The 

1997 Japan Series was the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) championship series for

the 1997 season. It was the 48th Japan Series and featured the Pacific League champions,
the Seibu Lions, against the Central League champions, the Yakult Swallows. The series is the third
time the two teams played each other for the championship, the last two contests being
in 1992 and 1993. Played at Seibu Dome and Meiji Jingu Stadium, the Swallows defeated the Lions
four games to one in the best-of-seven series to win the franchise's 4th Japan Series title. The
Swallows' star catcher Atsuya Furuta was named Most Valuable Player of the series. The series was
played between October 18 and October 23, 1997, with home field advantage going to the Pacific
League.

Contents

 1Summary
 2Matchups
o 2.1Game 1
o 2.2Game 2
o 2.3Game 3
o 2.4Game 4
o 2.5Game 5
 3See also
 4References
 5External links

Summary[edit]
CL Yakult Swallows (4) vs. PL Seibu Lions (1)

Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 

October Yakult Swallows – 1, Seibu

1 Seibu Dome 2:41 31,634[1] 
18 Lions – 0

October Yakult Swallows – 5, Seibu

2 Seibu Dome 4:45 31,397[1] 
19 Lions – 6

October Seibu Lions – 3, Yakult Meiji Jingu

3 3:25 32,867[1] 
21 Swallows – 5 Stadium

October Seibu Lions – 1, Yakult Meiji Jingu

4 3:08 32,877[1] 
22 Swallows – 7 Stadium
 Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 

October Seibu Lions – 0, Yakult Meiji Jingu

5 2:50 33,056[1]
23 Swallows – 3 Stadium

Matchups[edit]
Game 1[edit]
Saturday, October 18, 1997 at Seibu Dome, Tokorozawa, Saitama

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E

Yakult 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 7 0

Seibu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2

WP: Kazuhisa Ishii (1–0)   LP: Fumiya Nishiguchi (0–1)

Home runs:
YKS: Jim Tatum (1)
SEI: None

Game 1 of the series featured a pitching match-up of two strong aces. Seibu's Fumiya
Nishiguchi had a career year in 1997 (only his second full season), finishing first in the Pacific
League in wins, strikeouts and winning percentage. His sparkling season earned him the Best Nine
Award, the Golden Glove, the Sawamura Award and league MVP. Facing him in Game 1 from the
visitor's side was Kazuhisa Ishii, a former number-one draft pick and established southpaw who had
pitched a no-hitter earlier in the season. The game lived up to its billing as a pitcher's duel, with each
starter not allowing any runs after seven innings. However, Yakult finally managed to get to
Nishiguchi when journeyman Jim Tatum deposited a slider into the right-center field seats. Ishii
protected this lead, and finished the game with no runs allowed and 12 strikeouts.

Game 2[edit]
Saturday, October 19, 1997 at Seibu Dome, Tokorozawa, Saitama

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E

Yakult 0 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 5 14 2
Seibu 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 13 3

WP: Shinji Mori (1–0)   LP: Futoshi Yamabe (0–1)

Home runs:
YKS: None
SEI: Yusuke Kawada (1)

Game 3[edit]
Tuesday, October 21, 1997 at Meiji Jingu Stadium, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E

Seibu 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 11 1

Yakult 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 X 5 11 0

WP: Shingo Takatsu (1–0)   LP: Hisanobu Watanabe (0–1)

Home runs:
SEI: None
YKS: Atsuya Furuta (1)

Game 4[edit]
Wednesday, October 22, 1997 at Meiji Jingu Stadium, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E

Seibu 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0

Yakult 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 2 X 7 13 0

WP: Kenjiro Kawasaki (1–0)   LP: Hiroshi Shintani (0–1)

Home runs:
SEI: None
YKS: Shinichi Sato (1)

Game 5[edit]
Thursday, October 23, 1997 at Meiji Jingu Stadium, Shinjuku, Tokyo

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E

Seibu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0

Yakult 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 X 3 9 1

WP: Kazuhisa Ishii (2–0)   LP: Fumiya Nishiguchi (0–2)   Sv: Shingo Takatsu (1)

See also[edit]
 1997 World Series

References