NPB Climax Series Explained - Format, Advantage Win, and the Japan Series

The top 3 teams in each league qualify

NPB's Central League and Pacific League each field 6 clubs playing a 143-game regular season (125 intra-league games plus 18 interleague games). The top 3 finishers in each league advance to the postseason "Climax Series" (CS), and the two leagues run their CS brackets independently before their winners meet in the Japan Series.

1st Stage - #2 seed vs #3 seed

The 2nd- and 3rd-place finishers play a best-of-3 series hosted by the #2 seed. The winner advances to the Final Stage (a tie after 3 games sends the #2 seed through).

Final Stage - #1 seed vs the 1st Stage winner

The league's regular-season champion skips the 1st Stage entirely and gets a one-win advantage heading into the Final Stage. The series runs up to 6 games, so the #1 seed only needs 3 more wins to reach the Japan Series, while the challenger needs 4 wins - a direct reward for winning the regular season.

The Japan Series

The Climax Series winners from the Central and Pacific Leagues meet in the Japan Series (日本シリーズ), a best-of-7 to crown that year's NPB champion.

Where to follow it on this site

• The standings dashboard shows each league's magic number for the #3 cutoff.
• The Climax Series page shows the current 1st/Final Stage matchups based on today's standings.
• The Teams hub covers magic numbers and head-to-head records for the top 3.

The actual CS field and bracket are only final once the regular season ends. Check NPB's official announcements for exact schedules and rules.