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94-536: The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation of the "Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club" ( 大日本東京野球倶楽部 , Dai-Nippon Tōkyō Yakyū Kurabu ) in 1934. The first professional circuit for the sport in Japan, the Japanese Baseball League (JBL), was founded two years later and continued to play even through the final years of World War II . The organization that is today's NPB was formed when

188-552: A posting system for players under contract. MLB teams wishing to negotiate with a player submit bids for a "posting fee", which the winning MLB team would pay the Japanese team if the player signs with the MLB team. Free agents are not subject to the posting system, however, and some teams almost never post their players. The first professional baseball team in Japan was founded by media mogul Matsutarō Shōriki in late 1934 and called

282-411: A PL team has come out on top every season but four. Of those four CL champions, none of them are based outside of Tokyo Prefecture . The event's sponsor, Nippon Life, also announces several awards, all of which are accompanied by a monetary prize. Player awards include one interleague Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and two Nippon Life Awards, one from each league. A monetary prize is also distributed to

376-434: A best-of-six series played entirely in the pennant winner's home stadium. The higher seed always starts with a "ghost win", or a 1–0 advantage in the series before any games have been played, meaning the higher seed only has to win three games whereas the lower seed has to win four games. In the event of a tie, the higher seed would subsequently only need to win two games. The winners of each league's Final Stage then face off in

470-493: A feature of the Japanese professional leagues since 1934. Hundreds of foreigners—particularly Americans—have played NPB. Taiwanese nationals Shosei Go and Hiroshi Oshita both starred in the 1940s. American players began to steadily find spots on NPB rosters in the 1960s. American players hold several NPB records, including highest single-season batting average ( Randy Bass , .389), and the dubious record of most strikeouts in

564-403: A limited number of fans to attend games, with plans to further ease restrictions in the near future. On 19 September, attendance was expanded to a maximum of 20,000 fans per game, or 50% of stadium capacity. For most of its history, NPB regulations imposed " gaijin waku", a limit on the number of non-Japanese people per team to two or three—including the manager and/or coaching staff. Even today,

658-739: A member of the champion Kyojin. Hiroshi Oshita was another Taiwanese player who starred in the JBL. From 1946 to 1949 he played for the Tokyo Senators / Tokyu Flyers . (After reorganization, Oshita stayed with the Flyers until 1951, and then moved to the Nishitetsu Lions , finishing his Japanese professional career with a .303 lifetime batting average, 201 home runs, and 861 RBI.) Harris McGalliard (Japan's "Bucky Harris"), Herbert "Buster" North , and James E. Bonner ("Jimmy Bonna") became

752-428: A number of players in the league both pitched and batted . At first (until after World War II ), the JBL was a " dead ball " league, due to Japan conserving rubber (including inside baseballs) for its war efforts; instead it used Balatá inside the balls. Initially, the league played split seasons, doing so from 1936 to 1938. In the debut 1936 season, it split into spring, summer, and fall seasons, only keeping track of

846-611: A one-league system, however the All-Star Series and the Japan Series , two series played between teams and players from the opposing leagues, could be saved. Eventually, team representatives approved the merger between the Buffaloes and BlueWave but also agreed to maintain the two-league system while still looking into introducing interleague games for the next season. During an owners meeting on September 29, 2004,

940-525: A plan was approved to hold interleague regular-season games during the 2005 season . Nippon Professional Baseball first implemented regular-season interleague games in the 2005 season. Thirty-six interleague games were played by all twelve teams during a single six-week block between May 6 and June 16 and the event was sponsored by Nippon Life . Each team in the Central and Pacific Leagues played three home and three away games against each club from

1034-411: A possible solution. Team representatives eventually approved one merger, agreed to maintain the two-league system, and approved to hold interleague regular-season games during the 2005 season . Originally, each team played 36 games against teams in the other league. Two years later, interleague play was cut to 24 games per team for the 2007 season. The amount of interleague regular-season games

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1128-744: A season by a hitter ( Ralph Bryant , 204). Americans rank #4 ( Tuffy Rhodes , 55) and #7 ( Randy Bass , 54) on the list of most home runs in a season, and #2 in single-season RBI ( Bobby Rose , 153). Curaçaoan – Dutch outfielder Wladimir Balentien holds the NPB single-season home run record with 60 round-trippers in 2013. Koreans have had an impact in the NPB as well, including such standout players as Lee Seung-yuop , Sun Dong-yol , Baek In-chun , Lee Jong-beom , and Dae-ho Lee . Venezuelans Alex Ramírez , Alex Cabrera , Bobby Marcano , and Roberto Petagine all had long, successful NPB careers. The Dominican third baseman José Fernández played eleven years in

