The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks had it all laid out for them in 2024.
The team was hardly challenged in the Pacific League pennant race or in the Climax Series. When an upset in the Central League put the underdog DeNA BayStars in its path in the Japan Series — instead of the CL Champion Yomiuri Giants — a title celebration looked like an inevitability.
Looks, however, can be deceiving. SoftBank headed home to Fukuoka with a 2-0 lead over DeNA in the series and proceeded to lose the next four games in one of the biggest — if not the biggest — upsets in Japan Series history.
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