| 2025 Pacific League Climax Series | |||||||||||||
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| First stage | |||||||||||||
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| Dates | October 11–13 | ||||||||||||
| Final stage | |||||||||||||
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| Dates | October 15–20 | ||||||||||||
The 2025 Pacific League Climax Series is an upcoming set of two consecutive playoff series between the three top-placing teams in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League (PL). The first stage will start on October 11 and the final stage will conclude by October 20. The first stage will be a best-of-three series between the second-place Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the third-place Orix Buffaloes. The final stage will a best-of-six series with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, the PL champion, being awarded a one-win advantage against the eventual winner of the first stage. The winner of the final stage will advance to the 2025 Japan Series to compete against the eventual winner of the 2025 Central League Climax Series.
For the eighth consecutive year, Persol Holdings is sponsoring the naming rights for the Pacific League Climax Series, and it is officially known as the "2025 Persol Climax Series PA". [1]
The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks clinched their second straight Pacific League (PL) championship and 21st overall on September 27 with only four games remaining in the season. [2] Unlike 2024 in which they occupied first place for the majority of the season, the Hawks' 2025 campaign started poorly. [3] The team fell as low as seven games under .500 by early May and found itself last in the PL, six game out of first. [4] Injuries to key players Yuki Yanagita, Kensuke Kondo, Ryoya Kurihara, Ukyo Shuto, and Kenta Imamiya contributed to SoftBank's slow start and forced manager Hiroki Kokubo to dip into the team's depth early to give new players an opportunity to cover for the injured veterans. After April, the team bounced back and won at least 14 games in each of the next five months. [5] They won interleague play in June, [6] first moved into the top spot in the PL in late July, [4] and secured first place for good in early August. [2] Outfielder Tatsuru Yanagimachi won the interleague Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and contended for the PL batting title all year, ultimately coming in second only to teammate Taisei Makihara who finished with a .304 batting average. [3] [7] Both are contenders for PL MVP. [3] Hawks' pitching also excelled throughout the season. Three of their starting pitchers accumulated at least 140 innings pitched and earned run averages (ERA) of 2.78 or lower, four had at least 12 wins, and Liván Moinelo led NPB with a 1.46 ERA. Relief pitcher Kazuki Sugiyama also led the league in saves. [5] Ukyo Shuto stole the most bases for the third straight season. [7]
For the second straight season, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters finished in second place behind SoftBank, however they considerably narrowed the gap between the teams compared to the previous season. [8] In his fourth year as manager, Tsuyoshi Shinjo kept Fighters in first place for most of the first half of the season with good pitching and a strong offensive lineup. By the end of the season, they led all of NPB in complete games pitched and home runs. [9] Despite being overtaken by SoftBank in the second half, Nippon-Ham secured a Climax Series berth on September 14. [10] They continued to battle the first-place Hawks for the PL championship through September and kept the pennant race close but ultimately came up short. [5] The Fighters surpassed 80 wins for the first time since the 2016 season, the last time the team won the PL or the Japan Series. [11]
On the same day that SoftBank secured the PL pennant, the Orix Buffaloes defeated the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to secure the third-place, a Climax Series berth, and a winning record. [12] First-year manager Mamoru Kishida led the team back to the playoffs for the first time since 2023. [13]
Intra-league teams play 25 games against each other during the regular season. The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Orix Buffaloes split their season series 12–12–1, however the Fighters finished nine games ahead of the Buffaloes. [14] The two teams have only met in the postseason two times prior to this year, with Nippon-Ham winning both series. A best-of-three series, all games in the first stage will be hosted by Nippon-Ham, the higher seeded team, at their home ballpark, Es Con Field Hokkaido.
Series tied, 0–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 11 | Orix Buffaloes at Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | Es Con Field Hokkaido | 2:00 pm (JST) | - |
| 2 | October 12 | Orix Buffaloes at Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | Es Con Field Hokkaido | 2:00 pm (JST) | - |
| 3 | October 13† | Orix Buffaloes at Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | Es Con Field Hokkaido | 2:00 pm (JST) | - |
SoftBank leads the series, 1–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 15 | TBD at Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | Mizuho PayPay Dome | 6:00 pm (JST) | - |
| 2 | October 16 | TBD at Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | Mizuho PayPay Dome | 6:00 pm (JST) | - |
| 3 | October 17 | TBD at Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | Mizuho PayPay Dome | 6:00 pm (JST) | - |
| 4 | October 18† | TBD at Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | Mizuho PayPay Dome | 2:00 pm (JST) | - |
| 5 | October 19† | TBD at Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | Mizuho PayPay Dome | 1:00 pm (JST) | - |
| 6 | October 20† | TBD at Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | Mizuho PayPay Dome | 6:00 pm (JST) | - |