The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks clinched their 21st league championship in franchise history on Tuesday and their sixth since being taken over by SoftBank in 2005.
The pennant is the Hawks' first since 2017. Their next step will be to host the Pacific League Climax Series playoffs, abbreviated this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic to a single two-team, four-game competition between the champs and runners-up starting Nov. 14.
Manager Kimiyasu Kudo's Hawks have dominated their league, particularly on the defensive side, while being on an offensive par with the PL's other big-scoring team, the Rakuten Eagles. Through Sunday's game, they had scored 496 runs while allowing a Japan-low 367.