◆Pacific League: Lotte 3-4 Softbank Hawks (2nd, ZOZO Marine)

Softbank Hawks' Yugo Maeda faced Lotte's Katsuya Kakunaka in three at-bats during his retirement game, resulting in a struck out, a groundout to first base, and another struck out. In the third at-bat with no outs in the seventh inning, Maeda got ahead in the count with two fastballs, then induced a swinging struck out on a half-swing with a slider in the ball zone on the third pitch.

Reflecting on his matchup with Kakunaka after the game, the left-hander said, 'I wasn't thinking at all about throwing only fastballs or anything like that.' Although he fell short, he maintained a spirit of serious competition in his final start of the season, where his 13th win—and the titles for most wins and highest winning percentage—were on the line.