The 2017 Climax Series for the Pacific and Central Leagues begin soon. Here's how we see both sides. A reminder that the pennant winners of both leagues are automatically awarded one game for finishing in first, but we will write this as if there were 7 games to not confuse you. (Example: Eagles in 6 means they won four games and lost one on the field, Carp in 4 means they played three games on the field and won all of them).
Pacific League
Fukuoka Softbank Hawks
The Hawks win the pennant after nearly missing a year ago thanks to a hot run by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. This year, they had a slow April, but went on a tear after interleague play. Yuki Yanagita will likely be hurt and not playing, but they have plenty of options and depth as a whole.
While Kodai Senga is arguably their best starter, he spent multiple stints off the ichi-gun and other young Hawks players would get playing time as a rebuild on the fly. Nao Higashihama carried the load of innings, Shunta Ishikawa and Yuki Matsumoto snuck in some starts with the former playing well. Seiji Uebayashi was a starting outfield and Takuya Kai will be the next catcher with the fast pop time.
The addition of Alfredo Despaigne gave them the pop they needed after missing Dae-Ho Lee from 2015. A good chunk of the year was also without Seiichi Uchikawa, but the Hawks managed to dominate the Pacific League anyways.
Closer Dennis Sarfate also set the new single-season saves record and continued his strikeout dominance when taking the 9th inning. Softbank has a hoard of depth at all positions if needed.
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Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
The Eagles outpitched the Saitama Seibu Lions in the opening stage of the Climax Series thanks to Takayuki Kishi in Game 2 and a combination of bullpen and Minabu Mima in Game 3. While they were shutout against the Lions in Game 1, the bats did just enough damage against Ken Togame and Ryoma Nogami before they were able to feast on the bullpen.
Eigoro Mogi and Zelous Wheeler were the two who rounded out the dangerous offense in the first stage. The bullpen did their jobs in Games 2 and 3, but going to Fukuoka will be a different animal.
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Outlook
Christian: The first stage of the Pacific League Climax Series has been viewed by spectators as the rights to lose to the Hawks. Not just because of the one-game advantage, but for how the Eagles have to put in a fourth starter to begin the next series. The depth is not there on paper and the Hawks are expected to cruise, but I think the Eagles pitching will prevent a shutout in the wins column. Hawks in 5
(Wes pick to come later)
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Central League
Hiroshima Carp
The Carp won their second straight pennant and pulled away almost as early as last year when clinching it. While the talent is still there, the path was different than expected. Seiya Suzuki had an MVP caliber season prior to his injury while Yoshihiro Maru and Ryosuke Kikuchi were able to put two consecutive strong years together.
Their largest surprise was the production they got out of their young starters. Kazuki Yabuta was a reliever converted to starter. Yusuke Nomura led the team in innings while former first round picks Daichi Osera and Akitake Okada were not flashy, but solid. Kris Johnson had an injury prone season and down year after being the reigning Sawamura Award winner, but the offense was able to carry the team up to this point.
Hiroshima's biggest weakness is their bullpen, where Takeru Imamura, Shota Nakazaki and Jay Jackson have had their ups and downs. Jackson in particular lost playing time in the middle of the year, but regained his setup role at the end.
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Yokohama DeNA Baystars
The Baystars made it through the first round after controversially playing a second game in the puddles of Koshien Stadium against the Hanshin Tigers. Despite all the weather issues, Game 3 did not have a problem where Joe Wieland and the bats all showed up at once.
Consider the rainy game a bad outlier, where the ball took some strange bounces in a missy field, but the Baystars pitching was solid otherwise. Hitting is still a slight concern, but it was important that Jose Lopez got the big home run in the Game 3. This is a rematch of last year's Climax Series with Wieland, Haruhiro Hamaguchi and Spencer Patton being the new additions while the Carp rotation is different.
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Outlook
Christian: The Baystars took another step forward from last year's team that didn't have to see Tomoyuki Sugano. However, they still got the benefit of playing in a muddy field which changed the complexion of the series. With the Carp being a little raw in comparison to last year combined with an improved Baystars team, I think this can be competitive. I'm still sticking with the odds and the favorite, but the Baystars have a fair shot at this considering they went 12-12 against the Carp (Not counting a final regular season game that was pointless for Hiroshima). Carp in 6
(Wes pick to come later)
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