The Pacific League concluded its 2026 regular season schedule on October 7, finalizing a standings order that saw the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks capture the pennant. As the professional baseball season wrapped up, a television broadcast by TV Tokyo titled Degawa Tetsuro’s Professional Baseball Standings Prediction 2026 resurfaced how 12 prominent Japanese entertainment personalities envisioned the race before a pitch was thrown.
Recorded on March 12 before the regular season games began, the program featured veteran comedian Tetsuro Degawa offering a lighthearted disclaimer. Degawa told viewers and industry personnel to view the segment simply as the drunken tavern chatter of middle-aged men deeply passionate about the sport, asking for grace as the predictions unfolded over the months.
How the Pacific League Finished the Season
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks secured the top spot in the official Pacific League standings after 143 games of fierce competition. The Saitama Seibu Lions claimed second place, while the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters finished third to round out the upper tier of the postseason picture.
Further down the table, the Orix Buffaloes landed in fourth place. The Chiba Lotte Marines finished fifth, and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles brought up the rear in sixth place as the final outs of the regular season were recorded.
Celebrity Forecasts Versus Reality
The 12 celebrity panelists offered vastly different trajectories for the six Pacific League franchises based on their individual fandoms. Hakata Maru, a known supporter of the Fukuoka-based club, accurately predicted the Hawks would take the pennant, putting Hokkaido Nippon-Ham in second and Orix in third.
Conversely, die-hard Nippon-Ham fan Hikaru Ijuin placed his beloved Fighters at the top of his preseason ballot, slotting SoftBank into the runner-up position. Comedian Keisuke Okada of Masuda Okada, representing the Orix fan base, mirrored Ijuin’s top-three configuration by picking Hokkaido Nippon-Ham first, SoftBank second, and his preferred Orix squad third.
Hey! Say! JUMP member Hikaru Yaotome, supporting Rakuten, placed Nippon-Ham first followed by the Golden Eagles in second, dropping SoftBank down to third place. Kasuga Toshiaki of Audrey, backing Seibu, picked SoftBank to win the league, placed Nippon-Ham second, and put his Lions in the third position.
The Rest of the Panel Predictions
Total Tenbos member Futoshi Fujita, supporting Chiba Lotte, forecast a Nippon-Ham championship followed by SoftBank and his own Marines in third. Host Tetsuro Degawa aligned with the same top four, picking Hokkaido Nippon-Ham, Fukuoka SoftBank, Orix, and Saitama Seibu in order.
Locchi comedian Nakaoka Soichi, Ozzwald member Junnosuke Ito, and downtown fixture Masakazu Mimura all shared an identical top-four forecast: Nippon-Ham first, SoftBank second, Orix third, and Seibu fourth. Rakugo storyteller Tatekawa Shiraku placed Nippon-Ham at the top, SoftBank second, and Chiba Lotte in the third slot. Ungirls member Takashi Tanaka rounded out the predictions by putting SoftBank first and Nippon-Ham second.
