The 1974 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 25th season of operation for the league. For the first time since 1964, the Yomiuri Giants did not qualify for the Japan Series. On October 12, the Chunichi Dragons prevailed to win the Central League pennant by winning a double-header over the Taiyo Whales to prevail by percentage points over the Giants with two games remaining; at the end of the season, with ties not counting in the standings, the Dragons were at .588 with their record of 70-49 while the Giants were at .587 with a record of 71-50. Dragons manager Wally Yonamine (born in Hawaii) became the first American-born manager to lead a team to the pennant. It was the final season for Giants star Shigeo Nagashima, who subsequently became manager of the team following the retirement of Tetsuharu Kawakami. For the first time in ten years, the Central League awarded its MVP to a player from a team that did not win the league pennant, as Sadaharu Oh was named MVP for the seventh time in his career. Clarence Jones of the Kintetsu Buffaloes became the first foreign-born player to win the home run title in the two-league system with his 38 home runs leading all of the Pacific League.

In the Pacific League, the Hankyu Braves clinched the first-half. On September 26, the Lotte Orions were guaranteed the second-half pennant when the Fighters and Hawks game ended in a tie that eliminated the possibility of a tie with percentage points. The Lotte Orions, champions of the second-half, defeated the first-half champion Hankyu Braves to reach their second Japan Series in four years. Lotte defeated Chunichi in six games for their first championship since 1950.

Regular season standings

Central League Central League年度別成績 1974年 セントラル・リーグ | NPB.jp 日本野球機構 G W L T Pct. GBChunichi Dragons 130 70 49 11 .588 –Yomiuri Giants 130 71 50 9 .587 0.0Yakult Swallows 130 60 63 7 .488 12.0Hanshin Tigers 130 57 64 9 .471 14.0Taiyo Whales 130 55 69 6 .444 17.5Hiroshima Toyo Carp 130 54 72 4 .429 19.5

Pacific League Pacific League年度別成績 1974年 パシフィック・リーグ | NPB.jp 日本野球機構 G W L T Pct. 1st half ranking 2nd half rankingLotte Orions 130 69 50 11 .580 2 1Hankyu Braves 130 69 51 10 .575 1 3Nankai Hawks 130 59 55 16 .518 4 2Taiheiyo Club Lions 130 59 64 7 .480 3 4Kintetsu Buffaloes 130 56 66 8 .459 5 4Nippon-Ham Fighters 130 49 75 6 .395 6 6

Pacific League playoff The Pacific League teams with the best first and second-half records met in a best-of-five playoff series to determine the league representative in the Japan Series.

Lotte Orions won the series 3–0. GameScoreDateLocation1 Braves – 2, Orions – 3 October 5Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium2 Braves – 3, Orions – 8 October 6Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium3 Orions – 4, Braves – 0 October 9Miyagi Baseball Stadium

Japan Series

Lotte Orions won the series 4–2. GameScoreDateLocationAttendance1 Dragons – 5, Orions – 4 October 16Nagoya Stadium 22,1482 Dragons – 5, Orions – 8 October 17Nagoya Stadium 24,7983 Orions – 4, Dragons – 5 October 19Korakuen Stadium 29,1034 Orions – 6, Dragons – 3 October 20Korakuen Stadium 43,1285 Orions – 2, Dragons – 0 October 21Korakuen Stadium 28,1876 Dragons – 2, Orions – 3 October 23Nagoya Stadium 23,433

See also 1974 Major League Baseball season

References