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2022 Japan Series
The 2022 Japan Series (known as the '' SMBC Nippon Series 2022'' for sponsorship reasons) was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball's season. The 73rd edition of the Japan Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the winning teams of the Pacific League and Central League's Climax Series. The series began on October 22 and ended on October 30. The Tokyo Yakult Swallows advanced to the Japan Series from the 2022 Central League Climax Series. They faced the Orix Buffaloes, winners of the 2022 Pacific League Climax Series. This matchup was a rematch of the previous year's Japan Series, when Yakult won in six games. In the 2022 series, Yakult won Games 1 and 3, while Game 2 ended in a twelve-inning tie. Orix then won the next four games to win the series, taking home the first Japan Series under the Buffaloes moniker in league history and Orix's first since 1996, when they were the Orix BlueWave. Yutaro Sugimoto won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player A ...
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Tokyo Yakult Swallows
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Yomiuri Giants. They have won 8 Central League championships and 6 Japan Series championships. Since 1964, they play their games at Meiji Jingu Stadium. The Swallows are named after their corporate owners, Yakult Honsha. From 1950 to 1965, the team was owned by the former Japanese National Railways (known as Kokutetsu (国鉄) in Japanese) and called the Kokutetsu Swallows; the team was then owned by the newspaper ''Sankei Shimbun'' from 1965 to 1968 and called the Sankei Atoms. Yakult purchased the team in 1970 and renamed it the Yakult Atoms, before renaming it again as the Yakult Swallows in 1974, and then the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2006. Kokutetsu and Sankei era (1950–1969) The franchise was established for the first time in 1950 whe ...
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Best-of-seven Playoff
There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly known as ''on aggregate'', and the ''round-robin tournament''. Single elimination A single-elimination ("knockout") playoff pits the participants in one-game matches, with the loser being dropped from the competition. Single-elimination tournaments are often used in individual sports like tennis. In most tennis tournaments, the players are seeded against each other, and the winner of each match continues to the next round, all the way to the final. When a playoff of this type involves the top four teams, it is sometimes known as the Shaughnessy playoff system, after Frank Shaughnessy, who first developed it for the International League of minor league baseball. Variations of the Shaughnessy system also exist, such as in the promotion pl ...
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Closer (baseball)
In baseball, a closing pitcher, more frequently referred to as a closer (abbreviated CL), is a relief pitcher who specializes in getting the final outs in a close game when his team is leading. The role is often assigned to a team's best reliever. Before the 1990s, pitchers in similar roles were referred to as a fireman, short reliever, and stopper. A small number of closers have won the Cy Young Award. Eight closers have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Lee Smith, Bruce Sutter and Hoyt Wilhelm. Usage A closer is generally a team's best reliever and designated to pitch the last few outs of games when his team is leading by a margin of three runs or fewer. Rarely does a closer enter with his team losing or in a tie game. A closer's effectiveness has traditionally been measured by the save, an official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1969. Over time, closers have become on ...
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1996 Japan Series
The 1996 Japan Series was the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) championship series for the 1996 season. It was the 47th Japan Series and featured the Pacific League champions, the Orix BlueWave, against the Central League champions, the Yomiuri Giants. The series was the eighth time the two franchises played each other for the championship; however, the last time the two teams played, Orix was known as the Hankyu Braves. Played at Tokyo Dome and Green Stadium Kobe, the BlueWave defeated the Giants four games to one in the best-of-seven series to win the franchise's 4th Japan Series title. BlueWave slugger and 1996 PL home run leader Troy Neel was named Most Valuable Player of the series. The series was played between October 19 and October 24, 1996, with home field advantage going to the Central League. Summary Matchups Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 Game 5 See also *1996 World Series The 1996 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's ( ...
