Origins The first professional baseball team in Japan with later ties to NPB was founded by media mogul
Matsutarō Shōriki in late 1934 and called the
Dai Nippon Tokyo Yakyu Kurabu ("the Great Japan Tokyo Baseball Club"). After matching up with a team of visiting American All-Stars that included
Babe Ruth,
Jimmie Foxx,
Lou Gehrig, and
Charlie Gehringer, the team spent the 1935 season barnstorming in the U.S., winning 93 of 102 games against semi-pro and
Pacific Coast League teams. According to historian Joseph Reaves, "The only minor drawbacks to the team's popularity in the States were their
kanji characters and their cumbersome Japanese name. They rectified both by renaming themselves the
Tokyo Kyojin ['Tokyo Giants'] and adopting a uniform identical to the
New York Giants..." From 1936 to 1950,
professional baseball in Japan was played under the banner of the
Japanese Baseball League (JBL). The league's dominant team during this period was the
Tokyo Kyojin, which won nine league championships, including six in a row from 1938 to 1943 (The team was officially renamed the
Yomiuri Giants in 1947).
NPB establishment After the 1949 season, the JBL team owners reorganized into the NPB;
Daiei Stars owner
Masaichi Nagata promoted a two-league system, which became the
Pacific League (initially called the Taiheiyo Baseball Union) and the
Central League, with Nagata becoming the first president of the Pacific League. The league now known as Nippon Professional Baseball began play in 1950. Four JBL teams formed the basis of the Central League: the
Chunichi Dragons, the
Hanshin Tigers, the
Yomiuri Giants, and the
Shochiku Robins (formerly the Taiyō Robins). To fill out the league, four new teams were formed: the
Hiroshima Carp, the
Kokutetsu Swallows, the
Nishi Nippon Pirates, and the
Taiyō Whales. Four JBL teams formed the basis of the Pacific League: the
Hankyu Braves, the
Nankai Hawks, the
Daiei Stars, and the
Tokyu Flyers. To fill out the league, three new teams were formed: the
Kintetsu Pearls, the
Mainichi Orions, and the
Nishitetsu Clippers.
Matsutarō Shōriki, the Giants' owner, acted as NPB's unofficial commissioner and oversaw the first
Japan Series, which featured the Mainichi Orions defeating the Shochiku Robins 4 games to 2.
Expansion and contraction The Central League's
Nishi Nippon Pirates existed for one season—they placed sixth in 1950, and the following season merged with the
Nishitetsu Clippers (also based in Fukuoka) to form the
Nishitetsu Lions. This brought the number of Central League teams down to an ungainly arrangement of seven. In 1952, it was decided that any Central League team ending the season with a winning percentage below .300 would be disbanded or merged with other teams. The
Shochiku Robins fell into this category, and were merged with the
Taiyō Whales to become the
Taiyō Shochiku Robins in January 1953. This enabled the Central League to shrink to an even number of six teams. In 1954 a new
Pacific League team was founded, the
Takahashi Unions, to increase the number of teams in that division to eight. Although the team was stocked with players from the other Pacific League teams, the Unions struggled from the outset and finished in the second division every season. In 1957, the Unions were merged with the
Daiei Stars to form the
Daiei Unions (and again bringing the number of Pacific League teams down to seven). The Unions existed for a single season, finishing in last place, 43-1/2 games out of first. In 1958, the Unions merged with the
Mainichi Orions to form the
Daimai Orions. This enabled the Pacific League to contract from the ungainly seven-team arrangement to six teams. After these various franchise developments, by the end of the 1950s, Nippon Professional Baseball had contracted from the initial allotment of 15 teams down to the current number of 12.
The 1960s, the 1970s, and the Yomiuri Giants' V9 On September 1, 1964,
Nankai Hawks' prospect
Masanori Murakami became the first Japanese player to play in
Major League Baseball when he appeared on the mound for the
San Francisco Giants; he returned to Japan in 1966. Disputes over the rights to his contract eventually led to the 1967 United States – Japanese Player Contract Agreement; it would be almost 30 years before another Japanese player played in the Major Leagues. The Yomiuri Giants had been one of the strongest teams since the days of the Japanese Baseball League (JBL), and after the Japan Series began in 1950, they won the championship six times by 1964. From 1965 to 1973, however, they demonstrated overwhelming dominance by winning nine consecutive Japan Series titles. This remarkable achievement is recorded in Japanese sports history as "V9" (
ja). One of the most dramatic moments in Japanese sports history was Nagashima's walk-off home run in the 1959 "Emperor’s Game" (
tenran jiai, a game attended by the
Emperor). His statement following his retirement in 1974, "My Giants will live on forever" (我がジャイアンツは永久に不滅です), became a well-known phrase in Japanese popular culture. Known throughout his life as "Mr. Baseball" and "Mr. Giants", Nagashima later served as the Giants' honorary lifetime manager. Both Oh and Nagashima were celebrated as national superstars, and each received the
People's Honour Award after retiring from active play.
