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2024 Nippon Professional Baseball Season
The 2024 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 75th season of professional baseball in Japan since Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was reorganized in 1950 and the 90th anniversary of the founding of professional baseball in Japan. There were 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific League. The Hanshin Tigers entered the season as the defending champions. They were eliminated in the first stage of the Central League Climax Series against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Regular season standings Interleague Overall, the Pacific League won 53 games and lost 52 against the Central League, with 3 ties. Climax Series First stage Central League Pacific League Final stage Central League Pacific League 2024 Japan Series Awards Central League Pacific League See also * 2024 Major League Baseball season * 2024 KBO League season * 2024 Mexican League season * 2024 Chinese Professional Baseball League season * 2024 Frontier League season * ...
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Nippon Professional Baseball
is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation of the 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 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 . It has seen several waves of Expansion team, expansion and contraction, sometimes at the same time, to keep it at those number ...
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Tie (draw)
A draw or tie occurs in a competitive sport when the results are identical or inconclusive. Ties or draws are possible in some, but not all, sports and games. Such an outcome, sometimes referred to as deadlock, can also occur in other areas of life such as politics, business, and wherever there are different factions regarding an issue. Terminology The word ''tie'' is usually used in North American English, North America, whereas the word ''draw'' is usual elsewhere. Resolving ties or draws In instances where a winner must be determined, several methods are commonly used. Across various sports: * Some other measure may be used, such as aggregate point difference. * A game may continue on in extra time. To ensure a quick result, some form of sudden death (sport), sudden death rule may apply. * In some sports, a penalty shootout or bowl-out may occur. * A rematch may occur at a later date, especially if a winner must be selected (in a final). * The result might be decided by chance ...
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Tokyo Dome
is an indoor stadium in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium (whose former site is now occupied by the Tokyo Dome Hotel and a plaza for this stadium). In Japan, it is often used as a unit of size; for example, "the new construction is five times the size of Tokyo Dome." Construction Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of the Velodrome, adjacent to Korakuen Stadium and the Koishikawa-Kōrakuen garden. It has a maximum total capacity of 57,000 depending on configuration, with an all-seating configuration of 42,000. Tokyo Dome's original nickname was "The Big Egg", with some calling it the "Tokyo Big Egg".Haberman, Clyde Amid Some Doubts, a Tokyo Dome New York Times, March 23, 1988 Its dome-shaped roof is an air-supported structure, a cable-reinforced 0.8 mm flexible fiberglass membrane supported by slightly pressurizing the inside of the ...
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Es Con Field Hokkaido
is a baseball stadium located in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Japan. The ballpark is owned by and operated by Nippon Ham, which has used it as the home field for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) since its opening in 2023. Designed by Obayashi Corporation and HKS Architects, the stadium has capacity for 35,000 people. It is Japan's second retractable roof facility and its asymmetrical playing surface is only the third natural turf field in NPB. The area immediately surrounding the stadium is being developed into Hokkaido Ballpark F Village, an entertainment district that holds commercial facilities and restaurants. The first game was held on March 30, 2023, between the Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, with former Nippon Ham Fighters managers Hideki Kuriyama, Masataka Nashida and Trey Hillman throwing out the first pitch to celebrate the opening of the stadium. History Background In early 2016, the Hokkaido Nippon-H ...
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Koshien Stadium
, commonly referred to as simply Koshien Stadium, is a baseball stadium located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments, and opened on 1 August 1924. It was the largest stadium in Asia at the time it was completed, with a capacity of 55,000. The name comes from '' Wood Rat'' of the sexagenary cycle system. The year of the stadium's founding, 1924, was the first year in the cycle. The design of the stadium was heavily influenced by the Polo Grounds in New York City. In 1936 it became the home stadium for the Osaka Tigers (current Hanshin Tigers), now with the Central League. On 14 February 1964, Hanshin, the Tigers' owners, was appended to the name of Koshien Stadium. In addition to the annual National High School Baseball Championship, played in August, the stadium hosts the annual National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament in March, a smaller, invitational tournament. Both to ...
