The 2015 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 66th season since the NPB was reorganized in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

. In the Central League, the Yakult Swallows claimed the pennant and defeated the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

in the final stage of the Climax Series. In the Pacific League, the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...

won the penant and defeated the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

in the final stage of the Climax Series.

Incidents

A gambling scandal involving members of the

was reported in October. Pitchers

Satoshi Fukuda is a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) pitcher who last played for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's Central League. In October, 2015, Fukuda was named as a result of an investigation conducted by the Giants into illegal betting on profes ...

, Shoki Kasahara, and Ryuya Matsumoto were found to have bet on both NBP games and

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

games, as well as high school baseball.

Regular season standings

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

''The regular season league champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL) and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows (CL), received byes to the championship round.''

Central League

Pacific League

Final stage

''The regular season league champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL) and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows (CL), received a one-game advantage.''

Incidents

Regular season standings

Climax Series

First stage

Central League

Pacific League

Final stage

Central League

Pacific League

Japan Series

League leaders

Central League

Pacific League

See also

References