For no particular reason I don’t make it over to CJ Nitkowski’s blog  all that often, but he’s got a post up now that really hones in on the appeal of the interleague play system in Japan. Ever since MLB decided that the All-star Game (”and starting in right field for the National League….Ken Griffey Jr.!!!”) ought to determine who would get home field advantage in what ultimately decides the champion of the league, I’ve wished they’d follow the NPB’s lead on this. Or at least make interleague play something valuable in itself.

The tie breaker rules are kind of silly if you ask me but they worked in our favor. The rules state that if there is a tie at the end of play last season’s interleague records will be used as the tie breaker. The Fighters won interleague last year so had they won tonight they would have been champions. We had a better record than the Tigers in 2007 so we needed them to win and we had to beat the Giants to take the title. The Tigers had a 3-1 record against us in interleague this year, that’s why I say we were lucky with the tie breaker rules.

The news came through that the Tigers had beaten the Fighters. Now we controlled our own destiny. It was the 8th inning at the time and we were tied with the Giants 2-2. In the top of the 9th we played an incredible game of small ball. Giants closer Marc Kroon was on the hill for the Giants, the hardest thrower in Japan. Last time we faced him at the Yahoo! Dome he threw a 162 km (101 mph) fastball, a Japanese record.

I’m sure  some fans think interleague play is made too valuable in NPB. But in my mind, better to error on that side than to make it worth braggin’ rights, or to give a random exhibition any weight. Maybe I just don’t like the All-star game.

We squeezed out an infield single followed by 2 sacrifice bunts. This was an amazing feat for us. Kroon has to be the most difficult pitcher to bunt against in NPB. With the infield drawn in and runners on 2nd and 3rd we hit a ground ball to 2B. The Giants?second baseman made a nice play and threw home but Takeshi Tsuji had a great slide into home plate and was safe by inches.

My Japanese friend Akihiro Yanase got the first two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Amazingly we threw out one of the Giants best base stealers for the second out. I was brought in to face a lefty to try and finish off the win.

The adrenaline I felt taking the mound was exciting. The opportunity to clinch the interleague title in Tokyo Dome was awesome. I couldn’t wait for the inning to start. I inherited a 1 ball, no strike count. I was so excited I had to remind myself to stay calm and to not try to do more than I am capable of. I was also thinking about the staff and players on the team that so badly wanted this interleague title.

If you are reading this as an American baseball fan you are probably asking yourself what’s the big deal, who cares if you finish in first or second for interleague play?? Well, in Japan it is completely different. The NPB puts up a prize of about $500,000 USD to the team that wins interleague play. I have never had a chance to get one hitter out for a half of million dollars until tonight.

I was lucky enough to catch the highlight of this during a KBO postgame show. It’s fun to have this kind of excitement in the middle of the season.

After throwing 2 strikes I got the lefty pinch hitter to roll over on a cutter and hit a ground ball to our second baseman. We were Interleague Champs and that was a great feeling. It’s only mid season but for us, a team that has struggled this season, it was important. We had a chance to do something that mattered and we finished the task. We need to take this momentum into regular season play and make a charge toward the Pacific League title, the one that really matters.

Read the rest of the post here. Again, I got this from japanesebaseball.com.