In the first round, Lotte earned the nickname "Miracle Marines" after pulling off two extra-inning wins, the first of which came thanks to a four-run 9th inning comeback against Seibu.

Many of the team's components from the 2005 championship year were still in place, as Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Toshiaki Imae, Saburo Ohmura, and Kazuya Fukuura were all still in the lineup and contributing.

New faces littered the pitching staff and the lineup, as Yoshihisa Naruse won 13 games and was the ace of the staff, but the Marines' true pitching strength came from the back end of the bullpen, with one-time Major Leaguer Yasuhiko Yabuta, Takuya Furuya and Tatsuya Uchi, all potent middle relievers, setting up for starter-turned-closer Hiroyuki Kobayashi.

However, the Dragons would strike back in the bottom of the inning, as hometown hero Kazuhiro Wada and venerable catcher Motonobu Tanishige, playing in his 5th Japan Series, each hit solo home runs for a 2-1 lead.

Tadahito Iguchi legged out an infield single to continue the assault, and Saburo was hit with a pitch to set up 2005 Japan Series MVP Toshiaki Imae.

Kim Tae-Kyun was hit with a pitch to put Imae in scoring position, but Yoshifumi Okada could not drive him home.

The Pacific League Climax Series MVP gave up two runs on four hits, with six strikeouts and a walk on 88 pitches (he was pinch-hit for in the 6th).

Lotte LF Ikuhiro Kiyota's one-out double off Takuya Asao was the game-tying hit in the top of the eighth to knot the game up at 2-2.