The team colors are yellow and black, but the adopted color is red and, when the final out was recorded of the Pacific League Climax Series last week, Fukuoka fans were blue-shocking blue. Their team had just completed a stunning collapse after it appeared headed for its first Japan Series appearance in seven years.

The Softbank Hawks were riding high after winning the regular season pennant, coming from behind to knock off the front-running Seibu Lions, and they had that one-game advantage plus the home field for the entire CS finals.

After dropping the first game of the PLCS to the Chiba Lotte Marines, the Hawks came back to win two in a row and were within one game of wrapping up the series, but they lost.