The Black Mist Scandal rocked Nippon Professional Baseball between 1969 and 1971. The fallout from a series of game-fixing scandals resulted in several star players receiving long suspensions, salary cuts, or being banned from professional play entirely; the resulting abandonment of baseball by many fans in Japan also led to the sale of the
Nishitetsu Lions and the
Toei Flyers. From 1973 to 1982, in a forerunner to today's Climax Series playoff rounds, the
Pacific League employed a split season with the first-half winner playing against the second-half winner in a mini-playoff to determine its champion. In 1975, the Pacific League adopted the
designated hitter rule. These were implemented in an attempt to draw fans back to Pacific League, as the Pacific League was hit significantly harder by the Black Mist Scandal than the Central League, with only the
Hankyu Braves not having players involved in the incident.
1980s and the "Invincible Seibu" After being a second division team for much of the 1960s and 1970s, in 1983 the
Seibu Lions began a period of sustained success. The team gained the moniker "Invincible Seibu" during the 1980s and 1990s due to their sustained domination of the league, winning 11 league championships and eight
Japan Series championships between 1982 and 1994. The Lions had a powerful lineup in this period, loaded with sluggers such as
Koji Akiyama,
Kazuhiro Kiyohara, and
Orestes Destrade. Their defense also benefited from the services of skilled players such as
Hiromichi Ishige,
Hatsuhiko Tsuji and catcher
Tsutomu Ito. Among the pitchers employed by the Lions in this period was "The Oriental Express"
Taigen Kaku,
Osamu Higashio,
Kimiyasu Kudoh,
Hisanobu Watanabe, and relievers
Yoshitaka Katori and
Tetsuya Shiozaki. American expatriate players made their mark in NPB in the 1980s, with players like the Lee brothers (
Leron Lee and
Leon Lee),
Greg "Boomer" Wells,
Randy Bass, and
Ralph Bryant playing key roles on their NPB teams.
Hideo Nomo and the exodus to MLB In 1995, star pitcher
Hideo Nomo "retired" from the
Kintetsu Buffaloes and signed with the
Los Angeles Dodgers. Nomo pitched over the span of 14 seasons in the Major Leagues before retiring in 2008. He won the
Rookie of the Year Award in 1995. He twice led the league in strikeouts, and also threw two no-hitters (the only Japanese pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Major League Baseball until
Hisashi Iwakuma achieved the feat in August 2015). Nomo's MLB success led to more NPB players moving to
Major League Baseball, and eventually led to the creation of the "
posting system" in 1998. Since Nomo's exodus, more than 60 NPB players have played Major League Baseball. Some of the more notable examples include: •
Ichiro Suzuki: After nine years with the
Orix BlueWave, in 2001 Ichiro was
posted by the BlueWave and claimed by MLB's
Seattle Mariners. Ichiro led the
American League (AL) in batting average and stolen bases en route to being named AL Rookie of the Year and AL Most Valuable Player. Ichiro, a member of MLB's
3,000-hit club, has established a number of MLB batting records, including the single-season record for hits with 262. He had ten consecutive 200-hit seasons, the longest streak by any player in history. Between his career hits in Japan's and America's major leagues, Ichiro has the most all-time top-flight hits. On August 27, 2022, Ichiro was enshrined in the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame. On January 21, 2025, Ichiro was elected to
Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame by the
Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) in his first year on the ballot, becoming the first Asian-born player to receive American baseball's highest honor. •
Hideki Matsui: The slugger played 10 seasons for the
Yomiuri Giants, and then in 2003 moved to MLB, where he starred for the
New York Yankees for seven more seasons, including being named the
Most Valuable Player for the
2009 World Series. He was the first power hitter from Japan to succeed in Major League Baseball. •
Kazuhiro Sasaki: He is a
closer famed for his
splitter, known as "The Fang". In 2000, he won the
American League Rookie of the Year Award after saving 37 games for the Mariners. In 2001, he was a vital contributor to the Mariners' extremely strong team that won an American League record 116 games, of which he saved 45. In 2001 and 2002, he was an
All-Star. After 2003, he returned to Japan to pitch in the NPB until his retirement in 2005. •
Yu Darvish: He spent seven seasons with the
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters before being posted and signing with the
Texas Rangers, and later played for the
Los Angeles Dodgers,
Chicago Cubs, and
San Diego Padres. He led Major League Baseball in
strikeouts in 2013 with the Rangers and led MLB in
wins in 2020 with the Padres. In 2023, he recorded his 100th Major League win, becoming the second Japanese pitcher, after Hideo Nomo, to reach 100 wins in MLB. In 2024, he became the third Japanese pitcher, after Nomo and
Hiroki Kuroda, to reach 200 combined wins in NPB and MLB. In the same year, he became the first Japanese pitcher to record 2,000 career strikeouts in MLB. •
Shohei Ohtani: He is a
two-way player who was a five-time All-Star while playing for the
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. Ohtani holds the record for fastest pitch by a Japanese-born player in NPB history at . After signing with the
Los Angeles Angels, Ohtani won the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year award. In 2021, he became the first player in MLB history to be named an All-Star as both a pitcher and a position player. After the conclusion of the season, Ohtani was unanimously named the AL Most Valuable Player. In 2023, Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, in what was then the
most expensive contract in sports history, worth $700 million, before
Juan Soto surpassed that by $65 million with the
New York Mets that offseason. Ohtani would become the first player to record a
50-50 season, winning him his third unanimous MVP. •
Yoshinobu Yamamoto: He played for the
Orix Buffaloes from 2017 to 2023, winning the
Sawamura Award, the
Most Valuable Player Award, the
Best Nine Award, and the
Golden Glove Award three times each, and is regarded as one of the greatest pitchers in NPB history. After the 2023 season, he signed a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which was the largest contract ever given to a pitcher at the time. He appeared in the
2024 World Series and helped the Dodgers win the championship, becoming the first player in baseball history to win a World Series title, an Olympic gold medal, and a
World Baseball Classic title. In the following year’s
2025 World Series, he again played a key role in the Dodgers' championship run and became the second Japanese player, after Hideki Matsui, to be named
World Series MVP.
