For the first time in 59 years, Japanese pro baseball's championship, the Japan Series, will be played out between teams from the Kansai region centered on Osaka, starting Saturday at Kyocera Dome Osaka.
The three-time repeat Pacific League champion Orix Buffaloes and Central League champion Hanshin Tigers both won their leagues handily, Orix by 15.5 games, Hanshin by 11.5. Both teams are solid in pitching, fielding and batting, but present subtle contrasts.
The Tigers, spearheaded by center fielder Koji Chikamoto and second baseman Takumu Nakano are Japan's fastest team, while the Buffaloes, led by ace right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto are Japan's premier power-pitching team.
The Tigers hit 34 triples this season, led by Chikamoto's 12, and led the CL in steals with 79, with Chikamoto stealing a league-high 28 and teammate Nakano second with 20.
Hanshin's other core strengths center around walks and double plays. Their batters led both leagues with 494 walks, their pitchers issued a Japan-low 315, and the team is really good at both turning double plays on defense and staying out of them on offense.
Yamamoto -- who has led the PL in ERA, strikeouts, wins and win percentage for three straight seasons -- highlights a staff whose 1,155 was second-most in Japan, while allowing 73 home runs, the fewest in Japan.
Likely matching up against Yamamoto will be the Tigers' best pitcher this season, Shoki Murakami, the CL ERA leader and a strong candidate to win the CL's Rookie of the Year Award. The right-hander lost a 2-0 pitchers' duel to Yamamoto on June 13 at Koshien Stadium, where Games 3, 4 and 5 are scheduled for Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2.
"Watching him (Yamamoto) is an education," Murakami said recently. "But if we go head-to-head, I don't want to lose."
Although the Tigers needed just three games to advance to the Japan Series in the CL playoffs, while Orix needed four, the Tigers' margins were razor thin as the offense really failed to hit the ball well, something that could be exacerbated against the PL's best pitching staff.
The Buffaloes should benefit more from the designated hitter rule in Games 1 and 2, and 6 and 7 if needed, at Kyocera Dome Osaka, where Orix has far more power available off the bench to choose from.
At Koshien Stadium, outfield defense is going to be a question for Orix. During three of its four postseason games so far in its Osaka home dome, power-hitting catcher Tomoya Mori was in right field with lumbering slugger Yutaro Sugimoto in left.
Sugimoto's fitness is in question, however, as is that of starting shortstop Kotaro Kurebayashi.
"If they aren't available, that's a problem," Orix skipper Satoshi Nakajima said. "It makes my head ache."
Still, the ability to shuffle lineups and defensive alignments while still getting results, has been a trademark of Nakajima's.
Tigers' skipper Akinobu Okada has preferred a fixed lineup, and so far it has paid off. After years of being flipping between first and third, Yusuke Oyama was fixed at first base by Okada, where this year he became the team's on-base engine.
Should the Tigers offense fail to come to life against Orix, it will be interesting to see how far Okada will stick with what worked during the season.
The Tigers, playing in their first Japan Series since 2014 and looking for their second title, won their only championship in 1985. For Orix, a Japan Series championship would be their second straight and the franchise's sixth.
