Clinching the Pacific League pennant a little early gave the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles a chance to really enjoy the moment.
Ace Masahiro Tanaka, 22-0 this season, was on the mound for the last inning of the PL pennant race on Sept. 26 at Seibu Dome — for once in search of a save rather than a win — and his strikeout of Hideto Asamura, perhaps the best position player in the PL, was a seminal moment for a franchise that began play in 2005 and finished that year 51½ games out of first place.
The Eagles launched into wild celebrations after the final out, while a larger-than-usual contingent of Rakuten fans joined in the revelry at Seibu Dome, as thousands more relished in the triumph hundreds of kilometers away in Sendai and Miyagi Prefecture.