. It's the bottom of the 5th, and our 2B Ogawa is up. He hits a solo shot. It's 7-6!

Our young SP Ogawa, whom we brought in to relieve Suzuki, has been pitching lights out. But it gets to the top of the 8th and with 1 out he gives up a single. So I bring in Nishikawa, a great reliever. He finishes the 8th with ease.

It gets to the top of the 9th and I'm warming up our very best reliever, but I'm going to leave in Nishikawa (I don't believe in replacing pitchers who are pitching well). He gets a flyout. But then he gives up a double to Kira, intentionally walks Kawasaki, and then he walks 1B Yamamoto. The bases are loaded. Okay, it's time to bring in Hasegawa. He gets a flyout and a caught-looking strikeout and the inning is over.

It's the bottom of the 9th, game 7 of the Japan Series, and we have our #2 hitter up. Things could be better, but they're certainly not dire.

3B Shinoda, probably our 2nd best hitter, smacks a double to deep right-centerfield. Yes! I don't know exactly what the expected runs of this situation are, but I know they're pretty good, like above 50% I'm sure!

DH Shimizu Ks swinging.

RF Kamiya flies out to shallow left-centerfield. But for some crazy reason Shinoda breaks for 3B (I swear at times our 3B coach has been a complete idiot) and... he's safe, somehow.

With Shinoda now on 3rd and 2 outs, 1B Ogawa is now up (he switched from 2B to 1B in the top half of the 9th). Remember, he's the one who hit the solo shot in the 5th to make it 7-6.

Ogawa was the one big trade acquisition, at least on the offensive side, that our GM made this year. I didn't really think we needed to upgrade our 2B as our initial guy there, Kono, was pretty good. But Kono is a RHB and Ogawa is a LHB and Ogawa really has been great for us since we acquired him. Can he come through just one more time?

He steps in, and after 3 balls and 3 fouls, it's a 3-2 count, and he hits the ball hard, very hard, to deep straightaway centerfield. Their CF, Tanaka, who was brought in as a defensive replacement at the beginning of the half-inning, races back, he leaps, and... it's caught.

...

The Nagoya Red Foxes win the Japan Series 7-6, in game 7, with 2 outs in the 9th and a man threatening on 3rd. Congratulations to the Foxes on a great year!

The key bad play on my part was to leave Suzuki in for that one last batter when SP Ogawa had just become ready and Suzuki proceeded to give up another home run to put them up 7-0. My guys fought valiantly, but we just couldn't quite pull it off.

PotG was SP Miyamoto who went 8 innings and gave up only 1 ER (6R, 5K, 3BB, 9H).

After 5 HRs in the postseason, including 1 in the final game, LF Tsuneo Kira took home both the Japan Series MVP and the Postseason MVP. He also lead the league in BA (.369), RBI (160), hits (229) and WPA (9.27) in the regular season.

What a way to end a year. I play out all my games, play after play after play. I don't sim any of them, or even parts of them. I see the highs and the lows, and everything in-between. But you know what, this is a great way to end a season. We got really close. Really, really close. It might actually be the best way to end a season because I am so looking forward to next season now. More than any time I can remember.

Here's a picture of the championship team (MVP Kira is second from the left in the middle row):