The Yokohama BayStars, after 18 seasons without postseason baseball and 11 without an A-Class finish, probably weren't going to be very picky about how those two things got crossed off of their to-do list.

But there was still something poetic about the way the team did it Monday on a slightly chilly, rainy afternoon that was miserable just about everywhere except in Yokohama Stadium, where the team's first-ever golden ticket to the Climax Series, and a first A-Class season since 2005, shone like the rays of the sun.

"You guys have been waiting for this for many years, and now you've got it," manager Alex Ramirez told BayStars fans after the game. "Omedeto gozaimasu (congratulations)."

The win that put Yokohama over the top was a 3-1 victory over the newly minted CL champion Hiroshima Carp. Among the other five CL teams, the Carp probably have the best grasp of what the BayStars are going through.

It wasn't so long ago Hiroshima was in the same position. The Carp found their way back to the top of the mountain after 25 years this season, and the BayStars will be looking to follow the breadcrumbs Hiroshima left behind.

The Carp have only recently broken out of a long stretch of futility. The team posted just one winning season from 1998-2013, but had begun to show signs of life under new manager Kenjiro Nomura in 2010.

A few seasons later, a smart marketing campaign aimed at female fans saw the rise of the Carp Joshi ("Carp Girls"), a term used to refer to the team's enthusiastic legion of female supporters who helped kickstart an attendance boom.

On the field, Nomura oversaw five consecutive seasons in which Hiroshima won more than in each previous year, a run that included the team's first berth in the Climax Series in 2013 and a return to winning baseball with a 74-68-2 2014 campaign. The team dipped below .500 under new manager Koichi Ogata in 2015, but finally got over the hump this season.

The BayStars could end up walking a similar path.

Yokohama has been stuck in a deep malaise since winning the Japan Series in 1998 and hasn't had a winning season since 2001.

The club was sold to DeNA before the 2012 season, and the social gaming and e-commerce company installed Jun Ikeda as president. Ikeda spearheaded an aggressive marketing effort which resulted in the team making the biggest jump in attendance in NPB from 2012-15.

With the fans back and a new atmosphere at games, Ikeda has said the club will begin to invest more resources in the on-field product, noting the BayStars are estimated to bring up the rear in NPB with a payroll of around ¥2 billion.

The club already has a centerpiece in place in 24-year-old slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, who hit above .300 with at least 20 home runs each of the last two seasons and should make it three this year as he's currently batting .319 with 40 home runs.

The club should work to retain the services of Jose Lopez, who has 30 homers this year, and also has a pair of 23-year-old pitchers, Kenta Ishida (9-4, 2.96 ERA this season) and Shota Imanaga (8-8, 2.69), who could blossom in the near future.

Ramirez, who is in his first season in the dugout, will also have experience to lean on going forward.

The Carp weren't champions overnight and the odds are the BayStars won't be either. Yokohama will get a taste of the postseason this year, and will try to build upon that over the coming years.

They'll face the Yomiuri Giants in the first stage of the Climax Series next month. That's not enough to satisfy Ramirez, however, who wants to overturn the Kyojin's 2½-game hold on second place, which would allow the BayStars to host the series between the clubs.

"Four more games now (this season)," he said. "Our number one goal now is to finish second, so we don't stop here. We're going to try our best to finish second."