1222-504: A separate champion being crowned for the team with the best record through the 18 games of interleague play. In general, Japanese teams play six games a week, with every Monday off (except on specific occasions, such as a game being played outside of the home team's primary stadium or if a rainout forced a game to be postponed to a Monday). Unlike in Major League Baseball , doubleheaders have not been featured in NPB since

1316-420: A series of exhibition games between CL and PL teams. After each team played one game against all six teams in the other league, the team with the highest winning percentage was declared the winner. All of the games featured the designated hitter rule and any game tied at the end of nine innings resulted in a draw. Among other payouts, the winning team received ¥10 million of the ¥34.6 million purse and

1410-471: A team cannot have more than four foreign players on a 25-man game roster, although there is no limit on the number of foreign players that it may sign. If there are four, they cannot all be pitchers nor all be position players. This limits the cost and competition for expensive players of other nationalities, and is similar to rules in many European sports leagues' roster limits on non-European players. Nonetheless, expatriate baseball players in Japan have been

1504-611: Is an event consisting of 108 regular-season baseball games played between Central League (CL) and Pacific League (PL) teams in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Prior to 2005, matchups between CL and PL teams occurred only during spring training, the All-Star Series , a short-lived exhibition tournament called the Suntory Cup, and the Japan Series . Central League teams were reluctant to implement regular-season interleague play as it would reduce

1598-823: Is implemented when PL clubs are the home team. Since its implementation, the Pacific League has won more games against the Central League every year except three, the 2009, 2021, and 2022 seasons. At the conclusion of interleague play, the team with the best winning percentage during the event is named the winner; a PL team has come out on top every season but four. The event's sponsor also announces three player awards: one interleague Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and two Nippon Life Awards, one from each league. Unlike Major League Baseball (MLB), Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) does not require teams to participate in revenue sharing strategies that would help correct

1692-498: Is the authority for games played in the CL stadiums, and the Pacific League chairman oversees contests where the PL club is the home team. Likewise, the designated hitter rule is implemented when PL clubs are the home team, however pitchers bat when the traditional style of nine-man baseball is played when a CL team hosts the game. The PL rule of announcing starting pitchers the day before game day

1786-587: The Dai Nippon Tokyo Yakyu Kurabu ("the Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club"). After matching up with a team of visiting American All-Stars that included Babe Ruth , Jimmie Foxx , Lou Gehrig , and Charlie Gehringer , the team spent the 1935 season barnstorming in the U.S., winning 93 of 102 games against semi-pro and Pacific Coast League teams. According to historian Joseph Reaves, "The only minor drawbacks to

1880-940: The Kintetsu Buffaloes and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers . Nomo pitched over the span of 14 seasons in the Major Leagues before retiring in 2008. He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1995. He twice led the league in strikeouts, and also threw two no-hitters (the only Japanese pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Major League Baseball until Hisashi Iwakuma achieved the feat in August 2015). Nomo's MLB success led to more NPB players moving to Major League Baseball , and eventually led to

1974-470: The Kintetsu Buffaloes , then signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers , has also added to the financial problems. Attendance suffered as teams lost their most marketable players, while TV ratings declined as viewers tuned into broadcasts of Major League games. To discourage players from leaving to play in North America, or to at least compensate teams that lose players, Japanese baseball and MLB agreed on

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2068-675: The Korakuen Eagles ) and the Nishitetsu Baseball Club (originally the Tokyo Senators ). Due to the Pacific War , the 1944 season was truncated to about 35 games, and the 1945 season was skipped entirely. Many players enlisted in the Japanese Imperial Army , with 72 of them losing their lives in the war. The league restarted on November 6, 1945, and a full season of 105 games was played

2162-665: The Orix BlueWave (becoming the Orix Buffaloes) in the middle of 2004, which caused a player strike that eventually resulted in the creation of the Tōhoku Rakuten Golden Eagles being founded in Sendai to maintain the 12-team balance before the 2005 season. Until 1993, baseball was the only team sport played professionally in Japan. In that year, the J.League professional association football league

