Post-Season Schedule

I had partially posted it in one of the Strike! threads, but this is a better place for it.

The first "stage" of Pacific League playoffs (second vs. third place) starts on October 1, with the "Stage Two" (winner of first stage vs. first place) starting on October 6. I'm not sure about where the games will be played at this point, but the higher finisher will most likely have the greater "home field advantage."

Stage One

1 (Fri)
2 (Sat)
3 (Sun)

Stage Two

6 (Wed)
7 (Thu)
9 (Sat)
10 (Sun)
11 (Mon)

The Nippon Series will start off at the Central League champion's home ground for the first two games, move to the Pacific League champion's ground for the next three, then finish at the Central League champion's home (if necessary).

Nippon Series

16 (Sat)
17 (Sun)
19 (Tue)
20 (Wed)
21 (Thu)
23 (Sat)
24 (Sun)

I'll modify this page when I know the times and locations of the above games, but a starting time between 6:00 and 6:30 will be most likely.

Wow, thanks for the info! I'll keep checking back for the times and locations of the games. Much appreciated!

There's more information in today's (Sept. 13) Nikkan Sports about the playoffs.

For the First Stage, the team that finished in second place hosts all three games (if it goes that far).

For the Second Stage, the team that finished in first place hosts all five games (if it goes that far). If the team that wins the First Stage finished the season at least five games behind the first place finisher, then the first place team automatically gets one win and must only win two of the remaining four games. It is not clear if that automatic win pushes the start of the Second Stage back to October 7th or not, though.

By not staying within five games of Daiei, Seibu will have a harder time at Stage Two. And the Fighting Ham or Lotte? Well, they're both still trying to finish the season over .500, and this should legitimize any cries that they don't deserve the championship flag.

I am also interested in seeing the Nihon Series live! If anyone hears the details, please post it asap! Thanks a lot.

I recently began getting an excellent cable TV service called TV Japan (website is here, where you can see their schedule in English and Japanese) which offers a couple of NPB games each week -- usually Giants, of course. Anyway, I suspect they will air at least some of the Japan Series games live.