2007 Japan Series

2007 Japan Series
Team (Wins) Manager(s) Season Chunichi Dragons (4) Hiromitsu Ochiai 78–64–2, (.549), GB: 1.5 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (1) Trey Hillman 79–60–5, (.568), GA: 2
Dates	October 27 – November 1
MVP	Norihiro Nakamura (Dragons)
Broadcast
Television	TV Asahi (ANN, Game 1) TV Tokyo (Game 2, 5, aired on 6 TXN stations, Gifu Broadcasting, Mie TV, Biwako Broadcasting, KBS Kyoto, Sun TV, Nara TV and TV Wakayama) Tokai TV and Fuji TV (Fuji Network, Game 3) CBC (JNN, Game 4)
Japan Series

The 2007 Japan Series, the 58th edition of Nippon Professional Baseball's championship series, began Saturday, October 27, 2007, pitting the Pacific League Regular League and Climax Series' Champion, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, and the Chunichi Dragons, winners of the Central League's Climax Series, in a rematch of the previous year's Japan Series, won by the Fighters. It was the first championship for the Dragons since the 1954 Japan Series, marking the end of the longest championship drought in NPB history.

In a virtual mirror image of the 2006 series, the Dragons won in the same manner that the Fighters had the previous year, losing the first game and sweeping the next four. In one of baseball's rare situations, for the first time in a recognised WBSC premiership championship final since the 1956 Major League Baseball championship series, and the first one to end a series in a major professional championship, a perfect game was pitched, although recognised only by international standards and not NPB because multiple pitchers were used because NPB's definition is different from most recognised authorities. This would also be the last time a perfect game was thrown in NPB until Roki Sasaki threw a perfect game against the Orix Buffaloes on April 10, 2022.

Climax Series

Main articles: 2007 Central League Climax Series and 2007 Pacific League Climax Series

	First Stage					Final Stage					Japan Series
	Central League					1	Yomiuri Giants	0
	2	Chunichi Dragons	2			2	Chunichi Dragons	3
	3	Hanshin Tigers	0								CL2	Chunichi Dragons	4
											PL1	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1
	Pacific League					1	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	3
	2	Chiba Lotte Marines	2			2	Chiba Lotte Marines	2
	3	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	1

Summary

Chunichi Dragons won the series, 4–1.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 27	Chunichi Dragons – 1, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3	Sapporo Dome	2:48	40,616
2	October 28	Chunichi Dragons – 8, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1	Sapporo Dome	3:43	40,770
3	October 30	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 9	Nagoya Dome	3:39	38,068
4	October 31	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2, Chunichi Dragons – 4	Nagoya Dome	3:45	38,059
5	November 1	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 0, Chunichi Dragons – 1	Nagoya Dome	2:26	38,118

Game summaries

Game 1

Saturday, October 27, 2007, 6:15 pm (JST) at Sapporo Dome in Sapporo, Hokkaido

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	4	0
Nippon-Ham	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2	0
WP: Yu Darvish (1–0)   LP: Kenshin Kawakami (0–1) Home runs: CHU: None NHF: Fernando Seguignol (1)

Game 2

Sunday, October 28, 2007, 6:15 pm (JST) at Sapporo Dome in Sapporo, Hokkaido

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chunichi	1	0	0	3	0	2	2	0	0	8	8	0
Nippon-Ham	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	0
WP: Kenichi Nakata (1–0)   LP: Ryan Glynn (0–1) Home runs: CHU: Lee Byung-Kyu (1), Masahiko Morino (1) NHF: Fernando Seguignol (2)

Game 3

Tuesday, October 30, 2007, 6:10 pm (JST) at Nagoya Dome in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Nippon-Ham	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	9	0
Chunichi	7	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	9	12	0
WP: Kenta Asakura (1–0)   LP: Masaru Takeda (0–1)

Game 4

Wednesday, October 31, 2007, 6:12 pm (JST) at Nagoya Dome in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Nippon-Ham	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	7	1
Chunichi	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	X	4	5	1
WP: Yoshihiro Suzuki (1–0)   LP: Mitsuo Yoshikawa (0–1)   Sv: Hitoki Iwase (1)

Game 5

Thursday, November 1, 2007, 6:10 pm (JST) at Nagoya Dome in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Nippon-Ham	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chunichi	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	1	5	0
WP: Daisuke Yamai (1–0)   LP: Yu Darvish (1–1)   Sv: Hitoki Iwase (2)

This was the first perfect game in Japan Series history, but it is only recognised as such by the global governing body of baseball, the World Baseball Softball Confederation because the NPB definition requires one pitcher to pitch all nine innings, excluding combined no-hitters or perfect games, and exclude runners who score on walks, and advance by means that do not involve a hit that later score.

See also

• 2007 Korean Series
• 2007 World Series