Yomiuri Giants: Catch Them Live This Season

Thumbnail: File: Yomiuri Giants logo.svg By: By: Yomiuri Giants (in public domain)

Yomiuri Makes Climax Series, Will Face Yokohama in First Stage

Yomiuri (68-69-3) will hold off Chunichi (62-76-2) for 3rd place in the Central League in the NPB and earn a berth in the Central League Climax Series, although the Giants may not have the crucial Home advantage vs 2nd-place Yokohama (69-65-6) in the First Stage.

Under second-year manager and former player (2001-2019) Shinnosuke Abe, the Tigers may end up losing more regular-season games than they win—the only team in the NPB Playoffs with that distinction. Yomiuri's last regular-season game is on Wednesday, October 1, against the Chunichi Dragons.

Last season, the Giants were the No. 1 seed in the Central League but were ousted by the DeNA BayStars, 4-3 in the Central League Climax Series Final Stage. The top seeds in the Climax Series assume a 1-0 advantage headed into the two (CL, PL) best-of-7 series.

In the NPB, the second- and third-place teams in each league play each other in the First Stage of the Climax Series in a best-of-3 showdown at the second-place team’s stadium in the Final Stage, with the winners facing the Regular Season pennant winners.

The last time Yomiuri (16/1 to win the 2025 Japan Series, DraftKings) won the Japan Series was back in 2012. Every current club in the 12-team league has won the Japan Series at least once.

The 2025 NPB Regular Season ends on October 2. Hanshin (84-52-4) won the Central League in the NPB Regular Season, and like Fukuoka (83-51-4) in the Pacific, the Tigers will also get a first-round Bye before hosting the Central League Climax Series. A Hanshin-Fukuoka Japan Championship Series seems like a distinct possibility.

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Yomiuri Giants Star Players This 2025 NPB Regular Season

The Giants will be up against it in the First Stage of the Central League Climax Series when play begins next week, with Yokohama holding the Homefield Advantage in the best-of-3 series.

Yomiuri hasn’t had a great season by any standards, but these Japanese baseball icons found a way to make the Postseason and could surprise if everything goes right. At the plate, the Giants are led by captain Kazuma Okamoto (.318/15/45), former Angels and Astros 1B Trey Cabbage (.259/16/50), and Richard Sunagawa (.215/11/39).

The starting pitching for the Giants has been average—they have just two Complete Games all season—with ace Iori Yamasaki (11-4, 2.10 ERA) the only guy Manager Abe can trust with the pill, with Shōsei Togō (7-9, 4.25 ERA) a disappointment this campaign.

But relievers Kota Nagagawa (34 Holds, 2.31 ERA), Eito Tanaka (35 Holds, 2.19 ERA), and Taisei Ota (44 Holds, 2.17 ERA) have all been solid out of the Yomiuri bullpen, but they will have to be great if the Giants hope to make the Central League Climax Series Final Stage.

With little power, weak starting pitching, no Homefield Advantage, and maybe more Losses than Wins, expect the Giants to be eliminated in the First Stage this season. This team was once great, but with no title in the last 12 years, it’s hard to see a miracle this fall.

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Where to Get 2025 Climax Series, Japan Series Tickets

As the 2025 NPB Regular Season comes to an end, that means the two-stage Climax Series is here with three teams from the Central League and three from the Pacific League beginning the First Stage between the 2nd- and 3rd-place finishers in each league.

And those four teams will be the Yokohama DeNA BayStars (69-65-6), the Yomiuri Giants (68-69-3) in the Central League, and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (81-56-3) and the Orix Buffaloes (70-64-3) in the Pacific League.

In all but seven cases, the champions of the two leagues advanced through the Climax Series and on to the Japan Series, with that one-game advantage playing a huge part in the final outcome.

The two Central and Pacific league Final stage winners will then meet in the best-of-7 2025 Japan Series to determine a Japan Championship Series champion and a “Nippon Ichi” (No. 1 in Japan, 日本一). First pitch will come on Saturday, October 25, 2025.

Whoever wins four games first is the champion, and ties are possible, so the NPB employs a 2-3-3-3 format. Central League winner Hanshin will have the Homefield Advantage (Games 1 and 2 and possibly 6 and 7) should the Tigers win and move on from their league.

You can find NPB tickets for both Climax Series and both Final Stage series, as well as for the upcoming Japan Series—the equivalent of the MLB World Series—here at TicketX.

