Overview

• Ryoya Kurihara broke a 1–1 tie in the fifth with a two-run double, followed by Tatsu Yanagimachi’s RBI single to complete a three-run inning.
• Starter Kohei Arihara allowed one run with seven strikeouts over seven innings for his 13th win, and Kazuki Sugiyama closed for his 30th save.
• The club rebounded from a seven-game deficit below .500 and a stint in last place, a first-of-its-kind turnaround for the franchise in the two-league era.
• Second-year manager Yukinori Kokubo secured back-to-back league titles as a deep staff delivered four double-digit winners, including Arihara, Tomohisa Ozeki, Liván Moinelo and Naoyuki Uwasawa.
• SoftBank advances directly to the Climax Series Final Stage beginning October 15, with second-place Nippon Ham facing third-place Orix in the First Stage.