# 1996 Japan Series

The 1996 Japan Series was the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) championship series for the 1996 season. It was the 47th Japan Series and featured the Pacific League champions, the Orix BlueWave, against the Central League champions, the 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)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 19 | Orix BlueWave – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 3 | Tokyo Dome | 3:42 | 45,121 |
| 2 | October 20 | Orix BlueWave – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 0 | Tokyo Dome | 2:56 | 45,086 |
| 3 | October 22 | Yomiuri Giants – 2, Orix BlueWave – 5 | Green Stadium Kobe | 2:56 | 33,026 |
| 4 | October 23 | Yomiuri Giants – 5, Orix BlueWave – 1 | Green Stadium Kobe | 3:25 | 33,070 |
| 5 | October 24 | Yomiuri Giants – 2, Orix BlueWave – 5 | Green Stadium Kobe | 3:26 | 33,222 |

## Matchups
### Game 1

Saturday, October 19, 1996 at Tokyo Dome, Bunkyo, Tokyo :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E |
| Orix | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Yomiuri | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| WP: Taira Suzuki (1–0) LP: Hirofumi Kono (0–1) Sv: Masafumi Hirai (1) Home runs: ORX: Ichiro Suzuki (1) YOM: Takeshi Omori (1) ||||||||||||||

### Game 2

Sunday, October 20, 1996 at Tokyo Dome, Bunkyo, Tokyo :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Orix | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| WP: Willie Fraser (1–0) LP: Hiromi Makihara (0–1) Sv: Taira Suzuki (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 3

Tuesday, October 22, 1996 at Green Stadium Kobe, Kobe, Hyōgo :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Orix | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| WP: Koji Noda (1–0) LP: Balvino Gálvez (0–1) Sv: Taira Suzuki (2) Home runs: YOM: Shane Mack (1), Toshihisa Nishi (1) ORX: None |||||||||||||

### Game 4

Wednesday, October 23, 1996 at Green Stadium Kobe, Kobe, Hyōgo :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Orix | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| WP: Masao Kida (1–0) LP: Jiro Toyoda (0–1) Sv: Hiroshi Ishige (1) Home runs: YOM: Takeshi Omori (2) ORX: None |||||||||||||

### Game 5

Thursday, October 24, 1996 at Green Stadium Kobe, Kobe, Hyōgo :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Orix | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 5 | 7 | 1 |
| WP: Takahide Itoh (1–0) LP: Masaki Saito (0–1) Sv: Taira Suzuki (3) Home runs: YOM: Toshihisa Nishi (2) ORX: None |||||||||||||