2256-602: The Pacific 's "Taihei" ( tranquility ) began to be used by the press . However, some teams rejected the use of these pet names, so they were never fully adopted. The 1948 season had a 140-game schedule, and the 1949 season had a 134-game schedule. After the 1949 season, the league reorganized into today's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). The four earliest-established clubs formerly in the Japanese Baseball League were placed in NPB's Central League , while

2350-756: The Pacific League and the Central League winning 37 each. NPB was the only professional sports league in Japan until the foundation of the J.League in 1993. It is the eleventh-wealthiest professional sport league by revenue in the world, and the second-wealthiest baseball league, behind only Major League Baseball (MLB); it is also the wealthiest sports league in Asia. NPB has the second-highest total season attendance of any league, also behind MLB, despite playing considerably fewer games per season. Nippon Professional Baseball consists of two leagues,

2444-1034: The Taiyō Whales . Four JBL teams formed the basis of the Pacific League: the Hankyu Braves , the Nankai Hawks , the Daiei Stars , and the Tokyu Flyers . To fill out the league, three new teams were formed: the Kintetsu Pearls , the Mainichi Orions , and the Nishitetsu Clippers . Matsutarō Shōriki , the Giants' owner, acted as NPB's unofficial commissioner and oversaw the first Japan Series , which featured

2538-510: The Tokyo Senators . The 1940 season featured a 104-game schedule. In October 1940 (responding to rising hostility toward the West due to World War II), the league outlawed the use of English in Japanese baseball. In response, the Korakuen Eagles became "Kurowashi", the Osaka Tigers became "Hanshin", the Tokyo Senators became "Tsubasa", and (eventually) Lion became "Asahi." In 1941,

2632-738: The Western League and the Eastern League . Since the first Japan Series in 1950 , the Yomiuri Giants have the most championships with 22, and the most appearances with 37. Following the 2024 season, the Yokohama DeNA BayStars , who defeated the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4–2 in the 2024 Japan Series , are the reigning champions. The Japan Series has been contested 74 times as of 2023, with

2726-420: The Yomiuri Giants won nine consecutive Japan Series championships from 1965 to 1973. The Black Mist Scandal rocked Nippon Professional Baseball between 1969 and 1971. The fallout from a series of game-fixing scandals resulted in several star players receiving long suspensions, salary cuts, or being banned from professional play entirely; the resulting abandonment of baseball by many fans in Japan also led to

2820-699: The four major professional sports leagues of North America whose leagues each operate as one singular entity. TV rights for games are always held by a game's home team. The Pacific League has used the designated hitter (DH) rule since 1975, while the Central League has not used the DH outside of interleague play where a Pacific League team is the home team and in the 1985 Japan Series . The season starts in late March or early April, and ends in October, with two or three all-star games in July. In recent decades prior to 2007,

2914-719: The Blue Wave (forming into the Orix Buffaloes ); in addition, the Rakuten Golden Eagles were newly created (at a reduced "entry fee") to keep the former six-team league structure. Other agreements included the leagues adopting interleague play to help the Pacific League gain exposure by playing the more popular Central league teams. All these changes took place before the 2005 season. The two leagues began interleague play in 2005, with each team playing two three-game series (one home, one away) against each of

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3008-499: The CL and PL, with the CL representative getting home-field advantage in even years and the PL representative getting home-field advantage in odd years. Since its adoption by both leagues in 2007, Climax Series does not determine who won each league's pennant , rather the team with the best regular season record in each league wins the pennant, regardless of their result in the Climax Series. This has led to four occasions where

3102-422: The Central League and the Pacific League, which each have six teams. There are also two secondary-level professional minor leagues, the Eastern League and the Western League , that play shorter schedules for developing players. NPB teams are allowed to have more than one minor league team as long as they are outside of the established minor league system, with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Yomiuri Giants being

3196-548: The Central League, the Climax Series is a two-stage system; in the "First Stage", the second and third-place ranking teams face off in a best-of-three series played entirely in the second place team's home stadium. In the case of an instance where the series ends 1–1–1, the higher seed always advances to the Final Stage. In the "Final Stage", the winner of the First Stage will face off against the league's pennant winner in

3290-564: The JBL appointed its first president, Jiro Morioka (formerly VP of Dai Tokyo ). Morioka negotiated with the Japanese Imperial Army to keep professional baseball going through the early years of the Second World War. The league played a 90-game schedule in 1941, a 104-game schedule in 1942, and an 84-game schedule in 1943. Two Tokyo-based teams dissolved before the 1944 season: the Yamato Baseball Club (originally

