Although the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks failed to repeat as Pacific League champions, they have what it takes to beat the new champs, the Seibu Lions, and reach the Japan Series for the fourth time in five years.

The race for the brass ring heats up again on Wednesday as each league's Climax Series Final Stage gets under way. The Pacific League battle will be at the Lions' home, MetLife Dome, and the Central League's at Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium, where the CL champions Carp will take on the Yomiuri Giants. Both hosts begin the six-game stages with one win and will advance to the Japan Series should the stage end in a tie.

The Hawks, who finished second, needed three games to overcome the PL's third-place club, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. The Giants, on the other hand, finished third but swept the second-place Tokyo Yakult Swallows over the weekend in the CL's first stage. While the Giants were a good match against Yakult, they will need more than they showed during the regular season to vanquish three-time defending champion Hiroshima.