The Japan Series, the 56th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's championship series, began on October 22 and ended on October 26, and matched the Central League champion Hanshin Tigers against the Pacific League Champion, Chiba Lotte Marines. It would become the most one-sided Japan Series in history, as the Marines outscored the Tigers 33-4 throughout the series. On the other hand, the Tigers had several worst records in the Japan Series, scoring only 4 runs, an earned run average of 8.63, and getting no home runs.
Chiba Lotte Marines
The Marines, led by charismatic manager Bobby Valentine, pulled off an incredible season, finishing 2nd in the Pacific League, qualifying for the newly created Pacific League Climax Series. They defeated the defending Japan Series champion Seibu Lions, then squeaked by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, 3 games to 2, in a series where they were just one out away from sweeping the heavily favored Hawks.
Naoyuki Shimizu and submariner Shunsuke Watanabe led the Marines pitching staff, one that allowed the fewest runs in Nippon Professional Baseball. Masahide Kobayashi was the team's closer, although he did blow his fair share of saves over the season.
The Marines offense scored the most runs in the league with a hard-hitting lineup featuring Benny Agbayani, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Toshiaki Imae, and star Korean import Lee Seung-Yeop, who led the team in home runs.
Hanshin Tigers
The Tigers were two years removed from their last Japan Series appearance, when they were defeated in 7 games by the then-Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 2003. The team from that year was largely the same, but also featured some new faces.
The Tigers' pitching staff was headlined by the trio called JFK, short for setup men Jeff Williams, Kyuji Fujikawa, and closer Tomoyuki Kubota. The team's #1 starter was Yuya Andoh, who had a fine season himself in 2005.
The Tigers' offense was buoyed by league MVP Tomoaki Kanemoto, who hit four home runs in the 2003 Series. Catcher Akihiro Yano was also an integral part of the team's power. The Tigers also had speed to burn in shortstop Takashi Toritani and center fielder Norihiro Akahoshi.
Pacific League Playoff
The Marines finished second to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the Pacific League in 2005, giving them home-field advantage in the playoffs for the first round against the defending Japan Series Champion Seibu Lions. The Marines swept the Lions and then got into a dramatic five-game series with the favored Hawks.
Despite being one out away from sweeping the Hawks, closer Kobayashi coughed up a 4–0 lead in Game 3 of the best-of-five series. SoftBank would win Game 3 in extra innings, and then also won Game 4. However, the Marines won Game 5 on a clutch double from Tomoya Satozaki.
Game summaries
Game 1
The first game would set the tone for the rest of the series for both teams. The Marines sent 10-game winner Nao Shimizu to the mound against Tigers ace Kei Igawa, who won 13 games in 2005.
The Tigers threatened in the first with two on and one out, but Shimizu managed to get Kanemoto to ground into an inning-ending double play, started by shortstop Nishioka. This would be the first of seemingly endless rally-killing double plays for the Tigers in the Series. In the bottom of the inning, Imae would set his own pace for the series with a towering home run to left field to put the Marines up 1–0.
The teams matched zeroes until the 5th, when Makoto Imaoka singled and Yano doubled, sending Imaoka to 3rd. Atsushi Fujimoto then lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Imaoka on a close play.
Shades of the 2003 Japan Series opener were in the public's mind, however it all started to fall apart for the Tigers in the 5th. A single and a beautifully executed push bunt by Nishioka led to an RBI single by Imae. With a run already in, normally light-hitting Saburo Ohmura doubled in both Nishioka and Imae to put Lotte ahead 4–1.
In the 6th inning, Seung-Yeop Lee crushed a belt-high Igawa pitch into the right-field stands for a home run to make it 5–1. With the fog rolling into Chiba Marine Stadium, the Marines turned an already one-sided affair into a whitewashing. Two singles set up catcher Tomoya Satozaki for a 3-run home run. Agbayani capped the scoring in the 7th through even thicker fog with a 2-run blast of his own for the Marines' 4th home run of the day and staking the team to a 10–1 lead.
After Agbayani's home run, the umpires conferred and called for a fog delay. After a wait, the umpires decided to call the game after 7 innings, giving Shimizu a complete game victory.