2015 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 2015 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2015 in baseball.
2015 NPB season
League Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport Baseball
Duration March 27, 2015 – October 1, 2015
Central League Pennant
League champions Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Pacific League Pennant
League champions Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Climax Series
CL champions Tokyo Yakult Swallows
  CL runners-up Yomiuri Giants
PL champions Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
  PL runners-up Chiba Lotte Marines
Japan Series
Champions Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
  Runners-up Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Finals MVP Lee Dae-ho (SOF)

The 2015 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 66th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. In the Central League, the Yakult Swallows claimed the pennant and defeated the Yomiuri Giants in the final stage of the Climax Series. In the Pacific League, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the penant and defeated the Chiba Lotte Marines in the final stage of the Climax Series.

Incidents

A gambling scandal involving members of the Yomiuri Giants was reported in October. Pitchers Satoshi Fukuda, Shoki Kasahara, and Ryuya Matsumoto were found to have bet on both NBP games and Major League Baseball games, as well as high school baseball.[1][2]

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings
Team G W L T Pct. GB
Tokyo Yakult Swallows 143 76 65 2 .539 –
Yomiuri Giants 143 75 67 1 .528 1.5
Hanshin Tigers 143 70 71 2 .496 6.0
Hiroshima Toyo Carp 143 69 71 3 .493 6.5
Chunichi Dragons 143 62 77 4 .446 13.0
Yokohama DeNA BayStars 143 62 80 1 .437 14.5
Pacific League regular season standings
Team G W L T Pct. GB
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 143 90 49 4 .647 –
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 143 79 62 2 .560 12.0
Chiba Lotte Marines 143 73 69 1 .511 19.0
Saitama Seibu Lions 143 69 69 5 .500 20.5
Orix Buffaloes 143 61 80 2 .433 30.0
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 143 57 83 3 .410 33.0

Climax Series

Note: In each league's stepladder playoff system (Climax Series), all games in that series are held at the higher seed's home stadium. The team with the higher regular-season standing also advanced if the round ended in a tie.

  First stage     Final stage     Japan Series
                           
  Central League     C1  Tokyo Yakult Swallows 4  
  C2  Yomiuri Giants 2     C2  Yomiuri Giants 1    
  C3  Hanshin Tigers 1         C1  Tokyo Yakult Swallows 1
      P1  Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4
  Pacific League     P1  Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4    
  P2  Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 1     P3  Chiba Lotte Marines 0  
  P3  Chiba Lotte Marines 2  

First stage

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

Central League

Yomiuri Giants (2) vs. Hanshin Tigers (1)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 10Hanshin Tigers – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 3Tokyo Dome3:4045,298 
2October 11Hanshin Tigers – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 2Tokyo Dome3:4846,698 
3October 12Hanshin Tigers – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 3Tokyo Dome2:4846,067

Pacific League

Chiba Lotte Marines (2) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (1)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 10Chiba Lotte Marines – 9, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3Sapporo Dome3:2841,138 
2October 11Chiba Lotte Marines – 2, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4Sapporo Dome3:0641,138 
3October 12Chiba Lotte Marines – 2, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1Sapporo Dome3:4232,201

Final stage

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

Central League

Yomiuri Giants (1) vs. Tokyo Yakult Swallows (4)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 14Yomiuri Giants – 4, Tokyo Yakult Swallows– 1Meiji Jingu Stadium3:3831,502 
2October 15Yomiuri Giants – 0, Tokyo Yakult Swallows– 4Meiji Jingu Stadium2:5131,274 
3October 16Yomiuri Giants – 0, Tokyo Yakult Swallows– 2Meiji Jingu Stadium3:2733,102 
4October 17Yomiuri Giants – 2, Tokyo Yakult Swallows– 3Meiji Jingu Stadium2:5834,038

Pacific League

Chiba Lotte Marines (0) vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (4)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 14Chiba Lotte Marines – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3 (10 innings)Fukuoka Dome3:4337,360 
2October 15Chiba Lotte Marines – 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6Fukuoka Dome2:5937,603 
3October 16Chiba Lotte Marines – 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3Fukuoka Dome2:5337,235

Japan Series

Main article: 2015 Japan Series

CL Tokyo Yakult Swallows (1) vs. PL Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (4)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 24Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4Fukuoka Dome3:0435,732 
2October 25Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4Fukuoka Dome3:3535,764 
3October 27Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 8Meiji Jingu Stadium3:3831,037 
4October 28Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 4Meiji Jingu Stadium4:0631,288 
5October 29Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 5, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0Meiji Jingu Stadium3:3631,239

League leaders [3]

Central League

Batting leaders
Stat Player Team Total
Batting average Shingo Kawabata Tokyo Yakult Swallows .336
Home runs Tetsuto Yamada Tokyo Yakult Swallows 38
Runs batted in Kazuhiro Hatakeyama Tokyo Yakult Swallows 105
Runs Tetsuto Yamada Tokyo Yakult Swallows 119
Hits Shingo Kawabata Tokyo Yakult Swallows 195
Stolen bases Tetsuto Yamada Tokyo Yakult Swallows 34
Pitching leaders
Stat Player Team Total
Wins Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Carp 15
Losses Atsushi Nomi Hanshin Tigers 13
Earned run average Kris Johnson Hiroshima Carp 1.85
Strikeouts Shintaro Fujinami Hanshin Tigers 221
Innings pitched Yudai Ono Chunichi Dragons 207.1
Saves Tony Barnette Tokyo Yakult Swallows 41
Oh Seung-hwan Hanshin Tigers

Pacific League

Batting leaders
Stat Player Team Total
Batting average Yuki Yanagita Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks .363
Home runs Takeya Nakamura Saitama Seibu Lions 37
Runs batted in Takeya Nakamura Saitama Seibu Lions 124
Runs Yuki Yanagita Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 110
Hits Shogo Akiyama Saitama Seibu Lions 216
Stolen bases Takuya Nakashima Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 34
Pitching leaders
Stat Player Team Total
Wins Shohei Otani Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 15
Losses Ayumu Ishikawa Chiba Lotte Marines 12
Earned run average Shohei Otani Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 2.24
Strikeouts Takahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 215
Innings pitched Takahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 194.2
Saves Dennis Sarfate Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 41

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2015 in Nippon Professional Baseball.
  1. ↑ "More pitchers involved in gambling scandal in Japan baseball". ESPN.com. Associated Press. 22 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Two more Giants pitchers involved in baseball gambling, panel finds". Japan Times. Kyodo News. 21 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  3. ↑ http://npb.jp/bis/eng/2015/stats/
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