2000 Japan Series
| 2000 Japan Series | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||
| Dates | October 21–28 | |||||||||
| MVP | Hideki Matsui (Yomiuri) | |||||||||
| FSA | Kenji Jojima (Fukuoka) | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | NTV (Games 1, 2, 4, 6), TNC and Fuji TV (Game 3), RKB (Game 5) | |||||||||
The 2000 Japan Series was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the 2000 season. The 51st edition of the Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the Central League champion Yomiuri Giants against the Pacific League champion Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. With the Hawks trying to win their second consecutive championship, the press dubbed it the "ON Series" because of the managers on both sides: Sadaharu Oh for the Hawks and Shigeo Nagashima for the Giants; the two were teammates in the 1960s and 1970s, and their combined hitting prowess gave them the nickname, "O-N Cannon." The Giants won the Series in six games for their first championship in six years.
A conference that was being held at the Fukuoka Dome by the Japan Neurosurgery Society for two days in October came to haunt the Hawks and the league when they ended up winning the league pennant. As a result of having October 24 and October 25 booked, NPB instituted a special format for the series that eliminated the usual travel day between Game 3-Game 4 and Game 5-Game 6. A potential Game 7 would've been played on October 29 as the fourth consecutive game played between the two teams in four days. The Hawks were later subject to a 30 million yen fine.