The Chiba Lotte Marines find themselves in a familiar position, in third place and staring at a best-of-three playoff challenge on the road.

The Marines have been here in three of manager Tsutomu Ito's four years at the Lotte helm. In 2010, under former skipper Norifumi Nishimura, the Marines became the only third-place team ever to reach the Japan Series and then won it.

Ito said he doesn't want to let the two-time defending Japan Series champion Hawks set the pace.