The 2026 Pacific League Climax Series is an upcoming set of two consecutive playoff series between the three top-placing teams in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League (PL). The first stage will start on October 10 and the final stage will conclude by October 20. The first stage will be a best-of-three series between the second-place Saitama Seibu Lions and the third-place Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. The final stage will a best-of-seven series with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, the PL champion, being awarded a two-win advantage against the eventual winner of the first stage. The winner of the final stage will advance to the 2026 Japan Series to compete against the eventual winner of the 2026 Central League Climax Series.
Background
For the ninth consecutive year, Persol Holdings is sponsoring the naming rights for the Pacific League Climax Series, and it is officially known as the "2026 Persol Climax Series PA".
The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks clinched their third straight Pacific League (PL) championship and 22nd overall on September 17, with 11 games remaining. It was the team's third three-peat and their first since moving to Fukuoka, their last being from 1964 to 1966 when they were based in Osaka. The pennant is manager Hiroki Kokubo's third in his third year managing the club. Similarly to their previous season, SoftBank again started slow and were two games behind the league leader in late May. At the start of June, however, they turned things around dramatically. The Hawks clinched the PL championship on the final game of a nine-game winning streak, their longest of the year. A new Climax Series rule also took effect this season that rewards any league champion a second win advantage in the final stage if they lead the other team by ten or more games. SoftBank secured this advantage on October 1 with their 90th win, which made it impossible for either of the other PL Climax Series teams to come within ten games of them.
First stage
Summary
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Final stage
Summary
If necessary
References