On September 17, the 23rd game between Fukuoka Softbank and Orix Buffaloes was held at Kyocera Dome Osaka, and Fukuoka Softbank won 7-1, marking their longest winning streak of the season at 9 games. They secured their 22nd league championship, their third consecutive title.

Fukuoka Softbank's starting pitcher Haru Matsumoto escaped a two-out, second-base crisis in the first inning without giving up a run, but in the bottom of the second, he gave up a solo home run, the 16th of the season, to Kotaro Kobayashi for the opening run. Nevertheless, from the third inning onwards, he tightened up at key moments despite giving up hits in three consecutive innings, leaving the mound after 5 innings with 80 pitches, 6 hits, 1 Walk, 2 strike outs, and 1 run.

In the top of the sixth, the lineup created a chance with no outs and runners on first and second through a hit by Yuki Yanagita and a Hit by Pitch. After Tatsuru Yanagimachi hit a game-tying RBI single, Taisei Makihara followed with a two-run RBI triple from one out and runners on second and third to successfully take the lead. Furthermore, involving a wild pitch by the opposing pitcher, they scored a total of 4 runs in this inning.

In the top of the ninth, with one out and runners on first and second, they added a total of 3 points through an opponent's error, an RBI hit by Akira Kawase, and a sacrifice fly by Taisei Makihara. From the sixth inning onwards, three relief pitchers combined for no runs, and in the final bottom of the ninth with the score at 7-1, Kazuki Sugiyama closed the game. Haru Matsumoto earned his 11th win of the season. Taisei Makihara, with 3 RBIs including the game-winning hit, helped achieve the league's third consecutive title, the first in 60 years in franchise history and the first since moving the home base to Fukuoka.

On the other hand, for the defeated Orix Buffaloes, starting pitcher Ryuhei Sotani pitched 5.0 innings with 79 pitches, 5 hits, 3 Walks/Hit by Pitches, 3 strike outs, and 3 runs. In the lineup, Yuma Mune recorded 3 hits, and Kotaro Kobayashi and Yutaro Sugimoto each recorded 2 hits, but they lacked connection, finishing with 8 scattered hits and 1 run.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total
H 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 3 7
B 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

H ○Haru Matsumoto-Gota Suzuki-Hernandez-Osuna-Kazuki Sugiyama
B ●Ryuhei Sotani-Ryoga Tomiyama-Reiji Higashiyama-Taisuke Yamaoka-Hiroshi-Ryusei Gonda

Text by Aoi Yokoyama