3384-414: The JBL reorganized in 1950, dividing its 15 teams into two leagues, which would meet in the annual season-ending Japan Series championship play-off series of games starting that year. NPB comprises twelve teams divided equally in two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League , a format which it has largely kept since 1957 . It has seen several waves of expansion and contraction, sometimes at

3478-686: The Japan Series champion did not win their league's pennant that year, with those being the 2007 Chunichi Dragons , 2010 Chiba Lotte Marines , and the 2018 and 2019 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks . However, from 2004 to 2006 , the winner of the Pacific League Playoffs was given the Pacific League pennant for that year. Financial problems plague many teams in the league. It is believed that all teams are operating with considerable subsidies, often as much as ¥ 6 billion (about US$ 44.9 million), from their parent companies. A raise in

3572-507: The Japan Series, a best-of-seven series mirroring the format of the World Series . In the rare instance where the series ends 3–3–1 after seven games, a Game 8 will be played with unlimited innings at the stadium with home-field advantage . Hypothetically, a Japan Series can go up to 14 games in length if each of the first seven games resulted in a 12-inning tie. Since its inception, home-field advantage alternates from year to year between

3666-417: The Japanese Baseball League era included Haruyasu Nakajima , Tetsuharu Kawakami , and Kazuto Tsuruoka ; pitchers Hideo Fujimoto , Eiji Sawamura , Victor Starffin , and Tadashi Wakabayashi ; and two-way players Fumio Fujimura , Shosei Go , Masaru Kageura , and Jiro Noguchi . Unlike American pro teams, Japanese Baseball League teams were usually named after their corporate owners/sponsors rather than

3760-541: The Kokumin League disbanded a few games into the 1947 fall season. The Japanese Baseball League played a 119-game schedule in 1947. That year, baseball personality Sōtaro Suzuki proposed that JBL teams should have pet names like the Yomiuri Giants', whose pet name was "Kyojin", and names such as the Osaka Tigers ' alias "Mouko" ( fierce tiger ), the revived Tokyo Senators ' "Seito" ( bluestockings ) and

3854-559: The Lions in this period was "The Oriental Express" Taigen Kaku , Osamu Higashio , Kimiyasu Kudoh , Hisanobu Watanabe , and relievers Yoshitaka Katori and Tetsuya Shiozaki . American expatriate players made their mark in NPB in the 1980s, with players like the Lee brothers ( Leron Lee and Leon Lee ), Greg "Boomer" Wells , Randy Bass , and Ralph Bryant playing key roles on their NPB teams. In 1995, star pitcher Hideo Nomo "retired" from

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3948-613: The Mainichi Orions defeating the Shochiku Robins 4 games to 2. The Central League's Nishi Nippon Pirates existed for one season—they placed sixth in 1950, and the following season merged with the Nishitetsu Clippers (also based in Fukuoka) to form the Nishitetsu Lions . This brought the number of Central League teams down to an ungainly arrangement of seven. In 1952, it was decided that any Central League team ending

4042-743: The NPB, compiling a .282 batting average with 206 home runs and 772 runs batted in. Many of the most celebrated foreign players came to Japan after not finding success in the Major Leagues ; see " Big in Japan ". Since the 1970s, foreigners have also made an impact in Nippon Professional Baseball's managing and coaching ranks, with Americans Bobby Valentine and Trey Hillman managing their respective teams to Japan Series championships. Plays between Osaka and Hyogo Japanese Baseball League The Japanese Baseball League ( 日本野球連盟 , Nihon Yakyū Renmei )

4136-426: The Pacific League team was the home team, it was in effect in Central League parks. Later that same season, it was announced that the interleague schedule would again be changed for a third time starting with the 2015 season. Again, the CL was unhappy with the interleague schedule. They cited the frequent travel required for the shorter two-game series of the 24-game format as the reason for the change. CL officials used

4230-545: The Pacific League was hit significantly harder by the Black Mist Scandal than the Central League, with only the Hankyu Braves not having players involved in the incident. After being a second division team for much of the 1960s and 1970s, in 1983 the Seibu Lions began a period of sustained success. The team gained the moniker "Invincible Seibu" during the 1980s and 1990s due to their sustained domination of

