2002 Japan Series
Baseball championship series
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The 2002 Japan Series was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2002 season. The 53rd edition of the Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants against the Pacific League champion Seibu Lions. The Giants swept the Lions in four games to win their 20th Japan Series championship.[1]
| 2002 Japan Series | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||
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| Dates | October 26–30 | |||||||||
| MVP | Tomohiro Nioka (Yomiuri) | |||||||||
| FSA | Alex Cabrera (Seibu) | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | NTV (Game 1, 2), TV Asahi (Game 3), TBS (Game 4) | |||||||||
Summary
CL Yomiuri Giants (4) vs. PL Seibu Lions (0)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 26 | Seibu Lions – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 4 | Tokyo Dome | 2:55 | 45,107[2] |
| 2 | October 27 | Seibu Lions – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 9 | Tokyo Dome | 3:16 | 45,223[3] |
| 3 | October 29 | Yomiuri Giants – 10, Seibu Lions – 2 | Seibu Dome | 3:15 | 30,933[4] |
| 4 | October 30 | Yomiuri Giants – 6, Seibu Lions – 2 | Seibu Dome | 3:12 | 31,072[5] |
Game summaries
Game 1
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seibu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yomiuri | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 6 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Koji Uehara (1–0) LP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (0–1) Home runs: SEI: Alex Cabrera (1) YOM: Takayuki Shimizu (1), Kazuhiro Kiyohara (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Game 2
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seibu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yomiuri | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | X | 9 | 13 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Masumi Kuwata (1–0) LP: Takashi Ishii (0–1) Home runs: SAI: Alex Cabrera (2) YOM: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Game 3
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yomiuri | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Seibu | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Kimiyasu Kudo (1–0) LP: Chang Chih-chia (0–1) Home runs: YOM: Kazuhiro Kiyohara (2), Tomohiro Nioka (1), Yoshinobu Takahashi (1) SEI: Kazuo Matsui (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tomohiro Nioka hit a grand slam to open the floodgates for the Giants in a victory that saw them on the brink of winning the championship.
Game 4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yomiuri | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Seibu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| WP: Hisanori Takahashi (1–0) LP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (0–2) Home runs: YOM: Takayuki Saito (1) SEI: Tom Evans (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
With the game tied in the sixth inning, Koji Goto delivered a pinch-hit two-run triple to break the game open for the Giants, who rode off a complete game from Hisanori Takahashi, who struck out Tom Evans to end the game and the series.
Tomohiro Nioka was named MVP for his efforts in the series, which saw him collect nine hits in four games.[6] The Giants were just the sixth team to win the Japan Series in a sweep.[7] Two days later, Giants slugger Hideki Matsui announced his desire to play in Major League Baseball, which he would do in 2003. [8]
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