This is the second time in 15 years that Pacific League teams have monopolized the top six spots in interleague play.
In the 2025 interleague games, all Pacific League teams won more than they lost, resulting in monopolizing standings. This is the second time in 15 years since 2010 that these two records have been achieved, and it is a season in which a very rare phenomenon occurred in the history of the interleague games that began in 2005.
This time, we will look at the results of each team in the interleague games in 2010, when all Pacific League League teams also dominated the top spots, as well as the final results recorded in Pacific League that year. We will look back on standings in Pacific League at that time, and hope that this season will be as hotly contested as it was 15 years ago.
Each team was on an upswing during the interleague games.
The final standings for Pacific League in the 2010 season are as follows:

Chiba Lotte made a successful start from the opening, but Saitama Seibu and Fukuoka Softbank also gradually improved their form, and a three-way battle for the top spot unfolded in the early part of the season. On the other hand, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham, the previous year's league champion, struggled from the start of the season, and before the interleague games, the top three teams and the bottom three teams were clearly separated.
In the interleague games that took place in the midst of all of this, Pacific League teams dominated the top six spots for the first time in history. The results of each Pacific League team in the interleague games that year are shown in the table below.

Orix won their first interleague championship with 16 wins and 8 losses, and T-Okada, who was 22 years old at the time, was awarded the interleague MVP. The young main batter, who also ended up winning Home Run title that year, made his big break with the interleague games. In addition, the three teams that were competing for the top spot at the time also finished high in the interleague games, with second-place Saitama Seibu finishing with 14 wins and 10 losses, and third-place Fukuoka Softbank and fourth-place Chiba Lotte both finishing with 13 wins, 10 losses and 1 draw.
In addition, Tohoku Rakuten, which placed 5th, also recorded a record of 13 wins, 10 losses, and 1 draw, demonstrating the strength of the team that had made a leap forward to 2nd place in the league the previous year. And Hokkaido Nippon-Ham which had sunk to 6th place in the league, also recorded a winning record of 12 wins, 11 losses, and 1 draw, seizing the opportunity to turn the season around.
The three-game series with the magic number at 4 was the turning point for the team to win the championship.
Even after the league resumed, the three teams, Saitama Seibu, Fukuoka Softbank, and Chiba Lotte continued to compete for the championship, but Chiba Lotte lost momentum after the summer. In the final stages of the season, Saitama Seibu, which maintained its good form, was in the lead, with Fukuoka Softbank following closely behind.
Tohoku Rakuten did not improve their team performance significantly even after the end of the interleague games, but Hokkaido Nippon-Ham showed their true team strength as the previous year's champions, significantly improved their performance and gradually climbed standings. Furthermore, Orix, who won the interleague games, maintained their good form with the same momentum, and the battle for the A class became fiercer.
While Chiba Lotte has completely dropped out of the championship race since September, Saitama Seibu, which is in the lead, continues to maintain its good form. With a magic number of four, they are on the brink of winning the championship, and then they face off against Fukuoka Softbank in a three-game series on the road.
However, in the Tennozan match held at home, Fukuoka Softbank won three straight games against the same team, bringing the two teams within 0.5 games of each other. With momentum in full swing, Fukuoka Softbank then reversed standings and took the lead, achieving a dramatic comeback victory. There was no difference in games between the two teams, and the difference between victory and defeat was only a difference of 0.2 points in winning percentage.
It was a very close season with only 7.5 games separating first and fifth place.
On the other hand, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham and Orix also maintained their strong performance in the last half of the season, and together with the slowdown of Chiba Lotte, the battle for A-Class became fierce. Orix, which lost its form at the critical moment, went into debt and was forced to drop out of the A-Class competition.
In the final game of the season, Chiba Lotte would secure 3rd place on their own if they beat Orix, and if they lost, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham would be upset and enter the A-Class, making this the game that would make or break the season. Chiba Lotte In the final game of the season, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham won the final game against to secure the third place by themselves, and win would be upset and join the A-Class. could not catch up to them and missed the A-Class by only 0.5 games.
The final result was a 7.5 game difference between first place Fukuoka Softbank and fifth place Orix, with fourth place Hokkaido Nippon-Ham having saved seven games and fifth place Orix also having only two debts. The teams at the top and bottom of the standings were very close, and the fact that even the teams in B class could have finished in A class in previous years shows the impact of the savings made by each team in the interleague tournament.
The Chiba Lotte team, which won the fierce competition and joined Class A by a narrow margin, defeated Saitama Seibu and Fukuoka Softbank in the Climax Series one after the other in hostile territory. They continued their momentum by winning the Japan Series against Chunichi the Central League champions, achieving Japan's first place after finishing third in the season, which was called the "greatest downhill climb in history".
There are two similarities between this season and the 2010 season.
This season, at the end of the interleague games, Saitama Seibu, in 4th place, had a six-game lead, and Tohoku Rakuten, in 5th place, was only two games behind, so they could easily make up for it. The fact that the teams are so close, with only a 3.5-game difference between first and fourth place, and the fact that B-class teams are also doing well thanks to the leads that each team built up during the interleague games, are both elements that are common to the 2010 season.
Will this season be a fierce battle until the very end, just like the "precedent" where a fierce battle was fought until the very end? Even after Pacific League regular season resumes, we can expect to see an exciting battle standings until the very end, just like in 2010.
Written by Ryota Mochizuki