AP Sports Preview

TOKOROZAWA, Japan (Interstat) — The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks visit the Saitama Seibu Lions on Monday, May 4, 2026, for a 6 p.m. game at Seibu Dome.

SoftBank (16-14) enters on a three-game winning streak after routing the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 4-0 on Sunday. Seibu (15-16-1) lost 10-0 to the Chiba Lotte Marines on Sunday.

Hawks right-hander Yugo Maeda is a player to watch. In his most recent outing Sunday against Rakuten, Maeda pitched five innings, allowing four hits and no earned runs with one strikeout in a 7-0 loss.

Lions left-hander Shota Hamaya also is a key player. On Sunday against Lotte, Hamaya pitched one inning, allowing one hit and no earned runs. On April 23 against SoftBank, he allowed two earned runs on two hits in one inning of a 4-3 loss.

Seibu leads the season series 3-2. The Lions won 6-4 on April 21 and 3-1 on April 22 before SoftBank won 4-3 on April 23. Earlier, Seibu won 8-6 on April 7 and 2-1 on April 8 before SoftBank won 2-0 on April 9.

SoftBank has won four of its past five games. Seibu has won three of its past four.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a 6-3 Seibu victory. Interstat’s ELO system projects SoftBank with a 63.60 percent probability to win.

Monday’s game is the first of a three-game series at Seibu Dome.