2014 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 2014 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2014 in baseball.

The 2014 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 65th edition of NPB since reorganized in 1950.

2014 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 28 – October 30
Central League pennant
League champions	Yomiuri Giants
Runners-up	Hanshin Tigers
Season MVP	Tomoyuki Sugano (Yomiuri)
Pacific League pennant
League champions	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Runners-up	Orix Buffaloes
Season MVP	Chihiro Kaneko (Orix)
Climax Series
CL champions	Hanshin Tigers
CL runners-up	Yomiuri Giants
PL champions	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
PL runners-up	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Japan Series
Champions	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Runners-up	Hanshin Tigers
Finals MVP	Seiichi Uchikawa (SoftBank)

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings

Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB
Yomiuri Giants	144	82	61	1	.573	—
Hanshin Tigers	144	75	68	1	.524	7
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	144	74	68	2	.521	7.5
Chunichi Dragons	144	67	73	4	.479	13.5
Yokohama DeNA BayStars	144	67	75	2	.472	14.5
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	144	60	81	3	.426	21

Pacific League regular season standings

Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	144	78	60	6	.565	—
Orix Buffaloes	144	80	62	2	.563	—
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	144	73	68	3	.518	6.5
Chiba Lotte Marines	144	66	76	2	.465	14.0
Saitama Seibu Lions	144	63	77	4	.450	16.0
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	144	64	80	0	.444	17.0

Climax Series

Main articles: 2014 Central League Climax Series and 2014 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	1
	2	Hanshin Tigers	1			2	Hanshin Tigers	4
	3	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	0								CL2	Hanshin Tigers	1
											PL1	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	4
	Pacific League					1	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	4
	2	Orix Buffaloes	1			3	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	3
	3	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	2

First stage

The regular season league champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL) and the Yomiuri Giants (CL), received byes to the championship round.

Central League

Hanshin Tigers (1) vs. Hiroshima Toyo Carp (0)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 11	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 0, Hanshin Tigers – 1	Koshien Stadium	2:52	46,721[1]
2	October 12	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 0, Hanshin Tigers – 0	Koshien Stadium	3:35	46,815[2]

Pacific League

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (2) vs. Orix Buffaloes (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 11	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 6, Orix Buffaloes – 3	Kyocera Dome	4:01	35,889[3]
2	October 12	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4, Orix Buffaloes – 6	Kyocera Dome	3:32	36,012[4]
3	October 14*	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2, Orix Buffaloes – 1	Kyocera Dome	4:17	32,588[5]

* Postponed from October 13 due to Typhoon Vongfong^[6]

Final stage

The regular season league champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL) and the Yomiuri Giants (CL), received a one-game advantage.

Central League

Hanshin Tigers (4) vs. Yomiuri Giants (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 15	Hanshin Tigers – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 1	Tokyo Dome	2:59	44,871[7]
2	October 16	Hanshin Tigers – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 2	Tokyo Dome	3:19	44,728[8]
3	October 17	Hanshin Tigers – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 2	Tokyo Dome	3:44	46,025[9]
4	October 18	Hanshin Tigers – 8, Yomiuri Giants – 4	Tokyo Dome	3:42	46,311[10]

Pacific League

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (4) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (3)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 15	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3	Fukuoka Dome	3:19	28,087[11]
2	October 16	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 5, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1	Fukuoka Dome	3:30	29,775[12]
3	October 17	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 12, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4	Fukuoka Dome	3:13	31,176[13]
4	October 18	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 5	Fukuoka Dome	4:20	31,647[14]
5	October 19	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 6, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4	Fukuoka Dome	4:26	34,070[15]
6	October 20	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4	Fukuoka Dome	3:24	38,561[16]

Japan Series

Main article: 2014 Japan Series

League leaders

Central League

Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting average Matt Murton Hanshin Tigers .338 Home runs Brad Eldred Hiroshima Toyo Carp 37 Runs batted in Mauro Gómez Hanshin Tigers 109 Runs Yoshihiro Maru Tetsuto Yamada Hiroshima Toyo Carp Tokyo Yakult Swallows 106 Hits Tetsuto Yamada Tokyo Yakult Swallows 193 Stolen bases Takayuki Kajitani Yokohama DeNA BayStars 39

Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total Wins Randy Messenger Daisuke Yamai Hanshin Tigers Chunichi Dragons 13 Losses Atsushi Nomi Hanshin Tigers 13 Earned run average Tomoyuki Sugano Yomiuri Giants 2.33 Strikeouts Randy Messenger Hanshin Tigers 226 Innings pitched Randy Messenger Hanshin Tigers 2081⁄3 Saves Oh Seung-hwan Hanshin Tigers 39

Pacific League

Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting average Yoshio Itoi Orix Buffaloes .331 Home runs Ernesto Mejía Takeya Nakamura Saitama Seibu Lions Saitama Seibu Lions 34 Runs batted in Sho Nakata Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 100 Runs Yuki Yanagita Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 91 Hits Akira Nakamura Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 176 Stolen bases Haruki Nishikawa Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 43

Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total Wins Chihiro Kaneko Orix Buffaloes 16 Losses Wataru Karashima Luis Mendoza Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 13 Earned run average Chihiro Kaneko Orix Buffaloes 1.98 Strikeouts Takahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 204 Innings pitched Takahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 2022⁄3 Saves Yoshihisa Hirano Orix Buffaloes 40

See also

• 2014 Korea Professional Baseball season
• 2014 Major League Baseball season