Merger and strike of 2004 In September 2004, the professional Japanese players went on strike for the first time in over 70 years. The strike arose from a dispute that took place between the owners of the 12 professional Japanese baseball teams and the players' union (which was led by popular
Yakult Swallows player-manager
Atsuya Furuta), concerning the merging of the
Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and the
Orix BlueWave. The owners wanted to get rid of the financially defunct Buffaloes, and merge the two baseball leagues, since teams in the
Central League saw much higher profits than the
Pacific League, having popular teams such as the
Yomiuri Giants and
Hanshin Tigers. After negotiations, the owners agreed to guarantee the survival of the
Chiba Lotte Marines and the
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, leaving the Central League with six teams and the Pacific League with five. A battle escalated between the players union and the owners, and reached its height when Yomiuri Giants owner
Tsuneo Watanabe controversially remarked that Furuta was "a mere player", implying that players had no say in what league would look like the next year. The dispute received huge press coverage (which mostly favored Furuta and the players' union) and was dubbed one of the biggest events in the history of Japanese baseball. Proposals and amendments concerning interleague games, player drafting, and management were also discussed between the players union and the owners during this period. The strike was originally planned for all Saturday and Sunday games that month, starting from September 11, but was pushed back due to the agreement of another meeting between the union and the owners on September 10. The players decided to strike on September 18–19, 2004, when no progress was made in the negotiations, as there was insufficient time left in the season to hold discussions. The dispute officially ended after the two groups reached consensus on September 23, 2004. As part of the agreement, the Buffaloes were allowed to merge with the Blue Wave (forming into the
Orix Buffaloes); in addition, the
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles were newly created (at a reduced "entry fee") to keep the former six-team league structure. Other agreements included the leagues adopting
interleague play to help the Pacific League gain exposure by playing the more popular Central league teams. All these changes took place before the 2005 season.
Interleague play The two leagues began
interleague play in 2005, with each team playing two three-game series (one home, one away) against each of the six teams in the other league. This was reduced to two two-game series in 2007. All interleague play games are played in a seven-week span near the middle of the season. As of the end of the 2017 season, the Pacific League has won the most games in interleague play since it began in 2005 twelve times, with 2009 being the only time that the Central League has won more games.
Post-Season/Climax Series After 2004, a three-team playoff system was introduced in the
Pacific League, initially dubbed the "Pacific League Championship Series". The teams with the second- and third-best records play in the three-game first stage, with the winner advancing to the five-game final against the top team. The winner becomes the representative of the Pacific League to the Japan Series. Since the Pacific League won every Japan Series after introducing this league playoff system, an identical system was introduced to the
Central League in 2007, and the post-season intra-league games were renamed the "
Climax Series" in both leagues. Player statistics and drafting order based on team records are decided on regular season and are not affected by these postseason games.
Recent history In 2011,
Miyagi Baseball Stadium, home of the Rakuten Eagles, was badly damaged by the
Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the stadium was restorated later that year. The 2013 season featured a livelier baseball, which was secretly introduced into NPB, resulting in a marked increase in home runs league-wide.
Tokyo Yakult Swallows outfielder
Wladimir Balentien broke the NPB single-season home run record of 55, previously held by professional baseball's all-time home run leader
Sadaharu Oh in 1964,
Tuffy Rhodes in 2001, and
Alex Cabrera in 2002. Balantien finished the season with 60 home runs. Three-term NPB commissioner
Ryōzō Katō was forced to resign over the scandal when the changed baseball was revealed. The
2020 NPB season was delayed numerous times due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Initially preseason games were set to be played without spectators, but with opening day of March 20 remaining unchanged. With the lifting of states of emergency over major Japanese cities, NPB announced that it would begin its regular season on 19 June
behind closed doors. "Warm-up" games began 26 May. The shortened 120-game regular season began on 19 June. On 10 July, NPB began allowing a limited number of fans to attend games, with plans to further ease restrictions in the near future. On 19 September, attendance was expanded to a maximum of 20,000 fans per game, or 50% of stadium capacity. ==Expatriate baseball players in Japan==