2023 Nippon Professional Baseball season

74th annual season of Nippon Professional Baseball

This article is about the 2023 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2023 in baseball.

Sports season

2023 NPB season

League| Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport| Baseball
Duration| March 30 – October 9
Number of games| 143
Number of teams| 12
Central League pennant
League champions| Hanshin Tigers
Runners-up| Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Season MVP| Shoki Murakami
Pacific League pennant
League champions| Orix Buffaloes
Runners-up| Chiba Lotte Marines
Season MVP| Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Climax Series
CL champions| Hanshin Tigers
CL runners-up| Hiroshima Toyo Carp
PL champions| Orix Buffaloes
PL runners-up| Chiba Lotte Marines
Japan Series
Champions| Hanshin Tigers
Runners-up| Orix Buffaloes
Finals MVP| Koji Chikamoto (Hanshin)
NPB seasons

← 2022

2024 →

The 2023 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 74th season of professional baseball in Japan since Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was reorganized in 1950. There are 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific League.

## Regular season standings

[edit]

Central League regular season standings[1] Rank  | Team  | G | W | L | T | Pct. | GB | Home  | Road

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1  | Hanshin Tigers | 143 | 85 | 53 | 5 | .616 | — | 45–23–3 | 40–30–2
2  | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 143 | 74 | 65 | 4 | .532 | 11½ | 44–26–2 | 30–39–2
3  | Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 143 | 74 | 66 | 3 | .529 | 12 | 39–30–2 | 35–36–1
4  | Yomiuri Giants | 143 | 71 | 70 | 2 | .504 | 15½ | 39–30–2 | 32–40–0
5  | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 143 | 57 | 83 | 3 | .407 | 29 | 36–36–0 | 21–47–3
6  | Chunichi Dragons | 143 | 56 | 82 | 5 | .406 | 29 | 30–39–3 | 26–43–2
Pacific League regular season standings[2] Rank  | Team  | G | W | L | T | Pct. | GB | Home  | Road

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1  | Orix Buffaloes | 143 | 86 | 53 | 4 | .619 | — | 41–28–3 | 45–25–1
2  | Chiba Lotte Marines | 143 | 70 | 68 | 5 | .507 | 15½ | 42–27–2 | 28–40–3
3  | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 143 | 71 | 69 | 3 | .507 | 15½ | 39–32–0 | 32–37–3
4  | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 143 | 70 | 71 | 2 | .496 | 17 | 38–33–1 | 32–38–1
5  | Saitama Seibu Lions | 143 | 65 | 77 | 1 | .458 | 22½ | 33–37–1 | 32–40–0
6  | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 143 | 60 | 82 | 1 | .423 | 27½ | 31–40–0 | 29–42–1

### Interleague

[edit]

Regular season interleague standings[3] Team  | G  | W | L | T | Win% | GB | Home  | Away

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Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | .611 | — | 6–3 | 5–4
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | .611 | — | 4–5 | 7–2
Yomiuri Giants | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | .611 | — | 5–4 | 6–3
Orix Buffaloes | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | .611 | — | 4–5 | 7–2
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | .556 | 1 | 4–5 | 6–3
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | .500 | 2 | 5–4 | 4–5
Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | .500 | 2 | 4–5 | 5–4
Chiba Lotte Marines | 18 | 7 | 9 | 2 | .438 | 3 | 5–4 | 2–5−2
Chunichi Dragons | 18 | 7 | 10 | 1 | .412 | 3½ | 2–6−1 | 5–4
Hanshin Tigers | 18 | 7 | 10 | 1 | .412 | 3½ | 4–4−1 | 3–6
Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | .389 | 4 | 3–6 | 4–5
Saitama Seibu Lions | 18 | 6 | 12 | 0 | .333 | 5 | 4–5 | 2–7

Overall, the Pacific League won 54 games and lost 52 against the Central League, with 2 ties.

## Climax Series

[edit]

Main articles: 2023 Pacific League Climax Series and 2023 Central League Climax Series

| | | | | | | | | | | | |
| First stage| | | Final stage| | | Japan Series
| | |

Central League

| 1| Hanshin Tigers| 4
| |
| 2| Hiroshima Toyo Carp| 2| | | 2| Hiroshima Toyo Carp| 0| | |
| | | |
| 3| Yokohama DeNA BayStars| 0| | | | CL| Hanshin Tigers| 4
| | | | |
| | | | PL| Orix Buffaloes| 3
| | |

Pacific League

| 1| Orix Buffaloes| 4|
| |
| 2| Chiba Lotte Marines| 2| | | 2| Chiba Lotte Marines| 1| | |
| | | |
| 3| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks| 1| | | |
| |
| | | | | | |

### First stage

[edit]

#### Central League

[edit]

Hiroshima Toyo Carp won the series, 2−0.

Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance

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1 | October 14 | Hiroshima Toyo Carp − 3, Yokohama DeNA BayStars − 2 (11) | Mazda Stadium | 3:52 | 31,041[4]
2 | October 15 | Hiroshima Toyo Carp − 4, Yokohama DeNA BayStars − 2 | Mazda Stadium | 3:32 | 31,059[5]

#### Pacific League

[edit]

Chiba Lotte Marines won the series, 2−1.

Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance

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1 | October 14 | Chiba Lotte Marines − 8, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 2 | ZOZO Marine Stadium | 3:02 | 29,126[6]
2 | October 15 | Chiba Lotte Marines − 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 3 | ZOZO Marine Stadium | 3:23 | 29,147[7]
3 | October 16 | Chiba Lotte Marines − 4, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 3 (10) | ZOZO Marine Stadium | 4:18 | 29,050[8]

### Final stage

[edit]

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

#### Central League

[edit]

Hanshin Tigers won the series, 4−0.

Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance

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1 | October 18 | Hanshin Tigers − 4, Hiroshima Toyo Carp − 1 | Koshien Stadium | 2:52 | 42,641[9]
2 | October 19 | Hanshin Tigers − 2, Hiroshima Toyo Carp − 1 | Koshien Stadium | 3:13 | 42,630[10]
3 | October 20 | Hanshin Tigers − 4, Hiroshima Toyo Carp − 2 | Koshien Stadium | 3:41 | 42,642[11]

#### Pacific League

[edit]

Orix Buffaloes won the series, 4−1.

Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance

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1 | October 18 | Orix Buffaloes − 8, Chiba Lotte Marines − 5 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:09 | 35,930[12]
2 | October 19 | Orix Buffaloes − 5, Chiba Lotte Marines − 6 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:22 | 33,634[13]
3 | October 20 | Orix Buffaloes − 2, Chiba Lotte Marines − 0 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:09 | 35,943[14]
4 | October 21 | Orix Buffaloes − 3, Chiba Lotte Marines − 2 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 2:32 | 35,804[15]

### 2023 Japan Series

[edit]

Hanshin Tigers (4) vs. Orix Buffaloes (3)

Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance

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1 | October 28 | Hanshin Tigers − 8, Orix Buffaloes − 0 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:20 | 33,701[16]
2 | October 29 | Hanshin Tigers − 0, Orix Buffaloes − 8 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:09 | 33,584[17]
3 | October 31 | Orix Buffaloes − 5,Hanshin Tigers− 4 | Koshien Stadium | 3:51 | 40,994[18]
4 | November 1 | Orix Buffaloes − 3, Hanshin Tigers − 4 | Koshien Stadium | 4:06 | 41,050[19]
5 | November 2 | Orix Buffaloes − 2, Hanshin Tigers− 6 | Koshien Stadium | 3:28 | 41,031[20]
6 | November 4 | Hanshin Tigers − 1, Orix Buffaloes − 5 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:01 | 33,633[21]
7 | November 5 | Hanshin Tigers − 7, Orix Buffaloes − 1 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:10 | 33,405[22]

## See also

[edit]

* 2023 Major League Baseball season
* 2023 KBO League season
* 2023 Mexican League season
* 2023 Chinese Professional Baseball League season
* 2023 Frontier League season
* 2023 Pioneer League season

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "2023 Central League Standings". Retrieved October 7, 2023.
2. ^ "2023 Pacific League Standings". Retrieved October 7, 2023.
3. ^ "2023年度 交流戦" [2023 Interleague Play] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved June 26, 2023.
4. ^ "Saturday, October 14, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
5. ^ "Sunday, October 15, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
6. ^ "Saturday, October 14, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
7. ^ "Sunday, October 15, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
8. ^ "Monday, October 16, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
9. ^ "Wednesday, October 18, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
10. ^ "Thursday, October 19, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
11. ^ "Sunday, October 20, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
12. ^ "Wednesday, October 18, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
13. ^ "Thursday, October 19, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
14. ^ "Friday, October 20, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
15. ^ "Saturday, October 21, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
16. ^ "Saturday, October 28, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
17. ^ "Thursday, October 29, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
18. ^ "Friday, October 31, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
19. ^ "Wednesday, November 1, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
20. ^ "Friday, November 2, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 3, 2023.
21. ^ "Thursday, November 4, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 5, 2023.
22. ^ "Thursday, November 5, 2023". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 6, 2023.

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Nippon Professional Baseball seasons

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* Japan Series
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