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Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872 and is Japan's most popular participatory and spectator sport. [1] [2] The first professional competitions emerged in the 1920s.The highest level of baseball in Japan is Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), which consists of two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League, with six teams in each league. [3]
Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB, 日本野球機構, Nippon Yakyū Kikō) is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called Puro Yakyū ( プロ野球 ) , meaning simply Professional Baseball ; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball".
2007 Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook & Media Guide. Tokyo: Japan Pro Baseball Fan Handbook & Media Guide, 2007. ISBN 978-4-901178-81-5. Annual since 1976. Holway, John. Japan Is Big League in Thrills. Tokyo: Tokyo News Service, 1955. Johnson, Daniel E. Japanese Baseball: A Statistical Handbook. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 1999 ...
The 2024 Nippon Professional Baseball season is 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 are 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific League.
The Central League was founded in 1949 with eight teams: four holdovers from the previous Japanese Baseball League — the Chunichi Dragons, the Hanshin Tigers, the Yomiuri Giants, and the Shochiku Robins (formerly the Taiyō Robins) — and four new teams — the Hiroshima Carp, the Kokutetsu Swallows, the Nishi Nippon Pirates, and the Taiyō Whales.
Japan also won the 2009 World Baseball Classic, hosting the Pool A games in the Tokyo Dome. Japan started the tournament opener with a 4–0 win over China. Japan then secured advancement into the second round with a 14–2 win in seven innings over arch-rival South Korea. The game was shortened due to the WBC's mercy rule.
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 ...
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 ...