4324-551: The Unions merged with the Mainichi Orions to form the Daimai Orions . This enabled the Pacific League to contract from the ungainly seven-team arrangement to six teams. After these various franchise developments, by the end of the 1950s, Nippon Professional Baseball had contracted from the initial allotment of 15 teams down to the current number of 12. On September 1, 1964, Nankai Hawks ' prospect Masanori Murakami became

4418-664: The area in which they were based. All league championships went to whoever had the best record at the end of the season, without a postseason series being played. The league was established on February 5, 1936, as the Japan Occupational Baseball League , with an initial complement of seven teams. Three of the teams were based in Tokyo, two in Osaka , and two in Nagoya . Due to a lack of position players,

4512-471: The cities or regions in which they played. This was because Japanese franchising does not have strong territorial requirements as in the Major Leagues; as a result, the JBL teams clustered in metropolitan areas in Japan's center (Tokyo, Nagoya ) and south ( Osaka ). As a result, teams were notorious for how often they changed their names, often because of changes in ownership/sponsorship (and also because of nationalistic regulations imposed during wartime, such as

4606-424: The creation of the " posting system " in 1998. Since Nomo's exodus, more than 60 NPB players have played Major League Baseball. Some of the more notable examples include: In September 2004, the professional Japanese players went on strike for the first time in over 70 years. The strike arose from a dispute that took place between the owners of the 12 professional Japanese baseball teams and the players' union (which

4700-417: The eleven remaining teams accounted for the other 60%. Because of this imbalance, Pacific League (PL) team owners had lobbied the commissioner's office and the CL owners for years to introduce interleague play into the regular season, however CL teams rejected the idea. They believed that if PL teams were allowed to play against the Giants, the remaining five CL teams would lose home games against Yomiuri and

4794-749: The first Americans to play in Japan's professional baseball league in 1936. (Bonner was African-American , thus beating Jackie Robinson to professional baseball 11 years before Robinson broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers .) They were joined by the Japanese-American players Kiyomi "Slim" Hirakawa, Fumito "Jimmy" Horio, Kazuyoshi "George" Matsuura, Yoshio "Sam" Takahashi, and Tadashi "Bozo" Wakabayashi . Season champion in bold. Interleague play (NPB) Interleague play ( セ・パ交流戦 , Se・Pa kōryū-sen ) , officially titled Nippon Life Interleague Play for event sponsor Nippon Life ,

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4888-474: The first Japanese player to play in Major League Baseball when he appeared on the mound for the San Francisco Giants ; he returned to Japan in 1966. Disputes over the rights to his contract eventually led to the 1967 United States – Japanese Player Contract Agreement; it would be almost 30 years before another Japanese player played in the Major Leagues. Continuing their dominance from the JBL,

4982-944: The first president of the Pacific League.) The league now known as Nippon Pro Baseball began play in the 1950 season. Four JBL teams formed the basis of the Central League: the Chunichi Dragons , the Hanshin Tigers , the Yomiuri Giants , and the Shochiku Robins (formerly the Taiyō Robins). To fill out the league, four new teams were formed: the Hiroshima Carp , the Kokutetsu Swallows , the Nishi Nippon Pirates , and

5076-429: The first time since its inception that interleague games would not be held and was an effort to maximize the number of regular-season intraleague games that could be played during the shortened season. Cancellations and modifications of both the All-Star Series and Climax Series were also eventually announced for the same reasons. Interleague play is treated as its own event with definitive start and end dates within

5170-401: The four later surviving franchises went to the Pacific League . Victor Starffin , an ethnic Russian pitcher, was a dominant player of the era and the first professional pitcher in Japan to win 300 games. Shosei Go , nicknamed "The Human Locomotive", was a speedy player from Taiwan who played in the league for the Kyojin and the Tigers. He won the 1943 JBL Most Valuable Player award as

5264-442: The idea of in-season interleague games and was willing to discuss the idea with general managers and team owners. During the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment , the planned merger of two PL teams, the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave , along with the rumor of a second PL team merger in the near future prompted talk of possibly contracting and restructuring the two-league system into one ten-team league. If NPB

5358-408: The increased frequency of games being played by the Japan national baseball team as leverage in the negotiations, and argued that the international competitions required a more efficient NPB schedule. Interleague play was again reduced, this time from 24 to 18 games for each team. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , NPB decided to cancel interleague play for the 2020 season . The cancellation marked

