Global Information2020 Japan Series information
| 2020 Japan Series | ||||||||||
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| Dates | November 21–25 | |||||||||
| MVP | Ryoya Kurihara (SoftBank) | |||||||||
| FSA | Shosei Togo (Yomiuri) | |||||||||
| Umpires | Atsushi Fukaya, Masaharu Kasahara, Naoto Shikita, Tetsuya Shimata, Chikara Tsugawa, Takanori Yamamoto | |||||||||
| Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Television | NTV (Games 1–2) NHK-BS1 (Games 2–4) TV Asahi (Game 3) Fuji TV (Game 4) | |||||||||
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The 2020 Japan Series (known as the SMBC Nippon Series 2020 for sponsorship reasons) was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) 2020 season. The 71st edition of the Japan Series, it was played from November 21 to 25. The series was a best-of-seven playoff between the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, the Pacific League's (PL) Climax Series champion, and the defending Japan Series champions, and the Yomiuri Giants, the Central League's (CL) regular-season champion. The series was a rematch of the previous year's Japan Series.
The Hawks finished the season in 1st place, their first PL title since 2017. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PL decided to modify the traditional Climax Series format and eliminate the First Stage series to instead play only one modified Final Stage series. In this series, SoftBank defeated the Chiba Lotte Marines, the regular season runner-up to advance to the Japan Series. The CL cancelled their Climax Series altogether due to the pandemic, opting instead to send their regular-season champion, the Giants, directly to the Japan Series.
The Hawks swept the Giants for the second straight year to win the series, their fourth straight. SoftBank outfielder Ryoya Kurihara was named the Japan Series Most Valuable Player.
With the Hawks' Japan Series win, for the first time since 1950, the Pacific League led in Japan Series titles.
The series would also be the second most one-sided Japan Series, with the Hawks outscoring the Giants, 26-4. Only the 2005 Japan Series was more one-sided, 33–4 in favor of the Chiba Lotte Marines over the Hanshin Tigers.