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Japan Series
The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series between the winning clubs of the league's two circuits, the Central League and the Pacific League, and is played in October or November. The first team to win four games is the overall winner and is declared each year. The Japan Series uses a 2–3–3-3 format, with the latter four games in theory if additional games are needed following tiebreakers. The home team for games 1, 2 and eventually 6 and 7, alternates between the two leagues with the Pacific League having the advantage on the years ending with an odd number and the Central League on the years ending with an even number. Designated hitters are used if the team from the Pacific League hosts the game. There is a 40-man postseason roster limit, and the rule on drawn games is changed to 12 innings, s ...
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Interleague Play (NPB)
, officially titled Nippon Life Interleague Play for event sponsor Nippon Life, 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 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 a possible solution. Team repre ...
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Saitama Seibu Lions
The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, which in turn is owned by the Seibu Holdings. The team experienced a recent period of financial difficulty, but the situation brightened when the team received a record ¥6 billion (about $51.11 million) posting fee from the Boston Red Sox for the right to negotiate a contract with Daisuke Matsuzaka. Between 1978 and 2008, the team logo and mascot were based on the adult version of Kimba the White Lion, a classic Japanese anime and manga series by Osamu Tezuka. In 2004, former Seibu Lions player Kazuo Matsui became the first Japanese infielder to play in Major League Baseball. Franchise history Nishitetsu Clippers (1950) In 1950, the team became a founding member of the Pacific League. It was then owned by a private railroad compan ...
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Orix Buffaloes
The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The team plays in the Pacific League and is under ownership by Orix, a financial services company founded in Osaka. The combined team began play in 2005. The Buffaloes split home games between Kyocera Dome Osaka, the home of the original Buffaloes franchise, and Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium, the former home of the BlueWave, when the Hanshin Tigers have to use Kyocera Dome. The Tigers' main home stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium, is used for the two biggest high-school tournaments in Japan, the Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament, Senbatsu in March, coliding with the opening of the NPB season, and during the Japanese High School Baseball Championship in August. Through 2022, the club's all-time record is 5,54 ...
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Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
The , often shortened as the , are a baseball team based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It has played in Nippon Professional Baseball's Pacific League since the team's formation in November 2004. The team is owned by the Internet shopping company Rakuten. History 2004: Origins and formation During Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) 2004 season, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave announced that the two teams planned to merge into one for the start of the 2005 season. Both teams were in the Pacific League (PL), and a merger between the two would result in a team imbalance with the PL's opposing league, the Central League (CL). As a large number of players and personnel were expected to lose their jobs when the merger was finalized, the players conducted a two-day strike on September 18–19, 2004. With the threat of further strikes looming, team representatives agreed to ease the rules of entry for new teams into NPB and that one would be allowed t ...
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Chiba Lotte Marines
The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific League in as the Mainichi Orions when the Japanese Baseball League reorganized into Nippon Professional Baseball, where they won the inaugural 1950 Japan Series. Since 1992, the Marines' home ballpark has been ZOZO Marine Stadium, located in the Mihama-ku, Mihama Ward of Chiba, seating 30,118 people. The "Marines" name originates from the name of the team's home stadium, which is officially named ''Chiba Marine Stadium'', because the stadium is located right on the water. Through 2024, the franchise's all-time record is 4874-4844-405 (.502). History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural member of the Pacific League, and were owned by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. The Orions were named after Orion (cons ...
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Chunichi Dragons
The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 Nippon Professional Baseball season, 2011) and the Japan Series twice (in 1954 Japan Series, 1954 and 2007 Japan Series, 2007). They were also champions in the 2007 Asia Series. Franchise history The Chunichi Dragons were formed in 1936 as the Nagoya Club. The franchise was acquired by the ''Chunichi Shimbun'' newspaper company in 1946. They became the "Dragons" in 1947, but experimented with a number of variations on their team name before settling on Chunichi Dragons in 1954. The Dragons' most famous player, Michio Nishizawa, played for the team from 1936 to 1958. He entered the league as a 15-year-old pitcher. He developed into a 20-game winner by 1939. Nishizawa's most memorable pitching feats occurred in 1942. On May 24 of that year, ...
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