Nippon Professional Baseball
Baseball league representing the highest level of professional baseball in Japan
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2024 | Yomiuri Giants lead the Central League standings with 77 wins and 59 losses, securing the top position in their league. |
2024 | Interleague play occurs during the 2024 season, with teams from Central and Pacific Leagues competing against each other, resulting in the Pacific League winning 53 games and losing 52 against the Central League, with 3 ties. |
2024 | Nippon Professional Baseball regular season takes place, featuring two leagues: Central League and Pacific League, with 6 teams in each league competing in a full season of play. |
2024 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks top the Pacific League standings with 91 wins and 49 losses, demonstrating dominance in their league. |
2024 | The Hanshin Tigers, defending champions from the previous season, were eliminated in the first stage of the Central League Climax Series by the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. |
2024 | The 75th season of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was held, marking 90 years since the founding of professional baseball in Japan. |
2023 | The 74th season of professional baseball in Japan was held, featuring 12 teams divided equally between the Central League and Pacific League. |
2023 | Japan reclaimed the World Baseball Classic title by defeating the United States 3-2 in the Championship game, marking their third tournament victory. |
October 2023 | The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the 2023 Japan Series, defeating the Chunichi Dragons in the championship series and claiming their fourth consecutive Japan Series title. |
2022 | The 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) season took place, with teams competing in the professional baseball league of Japan. |
2022 | The Tokyo Yakult Swallows won the Central League pennant for the second consecutive year, defeating the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. |
2022 | The Orix Buffaloes won the Pacific League pennant over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks via the first pennant tiebreaker in NPB history. |
August 27 2022 | Cody Ponce of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters threw a no-hitter against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in just his 2nd start, becoming the first foreign player since Rick Guttormson in 2006 to throw a no-hitter and the first Pacific League foreign player to do so since Narciso Elvira in 2000. |
June 18 2022 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Orix Buffaloes threw a no-hitter against the Saitama Seibu Lions. |
June 7 2022 | Shōta Imanaga of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars threw a no-hitter during interleague play against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, which was also the first no-hitter in the history of the Sapporo Dome in its final season as the home of the Fighters. |
May 11 2022 | Nao Higashihama of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks threw a no-hitter against the Saitama Seibu Lions. |
April 10 2022 | Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Rōki Sasaki threw a perfect game, the first in 28 years and the 16th in NPB history. He tied an existing NPB record by striking out 19 batters and set a new record by striking out 13 consecutive batters. |
2021 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows defeat the Orix Buffaloes in the Japan Series, winning the championship |
2021 | Nippon Professional Baseball draft held with first round picks determined by bid lottery. Central League received second round waiver priority. Draft order for subsequent rounds was determined by team rankings. |
October 11 2021 | The 57th Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Draft was held at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa. The draft was officially named 'The Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D' and sponsored by Taisho Pharmaceutical for the 9th consecutive year since 2013. |
August 13 2021 | NPB regular season resumes after hiatus for the 2020 Summer Olympics baseball tournament |
July 17 2021 | All-Star Series concludes |
July 16 2021 | All-Star Series begins, featuring top players from the Central League and Pacific League |
November 7 2020 | Scheduled end of the shortened 120-game season. |
September 19 2020 | Game attendance expanded to a maximum of 20,000 fans per game or 50% of stadium capacity. |
July 10 2020 | NPB began allowing a limited number of fans to attend games. |
June 19 2020 | The NPB officially launched the 2020 season, which was significantly shortened and modified in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with teams playing a reduced number of games without spectators. |
May 26 2020 | 'Warm-up' games began in preparation for the delayed season. |
April 18 2020 | League announced indefinite delay through May, removing 18-game interleague schedule and adjusting to a 125-game schedule. |
March 9 2020 | League commissioner Atsushi Saito announced season postponement until April, with intent to retain a full 143-game regular season schedule. |
February 26 2020 | Nippon Professional Baseball league announced remaining spring training games would be held without fans due to COVID-19 pandemic, with media allowed into some ballparks. |
2019 | MLB first introduces the All-MLB Team to honor top players at all positions, creating a comprehensive annual recognition across the league. |
2017 | The Esurance MLB Awards (formerly This Year in Baseball Awards and GIBBY Awards) are discontinued after several years of fan and industry voting. |
July 25 2015 | Carlos Ruiz caught his fourth no-hitter as a catcher, joining an elite group of catchers with this rare achievement. |
2014 | MLB Delivery Man of the Year Award is replaced by the Mariano Rivera AL and Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year awards. |
2013 | The Rolaids Relief Man Award is discontinued, marking the end of a long-standing recognition for relief pitchers. |
2012 | Wilson introduces separate Defensive Player of the Year Awards for each league, recognizing the best defensive players in Major League Baseball. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles 2021 Nippon Professional Baseball draft, 2020 Nippon Professional Baseball season, 2024 Nippon Professional Baseball season, List of Major League Baseball career records, 2023 Nippon Professional Baseball season, 2021 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Baseball in Japan, Baseball awards & 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.