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2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season

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This article is about the 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2022 in baseball.
2022 NPB season
LeagueNippon Professional Baseball
SportBaseball
DurationMarch 25 – October 30
Number of games143
Number of teams12
Central League pennant
League championsTokyo Yakult Swallows
  Runners-upYokohama DeNA BayStars
Season MVPMunetaka Murakami (Yakult)
Pacific League pennant
League championsOrix Buffaloes
  Runners-upFukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Season MVPYoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix)
Climax Series
CL championsTokyo Yakult Swallows
  CL runners-upHanshin Tigers
PL championsOrix Buffaloes
  PL runners-upFukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Japan Series
ChampionsOrix Buffaloes
  Runners-upTokyo Yakult Swallows
Finals MVPYutaro Sugimoto (Orix)
NPB seasons

The 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 73rd season of professional baseball in Japan since Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was reorganized in 1950. There are 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific League.

On April 10, Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Rōki Sasaki threw a perfect game, the first in 28 years[1] 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.[2]

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 (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 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.[3] 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 in 2000.[4]

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

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Central League regular season standings[5]
Rank Team G W L T Pct. GB
1 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 143 80 59 4 .576 —
2 Yokohama DeNA BayStars 143 73 68 2 .518 8
3 Hanshin Tigers 143 68 71 4 .489 12
4 Yomiuri Giants 143 68 72 3 .486 12½
5 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 143 66 74 3 .471 14½
6 Chunichi Dragons 143 66 75 2 .468 15
Pacific League regular season standings[6]
Rank Team G W L T Pct. GB
1 Orix Buffaloes 143 76 65 2 .539 —
2 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 143 76 65 2 .539 —[7]
3 Saitama Seibu Lions 143 72 68 3 .514 3½
4 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 143 69 71 3 .493 6½
5 Chiba Lotte Marines 143 69 73 1 .486 7½
6 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 143 59 81 3 .421 16½

Interleague

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Regular season interleague standings[8]
Team G W L T Win% GB Home Away
Tokyo Yakult Swallows 18 14 4 0 .778 — 7–2 7–2
Hanshin Tigers 18 12 6 0 .667 2 6–3 6–3
Chiba Lotte Marines 18 10 8 0 .556 4 6–3 4–5
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 18 9 9 0 .500 5 5–4 4–5
Saitama Seibu Lions 18 9 9 0 .500 5 6–3 3–6
Yokohama DeNA BayStars 18 9 9 0 .500 5 5–4 4–5
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 18 9 9 0 .500 5 5–4 4–5
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 18 8 10 0 .444 6 6–3 2–7
Orix Buffaloes 18 8 10 0 .444 6 2–7 6–3
Yomiuri Giants 18 8 10 0 .444 6 5–4 3–6
Chunichi Dragons 18 7 11 0 .389 7 5–4 2–7
Hiroshima Toyo Carp 18 5 13 0 .279 9 3–6 2–7

Climax Series

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Main articles: 2022 Pacific League Climax Series and 2022 Central League Climax Series

First stage

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Central League

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Hanshin Tigers won the series, 2–1.

Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 
1 October 8 Yokohama DeNA BayStars − 0, Hanshin Tigers − 2 Yokohama Stadium 3:34 33,033[9] 
2 October 9 Yokohama DeNA BayStars − 1, Hanshin Tigers − 0 Yokohama Stadium 2:48 33,037[10] 
3 October 10 Yokohama DeNA BayStars − 2, Hanshin Tigers − 3 Yokohama Stadium 3:19 32,977[11]

Pacific League

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Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the series, 2–0.

Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 
1 October 8 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 5, Saitama Seibu Lions − 3 Fukuoka PayPay Dome 3:01 32,134[12] 
2 October 9 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 8, Saitama Seibu Lions − 2 Fukuoka PayPay Dome 3:07 39,354[13]

Final Stage

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The series started with a 1–0 advantage for the first-placed team.

Central League

[edit]

Tokyo Yakult Swallows won the series, 4−0.

Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 
1 October 12 Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 7, Hanshin Tigers − 1 Meiji Jingu Stadium 3:03 26,499[14] 
2 October 13 Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 5, Hanshin Tigers − 3 Meiji Jingu Stadium 3:49 26,071[15] 
3 October 14 Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 6, Hanshin Tigers − 3 Meiji Jingu Stadium 3:39 29,343[16]

Pacific League

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Orix Buffaloes won the series, 4−1.

Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 
1 October 12 Orix Buffaloes − 5, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 0 Kyocera Dome Osaka 3:08 24,509[17] 
2 October 13 Orix Buffaloes − 4, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 3 Kyocera Dome Osaka 3:27 18,572[18] 
3 October 14 Orix Buffaloes − 0, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 3 Kyocera Dome Osaka 3:05 27,526[19] 
4 October 15 Orix Buffaloes − 3, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 2 Kyocera Dome Osaka 3:12 33,717[20]

Japan Series

[edit]
Main article: 2022 Japan Series

Orix Buffaloes won the series, 4–2–1.

Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 
1 October 22 Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 5, Orix Buffaloes – 3 Meiji Jingu Stadium 3:48 29,402[21] 
2 October 23 Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 3, Orix Buffaloes – 3 (12) Meiji Jingu Stadium 5:03 29,410[22] 
3 October 25 Orix Buffaloes – 1, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 7 Kyocera Dome Osaka 3:28 33,098[23] 
4 October 26 Orix Buffaloes – 1, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0 Kyocera Dome Osaka 3:28 33,210[24] 
5 October 27 Orix Buffaloes − 6, Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 4 Kyocera Dome Osaka 3:40 33,135[25] 
6 October 29 Tokyo Yakult Swallows - 0, Orix Buffaloes - 3 Meiji Jingu Stadium 3:11 29,379[26] 
7 October 30 Tokyo Yakult Swallows- 4, Orix Buffaloes - 5 Meiji Jingu Stadium 3:12 29,381[27]


2022 NPB attendance

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# Football club Average attendance[28]
1 Hanshin Tigers 36,370
2 Yomiuri Giants 32,199
3 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 31,221
4 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 27,732
5 Chunichi Dragons 25,459
6 Yokohama DeNA BayStars 24,708
7 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 22,741
8 Chiba Lotte Marines 20,685
9 ORIX Buffaloes 19,896
10 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 18,748
11 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 17,937
12 Saitama Seibu Lions 16,837

See also

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References

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  1. ^ In the 5th game of the 2007 Japan Series, Daisuke Yamai and Hitoki Iwase combined to throw a perfect game for the Chunichi Dragons against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters; in NPB, no-hitters or perfect games achieved by multiple pitchers in one game are considered unofficial. However, it is recognized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (the international governing body of baseball) as a perfect game.
  2. ^ "Lotte pitcher Roki Sasaki throws Japan's 16th perfect game". Kyodo News+. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  3. ^ "Buffaloes rookie Ren Mukunoki falls one strike short of no-hitter". The Japan Times. July 21, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  4. ^ "Baseball: Fighters' Ponce throws season's 5th no-hitter". Kyodo News. August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  5. ^ "2022 Central League Standings". Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  6. ^ "2022 Pacific League Standings". Archived from the original on April 13, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
  7. ^ Orix won the season series against the Hawks 15-10-0, which gave Orix the pennant over SoftBank.
  8. ^ "2022年度 交流戦" [2022 Interleague Play] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  9. ^ "Saturday, October 8, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  10. ^ "Sunday, October 9, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  11. ^ "Monday, October 10, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
  12. ^ "Saturday, October 8, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  13. ^ "Sunday, October 9, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  14. ^ "Wednesday, October 12, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
  15. ^ "Thursday, October 13, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  16. ^ "Friday, October 14, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  17. ^ "Wednesday, October 12, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
  18. ^ "Thursday, October 13, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  19. ^ "Friday, October 14, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  20. ^ "Saturday, October 15, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  21. ^ "Saturday, October 22, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  22. ^ "Sunday, October 23, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  23. ^ "Tuesday, October 25, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
  24. ^ "Wednesday, October 26, 2022". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  25. ^ "Orix Buffaloes vs Tokyo Yakult Swallows Round 5".
  26. ^ "Tokyo Yakult Swallows vs Orix Buffaloes Round 6".
  27. ^ "Tokyo Yakult Swallows vs Orix Buffaloes Round 7".
  28. ^ https://matcha-jp.com/en/12738
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