For 29 years, diehard Hanshin Tigers fans have waited for the club add to its lone Japan Series title, won in 1985, and for a while it looked like 2014 might mark the end of the drought.

Hanshin had failed to claim the Central League pennant but opened the postseason by winning six out of seven games — the lone non-victory being a tie — to take an early lead in the Japan Series.

Then the wheels fell off.