SoftBank Hawks Beat Nippon-Ham 6–4 in 2026 Climax Series Game 1

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 6, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 4. SoftBank won the opening game of the 2026 Pacific League Climax Series Final Stage on Wednesday, October 14, at Mizuho PayPay Dome in Fukuoka. Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) marks the game as finished and records a start time of 6:00 p.m. Fukuoka, Japan Standard Time (JST, UTC+09:00), or 9:00 a.m. UTC, and a finish at 9:14 p.m. JST (12:14 p.m. UTC). The announced starters were Livan Moinelo for the Hawks and Sachiya Yamasaki for the Fighters; NPB's game record lists both as the first pitchers used for their teams.

Game 1 final: confirmed details

These details are from NPB's official Game 1 scoreboard and its October schedule and results. The scoreboard is the controlling source for the completed result; the schedule identifies the Final Stage fixture and the pitchers announced before the game. Japan uses JST year-round, so the confirmed UTC conversions retain the same date.

How SoftBank turned the game around

The inning-by-inning record shows Nippon-Ham scoring once in the second and twice in the third, while SoftBank scored in the first. That put the Fighters ahead 3–1 after three innings. The Hawks then scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth. It was the game's decisive swing: the line score shows no additional SoftBank runs after that inning, but the five-run frame moved the home side in front 6–3.

Nippon-Ham's Gunji hit a solo home run in the seventh inning, bringing the score to 6–4. NPB identifies the homer as coming off Osuna. The Fighters did not score again in the official line score, and SoftBank closed out the ninth to secure the final. The scoreboard credits Suzuki with the win, Yamasaki with the loss and Sugiyama with the save. Those decisions describe the pitchers who received the official game outcomes; they are distinct from the pregame announcement naming Moinelo and Yamasaki as the starters.

The box score records 11 hits for Nippon-Ham and eight for SoftBank, while the Hawks had no errors and the Fighters had two. The hit totals add context to the final score: SoftBank's five-run fourth produced the lead it needed, and the late solo homer narrowed the margin without erasing it. NPB lists the game as lasting 3 hours and 14 minutes, with 39,894 in attendance.

What the result means for the Final Stage

The 6–4 result gives SoftBank one on-field win in the series. The Hawks entered as the Pacific League regular-season champion, while Nippon-Ham qualified by winning the First Stage. NPB's 2026 announcement sets the Pacific League Final Stage as a seven-game format. Under the revised Climax Series rules, that format carries a two-win advantage for the regular-season champion and a five-win threshold to advance when the qualifying conditions apply. As a result, SoftBank's two credited wins before Game 1 became three after its victory; the series count is now 3–0 in the Hawks' favor.

This accounting matters when readers compare the actual game score with a series graphic. SoftBank needs two more game wins to reach five credited wins. The Fighters must reach five credited wins before the Hawks do, and the rules give the higher-seeded team the tiebreak if credited win totals are level when the stage must be decided. The starting advantage is a postseason rule, not a score from a game played on the field.

NPB's rule notice explains that the seven-game, two-win arrangement applies if either the regular-season gap between the top seed and First Stage winner is at least 10 games, or the First Stage winner finished below .500. It also says that if the scheduled stage cannot reach its full number of games, the team with more credited wins advances, with the champion's advantage included. The complete wording appears in NPB's 2026 Climax Series rules announcement; the league's Pacific League schedule notice confirms the seven-game Final Stage.

How Nippon-Ham reached the matchup

SoftBank went directly to the Final Stage after finishing first in the Pacific League regular season. Nippon-Ham, the third-place club, faced the second-place Saitama Seibu Lions in the First Stage. NPB's results show Seibu winning Game 1, 3–2, on October 10. Nippon-Ham answered with a 1–0 win on October 11 and a 4–1 win on October 12, taking the best-of-three stage two games to one.

That earlier series explains why the Fighters were SoftBank's opponent, but its scores are separate from the Final Stage tally. The Hawks' initial credited advantage came from the Final Stage rules, while Nippon-Ham had to earn its place by winning the First Stage. Game 1 then added the first played result to the new series: a 6–4 SoftBank victory.

What comes next

NPB's calendar lists Game 2 for Thursday, October 15, at 6:00 p.m. Fukuoka JST (UTC+09:00), again at Mizuho PayPay Dome. Potential Final Stage dates run through October 20, with October 21 shown as a reserve date. Those are scheduled possibilities, not a promise that every game will be needed; the series can end once the advancement rules determine a winner.

For the opener, the verified sequence is now complete: the game began at 6:00 p.m. JST (09:00 UTC), Moinelo and Yamasaki were the announced starters, and NPB records SoftBank's 6–4 win and a 9:14 p.m. JST (12:14 UTC) finish. Readers can follow changes to the next game on NPB's official schedule and consult the Game 1 record for the final box score.