2021 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 2021 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2021 in baseball.

The 2021 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 72nd season of professional baseball in Japan since Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was reorganized in 1950. There were 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific League.

2021 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 26 – November 21
Number of games	143
Number of teams	12
Central League pennant
League champions	Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Runners-up	Hanshin Tigers
Season MVP	Munetaka Murakami (Yakult)
Pacific League pennant
League champions	Orix Buffaloes
Runners-up	Chiba Lotte Marines
Season MVP	Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix)
Climax Series
CL champions	Tokyo Yakult Swallows
CL runners-up	Yomiuri Giants
PL champions	Orix Buffaloes
PL runners-up	Chiba Lotte Marines
Japan Series
Champions	Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Runners-up	Orix Buffaloes
Finals MVP	Yuhei Nakamura (Yakult)

Following the All-Star Series held on 16–17 July, the regular season went on hiatus in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics baseball tournament. The season resumed on 13 August. In the postseason, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows defeated the Orix Buffaloes in the Japan Series.

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings^[1]

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	143	73	52	18	.584	—	36–29–7	37–23–11
2	Hanshin Tigers	143	77	56	10	.579	0	36–31–4	41–25–6
3	Yomiuri Giants	143	61	62	20	.496	11	32–30–10	29–32–10
4	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	143	63	68	12	.481	13	30–34–8	33–34–4
5	Chunichi Dragons	143	55	71	17	.437	18½	33–27–11	22–44–6
6	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	143	54	73	16	.425	20	27–37–7	27–36–9

Pacific League regular season standings^[2]

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Orix Buffaloes	143	70	55	18	.560	—	38–22–12	32–33–6
2	Chiba Lotte Marines	143	67	57	19	.540	2½	33–32–7	34–25–12
3	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	143	66	62	15	.514	5½	31–33–8	35–29–7
4	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	143	60	62	21	.492	8½	31–29–11	29–33–10
5	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	143	55	68	20	.447	14	25–36–10	30–32–10
6	Saitama Seibu Lions	143	55	70	18	.440	15	30–34–7	25–36–11

Interleague

Regular season interleague standings^[3]

Team	G	W	L	T	Win%	GB	Home	Away
Orix Buffaloes	18	12	5	1	.706	—	7–1–1	5–4
Hanshin Tigers	18	11	7	0	.611	1½	3–6	8–1
Yokohama DeNA BayStars	18	9	6	3	.600	2	6–2–1	3–4–2
Chunichi Dragons	18	9	7	2	.563	2½	5–2–2	4–5
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	18	10	8	0	.556	2½	5–4	5–4
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	18	9	8	1	.529	3	3–5–1	6–3
Saitama Seibu Lions	18	7	7	4	.500	3½	5–3–1	2–4–3
Chiba Lotte Marines	18	8	9	1	.471	4	5–4	3–5–1
Yomiuri Giants	18	7	8	3	.467	4	4–3–2	3–5–1
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	18	7	11	0	.389	5½	2–7	5–4
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	18	5	9	4	.357	5½	3–4–2	2–5–2
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	18	3	12	3	.200	8	2–6–1	1–6–2

Climax Series

Main articles: 2021 Pacific League Climax Series and 2021 Central League Climax Series

	First stage					Final stage					Japan Series
	Central League					1	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	3
	2	Hanshin Tigers	0			3	Yomiuri Giants	0
	3	Yomiuri Giants	2								CL1	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	4
											PL1	Orix Buffaloes	2
	Pacific League					1	Orix Buffaloes	3
	2	Chiba Lotte Marines	1			2	Chiba Lotte Marines	0
	3	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	0

First stage

Central League

Yomiuri Giants won the series, 2–0.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 6	Yomiuri Giants − 4, Hanshin Tigers − 0	Koshien Stadium	3:11	21,478[4]
2	November 7	Yomiuri Giants − 4, Hanshin Tigers − 2	Koshien Stadium	3:33	21,492[5]

Pacific League

Chiba Lotte Marines won the series, 1−0−1 as a higher seed.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 6	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles − 4, Chiba Lotte Marines − 5	Zozo Marine Stadium	3:10	14,904[6]
2	November 7	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles − 4, Chiba Lotte Marines − 4	Zozo Marine Stadium	3:07	14,891[7]

