The 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 73rd season of professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
since
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 ...
(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 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...
. There are 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the
Central League and
Pacific League.
On April 10,
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 Le ...
pitcher
Rōki Sasaki threw a
perfect game, the first in 28 years and the 16th in NPB history. Sasaki tied an existing NPB record by
striking out 19 batters, and set a new record by striking out 13 consecutive batters.
Including Sasaki's perfect game, for the first time since 1940, there were five no-hitters this season, with
Nao Higashihama of the
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks throwing one on May 11 against the
Saitama Seibu Lions,
Shōta Imanaga of the
Yokohama DeNA BayStars doing so on June 7 during
interleague play against 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 ...
(also being the first no hitter in the history of the
Sapporo Dome in its final season as the home of the Fighters), and
Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the
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 ...
throwing one also against the Lions on June 18. One was nearly thrown on July 20, with rookie
Ren Mukunoki of the Buffaloes nearly doing so against the Fighters, but he fell 1 strike short, as he gave up a hit to Fighters infielder Ryusei Satoh, in which fans called as a similar incident to former MLB pitcher
Dave Stieb, in which he lost a perfect game and a no hitter in the same game with only 1 strike to go. A 5th one would eventually be thrown on August 27 by
Cody Ponce of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, in just his 2nd start, tying 2022 with 1940 with the most no-hitters in a season in Japanese pro baseball history, as well as becoming the first foreign player since
Rick Guttormson of the
Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2006 to throw a no-hitter, and the first Pacific League foreign player to do so since the now late
Narciso Elvira did so with the
Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes
The were a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team based in Osaka, Japan, which was in the Pacific League. In 2005 the team was merged with the Orix BlueWave to become the team now known as the Orix Buffaloes. The team played in Fujiidera Stadi ...
in 2000.
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows took home the
Central League pennant for the second year in a row over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars while the Orix Buffaloes took the
Pacific League pennant over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks via the first pennant tiebreaker in NPB history.
Regular season standings
Interleague
Climax Series
First stage
Central League
Pacific League
Final stage
The series started with a 1–0 advantage for the first-placed team.
Central League
Pacific League
Japan Series
2022 NPB attendance
See also
*
2022 in baseball
*
2022 Major League Baseball season
*
2022 KBO League season
*
2022 Chinese Professional Baseball League season
References
{{Nippon Professional Baseball Seasons
Nippon Professional Baseball season
Nippon Professional Baseball season