2013 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 2013 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2013 in baseball.

The 2013 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 64th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950.

2013 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 29 – November 3
Central League pennant
League champions	Yomiuri Giants
Runners-up	Hanshin Tigers
Season MVP	Wladimir Balentien (Yakult)
Pacific League pennant
League champions	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Runners-up	Saitama Seibu Lions
Season MVP	Masahiro Tanaka (Rakuten)
Climax Series
CL champions	Yomiuri Giants
CL runners-up	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
PL champions	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
PL runners-up	Chiba Lotte Marines
Japan Series
Champions	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Runners-up	Yomiuri Giants
Finals MVP	Manabu Mima (Rakuten)

Juiced ball scandal

At the beginning of the 2013 NPB season, a new livelier ball was introduced in secret. This juiced up baseball allowed more home runs to be scored, leading to Tokyo Yakult Swallows outfielder Wladimir Balentien to break the 55 single season home run record set by Sadaharu Oh and later tied by Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera.^[1] This caused three-term NPB commissioner Ryozo Kato to resign, although he claimed to be unaware of the juiced baseballs.^[2]

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings

Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB
Yomiuri Giants	144	84	53	7	.613	—
Hanshin Tigers	144	73	67	4	.521	12.5
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	144	69	72	3	.489	17.0
Chunichi Dragons	144	64	77	3	.454	22.0
Yokohama DeNA BayStars	144	64	79	1	.448	23.0
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	144	57	83	4	.407	28.5

Pacific League regular season standings

Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	144	82	59	3	.582	—
Saitama Seibu Lions	144	74	66	4	.529	7.5
Chiba Lotte Marines	144	74	68	2	.521	8.5
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	144	73	69	2	.514	9.5
Orix Buffaloes	144	66	73	5	.475	15.0
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	144	64	78	2	.451	18.5

Climax Series

Main articles: 2013 Central League Climax Series and 2013 Pacific League Climax Series

Note: All of the games that are played in the first two rounds of the Climax Series are held at the higher seed's home stadium. The team with the higher regular-season standing also advances if the round ends in a tie.

	First stage					Final stage					Japan Series
	Central League					1	Yomiuri Giants	4
	2	Hanshin Tigers	0			3	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	0
	3	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	2								CL1	Yomiuri Giants	3
											PL1	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	4
	Pacific League					1	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	4
	2	Saitama Seibu Lions	1			3	Chiba Lotte Marines	1
	3	Chiba Lotte Marines	2

First stage

The regular season league champions, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (PL) and the Yomiuri Giants (CL), received byes to the championship round.

Central League

Hiroshima Toyo Carp (2) vs. Hanshin Tigers (0)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 12	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 8, Hanshin Tigers – 1	Koshien Stadium	3:34	46,923[3]
2	October 13	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 7, Hanshin Tigers – 4	Koshien Stadium	3:02	46,902[4]

Pacific League

Chiba Lotte Marines (2) vs. Saitama Seibu Lions (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 12	Chiba Lotte Marines – 11, Saitama Seibu Lions – 1	Seibu Dome	3:24	32,880[5]
2	October 13	Chiba Lotte Marines – 0, Saitama Seibu Lions – 15	Seibu Dome	3:16	33,914[6]
3	October 14	Chiba Lotte Marines – 4, Saitama Seibu Lions – 1	Seibu Dome	3:01	33,832[7]

Final stage

The regular season league champions, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (PL) and the Yomiuri Giants (CL), received a one-game advantage.

Central League

Yomiuri Giants (4) vs. Hiroshima Toyo Carp (0)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 16	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	3:27	45,107[8]
2	October 17	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 0, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	2:26	45,316[9]
3	October 18	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	2:32	46,081[10]

Pacific League

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (4) vs. Chiba Lotte Marines (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 17	Chiba Lotte Marines – 0, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 2	Miyagi Baseball Stadium	2:55	24,332[11]
2	October 18	Chiba Lotte Marines – 4, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 2	Miyagi Baseball Stadium	3:25	24,097[12]
3	October 19	Chiba Lotte Marines – 0, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 2	Miyagi Baseball Stadium	3:00	24,396[13]
4	October 21*	Chiba Lotte Marines – 5, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 8	Miyagi Baseball Stadium	3:33	24,264[14]

* Postponed from October 20 due to rain^[15]

Japan Series

Main article: 2013 Japan Series

PL Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (4) vs. CL Yomiuri Giants (3)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 26	Yomiuri Giants – 2, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 0	Miyagi Baseball Stadium	3:20	25,209[16]
2	October 27	Yomiuri Giants – 1, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 2	Miyagi Baseball Stadium	3:16	25,219[17]
3	October 29	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 1	Tokyo Dome	3:26	44,940[18]
4	October 30	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 6	Tokyo Dome	4:07	44,968[19]
5	October 31	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 2	Tokyo Dome	3:49	44,995[20]
6	November 2	Yomiuri Giants – 4, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 2	Miyagi Baseball Stadium	3:16	25,271[21]
7	November 3	Yomiuri Giants – 0, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 3	Miyagi Baseball Stadium	3:15	25,249

League leaders

Central League

Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting average Tony Blanco Yokohama DeNA BayStars .333 Home runs Wladimir Balentien Tokyo Yakult Swallows 60 Runs batted in Tony Blanco Yokohama DeNA BayStars 136 Runs Wladimir Balentien Tokyo Yakult Swallows 94 Hits Matt Murton Hanshin Tigers 178 Stolen bases Yoshihiro Maru Hiroshima Toyo Carp 29

Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total Wins Yasuhiro Ogawa Tokyo Yakult Swallows 16 Losses Daisuke Miura Ryosuke Yagi Yokohama DeNA BayStars Tokyo Yakult Swallows 13 Earned run average Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2.10 Strikeouts Randy Messenger Hanshin Tigers 183 Innings pitched Randy Messenger Hanshin Tigers 1961⁄3 Saves Kentaro Nishimura Yomiuri Giants 42

Pacific League

Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting average Yuya Hasegawa Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks .341 Home runs Michel Abreu Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 31 Runs batted in Hideto Asamura Saitama Seibu Lions 110 Runs Dai-Kang Yang Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 93 Hits Yuya Hasegawa Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 198 Stolen bases Dai-Kang Yang Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 47

Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total Wins Masahiro Tanaka Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 24 Losses Mitsuo Yoshikawa Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 15 Earned run average Masahiro Tanaka Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 1.27 Strikeouts Chihiro Kaneko Orix Buffaloes 200 Innings pitched Chihiro Kaneko Orix Buffaloes 2231⁄3 Saves Naoya Masuda Chiba Lotte Marines 33

2013 average attendance

Team	Games	Total attendance	Av. attendance
Yomiuri	72	3,008,197	41,780
Hanshin	72	2,771,603	38,494
SoftBank	72	2,408,993	33,458
Chunichi	72	1,998,188	27,752
Nippon-Ham	72	1,855,655	25,772
Seibu	72	1,600,841	22,233
Hiroshima	72	1,565,598	21,744
Orix	72	1,438,467	19,978
Yakult	72	1,432,695	19,898
Yokohama	72	1,425,728	19,801
Rakuten	72	1,281,087	17,792
Lotte	72	1,260,439	17,506

^[22]

See also

• 2013 Korea Professional Baseball season
• 2013 Major League Baseball season