5452-439: The late 1990s. Following the conclusion of each regular season, the top three teams from each league go on to play in the Climax Series championship play-off tournament, with the winner of each play-off tournament facing off in a best-of-seven championship series known as the Japan Series (known locally as the Nippon Series). Implemented in 2004 by the Pacific League (then known as the Pacific League Playoffs) and in 2007 by

5546-427: The league increased from four to five in 1988, when the Nankai Hawks (now Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks) were sold to Daiei and moved to Fukuoka , nine years after the Nishitetsu Lions moved from Fukuoka to Tokorozawa to become the Seibu Lions , and from five to seven between 2003 and 2005, as the Nippon-Ham Fighters moved from Tokyo to Sapporo prior to the 2004 season. The Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes merged with

5640-413: The league, winning 11 league championships and eight Japan Series championships between 1982 and 1994. The Lions had a powerful lineup in this period, loaded with sluggers such as Koji Akiyama , Kazuhiro Kiyohara , and Orestes Destrade . Their defense also benefited from the services of skilled players such as Hiromichi Ishige , Hatsuhiko Tsuji and catcher Tsutomu Ito . Among the pitchers employed by

5734-428: The money generated from games played against the Yomiuri Giants , the hugely popular CL team that generates the most money in Japanese baseball. However, during the 2004 NPB realignment , the merger of two PL teams that were struggling financially, the rumor of a second PL team merger, and talks of contracting and restructuring the two-league system into one ten-team league prompted the suggestion of interleague play as

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5828-455: The most valuable player of the series took home ¥2 million. Talk of introducing interleague play as regular season games emerged again before the 2004 season. In February, Keio University professor Masaru Ikei wrote an op-ed in the Sankei Shimbun detailing proposals that would help revive Japanese baseball; interleague play was his first idea. A few weeks later, Commissioner of Baseball Yasuchika Negoro expressed interest in exploring

5922-401: The next year, with two new teams (both based in Tokyo) joining the league. One of the new teams, Gold Star , was owned by textile manufacturer Komajiro Tamura , who also owned Pacific (formerly Asahi ). A rival four-team league, known as the Kokumin League ( 国民リーグ , Kokumin Riigu ) , played a 30-game summer season in 1947. Unable to compete against the more established JBL, however,

6016-468: The next year. The dispute received huge press coverage (which mostly favored Furuta and the players' union) and was dubbed one of the biggest events in the history of Japanese baseball. Proposals and amendments concerning interleague games, player drafting, and management were also discussed between the players union and the owners during this period. The strike was originally planned for all Saturday and Sunday games that month, starting from September 11, but

6110-439: The only teams taking advantage of this. As of 2023, the Hawks have three minor league teams, the Giants have two, and the other ten teams only have one minor league team each. Teams below the Eastern and Western Leagues play exhibition matches against various teams of collegiate, industrial , Shikoku Island League Plus , and other NPB minor league statuses. The Central League and Pacific League operate as separate entities, unlike

6204-421: The opposing league. All series during this period consisted of three games. For any weekend rainouts in any outdoor ballparks, Mondays served as makeup days. The four days between the end of interleague play on June 16 and resuming the regular intraleague schedule on June 21 were left open to accommodate any additional makeup games. After two seasons, the number of interleague games played by each team

6298-424: The outlawing of English team names). (The Yomiuri Giants , the Chunichi Dragons , and the Hanshin Tigers are the only surviving major clubs that have always been based in their respective cities. Additionally, the current Orix Buffaloes are a merger of two clubs which never left their hometowns.) Most Japanese Baseball League teams did not have an "official" home stadium; instead, teams played at any stadium in

6392-431: The owners agreed to guarantee the survival of the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks , leaving the Central League with six teams and the Pacific League with five. A battle escalated between the players union and the owners, and reached its height when Yomiuri Giants owner Tsuneo Watanabe controversially remarked that Furuta was "a mere player", implying that players had no say in what league would look like

6486-406: The regular season. All 108 interleague games are played in a three-week block beginning in late May. Ever since the 2015 season, each CL and PL team plays 18 games via a three-game series at home against half the teams in the opposing league and a three-game set on the road against the other half. Each consecutive season, teams switch these home-and-away roles. The Central League president

