2018 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 2018 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2018 in baseball.

The 2018 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 69th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950.

2018 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 30 – November 3
Number of games	143
Number of teams	12
Central League pennant
League champions	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Runners-up	Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Season MVP	Yoshihiro Maru (Toyo)
Pacific League pennant
League champions	Saitama Seibu Lions
Runners-up	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Season MVP	Hotaka Yamakawa (Seibu)
Climax Series
CL champions	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
CL runners-up	Yomiuri Giants
PL champions	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
PL runners-up	Saitama Seibu Lions
Japan Series
Champions	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Runners-up	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Finals MVP	Takuya Kai (SoftBank)

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings^[1]

Pos	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	143	82	59	2	.582	—	45-25–2	37-34–0
2	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	143	75	66	2	.532	7.0	41-30–0	34-36–2
3	Yomiuri Giants	143	67	71	5	.482	13.5	33–38–1	34–33–4
4	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	143	67	74	2	.475	14.0	33–38–1	34–36–1
5	Chunichi Dragons	143	63	78	2	.447	19.0	36–33-2	27–45–0
6	Hanshin Tigers	143	62	79	2	.440	20.0	27–42–2	35–37–0

Pacific League regular season standings^[2]

Pos	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Saitama Seibu Lions	143	88	53	2	.624	—	45–24–2	43–29–0
2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	143	82	60	1	.577	6.5	40–30–1	42–30–0
3	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	143	74	66	3	.529	13.5	40–29–2	34–37–1
4	Orix Buffaloes	143	65	73	5	.471	21.5	33–37–2	32–36–3
5	Chiba Lotte Marines	143	59	81	3	.421	28.5	28–43–1	31–38–2
6	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	143	58	82	3	.414	29.5	22–50–0	36–32–3

Interleague results

Current as of 25 September 2018

Interleague results are placed in order of current regular season standings. The 'I' column indicates the teams' interleague position.

The interleague results are indicative only of the teams playing ability against those teams in the opposing league, and have no bearing on the placings or Climax Series'. The sponsor, Nippon Life, does hand out awards to players and teams based on their finishing in the Interleague standings, however.

Central League regular season standings^[1]

Pos	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	I	Home	Road
1	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	18	7	11	0	.389	4	5–4–0	2–7–0
2	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	18	12	6	0	.667	1	6–3–0	6–3–0
3	Yomiuri Giants	18	8	10	0	.444	2	4–5–0	4–5–0
4	Chunichi Dragons	18	7	11	0	.389	4	4–5–0	3–6–0
5	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	18	8	10	0	.444	2	6–3–0	2–7–0
6	Hanshin Tigers	18	6	11	1	.353	6	2–6–1	4–5–0

Pacific League regular season standings^[2]

Pos	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	I	Home	Road
1	Saitama Seibu Lions	18	10	8	0	.556	4	5–4–0	5–4–0
2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	18	11	7	0	.611	2	6–3–0	5–4–0
3	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	18	10	8	0	.556	4	6–3–0	4–5–0
4	Orix Buffaloes	18	11	6	1	.647	1	7–2–0	4–4–1
5	Chiba Lotte Marines	18	11	7	0	.611	2	6–3–0	5–4–0
6	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	18	6	12	0	.333	6	3–6–0	3–6–0

Climax Series

	First stage					Final stage					Japan Series
	Central League					1	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	4
	2	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	0			3	Yomiuri Giants	0
	3	Yomiuri Giants	2								CL	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	1
											PL	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	4
	Pacific League					1	Saitama Seibu Lions	2
	2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	2			2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	4
	3	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	1

First stage

Central League

Tokyo Yakult Swallows (0) vs. Yomiuri Giants (2)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 13	Yomiuri Giants – 4, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1	Meiji Jingu Stadium	3:06	30,735
2	October 14	Yomiuri Giants – 4, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0	Meiji Jingu Stadium	2:40	30,798

