The is given to the player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in 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 ...

, which is the final round of the

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) postseason. The award was first presented in 1950. The series follows a

best-of-seven playoff There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

format and occurs after the two-stage

Climax Series The is the current annual playoff system implemented by Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). It determines which team from the Central League (CL) and from the Pacific League (PL) will advance to compete for the championship in the Japan ...

. It is played by the winners 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 ...

Stage 2 series and 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 ...

Stage 2 series.

Kaoru Betto was a Nippon Professional Baseball player. After playing for the Ōsaka Tigers for two years, Betto played for the Mainichi Orions from 1950 to 1957. In his first season with the Orions, Betto won the NPB's first Pacific League MVP Award and he ...

won the inaugural award in 1950 with the

Mainichi Orions 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. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific League in as the Mainichi Or ...

. Depending upon definitions, the first non-Japanese to win the award was either Andy Miyamoto in 1961 or

Joe Stanka Joe Donald Stanka (July 23, 1931 – October 15, 2018) was an American professional baseball player. The right-handed pitcher from Hammon, Oklahoma played for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (1959), and the Nankai Hawks and Taiyo W ...

in 1964. Fifteen Japan Series MVPs were inducted into the

Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame The , commonly known outside of Japan as the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, is a hall of fame and museum in Tokyo dedicated to professional baseball, with a prominent focus on professional baseball in Japan. The Hall is intended to honor and co ...

;

Osamu Higashio is a Japanese former baseball player who played in the Japanese professional leagues from 1969–1988, being remembered as one of the leading Japanese pitchers in the 1980s. He also was manager of the Seibu Lions from 1995 to 2001. Professional ...

(1982) is the only Hall of Famer to have won the Japan Series MVP between 1981 and 2000. Higashio is also the first and only

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

to appear solely as a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

to win the Japan Series MVP. Eight of the ten Japan Series MVPs who have won the award since 2000 are still active in professional baseball—

Atsuya Furuta Atsuya Furuta (古田敦也, b. August 6, 1965) is a Japanese former baseball player and player-manager for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows professional baseball club in the Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Drafted in the 2nd round in ...

and Takashi Ishii are the Japan Series MVPs from that period who are inactive.

Hideki Matsui , nicknamed "Godzilla", is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, and in Nipp ...

and

Norihiro Nakamura is a Japanese former professional baseball third baseman. Nakamura spent almost all of his professional career in Japan with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. Nakamura had a .266 career batting average, 404 home runs and 1348 RBI, and was an eight- ...

are they only two Japan Series MVPs to play in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). While Nakamura's MLB career lasted less than one season, Matsui's lasted seven seasons. He became the only player to be named both a Japan Series and a

World Series MVP The Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the World Series, which is the final round of the MLB postseason. The a ...

after winning the latter award in 2009. The reigning Japan Series MVP is

Yutaro Sugimoto , nicknamed " Raoh", is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays outfielder for the Orix Buffaloes. Sugimoto won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award for the 2022 Japan Series. His nickname is derived from the fact he is a fan o ...

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 ...

. Sixteen of the 60 Japan Series MVPs have also won the NPB MVP or the

Eiji Sawamura Award The , commonly known as the Sawamura Award, is an honor bestowed upon the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball each year. The award was originally established by Japanese magazine "Nekkyū" in 1947 to honor the career of Eiji Sa ...

in the same season. Shigeru Sugishita (1954),

Tsuneo Horiuchi is a former professional baseball player in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball and a politician. A right-handed pitcher, in he was voted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball career Horiuchi played for the Yomiuri Giants his who ...

(1972) and

Takehiro Ishii Takehiro Ishii (石井丈裕, born October 25, 1964) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Japan national baseball team in 1988, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Seibu Lions and the Nippon-Ham Fig ...

(1992) are the only players to have won all three awards in the same season. Two players won the Eiji Sawamura Award and the Japan Series MVP in the same season:

Takehiko Bessho , born , was a Japanese baseball player whose professional career as a player lasted from 1942 until 1960. Bessho first achieved fame as a pitcher in Japanese professional baseball; later, he served as a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) manage ...

(1955) and Takashi Nishimoto (1981). Ten players have won the Japan Series MVP in the same season in which they won the NPB MVP: Betto (1950), Bessho (1952),

Kazuhisa Inao was a Japanese professional baseball pitcher. In 1957, he won 20 consecutive games. In 1958 Japan Series, he pitched six games and won 4 consecutive games after his team lost 3 games. He even hit a home run in fifth game of Japan Series. He was t ...

(1958),

Tadashi Sugiura was a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player with the Nankai Hawks. He debuted in the 1958 and went on to join the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame for his skills as a pitcher. He won the Japanese Triple Crown in (1959) Early life Sugiur ...

(1959),

Shigeo Nagashima was a Japanese professional baseball player and manager. Nicknamed "Mr. Pro Baseball" of Japan and "Mr. Giants", Nagashima first began playing baseball in elementary school, before playing at his high school in Chiba Prefecture before playing ...

(1963), Stanka (1964),

Hisashi Yamada is a retired Japanese professional baseball submarine pitcher. He played with the Hankyu Braves in Nippon Professional Baseball from to . Yamada won the Pacific League MVP for three consecutive seasons (1976–1978), sharing a record with Ichi ...

(1977),

Randy Bass Randy William Bass (born March 13, 1954) is an American politician and former baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and served in the Oklahoma Senate. Bass made his MLB debut in 1977, p ...

(1985),

Tom O'Malley Thomas Patrick O'Malley (born December 25, 1960) is an American former Major League Baseball player born in Orange, New Jersey, and raised in Montoursville, Pennsylvania in the United States. He played for the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Whit ...

(1995), Furuta (1997) and Matsui (2000). Five players have won the award multiple times. Nagashima has won the most Japan Series MVP awards with four wins (1963, 1965, 1969–1970). The remaining four players all won the award twice: Bessho (1952, 1955), Horiuchi (1972–1973), Kimiyasu Kudoh (1986–1987),

Koji Akiyama Koji Akiyama (秋山幸二 ''Akiyama Kōji'', born April 6, 1962) is a retired Japanese professional baseball player. He played for the Seibu Lions and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (currently the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks) in Japan's Nippon Professional ...

(1991–1999) and Furuta (1997, 2001); Akiyama is the only player to have won the award with different teams. There has been one occasion on which multiple winners were awarded in the same Japan Series: Masayuki Dobashi and Masayuki Tanemo in 1962.

Pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

s have been named Series MVP 21 times, 13 of which appeared in both

starting Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Starts use in sport race * Standing start, and rolling start, i ...

and relief roles in the Series.

Winners

References

{{Nippon Professional Baseball Awards established in 1950 Nippon Professional Baseball trophies and awards Baseball most valuable player awards Most valuable player awards 1950 establishments in Japan

Winners

See also

References