The 2016 Japan Series was the 67th edition of

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 ...

's postseason championship series. The

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

, champions of the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

, played the

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō, in the Sapporo metropolitan area. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the major ...

, champions of the

Pacific League The , or , or the , due to sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the a ...

, in a best-of-seven series beginning on October 22. The

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 cl ...

was sponsored by the

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is a Japanese multinational banking financial services institution owned by the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which is also known as the SMBC Group. It is headquartered in the same building as SMBC Group in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. ...

(SMBC) and was officially known as the SMBC Nippon Series 2016. The Fighters defeated the Carp in six games. Hiroshima took the first two games, and Hokkaido won the next four games to take the series. Hokkaido's Brandon Laird won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award, and Hiroshima's Brad Eldred won the Fighting Spirit Award, given to the best player on the losing team; it was the first time two foreign players won both awards. Anthony Bass, Sho Nakata, and Haruki Nishikawa won outstanding player honors.

Climax Series

Series notes

The

defeated 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. Founded on February 22, 1938, as the Nankai Club, being the first Kansai t ...

in the

Climax Series, four games to two. Sho Nakata was named the

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

of the series. The Fighters last won the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. They lost the Japan Series in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. The

defeated the

Yokohama DeNA BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current n ...

in the

Climax Series, four games to one. Kosuke Tanaka was named the series' most valuable player. Hiroshima had not appeared in the Japan Series since

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. Hiroshima pitcher Hiroki Kuroda announced that he would retire following the series.

Summary

Game summaries

Game 1

Brad Eldred 20130317 MAZDA Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima

Kris Johnson, the Carp's

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

, allowed one run in

innings pitched In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...

, while Hokkaido's

Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese professional baseball designated hitter and pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "Shotime", he has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Angels and in Nippon Professional Basebal ...

allowed three runs in six innings. Hiroshima's Ryuhei Matsuyama and Brad Eldred both hit

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s off of Ohtani in the fourth inning, while Hokkaido's Brandon Laird hit a home run in the seventh inning. Hiroshima responded in the seventh inning with a

run batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBI) single by

Yoshihiro Maru is a Japanese people, Japanese professional baseball outfielder for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has previously played in NPB for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Career In , Hiroshima Toyo Carp selected him in the third ...

and a RBI

sacrifice fly In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

by Eldred.

Game 2

Yui Kamiji is a Japanese professional wheelchair tennis player. She has won 32 major titles, as well as a Paralympic silver and bronze medal in singles and doubles, respectively, at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. She would later win gold in both at the 2 ...

threw the

ceremonial first pitch The ceremonial first pitch is a longstanding ritual of baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from their seat in the grandstand to ...

. The Carp broke the game open with a four-run sixth inning, which included Eldred's second home run of the series. Yusuke Nomura, who led the Central League with 16 wins during the regular season, allowed one

unearned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

in six innings pitched for Hiroshima.

Game 3

Kuroda allowed one run in innings for the Carp, leaving the game due to a leg injury. Eldred hit a two-run home run, his third of the series. Hokkaido took the lead with a two RBI

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

by Sho Nakata in the eighth inning, and Tomohiro Abe tied the game for Hiroshima with an RBI single in the ninth inning. Ohtani, playing as Hokkaido's

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

, hit two doubles earlier in the game and drove in the game-winning run with an RBI single in the tenth inning, scoring Haruki Nishikawa.

Game 4

Hiroshima took a 1–0 lead in the fourth inning, when

Takahiro Arai Takahiro Arai (Japanese: 新井貴浩, born January 30, 1977, in Naka-ku, Hiroshima) is a Japanese-Korean former professional baseball player. He is the manager of Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball from the 2023 season. ...

scored on an

error An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

committed by Kensuke Kondo. Hokkaido's Sho Nakata hit a home run to tie the game in the sixth inning. Brandon Laird broke the tie with a two-run home run in the eighth inning for Hokkaido. Hiroshima had the

bases loaded This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. 0–9 0 :"Oh and ..." See #count, coun ...

in the ninth inning, but Naoki Miyanishi recorded the save by

striking out ''Striking Out'' is an Television in the Republic of Ireland, Irish television legal drama television series, broadcast on RTÉ, that first aired on 1 January 2017, based on ''The Good Wife'' by Robert King (writer), Robert and Michelle King. Prod ...

Game 5

Johnson started Game 5 for Hiroshima, while Takayuki Kato started for Hokkaido. Seiya Suzuki had an RBI single in the first inning for Hiroshima. Kato failed to complete the second inning, and Luis Mendoza threw scoreless innings for the Fighters. Johnson did not allow a run in six innings pitched. Takuya Nakashima had an RBI single to tie the game for Hokkaido in the seventh inning. Nishikawa hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning for Hokkaido.

Game 6

With the game tied 4–4 in the eighth inning, Nakata drew a bases loaded walk, Anthony Bass hit an RBI single, and Laird hit a grand slam. Laird, who hit three home runs in the series, won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award, while Eldred won the Fighting Spirit Award, given to the best player on the losing team. Bass, Nakata, and Nishikawa earned outstanding player honors for the series.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Japan Series, 2016

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2016 Nippon Professional Baseball season October 2016 sports events in Japan Hiroshima Toyo Carp postseason Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters postseason