Final Stage. The bright spark of the season came from rookie starter Shota Takeda, who went 8–1 with an ERA of 1.07. In 2014 the Hawks won the Japan Series in five games over the Hanshin Tigers. Manager Koji Akiyama retired after the season, and the team named his former teammate Kimiyasu Kudo to succeed him. Under Kudoh's stewardship, SoftBank won for a second consecutive season in 2015 again in five games, this time over the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Outfielder Yuki Yanagita won Pacific League MVP, the batting title, and a Triple 3 (.300 BA, 30 HR, 30 SB or better in all 3 categories). It marked the first time since the Seibu Lions won three in a row from 1990 to 1992 that a team had won consecutive Japan Series championships. After falling to Shohei Ohtani and the Fighters in 2016, the Hawks rebounded to win the 2017 Japan Series on the back of a dominating 94-49-0 season, their best season since in terms of winning percentage and their first 90 win season since , in six games over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, in a series where the Hawks led 3–0, but were almost pushed to a seventh game. The following year the Hawks also won the 2018 Japan Series against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in six games, making it back to back titles for a second time, and four out of the last five; the next year, they became the first team to win three straight Japan Series titles since the Seibu Lions did it from 1990 to 1992, by sweeping the Yomiuri Giants. Pitcher Kodai Senga would blossom into the team's ace over their run of six championships in seven seasons, as he also threw the team's first no-hitter since 1943 on September 6, 2019, against the Chiba Lotte Marines. 2020s In , the Hawks won the 2020 Japan Series, again in a four game sweep over the Yomiuri Giants, becoming the first team to win more than three consecutive Japan Series titles since the Yomiuri Giants won the last of nine consecutive titles in 1973. They also became the first team in NPB history to sweep two Japan Series against the same opponent in back-to-back seasons. Most notably, Matt Moore pitched seven no-hit innings in Game 3 of that Japan Series as the Hawks came within one out of the first combined no-hitter in Japan Series