2002 Japan Series

October 20252002 Japan Series logo.png 150px Japan 2002 Yomiuri Giants (4) Tatsunori Hara 86 52 2 (.623), 11 GA Games ahead Seibu Lions (0) Haruki Ihara 90 49 1 (.647), 16½ GA Games ahead October 26–30 Tomohiro Nioka (Yomiuri) Alex Cabrera (Seibu) NTV (Game 1, 2), TV Asahi (Game 3), TBS (Game 4) The 2002 Japan Series was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2002 season. The 53rd edition of the Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants against the Pacific League champion Seibu Lions. The Giants swept the Lions in four games to win their 20th Japan Series championship.https://npb.jp/bis/scores/nipponseries/linescore2002.html ja:2002年度日本シリーズ　試合結果 Nippon Professional Baseball Japanese October 27, 2025 Summary CL Yomiuri Giants (4) vs. PL Seibu Lions (0) October 26 Seibu Lions – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 4 Tokyo Dome 2:55 45,107 https://npb.jp/bis/scores/nipponseries/boxscore2002_1.html ja:2002年度日本シリーズ　試合結果（第1戦） 2002 Japan Series Match Results (Game 1) November 27, 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball Japanese October 27 Seibu Lions – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 9 Tokyo Dome 3:16 45,223 https://npb.jp/bis/scores/nipponseries/boxscore2002_2.html ja:2002年度日本シリーズ　試合結果（第2戦） 2002 Japan Series Match Results (Game 2) November 27, 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball Japanese October 29 Yomiuri Giants – 10, Seibu Lions – 2 Seibu Dome 3:15 30,933 https://npb.jp/bis/scores/nipponseries/boxscore2002_3.html ja:2002年度日本シリーズ　試合結果（第3戦） 2002 Japan Series Match Results (Game 3) November 27, 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball Japanese October 30 Yomiuri Giants – 6, Seibu Lions – 2 Seibu Dome 3:12 31,072 https://npb.jp/bis/scores/nipponseries/boxscore2002_4.html ja:2002年度日本シリーズ　試合結果（第4戦） 2002 Japan Series Match Results (Game 4) November 27, 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball Japanese Game summaries Game 1 Saturday, October 26, 2002, 6:02 pm (JST) Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo Seibu SEI 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 1 Yomiuri YOM 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 X 4 6 0 Koji Uehara (1–0) Daisuke Matsuzaka (0–1) Alex Cabrera (1) Takayuki Shimizu (1), Kazuhiro Kiyohara (1) Game 2 Sunday, October 27, 2002, 6:01 pm (JST) Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo Seibu SAI 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 4 9 0 Yomiuri YOM 1 0 6 0 0 0 2 0 X 9 13 0 Masumi Kuwata (1–0) Takashi Ishii (0–1) Alex Cabrera (2) Game 3 Tuesday, October 29, 2002, 6:22 pm (JST) Seibu Dome in Tokorozawa, Saitama Yomiuri YOM 0 1 2 4 0 0 1 2 0 10 13 0 Seibu SEI 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 8 0 Kimiyasu Kudo (1–0) Chang Chih-chia (0–1) Kazuhiro Kiyohara (2), Tomohiro Nioka (1), Yoshinobu Takahashi (1) Kazuo Matsui (1) Tomohiro Nioka hit a grand slam to open the floodgates for the Giants in a victory that saw them on the brink of winning the championship. Game 4 Wednesday, October 30, 2002, 6:21 pm (JST) Seibu Dome in Tokorozawa, Saitama Yomiuri YOM 0 2 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 6 6 1 Seibu SEI 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 1 Hisanori Takahashi (1–0) Daisuke Matsuzaka (0–2) Takayuki Saito (1) Tom Evans (1) With the game tied in the sixth inning, Koji Goto delivered a pinch-hit two-run triple to break the game open for the Giants, who rode off a complete game from Hisanori Takahashi, who struck out Tom Evans to end the game and the series. Tomohiro Nioka was named MVP for his efforts in the series, which saw him collect nine hits in four games.ESPN.com: MLB - Yomiuri Giants sweep Lions to win Japan Series title https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/2002/1030/1453135.html https://web.archive.org/web/20251219052030/https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/2002/1030/1453135.html 2026-09-28 2025-12-19 The Giants were just the sixth team to win the Japan Series in a sweep.Giants complete Series sweep The Japan Times https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2002/10/31/baseball/mlb/giants-complete-series-sweep/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190107211232/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2002/10/31/baseball/mlb/giants-complete-series-sweep/ 2026-09-28 2019-01-07 Two days later, Giants slugger Hideki Matsui announced his desire to play in Major League Baseball, which he would do in 2003.Japanese slugger Hideki 'Godzilla' Matsui headed to MLB https://www.wistv.com/story/995501/japanese-slugger-hideki-godzilla-matsui-headed-to-mlb/ 2026-09-28 www.wistv.com References See also 2002 World Series 2002 Category:Seibu Lions Category:Saitama Seibu Lions postseason Category:Yomiuri Giants postseason Category:2002 Nippon Professional Baseball season Category:October 2002 sports events in Japan Category:Events at Tokyo Dome