# 2023 Central League Climax Series

The 2023 Central League Climax Series (CLCS) is a set of two consecutive playoff series in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). The first stage began on October 14 and the final stage will conclude by October 23. The first stage was a best-of-three series between the second-place Hiroshima Toyo Carp and the third-place Yokohama DeNA BayStars. The final stage will be a best-of-six with the Hanshin Tigers, the Central League champion, being awarded a one-win advantage against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, the winner of the first stage. The Tigers advanced to the 2023 Japan Series to compete against the Orix Buffaloes, the 2023 Pacific League Climax Series winner.

## First stage

Intra-league teams play 25 games against each other during the regular season. The Carp and the BayStars split the season series 14–10–1, in favor of the Carp. The two teams had met in the postseason twice prior to this year, with each team winning one series apiece (Carp winning the final stage of the 2016 CLCS and Baystars winning the final stage of the 2017 CLCS).

### Summary

Hiroshima Toyo Carp won the series, 2–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 14 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 2, Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 3 (11) | Mazda Stadium | 3:52 | 31,041 |
| 2 | October 15 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 2, Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 4 | Mazda Stadium | 3:32 | 31,059 |

### Game 1

Saturday, October 14, 2023, 1:00 pm (JST) at Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E |
| DeNA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 0 |
| Hiroshima | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1X | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| WP: Nik Turley (1–0) LP: J. B. Wendelken (0–1) Home runs: DNA: Toshiro Miyazaki (1) HIR: None Attendance: 31,041 Boxscore |||||||||||||||

### Game 2

Sunday, October 15, 2023 1:01 pm (JST) at Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| DeNA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Hiroshima | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | X | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| WP: Sotaro Shimauchi (1–0) LP: Taiga Kamichatani (0–1) Sv: Ryoji Kuribayashi (1) Home runs: DNA: None HIR: Ryoma Nishikawa (1), Shota Suekane (1) Attendance: 31,059 Boxscore |||||||||||||

## Final stage

The championship advanced the Tigers directly to the final stage of the Climax Series to host the Carp, the eventual winner of the first stage. In the season series, Hanshin came out on top 15–9–1 and finished 11.5 games ahead of Hiroshima. The series is the third time the two teams have met in the Climax Series, with their previous two meetings being a series win for each team.

### Summary

Hanshin Tigers won the series, 4-0*.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 18 | Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 1, Hanshin Tigers – 4 | Koshien Stadium | 2:52 | 42,641 |
| 2 | October 19 | Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 1, Hanshin Tigers – 2 | Koshien Stadium | 3:13 | 42,630 |
| 3 | October 20 | Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 2, Hanshin Tigers – 4 | Koshien Stadium | 3:41 | 42,642 |
    * The Central League regular season champion is given a one-game advantage in the final stage.

### Game 1

Wednesday, October 18, 2023, 1:00 pm JST at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Hiroshima | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Hanshin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| WP: Shoki Murakami (1–0) LP: Aren Kuri (0–1) Sv: Suguru Iwazaki (1) Home runs: HIR: None HAN: Shōta Morishita (1) Attendance: 42,641 Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Game 2

Thursday, October 19, 2023, 6:01 pm JST at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Hiroshima | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 |
| Hanshin | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1X | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| WP: Suguru Iwazaki (1–0) LP: Ryoji Kuribayashi (0–1) Attendance: 42,630 Boxscore |||||||||||||

### Game 3

Friday, October 20, 2023, 6:00 pm JST at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Hiroshima | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| Hanshin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | X | 4 | 7 | 1 |
| WP: Takuma Kirishiki (1–0) LP: Hiroki Tokoda (0–1) Sv: Suguru Iwazaki (2) Attendance: 42,642 Boxscore |||||||||||||