Daiei had the best offense in the league, led by Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Kenji Johjima, and Tadahito Iguchi, with speedsters Munenori Kawasaki and Arihito Muramatsu setting up the sluggers with their speed.

Other key pitchers included veteran Hideki Irabu, who was in his first year back from major league stints with the New York Yankees, Montreal Expos, and Texas Rangers; foreign lefty Trey Moore, a key figure in the Tigers' rotation; and foreign lefty Jeff Williams who led the team with 25 saves.

Makoto Imaoka and Norihiro Akahoshi led the team at the top of the order, followed by power hitters Tomoaki Kanemoto and Shinjiro Hiyama.

Another element adding to the hype was that 2003 was the first time that the league had seen two 20-game winners: Kazumi Saitoh for Daiei, and Kei Igawa for Hanshin.

Senichi Hoshino was the manager of the Chunichi Dragons four years prior, and was defeated by Oh's Hawks in 5 games to win their first Japan Series title since 1964.

The light-hitting Yusuke Torigoe then came up, and he lifted a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left, which put Daiei ahead again, 3–2.

Hanshin would threaten again in their half of the 9th, getting Makoto Imaoka to 2nd, but Hawks reliever Takayuki Shinohara snuffed out the threat by getting Kanemoto to foul out.

Zuleta lifted and Andoh pitch to left-center, and it landed just out of the reach of the center fielder to give the Hawks the 5–4 sayonara victory and a 1–0 lead in the series.

Riding the momentum from the sayonara victory the previous night, the Hawks took the field and crushed the Tigers and their starting pitcher, Hideki Irabu.

Johjima would keep up the Hawks number-one offensive attack by hitting his second home run of the series, a solo shot, in the bottom of the 3rd.

The Hawks would end the scoring in the 8th inning, tacking on three more thanks to a throwing error by Kanazawa, and a three-run home run from Valdes.

Trey Moore started for the Tigers, while Daiei countered with lefty Tsuyoshi Wada, who won 14 games during his rookie campaign.

Shibahara would strike out, but the Hawks got their revenge by driving in the first run of the game, as Matsunaka drove in Kawasaki after he and Iguchi singled.

Kanemoto made sure that his team pulled even the very next inning though, as he took a low Wada fastball and deposited it into the right-center field stands, sending the Hanshin faithful into a frenzy.

He lifted a high sacrifice fly to center to score Arias and give Hanshin the 2–1 sayonara victory, and also make the series 2 games to 1 in favor of Daiei.

Matsunaka flashed some of his power in the top of the 2nd inning by crushing a letter-high Igawa slider to the back screen in center field.

After Fujimoto made a great diving play to save a run (but no out was recorded), Torigoe brought Johjima in anyway with a bloop single to cut Hanshin's lead to 4–3.

However, the Hawks would rally, with Valdes singling, Shibahara walking, and Torigoe reaching on a swinging bunt and he also performed head-first slide into first base to beat the throw.

With the specter of a 1–3 deficit in the series looming over their heads, Hanshin once again rallied, as Kanemoto walked to start the inning, then stole second after Hiyama struck out.

Riggan was replaced by Jeff Williams, who walked Matsunaka, but the runner on third was cut down at home on a Johjima grounder, and then Valdes struck out.

With one down in the bottom of the 10th inning, Arakaki left a slider over the middle of the plate, and Kanemoto golfed it into the right-field stands for his 2nd home run of the game, pulling the Tigers even in the series with a 6–5 win.

In the first inning, Kanemoto picked up right where he left off the previous night, hitting his 4th home run of the series and homering for the 3rd game in a row with 2 down.

Hanshin threatened in the 2nd when Arias singled his way on, but a strike'-em-out, throw-'em-out double play and another strikeout of Yano ended the threat.

The Hawks would threaten again in the 2nd with Torigoe reaching on a fielder's choice and subsequently stealing second, but Muramatsu popped out to end the threat.

In the 4th, Hanshin would score their only run of the day, when Shinjiro Hiyama crushed a Sugiuchi pitch that he left middle-in into the right-field stands to cut Daiei's lead to 3–1.

Daiei would strike again in the 6th when Zuleta singled, and Shibahara barely missed a home run by doubling high off the wall.

They almost added another run in their Lucky 7 thanks again to the efforts of Kawasaki, who rifled a Fukuhara pitch off his hip, then sliding head-first into first to beat the throw.

Ishige took over for Yoshino in the 8th, but was greeted by Pedro Valdés, who hit his third home run of the series, a solo shot that put the Hawks ahead 5–1.

Iguchi got the former two to 2nd and 3rd on a fielder's choice, and Matsunaka made the most of his chance by singling in both runners to stake the Hawks to a 2–0 lead off Moore, who put up 8 innings of one-run ball in his first appearance.

Wada had barely any trouble until the 5th inning, when Kentaro Sekimoto hit a home run of his own into the bleachers to put Hanshin on the board, 5–1.