[2] The Chiba Lotte Marines narrowly edged out the Saitama Seibu Lions at the end of the season to secure second place and the chance to play the Hawks in the Climax Series.

[8] SoftBank won the previous three Japan Series and five in the last six years and were looking to become only the second NPB team to ever win four or more titles consecutively, behind only the Giants' nine-year streak from 1965 to 1973.

[10] Home field advantage for the Japan Series alternates between the Pacific and Central leagues every year.

[12] Before the schedule was shifted, however, the Giants' home stadium, Tokyo Dome, was already planned to be used for the Intercity baseball tournament for the period of time that the Japan Series would eventually be rescheduled for.

Then, with two outs in the sixth inning, Sugano hit Yuki Yanagita and allowed Gracial to reach base with a single.

[26] SoftBank starter Kodai Senga lasted seven scoreless innings, striking out six batters and walking three.

Yomiuri loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning against Hawks closer Yuito Mori, but they were only able to score one run on a sacrifice fly by Zelous Wheeler.

[27] SoftBank immediately took the lead in the first inning after Imamura issued a one-out walk and Yanagita doubled to drive home the game's first run.

After failing to score in the fourth inning, the Hawks bounced back in the fifth when the Giants brought in another regular-season starter, Kazuto Taguchi, to relive Togo.

With one out, Taguchi walked Gracial and Kurihara singled before Despaigne's sacrifice fly gave the Hawks their seventh run.

The Giants went on to load the bases but didn't score after the Hawks' second reliever of the inning struck out Hiroyuki Nakajima to end the threat.

[28] Despaigne, however, capitalized on a bases loaded chance when he hit a grand slam in the seventh inning to put the Hawks ahead by seven.

SoftBank added to their lead one last time in the ninth inning when they scored two runs on a throwing error by Giants pitcher Kan Otake.

Sánchez didn't allow another run into the sixth inning when the Giants intentionally loaded the bases with only one out.

Giants second baseman Naoki Yoshikawa, however, made an impressive defensive play to save runs and end the inning.

Kan Otake replaced Takanashi but gave up an RBI single to Yurisbel Gracial to extend the Hawks' lead to 4–0.

[29] After doubling their lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, Hawks manager Kimiyasu Kudo made the decision to pull Moore from the game after throwing 93 pitches despite him having a no-hitter at the time.

[30] In addition to not allowing any hits, Moore pitched seven scoreless innings, struck out five, walked two, and two batters reached base on errors against him.

[29] Livan Moinelo, Moore's relief, hit one batter and walked another in the eighth inning but kept the no-hitter intact by striking out three Giants hitters.

Hawks closer Mori then picked up two outs in the ninth inning before giving up a single to Yoshihiro Maru, the Giants' first and only hit of the game.

[30] In the top of first inning in Game 4, Akihiro Wakabayashi hit a leadoff double off of SoftBank starter Tsuyoshi Wada.

The Hawks quickly took the lead back, however, in the bottom half of the inning when Yuki Yanagita hit a two-run home run off of Giants starter Seishu Hatake.