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2025 Japan Championship (Nippon) Series Schedule

⚾Game 1—Saturday, October 25, 2025 (at CL winners)

⚾Game 2—Sunday, October 26, 2025 (at CL winners)

⚾Game 3—Tuesday, October 28, 2025 (at PL winners)

⚾Game 4—Wednesday, October 29, 2025 (at PL winners)

⚾Game 5—Thursday, October 30, 2025 (at PL winners)

⚾Game 6—Saturday, November 1, 2025 (at CL winners)

⚾Game 7—Sunday, November 2, 2025 (at CL winners)

• if necessary

Where to Watch the 2025 Japan Championship Series

In Japan, TV viewers can see the 2025 Japan Series on the live streaming service DAZN Japan, with some games available on the Nippon Television Network (NTV), Fuji TV, and Pacific League TV.

For NPB fans living outside of Japan who want to watch the NPB Japan Championship Series, you can use a VPN to access streaming services like team-specific YouTube channels or ABEMA-TV. You can also catch NPB highlights on the Japan Ball website.

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Last 10 Japan Championship Series Winners

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have won six of the last 11 Japan Championship Series representing the Pacific League, with a new champion to potentially be crowned when the 2025 Japan Series begins with Game 1 scheduled for Saturday, October 25, 2025.

Thanks to Fukuoka, the Pacific League has won eight of the last 11 NPB championships, but the Central League has won three of the last four Japan Series, with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars becoming the Pacific League’s second straight Nippon Ichi.

• 2024—Yokohama DeNA BayStars (CL)

• 2023—Hanshin Tigers (CL)

• 2022—Orix Buffaloes (PL)

• 2021—Tokyo Yakult Swallows (CL)

• 2020—Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL)

• 2019—Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL)

• 2018—Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL)

• 2017—Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL)

• 2016—Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (PL)

• 2015—Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL)

2025 NPB Championship Series Winner Odds

• Hanshin Tigers +140

• Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks +170

• Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters +550

• Yokohama Bay DeNA Stars +800

• Orix Buffaloes +1100

• Yomiuri Giants +1600

• Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles +50000

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About the Yomiuri Giants

The Yomiuri Giants play in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball and are based in the city of Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. The team was founded in 1934 as the Great Japan Tokyo Club, and is the oldest of all the professional sports teams in Japan.

Yomiuri has won the most (22) Japan Series titles (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1981, 1989, 1994, 2002, 2009, 2012)—including a five straight dynasty—and the Giants have nine they earned in the Japanese Baseball League (JBL).

The Giants have 38 Central League pennants and are considered NPB royalty and “the New York Yankees of Japan.” The real Bronx Bombers, who have won the MLB World Series 27 times, will begin ALDS play next week.

Yomiuri has maybe the most famous Japanese baseball player ever, Sadaharu Oh (.301/868/2,170), along with the most famous stadium in The Big Egg, the Tokyo Dome (FieldTurf) in Tokyo, in one of the most populous urban areas (41 million) on the planet.

The Tigers also have the most wins of any professional sports team in Japan.

For the 2025 season, the team’s slogan was “Shinpu 2nd Challenge” (The New Wind), striving for a new era of renewal and dominance by the historic franchise. But the Kyojin (巨人, 'Giants') are lucky to be playing in the Climax Series and just aren’t that deep.

The team is owned by The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, and their mascot is Giabbit.

Yomiuri Giants in Major League Baseball (MLB)

There are a number of current and former Yomiuri Giants plying their wares through the years in Major League Baseball (MLB), including current pro and Baltimore Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano (10-9, 4.54 ERA), St Louis Cardinals reliever Miles Mikolas (8-11, 4.84 ERA), and active player Matt Andriese (2022, Free Agent).

Former retired Giants who played in MLB include Yankees star OF Hideki Matsui (.279/175/760), Takashi Kashiwada, Joe Dillon, Takahito Nomura, Masumi Kuwata, Ken Kadokura, Hideki Okajima, Hisanori Takahashi, Justin Smoak (Milwaukee Brewers), Koji Uehara, Gerardo Parra, Eric Thames, and Taylor Jungmann.

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Where to Find Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Tickets

You can find NPB tickets, Yomiuri Giants Tickets, and other sports tickets here at TicketX on the second-hand market with an industry-low flat fee of 20% for buyers and absolutely no commission fees for sellers. All sales on TicketX are backed by our 100% Buyer Guarantee—meaning verified tickets that get you in without worry, and should games be postponed or rescheduled, we will issue a full refund.

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First-time buyers looking for Climax Series, Final Stage, 2025 Japan Series tickets, and 2026 NPB Regular Season tickets, can get 10% off their purchases by using this special promo code.

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