SMBC Japan Series 2026 Game 4: Softbank Hawks 4-2 DeNA (28th, Mizuho PayPay)

13th Victory: The Softbank Hawks won the Japan Series for the 13th time, marking their second consecutive year. Their number of victories is now the second highest, following The Giants with 22, and tying with the Seibu Lions at 13. Including their predecessor teams, the number of championships for the three teams by decade is...

Decade 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 00s 10s 20s = Total

Giants = <4> <7> <4> <2> <1> <3> <1> - = 22

West = <3> -- <5> <3> <2> -- = <13>

So = <1><1>--<1><1><6><3> = <13>

The Softbank Hawks have won for the ninth time in the 17 years since 2010. During this period, eight other teams have each won once. Only the Softbank Hawks have won twice or more.

Four consecutive wins. A clean sweep of four victories from the opening game. This marks the eighth team in history to achieve a four-game sweep in the series, the first since the Softbank Hawks in 2020 (additionally, Nishitetsu had 4 wins and 1 draw in 1957, and Hankyu had 4 wins and 2 draws in 1975). Including its predecessor organizations, this is the fourth time the team has achieved this, following 1959, 2019, and 2020, making them the only team to record this feat multiple times.

▼ 8 Consecutive Wins: 8 consecutive wins spanning across fiscal years since Game 2 of last year. A winning streak of 8 or more in the series is...

14 consecutive wins = SoftBank 2018 (3) to 2024 (2)

8 consecutive wins = Seibu 1988 (3) to 1991 (1)

8 consecutive wins = Giants, 2000 (3) to 2002 (4)

8 consecutive wins = Lotte 1974 (4) to 2010 (1)

8 consecutive wins = SoftBank 1950 (2) to 1951 (4)

The fifth time. In this case as well, the Softbank Hawks are the only ones to have done it two or more times.

Last year's games 2, 3, and 5, and this year's games 2, 3, and 4 were comeback wins. The Softbank Hawks, who had the most comeback wins in the league with 32 last year and a Pacific League record of 44 this year during the regular season, secured their second consecutive championship with another comeback win, which is their specialty, in the series.

(Yamato Abe)