# 2008 Central League Climax Series

The 2008 Central League Climax Series (CLCS) consisted of two consecutive series, Stage 1 being a best-of-three series and Stage 2 being a best-of-six with the top seed being awarded a one-win advantage. The winner of the series advanced to the 2008 Japan Series, where they competed against the 2008 Pacific League Climax Series (PLCS) winner. The top three regular-season finishers played in the two series. The CLCS began on with the first game of Stage 1 on October 18 and ended with the final game of Stage 2 on October 25.

## First stage
### Summary

The Hanshin Tigers were awarded home-field advantage for the entirety of Stage 1; however, all three games were played in the Orix Buffaloes' Kyocera Osaka Dome, a neutral field, as renovations to Koshien Stadium prevented postseason play.
Chunichi Dragons won the series, 2–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 18 | Chunichi Dragons – 2, Hanshin Tigers – 0 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 2:49 | 33,824 |
| 2 | October 19 | Chunichi Dragons – 3, Hanshin Tigers – 7 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:16 | 33,881 |
| 3 | October 20 | Chunichi Dragons – 2, Hanshin Tigers – 0 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 2:38 | 33,021 |

### Game 1

Saturday, October 18, 2008, 6:00 pm (JST) at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chunichi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Hanshin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| WP: Kenshin Kawakami (1–0) LP: Yuya Ando (0–1) Sv: Hitoki Iwase (1) Home runs: CHU: Masahiko Morino (1) HAN: None |||||||||||||

### Game 2

Sunday, October 19, 2008, 6:00 pm (JST) at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chunichi | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| Hanshin | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | X | 7 | 11 | 0 |
| WP: Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi (1–0) LP: Chen Wei-Yin (0–1) Home runs: CHU: Masahiko Morino (2), Tyrone Woods (1) HAN: Takashi Toritani (2) |||||||||||||

### Game 3

Monday, October 20, 2008, 6:00 pm (JST) at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chunichi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Hanshin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| WP: Kazuki Yoshimi (1–0) LP: Kyuji Fujikawa (0–1) Sv: Hitoki Iwase (2) Home runs: CHU: Tyrone Woods (2) HAN: None |||||||||||||

## Second stage
### Summary

Yomiuri Giants won the series, 3–1–1*.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 22 | Chunichi Dragons – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 3 | Tokyo Dome | 4:05 | 44,072 |
| 2 | October 23 | Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 11 | Tokyo Dome | 2:45 | 43,536 |
| 3 | October 24 | Chunichi Dragons – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 5 (12) | Tokyo Dome | 4:42 | 45,846 |
| 4 | October 25 | Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 6 | Tokyo Dome | 3:27 | 46,797 |
    * The Central League regular season champion is given a one-game advantage in the Second Stage.

### Game 1

Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 6:00 pm (JST) at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chunichi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| Yomiuri | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| WP: Masato Kobayashi (1–0) LP: Marc Kroon (0–1) Sv: Hitoki Iwase (1) Home runs: CHU: Lee Byung-Kyu (1), Tyrone Woods (1) YOM: Yoshitomo Tani (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 2

Thursday, October 23, 2008, 6:00 pm (JST) at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chunichi | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Yomiuri | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | X | 11 | 17 | 0 |
| WP: Koji Uehara (1–0) LP: Kenta Asakura (0–1) Home runs: CHU: Masahiko Morino (1), Ryosuke Hirata (1) YOM: Michihiro Ogasawara (2), Alex Ramírez (1), Lee Seung-Yeop (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 3

Friday, October 24, 2008, 6:00 pm (JST) at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | R | H | E |
| Chunichi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Home runs: CHU: Kazuhiro Wada (1), Tyrone Woods (2) YOM: Kazunari Tsuruoka (1), Lee Seung-Yeop (2) ||||||||||||||||

### Game 4

Saturday, October 25, 2008, 6:00 pm (JST) at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Tokyo :
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Chunichi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Yomiuri | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | X | 6 | 11 | 1 |
| WP: Marc Kroon (1–1) LP: Akifumi Takahashi (0–1) Home runs: CHU: Tyrone Woods (3) YOM: Alex Ramírez (2) |||||||||||||