2019 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 2019 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2019 in baseball.

The 2019 Nippon Professional Baseball season began on March 29.^[1] It was the 70th season since Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was reorganized in 1950. There are 12 teams NPB, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific League. The 2019 NPB season was 143 games long; teams in each league played 125 games against each other and 18 interleague games.^[2] The regular season was scheduled to end on September 24 except for any make-up games scheduled after it; the regular season eventually concluded on September 30. The top three teams in each league proceed to the Climax Series, NPB's postseason system.

2019 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 29 – October 23
Number of games	143
Number of teams	12
Central League pennant
League champions	Yomiuri Giants
Runners-up	Yokohama DeNA Baystars
Season MVP	Hayato Sakamoto (Yomiuri)
Pacific League pennant
League champions	Saitama Seibu Lions
Runners-up	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Season MVP	Tomoya Mori (Seibu)
Climax Series
CL champions	Yomiuri Giants
CL runners-up	Hanshin Tigers
PL champions	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
PL runners-up	Saitama Seibu Lions
Japan Series
Champions	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Runners-up	Yomiuri Giants
Finals MVP	Yurisbel Gracial (SoftBank)

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings^[3]

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Yomiuri Giants	143	77	64	2	.546	-	39–32–0	38–32–2
2	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	143	71	69	3	.519	4.5	42–25–1	26–38–2
3	Hanshin Tigers	143	69	68	6	.504	6.0	39–32–1	30–36–5
4	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	143	70	70	3	.500	6.5	39–31–1	31–39–2
5	Chunichi Dragons	143	68	73	2	.482	9.0	39–31–2	29–42–0
6	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	143	59	82	2	.418	18.0	28–41–2	31-41–0

Pacific League regular season standings^[4]

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Saitama Seibu Lions	143	80	62	1	.563	-	43–29–0	37–33–1
2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	143	76	62	5	.551	2.0	42–27–3	34–35-2
3	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	143	71	68	4	.511	7.5	36–33–2	35–35–2
4	Chiba Lotte Marines	143	69	70	4	.504	9.5	37–32–2	32–38–2
5	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	143	65	73	5	.471	12.0	35–34–3	30–39–2
6	Orix Buffaloes	143	61	75	7	.452	14.0	32–34–5	29–41–2

Climax Series

Main articles: 2019 Pacific League Climax Series and 2019 Central League Climax Series

	First stage					Final stage					Japan Series
	Central League					1	Yomiuri Giants	4
	2	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	1			3	Hanshin Tigers	1
	3	Hanshin Tigers	2								CL1	Yomiuri Giants	0
											PL2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	4
	Pacific League					1	Saitama Seibu Lions	1
	2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	2			2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	4
	3	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1

First stage

Central League

Hanshin Tigers won the series, 2–1.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 5	Hanshin Tigers - 8, Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 7	Yokohama Stadium	3:57	31,832[5]
2	October 6	Hanshin Tigers - 4, Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 6	Yokohama Stadium	3:50	31,818[6]
3	October 7	Hanshin Tigers - 2, Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 1	Yokohama Stadium	3:57	31,807[7]

Pacific League

Fukuoka Hawks won the series, 2–1.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 5	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 5, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:15	39,745[8]
2	October 6	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 4, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:39	40,178[9]
3	October 7	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles – 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:05	38,265[10]

Final stage

Central League

Yomiuri Giants won the series, 4–1.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 9	Hanshin Tigers – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 5	Tokyo Dome	3:13	45,277[11]
2	October 10	Hanshin Tigers – 0, Yomiuri Giants – 6	Tokyo Dome	2:43	45,168[12]
3	October 11	Hanshin Tigers – 7, Yomiuri Giants – 6	Tokyo Dome	4:52	45,677[13]
4	October 13	Hanshin Tigers – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 4	Tokyo Dome	2:58	45,931[14]

Pacific League

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the series, 4–1.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 9	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 8, Saitama Seibu Lions – 4	MetLife Dome	3:38	29,679[15]
2	October 10	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 8, Saitama Seibu Lions – 6	MetLife Dome	4:26	30,599[16]
3	October 11	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 7, Saitama Seibu Lions – 0	MetLife Dome	3:34	29,828[17]
4	October 13	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 9, Saitama Seibu Lions – 3	MetLife Dome	4:00	29,146[18]

Japan Series

Main article: 2019 Japan Series

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the series, 4–0.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 19	Yomiuri Giants – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 7	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:15	37,198[19]
2	October 20	Yomiuri Giants – 3, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:12	37,052[20]
3	October 22	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6, Yomiuri Giants – 2	Tokyo Dome	3:38	44,411[21]
4	October 23	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	3:22	44,708[22]

League leaders

Central League

Batting leaders[23] Stat Player Team Total Batting average Seiya Suzuki Hiroshima Toyo Carp .335 Home runs Neftali Soto Yokohama DeNA BayStars 43 Runs batted in Neftali Soto Yokohama DeNA BayStars 108 Runs Seiya Suzuki Hiroshima Toyo Carp 112 Hits Yohei Oshima Chunichi Dragons 174 Stolen bases Kōji Chikamoto Hanshin Tigers 36 On-base percentage Seiya Suzuki Hiroshima Toyo Carp .453 Slugging percentage Hayato Sakamoto Yomiuri Giants .575

