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First of all I'd like to apologize for the lack of activity in writing due to September and October being very heavy months in trips that were scheduled awhile back. It's been easy to track them, but to sit down and write? A little to difficult. I'll mention everything in notes and by timeline.
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Lions overcome awful losing streak to make postseason
It wasn't a pretty month of September and some could argue the Lions were backed in. They lost their pennant aspiration very quickly after being swept in Fukuoka by the SoftBank Hawks. They even lost three games at home to the Rakuten Eagles but salvaged a fourth game, snapping a season-high seven-gamd losing streak.
Despite the Eagles having games in hand, they weren't able to win them and it setup a very important makeup game in Sendai with the Lions nursing a 0.5 game lead. A win all but assured an A-class finish.
Tatsuya Imai played the best game of his career with eight shutout innings and even with a high pitch count holding the Eagles to four hits. The only Lions score of the game was a solo HR from Shota Hiranuma, who last hit one in 2019.
The Lions clinched when the SoftBank Hawks defeated the Eagles one more time. To put icing on the cake, Hotaka Yamakawa hit a sayonara HR against the Hawks to prevent any clinching pennant part for the opposition.
Later in the week, the Orix Buffaloes ended up snatching the Pacific League pennant with a win vs Rakuten combined with a Hawks loss in China, setting up a Lions Climax Series in Fukuoka.
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Veterans retire
While it was already documented Tetsuya Utsumi would retire and had his ceremony in the middle of the month, two more NPB veterans announced they would retire.
Ken Togame finished his three year contract and saw minimal action since signing it after 2019. He was a former first round pick in 2011 and mostly spent time as a mid rotation starter unable to have consistent seasons Togame ended his career with a strikeout against the Fighters.
Shota Takekuma also announced retirement. A long time reliever, Takekuma spent most of his career as a lefty specialist and even saw time as a setup man. Later in his career, he was a spot starter. After seeing plenty of action in 2021, he didn't play a game in 2022.
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Lions announce player departures
With the regular season concluded, it is time for all teams to announce players who won't be returning or offered a contract for the next year. The Lions first wave of cuts had five ikusei players and C Shoya Makino.
Makino, 21, made his ichi-gun debut this season an appeared in 11 games, recording four hits and a triple. He had surgery in June.
The five ikusei players who will be let go include P Hiromasa Saito, P Kaito Awatsu, P Toshihiro Idei, P Sho Ito and P Towa Uema. With the exception of Idei, everyone else was once a draft pick of the Lions and played at the ichi-gun for a brief time.
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Looking ahead to the Climax Series
The Lions have to go to Fukuoka, everyone's least favorite venue where they have a bad history. In 2022, their head to head record is 10-14-1.
In Climax Series history, they've lost a postseason series to the Hawks in 2011, 2012, 2018 and 2019.
Before the Climax Series existed, they won a postseason series in Fukuoka back in 2004.
The Hawks pitching has more flexibility in starting after Kodai Senga while it's likely the Lions will use Kona Takahashi, Tatsuya Imai and Wataru Matsumoto.
Odds favor the Hawks based on history and both teams, however, the Lions have shown they can pitch with the rest of the league.
Question is, can they score? The offense has mostly been a one man show with Hotaka Yamakawa while some expected more from Brian O'Grady. They've depended on random contributions from role players and even part time players like Hiranuma, Shohei Suzuki and Aito in the past.
Games are played for a reason and even though the odds aren't in their favor, there is a chance if they can score and not play with any nerves. Pressure is on the Hawks with the outside expectations.
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