Masahiro Tanaka's record-setting regular season is over and starting Thursday, he and his Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles teammates will set their sights on making more history in the final stage of the Pacific League Climax Series against the Chiba Lotte Marines.
After winning the franchise's first pennant, the Eagles will turn their attention to bringing the Japan Series to Sendai for the first time.
But to get there, they will need to defeat the Marines in the best-of-six series at Kleenex Stadium. After going a record 24-0 this year, Tanaka is slated to start Game 1.