6580-419: The revenue imbalances between teams because of game attendance and television broadcasting contracts. These issues are problematic because the Yomiuri Giants , a team in the Central League (CL) and NPB's most popular team, generates revenue much easier than any other team. Daily Yomiuri baseball reporter Jim Allen has estimated that the Giants account for 40% of all NPB television broadcasting revenue, while

6674-440: The salaries of players is often blamed, but from the start of the professional league, parent companies paid the difference as an advertisement. Most teams have never tried to improve their finances through constructive marketing. In addition, teams in the Central League historically saw much higher profits than the Pacific League , having popular teams such as the Giants and Tigers. The number of metropolitan areas represented in

6768-493: The sale of the Nishitetsu Lions and the Toei Flyers . From 1973 to 1982, in a forerunner to today's Climax Series playoff rounds, the Pacific League employed a split season with the first-half winner playing against the second-half winner in a mini-playoff to determine its champion. In 1975, the Pacific League adopted the designated hitter rule. These were implemented in an attempt to draw fans back to Pacific League, as

6862-563: The same time, to keep it at those numbers; most recently, in 2005, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes merged with the Orix BlueWave to form the Orix Buffaloes , while the Rakuten Golden Eagles were added as an expansion team. As is common in Asian baseball (and unlike North American leagues), teams are generally named after their corporate owners, such as Yomiuri and Softbank . NPB also oversees two affiliated minor leagues ,

6956-637: The season with a winning percentage below .300 would be disbanded or merged with other teams. The Shochiku Robins fell into this category, and were merged with the Taiyō Whales to become the Taiyō Shochiku Robins in January 1953. This enabled the Central League to shrink to an even number of six teams. In 1954 a new Pacific League team was founded, the Takahashi Unions , to increase the number of teams in that division to eight. Although

7050-430: The sellout crowds and prime time TV and radio broadcasting rights money along with them. Additionally, Giants' owner Tsuneo Watanabe did not want his team competing against the PL teams. Sponsored by Suntory , the Suntory Cup was a preseason interleague tournament created to serve as a test run for regular-season interleague play. It was held only twice, once before the 1999 and 2000 seasons. The tournament consisted of

7144-424: The six teams in the other league. This was reduced to two two-game series in 2007. All interleague play games are played in a seven-week span near the middle of the season. As of the end of the 2017 season, the Pacific League has won the most games in interleague play since it began in 2005 twelve times, with 2009 being the only time that the Central League has won more games. After 2004, a three-team playoff system

7238-484: The standings in the fall season. The league played spring and fall seasons in 1937 (approximartely a 100-game schedule in total) and 1938 (total 75-game schedule), adding one new team each year. The league was renamed the Japanese Baseball League in 1939, playing a 96-game schedule. Before the 1940 season, one of the founding teams, Nagoya Kinko (originally the Nagoya Golden Dolphins ), merged with

7332-471: The team was stocked with players from the other Pacific League teams, the Unions struggled from the outset and finished in the second division every season. In 1957, the Unions were merged with the Daiei Stars to form the Daiei Unions (and again bringing the number of Pacific League teams down to seven). The Unions existed for a single season, finishing in last place, 43-1/2 games out of first. In 1958,

7426-588: The team's popularity in the States were their kanji characters and their cumbersome Japanese name. They rectified both by renaming themselves the Tokyo Kyojin ['Tokyo Giants'] and adopting a uniform identical to the New York Giants ..." From 1936 to 1950, professional baseball in Japan was played under the banner of the Japanese Baseball League (JBL). The league's dominant team during this period

7520-426: The two leagues each scheduled between 130 and 140 regular season games, with the 146 games played by the Central League in 2005 and 2006 being the only exception. Both leagues have since adopted 143-game seasons, 71 or 72 each at home and on road, facing their five respective intra-league opponents 25 times each and facing their six interleague opponents three times each in late May to early June in interleague play, with

7614-488: Was a professional baseball league in Japan which operated from 1936 to 1949, before reorganizing in 1950 as Nippon Professional Baseball . The league's dominant team was Tokyo Kyojin (renamed the Yomiuri Giants in 1947), which won nine league championships, including six in a row from 1938 to 1943, when many of Japan's best players were serving in the Imperial Japanese Army . Standout players from