Pacific League

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 13	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 8	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:35	35,301
2	October 14	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:32	38,125
3	October 15	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 5	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:46	34,794

Final stage

Central League

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

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 17	Yomiuri Giants – 1, Hiroshima Carp – 6	Mazda Stadium	3:07	31,311
2	October 18	Yomiuri Giants – 1, Hiroshima Carp – 4	Mazda Stadium	2:36	31,356
3	October 19	Yomiuri Giants – 1, Hiroshima Carp – 5	Mazda Stadium	3:02	31,371

Pacific League

Saitama Seibu Lions (2) vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (4)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 17	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 10, Saitama Seibu Lions – 4	MetLife Dome	3:25	31,961
2	October 18	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 5, Saitama Seibu Lions – 13	MetLife Dome	3:30	31,106
3	October 19	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 15, Saitama Seibu Lions – 4	MetLife Dome	3:30	31,238
4	October 20	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 8, Saitama Seibu Lions – 2	MetLife Dome	3:31	32,170
5	October 21	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6, Saitama Seibu Lions – 5	MetLife Dome	3:26	31,532

Japan Series

Main article: 2018 Japan Series

SoftBank Hawks won the series, 4–1–1.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 27	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2 @ Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 2 (12)	Mazda Stadium	4:38	30,727
2	October 28	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1 @ Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 5	Mazda Stadium	2:55	30,724
3	October 30	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 8 @ Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 9	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:57	35,746
4	October 31	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 1 @ Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:21	35,796
5	November 1	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 4 @ Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 5 (10)	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	4:25	35,917
6	November 3	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2 @ Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 0	Mazda Stadium	3:14	30,723

League leaders

Central League

Batting leaders[3] Stat Player Team Total Batting average Dayan Viciedo Chunichi Dragons .348 Home runs Neftali Soto Yokohama DeNA BayStars 41 Runs batted in Wladimir Balentien Tokyo Yakult Swallows 131 Runs Tetsuto Yamada Tokyo Yakult Swallows 130 Hits Dayan Viciedo Chunichi Dragons 178 Stolen bases Tetsuto Yamada Tokyo Yakult Swallows 33 On Base Percentage Yoshihiro Maru Hiroshima Toyo Carp .468 Slugging Percentage Neftali Soto Yokohama DeNA BayStars .644

Pitching leaders[4] Stat Player Team Total Wins Daichi Osera Tomoyuki Sugano Hiroshima Toyo Carp Yomiuri Giants 15 Earned run average Tomoyuki Sugano Yomiuri Giants 2.14 Strikeouts Tomoyuki Sugano Yomiuri Giants 200 Innings pitched Tomoyuki Sugano Yomiuri Giants 202 Saves Yasuaki Yamasaki Yokohama DeNA BayStars 37 Holds Kazuki Kondo Tokyo Yakult Swallows 35 Winning percentage Katsuki Azuma Kris Johnson Yokohama DeNA BayStars Hiroshima Toyo Carp .688

Pacific League

Batting leaders[5] Stat Player Team Total Batting average Yuki Yanagita Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks .352 Home runs Hotaka Yamakawa Saitama Seibu Lions 47 Runs batted in Hideto Asamura Saitama Seibu Lions 127 Runs Hotaka Yamakawa Saitama Seibu Lions 115 Hits Shogo Akiyama Saitama Seibu Lions 195 Stolen bases Haruki Nishikawa Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 44 On Base Percentage Yuki Yanagita Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks .431 Slugging Percentage Yuki Yanagita Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks .661

Pitching leaders[6] Stat Player Team Total Wins Shinsaburo Tawata Saitama Seibu Lions 16 Earned run average Takayuki Kishi Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 2.72 Strikeouts Takahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 187 Innings pitched Takahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 180.1 Saves Yuito Mori Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 37 Holds Naoki Miyanishi Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 37 Winning percentage Yusei Kikuchi Saitama Seibu Lions .778

See also

• 2018 KBO League season
• 2018 Major League Baseball season