Pitching leaders[24] Stat Player Team Total Wins Shun Yamaguchi Yomiuri Giants 15 Earned run average Yudai Ono Chunichi Dragons 2.58 Strikeouts Shun Yamaguchi Yomiuri Giants 188 Innings pitched Yudai Ono Chunichi Dragons 177.2 Saves Yasuaki Yamasaki Yokohama DeNA BayStars 30 Holds Joely Rodríguez Chunichi Dragons 41 Winning percentage Shun Yamaguchi Yomiuri Giants .789

Pacific League

Batting leaders[25] Stat Player Team Total Batting average Tomoya Mori Saitama Seibu Lions .329 Home runs Hotaka Yamakawa Saitama Seibu Lions 43 Runs batted in Takeya Nakamura Saitama Seibu Lions 123 Runs Shogo Akiyama Saitama Seibu Lions 112 Hits Shogo Akiyama Saitama Seibu Lions 179 Stolen bases Yuji Kaneko Saitama Seibu Lions 41 On-base percentage Kensuke Kondo Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters .422 Slugging percentage Tomoya Mori Saitama Seibu Lions .547

Pitching leaders[26] Stat Player Team Total Wins Kohei Arihara Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 15 Earned run average Yoshinobu Yamamoto Orix Buffaloes 1.95 Strikeouts Kodai Senga Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 227 Innings pitched Kodai Senga Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 180.1 Saves Yuki Matsui Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 38 Holds Naoki Miyanishi Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 43 Winning percentage Taisuke Yamaoka Orix Buffaloes .765

Awards

Regular season

NPB Awards

	Central League		Pacific League
Award	Player	Team	Player	Team
Rookie of the Year	Munetaka Murakami	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Rei Takahashi	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Most Valuable Player	Hayato Sakamoto	Yomiuri Giants	Tomoya Mori	Saitama Seibu Lions
Eiji Sawamura Award	Not awarded		Not awarded
Best Relief Pitcher	Joely Rodríguez	Chunichi Dragons	Naoki Miyanishi	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Matsutaro Shoriki Award			Kimiyasu Kudo	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Best Nine Award
Position	Player	Team	Player	Team
Pitcher	Shun Yamaguchi	Yomiuri Giants	Kodai Senga	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Catcher	Tsubasa Aizawa	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	Tomoya Mori	Saitama Seibu Lions
1st Base	Dayán Viciedo	Chunichi Dragons	Hotaka Yamakawa	Saitama Seibu Lions
2nd Base	Tetsuto Yamada	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	Hideto Asamura	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
3rd Base	Shuhei Takahashi	Chunichi Dragons	Takeya Nakamura	Saitama Seibu Lions
Shortstop	Hayato Sakamoto	Yomiuri Giants	Sosuke Genda	Saitama Seibu Lions
Outfield	Yoshihiro Maru	Yomiuri Giants	Shogo Akiyama	Saitama Seibu Lions
	Seiya Suzuki	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	Masataka Yoshida	Orix Buffaloes
	Neftalí Soto	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	Takashi Ogino	Chiba Lotte Marines
Designated hitter	Not applicable		Alfredo Despaigne	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Mitsui Golden Glove Award

	Central League		Pacific League
Position	Player	Team	Player	Team
Pitcher	Yuki Nishi	Hanshin Tigers	Kodai Senga	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Catcher	Ryutaro Umeno	Hanshin Tigers	Takuya Kai	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
1st Base	José López	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	Seiichi Uchikawa	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
2nd Base	Ryosuke Kikuchi	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	Hideto Asamura	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
3rd Base	Shuhei Takahashi	Chunichi Dragons	Nobuhiro Matsuda	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Shortstop	Hayato Sakamoto	Yomiuri Giants	Sosuke Genda	Saitama Seibu Lions

Monthly MVPs

Position players Central League Pacific League Month Player Team Player Team March/April Hayato Sakamoto Yomiuri Giants Hotaka Yamakawa Saitama Seibu Lions May Shuhei Takahashi Chunichi Dragons Shogo Akiyama Saitama Seibu Lions June Yoshio Itoi Hanshin Tigers Daichi Suzuki Chiba Lotte Marines July José López Yokohama DeNA BayStars Masataka Yoshida Orix Buffaloes August Ryoma Nishikawa Hiroshima Toyo Carp Tomoya Mori Saitama Seibu Lions September Nobumasa Fukuda Chunichi Dragons Masataka Yoshida Orix Buffaloes

Pitchers Central League Pacific League Month Player Team Player Team March/April Shun Yamaguchi Yomiuri Giants Kohei Arihara Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters May Shota Imanaga Yokohama DeNA BayStars Kodai Senga Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks June Shun Yamaguchi Yomiuri Giants Kodai Senga Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks July Yasuaki Yamasaki Yokohama DeNA BayStars Taisuke Yamaoka Orix Buffaloes August David Buchanan Tokyo Yakult Swallows Alan Busenitz Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles September Yuki Nishi Hanshin Tigers Zach Neal Saitama Seibu Lions

See also

• 2019 KBO League season
• 2019 Major League Baseball season