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Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called Puro Yakyū (プロ野球), meaning Professional Baseball.
Sadaharu Oh, also known as Wang Chen-chih, is a Japanese-born former baseball player and manager in Japan. Oh holds the world lifetime home run record, having hit 868 home runs during his professional career. He established many NPB batting records, including runs batted in (RBI) (2,170), slugging percentage (.634), bases on balls (2,390), and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) (1.080). In 1977, Oh became the first recipient of the People's Honour Award. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League.
Alexander Alberto Cabrera is a Venezuelan first baseman and right-handed batter who played in 2000 for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball and for 12 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball. Also played several seasons in the LVBP in his native Venezuela.
Tsuyoshi Wada is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB). He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs.
Kenji Johjima is a Japanese former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for four years with the Seattle Mariners in the American League, then returned to Japan and played for the Hanshin Tigers.
Brian James Buchanan is an American former professional baseball outfielder and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2000 through 2004 for the Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, and the New York Mets. And also, he played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in 2007.
Brian Thomas Falkenborg is a former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and St. Louis Cardinals and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
Nobuhiko Matsunaka is a former left fielder and designated hitter for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.
Kazumi Saito is a retired Japanese professional baseball player. starting pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He was a two-time winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award, but did not pitch in a regular season game after October 2007 due to various shoulder injuries.
Dennis Scott Sarfate is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, Saitama Seibu Lions, and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). While an average reliever in the MLB, Sarfate became one of the greatest closers in NPB history after moving his career overseas. Sarfate holds several NPB records, including most saves in a season and most by a foreign-born pitcher. As of 2020, his 234 career saves rank fifth-most in NPB history. He is a 3× NPB All-Star, a 3× Pacific League saves leader, a 5× Japan Series Champion, won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award, won the Pacific League MVP Award, and won the Matsutaro Shoriki Award.
Toshiya Sugiuchi is a Japanese baseball player. He is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants.
Kenji Akashi is a former Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball Infielder for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball.
Kenji Otonari, nicknamed "Tonarin", is a former Japanese baseball pitcher.
Kimiyasu Kudo is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher and the former manager of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball. Known for his longevity as a player, he holds the NPB records for longest career with 29 seasons played, most consecutive seasons with at least one win with 23 and is the oldest pitcher to strike out 10 batters in a game, doing so at the age of 41 years and 11 months. In his career, he recorded 224 wins, a 3.45 ERA and 2,852 strikeouts. However, despite all his accolades, he is infamously known for having never won the Eiji Sawamura Award, given to Japan's top pitcher.
Scott Carter Stewart is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
The 2019 Japan Series was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) 2019 season. The 70th edition of the Japan Series, it was played from 19-23 October. The series was a best-of-seven playoff between the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, the Pacific League's (PL) Climax Series champion and defending Japan Series champions, and the Yomiuri Giants, the Central League's (CL) Climax Series champion. The Hawks defeated the Giants in a four game sweep to win their third consecutive Japan Series championship, their fifth title in six years; they are also the first team to win three straight Japan Series titles since the Seibu Lions did it from 1990 to 1992.
The 2020 Pacific League Climax Series (PLCS) was Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) playoff series to decide which Pacific League (PL) team would advance to the 2020 Japan Series. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PL decided to modify the traditional Climax Series format and eliminate the First Stage series to instead only play one modified Final Stage series: a best-of-five series, with the PL champion receiving an automatic one-win advantage over the league's runner-up. The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, the league's champion, competed against runner-up Chiba Lotte Marines to determine who would advance to the 2020 Japan Series. The series was played from November 14 to 15 at Fukuoka PayPay Dome. With the advantage and two consecutive come-from-behind wins, the Hawks advanced past the Marines to the Japan Series and the Hawks' Akira Nakamura was named the series' Most Valuable Player. SoftBank will compete against the Central League's (CL) regular-season champion, the Yomiuri Giants, in the Japan Series. Because of the pandemic, the CL cancelled their Climax Series altogether, instead opting to send their regular-season champion.
The 2020 Japan Series was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) 2020 season. The 71st edition of the Japan Series, it was played from November 21 to 25. The series was a best-of-seven playoff between the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, the Pacific League's (PL) Climax Series champion, and the defending Japan Series champions, and the Yomiuri Giants, the Central League's (CL) regular-season champion. The series was a rematch of the previous year's Japan Series.
The 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 73rd 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.
References
- ↑ "2009 Pacific League Standings". Nippon Professional Baseball . Retrieved January 31, 2021.