SENDAI — One of Japanese baseball's marquee pitchers will be missing from the second stage of the Pacific League Climax Series. No matter, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles are bringing a spare. Offense may have stolen the show in Rakuten's victory over the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in stage one, but Hisashi Iwakuma and Masahiro Tanaka showed Rakuten's true strength is on the mound. Rakuten's two star pitchers put on a show in the first round, likely making the absence of Hokkaido Nippon Ham ace Yu Darvish loom larger in the minds of Fighters fans. Darvish is expected to miss the entire second stage due to injury. Both Eagles pitchers recorded complete-game victories and left the Hawks looking hapless as they sparked a series sweep in stage one. "Our plan now is to go to Sapporo, win against Nippon Ham and bring the Japan Series... [read full story]
