The Seibu Lions clinched their second straight Pacific League pennant on Tuesday following a 12-4 rout of the Lotte Marines.

The pennant is the franchise's 23rd, the most in the PL and second in Japan only to the recently crowned Yomiuri Giants' 46, including nine in the single-league era. The back-to-back PL pennants are Seibu's first since 1997 and 1998.

For the second straight year, the Lions will lead both leagues in runs scored. They are also almost certain to have the league's worst team earned run average again.

Even putting their pitching woes aside, the Lions were expected to face a tougher road to the pennant this season. Two of their best players, pitcher Yusei Kikuchi and second baseman Hideto Asamura both left, Kikuchi for the major leagues' Seattle Mariners and Asamura to the PL's Rakuten Eagles.

On offense, Tomoya Mori became the full-time catcher and took a step forward offensively, striking out less while hitting for more power.

Asamura's absence allowed Shuta Tonosaki to play second full time, giving the productive utility man more at-bats and improving the infield defense. Shifting Tonosaki to second gave more playing time for Takeya Nakamura.

The pitching got a boost from a pair of starters, rookie Wataru Matsumoto and new import Zach Neal. In the bullpen, closer Tatsushi Masuda bounced back from a career nadir in 2018 to a career year this season, setting career highs in saves and strikeouts.

Middle reliever Katsunori Hirai remained essentially as effective as he had been while pitching much more than he did the past two seasons.

While the Lions will finish with at least seven fewer wins this season, it proved to be enough to edge out a SoftBank Hawks team that was ravaged by injuries and largely kept afloat by its minor league reserves.