Softbank Hawks clinch Pacific League title
Today the Softbank Hawks clinched the Pacific League title by beating the Seibu Lions 7-3. By winning the Pacific League, the Hawks will have a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
As the Softbank Hawks beat the Seibu Lions, the latter team was eliminated from clinching the Pacific League.
The Hawks started the season well by winning three straight games but then fell back after a bad stretch of games. The Rakuten Golden Eagles appeared to run away with the league. But in the last two months, the Golden Eagles got into a slump and were overtaken by the Hawks, who never looked back.
The Hawks currently have a 89-41 record (.685) with a run differential of +164, a .261 team batting average and a 3.06 team ERA, which are both by far the best in the Pacific League.
After the team lost in the first round of the playoffs (Climax Series) last year, the team looked into the mirror and asked itself what to do. Manager Kimiyasu Kudo: “After blowing a big lead last year, we got together, looked in the mirror and asked, ‘What do we want to do? What do we have to do?’ And we kept at it this year. It wasn’t easy. But looking at the smiles on the players’ faces when we clinched, I felt it was all worth it.”
The team was hit by the injury bug early in the season, leaving the team without two of its starting pitchers. As Kudo turned to second-tier veterans, they did not live up to the expectations, giving up 39 runs in 48.2 innings. But Kudo had another trick on his sleeve as he turned to a couple of youngsters and moved rookie Shuta Ishikawa from the bullpen to the rotation. Ishikawa performed beyond expectations as he went 6-2 with a 2.60 ERA and struck out 62 in 62.2 innings. After pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada returned from the DL on August 27, the Hawks went 10-1 since.
Dutch starting pitcher Rick van den Hurk had a big part in this championship as he earned twelve victories for the Hawks this season. Nevertheless some of his numbers weren’t as good as the previous years and some were. For the the first time in his NPB career, he had a WHIP above 1. But Rick improved his previous record of strikeouts by 28 to 148.
By winning the Pacific League, the Hawks are qualified for the League’s championship series with an extra win without the need to play.