Final stage

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

Central League

Tokyo Yakult Swallows won the series, 3−0−1 as a higher seed.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 10	Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 4, Yomiuri Giants − 0	Meiji Jingu Stadium	2:38	17,792[8]
2	November 11	Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 5, Yomiuri Giants − 0	Meiji Jingu Stadium	3:19	17,230[9]
3	November 12	Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 2, Yomiuri Giants − 2	Meiji Jingu Stadium	3:08	19,022[10]

Pacific League

Orix Buffaloes won the series, 3−0−1 as a higher seed.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 10	Orix Buffaloes − 1, Chiba Lotte Marines − 0	Kyocera Dome Osaka	2:23	17,915[11]
2	November 11	Orix Buffaloes − 2, Chiba Lotte Marines − 0	Kyocera Dome Osaka	2:42	17,913[12]
3	November 12	Orix Buffaloes − 3, Chiba Lotte Marines − 3	Kyocera Dome Osaka	3:33	18,006[13]

Japan Series

Main article: 2021 Japan Series

Tokyo Yakult Swallows won the series, 4–2.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 20	Orix Buffaloes – 4, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 3	Kyocera Dome Osaka	3:46	19,297[14]
2	November 21	Orix Buffaloes – 0, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 2	Kyocera Dome Osaka	2:56	17,075[15]
3	November 23	Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 5, Orix Buffaloes − 4	Tokyo Dome	3:45	24,565[16]
4	November 24	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 2, Orix Buffaloes – 1	Tokyo Dome	2:50	20,617[17]
5	November 25	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 5, Orix Buffaloes – 6	Tokyo Dome	3:16	20,580[18]
6	November 27	Orix Buffaloes – 1, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 2 (12)	Hotto Motto Field	5:00	15,239[19]

League leaders

Central League

Batting leaders[20] Stat Player Team Total Batting average Seiya Suzuki Hiroshima Toyo Carp .317 Home runs Munetaka Murakami Kazuma Okamoto Tokyo Yakult Swallows Yomiuri Giants 39 Runs batted in Kazuma Okamoto Yomiuri Giants 113 Hits Kōji Chikamoto Hanshin Tigers 178 Stolen bases Takumu Nakano Hanshin Tigers 30 On-base percentage Seiya Suzuki Hiroshima Toyo Carp .433

Pitching leaders[21] Stat Player Team Total Wins Kōyō Aoyagi Aren Kuri Hanshin Tigers Hiroshima Toyo Carp 13 Earned run average Yūya Yanagi Chunichi Dragons 2.20 Strikeouts Yūya Yanagi Chunichi Dragons 168 Saves Robert Suárez Hanshin Tigers 42 Holds Noboru Shimizu Tokyo Yakult Swallows 53 Winning percentage Kōyō Aoyagi Hanshin Tigers .684

Pacific League

Batting leaders[22] Stat Player Team Total Batting average Masataka Yoshida Orix Buffaloes .339 Home runs Yutaro Sugimoto Orix Buffaloes 32 Runs batted in Hiroaki Shimauchi Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 96 Hits Takashi Ogino Chiba Lotte Marines 169 Stolen bases Sōsuke Genda Takashi Ogino Koshiro Wada Haruki Nishikawa Saitama Seibu Lions Chiba Lotte Marines Chiba Lotte Marines Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 24 On-base percentage Masataka Yoshida Orix Buffaloes .429

Pitching leaders[23] Stat Player Team Total Wins Yoshinobu Yamamoto Orix Buffaloes 18 Earned run average Yoshinobu Yamamoto Orix Buffaloes 1.39 Strikeouts Yoshinobu Yamamoto Orix Buffaloes 206 Saves Naoya Masuda Chiba Lotte Marines 38 Holds Mizuki Hori Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 42 Winning percentage Yoshinobu Yamamoto Orix Buffaloes .783

See also

• 2021 in baseball
• 2021 Major League Baseball season
• 2021 KBO League season
• 2021 Chinese Professional Baseball League season
• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports