1994 Japan Series

1994 Japan Series
Teams
Team (Wins) Manager(s) Season
Yomiuri Giants (4) Shigeo Nagashima 70–60, .538, GA: 1
Seibu Lions (2) Masaaki Mori 76–52–2, .594, GA: 7.5
Dates October 22 – October 29
MVP Hiromi Makihara (YOM)
FSA Kazuhiro Kiyohara (SEI)
Broadcast
Television

Japan: Canal+ Japan (Games 1), NHK2 (Games 1)

USA: Prime/SportsChannel regional sports networks (one-week delay)
TV announcers USA: Ken Harrelson, Tom Paciorek, Wayne Graczyk
Radio Japan: NHK Radio 1, TBS (JRN), JOQR (NRN), NBS (NRN), Radio Nippon, NACK5 FM
Japan Series

The 1994 Japan Series was the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) championship series for the 1994 season. It was the 45th Japan Series and featured the Pacific League champion Seibu Lions against the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants. The series was the eighth time the two franchises played each other for the championship.

Because this year's edition of the Japan Series took place during the Major League Baseball strike that scuttled the entire postseason, including the World Series, it received much more attention than normal in the United States. Most memorably, the cover of the October 31 issue of Sports Illustrated featured Lions pitcher Hisanobu Watanabe along with the tagline "The World's Series", in the Lions' 11-0 win in Game One.[1] Chicago-area Regional Sports Networks broadcast the game in English on a week delay basis, with Ken Harrelson being the lead broadcaster. This resulted eventually in Major League Baseball acquiring Japanese players upon the end of the strike.

Two members of the winning Yomiuri Giants team -- Hideki Matsui (2009) and Dan Gladden (1987, 1991) -- also won a World Series.

This was the first Japan Series to feature night games, and the first with a reduction in extra innings. The Series, which had an 18-inning limit before a tie game, adopted a 15-inning limit before Series games were tied.[2]

Summary

CL Yomiuri Giants (4) vs. PL Seibu Lions (2)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 22Seibu Lions – 11, Yomiuri Giants – 0Tokyo Dome2:5746,177[3] 
2October 23Seibu Lions – 0, Yomiuri Giants – 1Tokyo Dome2:2546,342[3] 
3October 25Yomiuri Giants – 2, Seibu Lions – 1Seibu Lions Stadium3:2031,838[3] 
4October 26Yomiuri Giants – 5, Seibu Lions – 6Seibu Lions Stadium4:1231,883[3] 
5October 27Yomiuri Giants – 9, Seibu Lions – 3Seibu Lions Stadium3:4031,872[3] 
6October 29Seibu Lions – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 3Tokyo Dome2:5346,307[3]

Matchups

Game 1

Saturday, October 22, 1994 at Tokyo Dome, Bunkyo, Tokyo
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Seibu 0 1 3 0 0 0 7 0 0 11 10 0
Yomiuri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
WP: Hisanobu Watanabe (1–0)   LP: Masumi Kuwata (0–1)
Home runs:
SEI: Kazuhiro Kiyohara (1), Norio Tanabe (1)
YOM: None

Game 2

Sunday, October 23, 1994 at Tokyo Dome, Bunkyo, Tokyo
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Seibu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1
Yomiuri 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 1 2 0
WP: Hiromi Makihara (1–0)   LP: Kimiyasu Kudoh (0–1)

Game 3

Tuesday, October 25, 1994 at Seibu Lions Stadium, Tokorozawa, Saitama
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Yomiuri 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 5 1
Seibu 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 10 1
WP: Hiroshi Ishige (1–0)   LP: Takehiro Ishii (0–1)   Sv: Masumi Kuwata (1)

Game 4

Wednesday, October 26, 1994 at Seibu Lions Stadium, Tokorozawa, Saitama
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 R H E
Yomiuri 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 14 0
Seibu 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 6 13 2
WP: Takehiro Ishii (1–1)   LP: Masao Kida (0–1)
Home runs:
YOM: Hideki Matsui (1), Hiromoto Okubo (1)
SEI: Kazuhiro Kiyohara (2)

Game 5

Thursday, October 27, 1994 at Seibu Lions Stadium, Tokorozawa, Saitama
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Yomiuri 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 3 1 9 10 1
Seibu 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 10 0
WP: Masumi Kuwata (1–1)   LP: Kento Sugiyama (0–1)
Home runs:
YOM: Sadaaki Yoshimura (1), Koichi Ogata (1), Henry Cotto (1)
SEI: Kazuhiro Kiyohara 2 (4)

Game 6

Saturday, October 29, 1994 at Tokyo Dome, Bunkyo, Tokyo
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Seibu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 7 0
Yomiuri 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 X 3 10 0
WP: Hiromi Makihara (2–0)   LP: Kimiyasu Kudoh (0–2)
Home runs:
SEI: None
YOM: Henry Cotto (2)

References

  1. ↑ "Table of Contents, October 31, 1994 Issue". SI Vault. Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 23 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  2. ↑ Daily Yomuiri: Historic Series Should Spark Change
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1994年度日本シリーズ　試合結果 (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
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