MLB Japan All-Star Series

Last updated

MLB Japan All-Star Series
日米野球
MLB Japan All-Star Series Logo.png
FrequencyIrregularly
Location(s)Flag of Japan.svg  Japan
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan
Inaugurated 1986
Most recent 2018
Participants Flag of the United States.svg Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg MLB All-Stars
Flag of Japan.svg NPB All-Stars (1986–2006)
Flag of Japan.svg Samurai Japan (2014– )
Organised by Major League Baseball
Nippon Professional Baseball
Japan national baseball team

The MLB Japan All-Star Series is an irregular end-of-the-season tour of Japan made by an All-Star team from Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1986, contested in a best-of format against the All-Stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) or recently as of 2014 their national team Samurai Japan (SJP).

Contents

The series has featured many great players, such as Nori Aoki, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, Shinnosuke Abe, David Ortiz, Sammy Sosa, Justin Morneau, David Wright, Jose Reyes, Jose Altuve, Robinson Canó and Manny Ramírez.

In the beginning of all games the American, Canadian and Japanese national anthems are all played. Games can end in a tie if it persists through 12 innings, just as in NPB rules.

List of series

MLB vs. NPB (1986–2006)

YearFormatMLB All-Stars WonNPB All-Stars Won
(1986–98 as All-Japan)
TiedMost Valuable Player
1986 Best-of-76 Games1 Game0 Games Tony Peña (MLB)
1988 Best-of-73 Games2 Games2 Games Barry Larkin (MLB)
1990 Best-of-83 Games4 Games1 Game Ken Griffey Jr. (MLB)
1992 Best-of-86 Games1 Game1 Game Mark Grace (MLB)
1994Cancelled (due to the MLB players strike)
1996 Best-of-84 Games2 Games2 Games Steve Finley (MLB)
1998 Best-of-86 Games2 Games0 Games Sammy Sosa (MLB)
2000 Best-of-85 Games2 Games1 Game Barry Bonds (MLB)
2002 Best-of-85 Games3 Games0 Games Torii Hunter (MLB)
2004 Best-of-85 Games3 Games0 Games Vernon Wells (MLB)
2006 Best-of-55 Games0 Games0 Games Ryan Howard (MLB)
TotalMLB 9–1 NPB48 Games20 Games7 GamesMLB 10–0 NPB

MLB vs. SJP (2014, 2018)

The Japan All-Star Series was resumed in 2014 after an eight-year break. [1] It was the outcome of discussions and attempts to realize the Global World Series. Katsuhiko Kumazaki, then the new Commissioner of NPB, decided to field the national team Samurai Japan, instead of a NPB All-Star line-up, for the 2014 series. Kumazaki saw in this series a big opportunity for the Japanese team to gain hugely useful experience for the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Samurai Japan won the best-of-five series by a margin of three games to two. Particularly noteworthy was a combined no-hitter by Samurai Japan in Game 3 as their pitchers shut out the MLB All-Stars 4–0. [2]

On May 1, 2018, MLB announced that it would send again an All-Star team to tour Japan after the end of current season, with six games scheduled against the Japan national team from November 9 to 15. [3]

YearFormatMLB All-Stars WonSamurai Japan WonTiedMost Valuable Player
2014 Best-of-52 Games3 Games0 Games Yuki Yanagita (SJP)
2018 Best-of-61 Game5 Games0 Games
TotalMLB 0–2 SJP3 Games8 Games0 GamesMLB 0–1 SJP

See also

References

  1. "US-Japan Baseball 2014 Schedule (in japanese)". Sponichi.co.jp. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  2. Joey Nowak (November 15, 2014). "Perfect Norimoto leads combined no-no vs. MLB". MLB.com. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  3. "Major League Baseball returns to Japan in 2018 and 2019". MLB.com. May 1, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018.