Tissue anyone?

No, it's not allergy season. But Miyagi is home to the Golden Eagles' Kleenex Stadium Miyagi - which will host the championship game (among others).

(Can you tell my attempts at jokes/puns run really bad? If it's bad now, the last couple will be really bad.)

The #1 seed in the field just so happens to be Yu Darvish's alumnus - Tohoku. Joining them are perennial Sendai Ikuei, Shiroishi Kougyou, and the upstart Rifu squad who shocked many in the spring Koshien.

There's a good gap between games for these teams early, so any competition will have to sit knowing they're playing the best. The extra rest though could also do them some good. But playing in the Rakuten home park could pose some challenges.

In the interest of getting as many of these brackets out before competition begins, I'm leaving the Tohoku region and heading back to Kyushu to finish up there.