Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB, 日本野球機構, Nippon Yakyū Kikō) is a professional baseball league, and the highest level of baseball in Japan. The NPB is organized into two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League. After the regular season, the top three teams of each league play off in the Climax Series, which determines which team from each league will play off in the Japan Series to determine the national championship team. The 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 67th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. The Japan Series championship competition was played between the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, with the Nippon-Ham fighters winning the overall championship.
Incidents A gambling scandal involving members of the Yomiuri Giants was reported in October. Pitchers Satoshi Fukuda, Shoki Kasahara, and Ryuya Matsumoto were found to have bet on both NPB games and Major League Baseball games, as well as high school baseball. While there was no suspicion of match fixing, Sports Gambling is illegal in Japan. The players involved were received suspensions, and members of team management resigned to take responsibility for the scandal.
Regular season standings + Central League regular season standings Pos Team G W L T Pct. GB Home Road1Hiroshima Toyo Carp14389522.631—51–20–138–32–12Yomiuri Giants14371693.50717.540–31–131–38–23Yokohama DeNA BayStars14369713.49319.538–33–131–38–24Hanshin Tigers14364763.45724.531–39–133–37–25Tokyo Yakult Swallows14364781.45125.540–30–124–48–06Chunichi Dragons14358823.41430.532–36–326–46–0
+ Pacific League regular season standings Pos Team G W L T Pct. GB Home Road1Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters14387533.621—45–24–242–29–12Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks14383546.6062.540–28–343–26–33Chiba Lotte Marines14372683.51415.038–33–134–35–24Saitama Seibu Lions14364763.45723.034–36–130–40–25Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles14362783.44325.036–35–126–43–26Orix Buffaloes14357833.40730.030–40–227–43–1
Climax Series
Note: In each league's stepladder playoff system (Climax Series), all games in that series are held at the higher seed's home stadium. The team with the higher regular-season standing also advanced if the round ended in a tie.
First stage
Central League
Pacific League
Final stage
Central League
Pacific League
Japan Series
League leaders
Central League
+ Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting averageHayato Sakamoto Yomiuri Giants .344 Home runsYoshitomo Tsutsugo Yokohama DeNA BayStars 44 Runs batted inYoshitomo Tsutsugo Yokohama DeNA BayStars 110 RunsTetsuto Yamada Kosuke Tanaka Tokyo Yakult Swallows Hiroshima Toyo Carp 102 HitsRyosuke Kikuchi Hiroshima Toyo Carp 181 Stolen basesTetsuto Yamada Tokyo Yakult Swallows 30
+ Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total WinsYusuke Nomura Hiroshima Toyo Carp 16 LossesAtsushi Nomi Hirofumi Yamanaka Hanshin Tigers Tokyo Yakult Swallows 12 Earned run averageTomoyuki Sugano Yomiuri Giants 2.01 StrikeoutsTomoyuki Sugano Yomiuri Giants 189 Innings pitchedRandy Messenger Hanshin Tigers 185.1 SavesHirokazu Sawamura Yomiuri Giants 37
Pacific League
+ Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting averageKatsuya Kakunaka Chiba Lotte Marines .339 Home runsBrandon Laird Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 39 Runs batted inSho Nakata Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 110 RunsShogo Akiyama Saitama Seibu Lions 98 HitsKatsuya Kakunaka Chiba Lotte Marines 176 Stolen basesYoshio Itoi Yuji Kaneko Orix Buffaloes Saitama Seibu Lions 53
+ Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total WinsTsuyoshi Wada Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 15 LossesYuki Nishi Orix Buffaloes 12 Earned run averageAyumu Ishikawa Chiba Lotte Marines 2.16 StrikeoutsTakahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 216 Innings pitchedTakahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 195 SavesYoshihisa Hirano Orix Buffaloes 31
Attendances
TeamTotal attendanceHome averageYomiuri Giants 3,004,108 41,724Hanshin Tigers 2,910,562 40,994Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2,492,983 35,112Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2,157,331 29,963Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 2,078,981 29,281Chunichi Dragons 2,058,381 28,991Yokohama DeNA Baystars 1,939,146 26,933Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1,779,460 25,063ORIX Buffaloes 1,794,475 24,923Saitama Seibu Lions 1,618,194 22,791Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 1,620,961 22,513Chiba Lotte Marines 1,526,932 21,207 This was a very small increase on attendance from the 2015 season.
See also 2016 KBO League season 2016 Major League Baseball season
References