1996 Japan Series

Japan 1996 Orix BlueWave (4) Akira Ohgi 74–50–6, .597, GA: 7 Yomiuri Giants (1) Shigeo Nagashima 77–53, .592, GA: 5 October 19–24 Troy Neel (ORX) Toshihisa Nishi (YOM) NTV (Games 1–2), KTV (Games 3–4), NHK BS-1 (Game 3), MBS (Game 5) NHK Radio 1, TBS (JRN), JOQR (NRN), JOLF (NRN), Radio Nippon (independent), MBS (JRN), ABC (NRN), OBC (Kansai only) The 1996 Japan Series was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the 1996 season. The 47th edition of the Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the Pacific League champion Orix BlueWave against the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants. The series was the eighth time the two franchises played each other for the championship; however, the last time the two teams played, Orix was known as the Hankyu Braves. Played at Tokyo Dome and Green Stadium Kobe, the BlueWave defeated the Giants four games to one in the best-of-seven series to win the franchise's 4th Japan Series title. BlueWave slugger and 1996 PL home run leader Troy Neel was named Most Valuable Player of the series. The series was played between October 19 and October 24, 1996, with home field advantage going to the Central League. Summary PL Orix BlueWave (4) vs. CL Yomiuri Giants (1) October 19 Orix BlueWave – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 3 Tokyo Dome 3:42 45,121 http://bis.npb.or.jp/scores/nipponseries/linescore1996.html ja:1996年度日本シリーズ　試合結果 June 8, 2010 Nippon Professional Baseball Japanese October 20 Orix BlueWave – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 0 Tokyo Dome 2:56 45,086 October 22 Yomiuri Giants – 2, Orix BlueWave – 5 Green Stadium Kobe 2:56 33,026 October 23 Yomiuri Giants – 5, Orix BlueWave – 1 Green Stadium Kobe 3:25 33,070 October 24 Yomiuri Giants – 2, Orix BlueWave – 5 Green Stadium Kobe 3:26 33,222 Matchups Game 1 Saturday, October 19, 1996 6:04 pm (JST) Tokyo Dome, Bunkyo, Tokyo Orix ORX 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 4 7 0 Yomiuri YOM 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 8 0 Taira Suzuki (1–0) Hirofumi Kono (0–1) Masafumi Hirai (1) Ichiro Suzuki (1) Takeshi Omori (1) Game 2 Sunday, October 20, 1996 6:33 pm (JST) Tokyo Dome, Bunkyo, Tokyo Orix ORX 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 1 Yomiuri YOM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Willie Fraser (1–0) Hiromi Makihara (0–1) Taira Suzuki (1) Game 3 Tuesday, October 22, 1996 6:10 pm (JST) Green Stadium Kobe, Kobe, Hyōgo Yomiuri YOM 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 7 0 Orix ORX 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 5 9 0 Koji Noda (1–0) Balvino Gálvez (0–1) Taira Suzuki (2) Shane Mack (1), Toshihisa Nishi (1) Game 4 Wednesday, October 23, 1996 6:10 pm (JST) Green Stadium Kobe, Kobe, Hyōgo Yomiuri YOM 0 2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 5 8 0 Orix ORX 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 2 Masao Kida (1–0) Jiro Toyoda (0–1) Hiroshi Ishige (1) Takeshi Omori (2) Game 5 Thursday, October 24, 1996 6:10 pm (JST) Green Stadium Kobe, Kobe, Hyōgo Yomiuri YOM 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 0 Orix ORX 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 X 5 7 1 Takahide Itoh (1–0) Masaki Saito (0–1) Taira Suzuki (3) Toshihisa Nishi (2) See also 1996 World Series References External links Nippon Professional Baseball—Official website (in English) Category:Japan Series Category:1996 Nippon Professional Baseball season Category:Orix BlueWave Category:Yomiuri Giants Category:Events at Tokyo Dome Category:October 1996 sports events in Japan