| 1981 NPB season | |
|---|---|
| League | Nippon Professional Baseball |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Regular season | |
| Season MVP | CL: Suguru Egawa (YOM) PL: Yutaka Enatsu (NIP) |
| League postseason | |
| CL champions | Yomiuri Giants |
| CL runners-up | Hiroshima Toyo Carp |
| PL champions | Nippon-Ham Fighters |
| PL runners-up | Lotte Orions |
| Japan Series | |
| Champions | Yomiuri Giants |
| Runners-up | Nippon-Ham Fighters |
| Finals MVP | Takashi Nishimoto (YOM) |
The 1981 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 32nd season of operation for the league.
| Central League [1] | G | W | L | T | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yomiuri Giants | 130 | 73 | 48 | 9 | .603 | – |
| Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 130 | 67 | 54 | 9 | .554 | 6.0 |
| Hanshin Tigers | 130 | 67 | 58 | 5 | .536 | 8.0 |
| Yakult Swallows | 130 | 56 | 58 | 16 | .491 | 13.5 |
| Chunichi Dragons | 130 | 58 | 65 | 7 | .472 | 16.0 |
| Yokohama Taiyo Whales | 130 | 42 | 80 | 8 | .344 | 31.5 |
| Pacific League [2] | G | W | L | T | Pct. | 1st half ranking | 2nd half ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nippon-Ham Fighters | 130 | 68 | 54 | 8 | .557 | 4 | 1 |
| Hankyu Braves | 130 | 68 | 58 | 4 | .540 | 3 | 2 |
| Lotte Orions | 130 | 63 | 57 | 10 | .525 | 1 | 3 |
| Seibu Lions | 130 | 61 | 61 | 8 | .500 | 2 | 5 |
| Nankai Hawks | 130 | 53 | 65 | 12 | .449 | 5 | 6 |
| Kintetsu Buffaloes | 130 | 54 | 72 | 4 | .429 | 6 | 4 |
The Pacific League teams with the best first and second-half records met in a best-of-five playoff series to determine the league representative in the Japan Series.
Nippon-Ham Fighters won the series 3–1–1.
| Game | Score | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orions – 1, Fighters – 4 | October 7 | Kawasaki Stadium |
| 2 | Orions – 5, Fighters – 5 | October 10 | Kawasaki Stadium |
| 3 | Fighters – 4, Orions – 1 | October 11 | Korakuen Stadium |
| 4 | Fighters – 6, Orions – 11 | October 12 | Korakuen Stadium |
| 5 | Fighters – 8, Orions – 4 | October 13 | Korakuen Stadium |
Yomiuri Giants won the series 4–2.
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fighters – 6, Giants – 5 | October 17 | Korakuen Stadium | 36,056 [3] |
| 2 | Fighters – 1, Giants – 2 | October 18 | Korakuen Stadium | 42,376 [3] |
| 3 | Giants – 2, Fighters – 3 | October 20 | Korakuen Stadium | 36,180 [3] |
| 4 | Giants – 8, Fighters – 2 | October 21 | Korakuen Stadium | 38,627 [3] |
| 5 | Giants – 9, Fighters – 0 | October 23 | Korakuen Stadium | 31,419 [3] |
| 6 | Fighters – 3, Giants – 6 | October 25 | Korakuen Stadium | 43,604 [3] |