1994 Japan Series

1994 Japan Series
Team (Wins) Managers 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 22–29
MVP	Hiromi Makihara (YOM)
FSA	Kazuhiro Kiyohara (SEI)
Broadcast
Television	Japan: NTV (Games 1,2,6),TV Asahi (Games 3-5), NHK BS1 (Games 1-6) 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
←  1993 Japan Series 1995  →

The 1994 Japan Series was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the 1994 season. The 45th edition of the Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched 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 second Japan Series to feature night games after 1964 Japan Series although the night games were only on weekdays, 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 night games were tied. ^[2]

Summary

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

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 22	Seibu Lions – 11, Yomiuri Giants – 0	Tokyo Dome	2:57	46,177 [3]
2	October 23	Seibu Lions – 0, Yomiuri Giants – 1	Tokyo Dome	2:25	46,342 [3]
3	October 25	Yomiuri Giants – 2, Seibu Lions – 1	Seibu Lions Stadium	3:20	31,838 [3]
4	October 26	Yomiuri Giants – 5, Seibu Lions – 6	Seibu Lions Stadium	4:12	31,883 [3]
5	October 27	Yomiuri Giants – 9, Seibu Lions – 3	Seibu Lions Stadium	3:40	31,872 [3]
6	October 29	Seibu Lions – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	2:53	46,307 [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)

See also

Nippon Professional Baseball

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. 1994年度日本シリーズ　試合結果 (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball . Retrieved June 10, 2010.

External links

• Nippon Professional Baseball—Official website (in English)