7708-496: Was again reduced for the start of the 2015 season to 18 games per team where it has remained through today. Interleague play is a single event within the regular season with all games being played during a three-week block beginning in late May. Each CL and PL team plays a three-game series at home against half the teams in the opposing league and a three-game set on the road against the other half. Each consecutive season, teams switch these home-and-away roles. The designated hitter

7802-507: Was delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Initially preseason games were set to be played without spectators, but with opening day of March 20 remaining unchanged. With the lifting of states of emergency over major Japanese cities, NPB announced that it would begin its regular season on 19 June behind closed doors . "Warm-up" games began 26 May. The shortened 120-game regular season began on 19 June. On 10 July, NPB began allowing

7896-533: Was forced to resign over the scandal when the changed baseball was revealed. Former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe 's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has proposed expanding NPB to 16 total teams by adding two expansion franchises in each of the country's top-tier professional baseball leagues. The goal of such a move would be to energize the economies of the regions receiving the new teams. Okinawa , Shizuoka , Shikoku , and Niigata have been identified as regions that could play host to said teams. The 2020 NPB season

7990-408: Was founded. The new league placed teams in prefectural capitals around the country—rather than clustering them in and around Tokyo—and the teams were named after their locations rather than after corporate sponsors, despite many clubs in the J.League still being owned and subsidized by corporate entities. The wave of players moving to Major League Baseball, which began with Hideo Nomo "retiring" from

8084-442: Was introduced in the Pacific League , dubbed the "Pacific League Championship Series". The teams with the second- and third-best records play in the three-game first stage, with the winner advancing to the five-game final against the top team. The winner becomes the representative of the Pacific League to the Japan Series. Since the Pacific League won every Japan Series after introducing this league playoff system, an identical system

8178-531: Was introduced to the Central League in 2007, and the post-season intra-league games were renamed the " Climax Series " in both leagues. Player statistics and drafting order based on team records are not affected by these postseason games. In 2011, Miyagi Baseball Stadium , home of the Rakuten Eagles, was badly damaged by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami . The 2013 season featured a livelier baseball, which

8272-486: Was led by popular Yakult Swallows player-manager Atsuya Furuta ), concerning the merging of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave . The owners wanted to get rid of the financially defunct Buffaloes, and merge the two baseball leagues, since teams in the Central League saw much higher profits than the Pacific League , having popular teams such as the Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers . After negotiations,

8366-401: Was not in effect regardless of where the games are played, and two umpires from each league work the games. Since interleague play's implementation in the 2005 season, the Pacific League has won more games against the Central League every season except for three, the 2009, 2021, and 2022 seasons. At its conclusion, the team with the best winning percentage during the event is named the winner;

8460-439: Was pushed back due to the agreement of another meeting between the union and the owners on September 10. The players decided to strike on September 18–19, 2004, when no progress was made in the negotiations, as there was insufficient time left in the season to hold discussions. The dispute officially ended after the two groups reached consensus on September 23, 2004. As part of the agreement, the Buffaloes were allowed to merge with

8554-418: Was reduced from 36 to 24. CL representatives pushed for a reduction in games because they believed that the four off days needed to potentially replay postponed games were too many. Each of the twelve series was reduced from three to two games. For only the 2014 season, the 10th season featuring interleague play, NPB inverted the designated hitter rule. Instead of the designated hitter being used in games where

8648-401: Was restructured in this way, every team would be playing every other team throughout the regular season. Instead of this restructuring, Hanshin Tigers ' president Katsuyoshi Nozaki proposed interleague play as a possible alternative solution. He claimed that interleague play would allow Central and Pacific League teams to play each other an equal number of times so that it would seem that it was

8742-429: Was secretly introduced into NPB, resulting in a marked increase in home runs league-wide. Tokyo Yakult Swallows outfielder Wladimir Balentien broke the NPB single-season home run record of 55, previously held by professional baseball's all-time home run leader Sadaharu Oh in 1964, Tuffy Rhodes in 2001, and Alex Cabrera in 2002. Balantien finished the season with 60 home runs. Three-term NPB commissioner Ryōzō Katō

8836-504: Was the Tokyo Kyojin , which won nine league championships, including six in a row from 1938 to 1943. (The team was officially renamed the Yomiuri Giants in 1947.) After the 1949 season, the JBL team owners reorganized into the NPB; Daiei Stars owner Masaichi Nagata promoted a two-league system, which became the Pacific League (initially called the Taiheiyo Baseball Union ) and the Central League . (Nagata became

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