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Saitama Seibu Lions
The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway, which in turn is owned by the Seibu Holdings. The team experienced a recent period of financial difficulty, but the situation brightened when the team received a record ¥6 billion (about $51.11 million) posting fee from the Boston Red Sox for the right to negotiate a contract with Daisuke Matsuzaka. Between 1978 and 2008, the team logo and mascot were based on the adult version of Kimba the White Lion, a classic Japanese anime and manga series by Osamu Tezuka. In 2004, former Seibu Lions player Kazuo Matsui became the first Japanese infielder to play in Major League Baseball. Franchise history Nishitetsu Clippers (1950) In 1950, the team became a founding member of the Pacific League. It was then owned by Nishi-Nippon Railroad, which was ...
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Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
The 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. The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. In 1988, Daiei bought the team from Osaka's Nankai Electric Railway Co., and its headquarters were moved to Fukuoka (which had been without NPB baseball since the Saitama Seibu Lions, Lions departed in 1979). The team subsequently became known as the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks until 2005, when they were purchased by SoftBank. The franchise has won 11 Japan Series championships and 19 Pacific League pennants, with the most recent of both coming in . History Nankai Electric Railway Company ownership (1938–1988) The franchise that eventually became the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks was founded on February 22, 1938 by Nankai Electric Railway president Jinkichi Terada as Nankai Club, based in central Osaka. The organization was said to be created as ...
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Hanshin Tigers
The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc. The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest professional clubs in Japan. They played their first season in 1936 as the Osaka Tigers and assumed their current team name in 1961. History The Hanshin Tigers, second of the oldest professional clubs in Japan, were founded on December 10, 1935, with the team being formed in 1936. The team was first called "the Ōsaka Tigers". In 1940, amid anti-foreign sentiment, the Tigers changed the name to "Hanshin" and in 1947 changed the name back to "Ōsaka Tigers". The current team name was assumed in 1961. The Tigers won four titles before the establishment of the two league system in 1950. Since the league was split into the Central League and ...
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Yokohama DeNA BayStars
The are a professional baseball team in the Japan, Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its current name in 2011, when the club was purchased by software company DeNA. The minor league team shares the same name and uniform as the parent team and plays in the Eastern League (Japanese baseball), Eastern League. The minor league home field is Yokosuka Stadium, located in Yokosuka, Kanagawa. History Origin (1930s–1949) The team began as the Taiyo Fishing Company, an amateur team currently affiliated with the Maruha Corporation (presently Maruha Nichiro). The team began to appear in national tournaments in the 1930s, and won the National Sports Festival in 1948, giving it national recognition. In the 1949 off-season, the Japanese professional baseball league drastically expanded itself and many players from the Taiyo amateur team w ...
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Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award
The is given to the player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the Japan Series, which is the final round of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) postseason. The award was first presented in 1950. The series follows a best-of-seven playoff format and occurs after the two-stage Climax Series. It is played by the winners of the Central League Stage 2 series and the Pacific League Stage 2 series. Kaoru Betto won the inaugural award in 1950 with the Mainichi Orions. Depending upon definitions, the first non-Japanese to win the award was either Andy Miyamoto in 1961 or Joe Stanka in 1964. Fifteen Japan Series MVPs were inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame; Osamu Higashio (1982) is the only Hall of Famer to have won the Japan Series MVP between 1981 and 2000. Higashio is also the first and only pitcher to appear solely as a reliever to win the Japan Series MVP. Eight of the ten Japan Series MVPs who have won the award since 2000 are sti ...
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2021 Japan Series
The 2021 Japan Series was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball's 2021 season. The 72nd edition of the Japan Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the Orix Buffaloes and Tokyo Yakult Swallows, the winners of the Pacific and Central League's Climax Series, respectively. Both teams were the winners of their respective league's regular season championship. A mid-season hiatus for the 2020 Summer Olympics and other game postponements required the Japan Series to be pushed back into late November, requiring some games to be played at stadiums other than the team's usual home fields due to scheduling conflicts. The series began on November 20 and concluded on November 27. The Swallows won the series, 4–2. It was their sixth Japan Series title in franchise history and their first since 2001. Yuhei Nakamura of Yakult won the Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award. This would also be the first time since the 2016 Japan Series and the second time since t ...
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2022 Pacific League Climax Series
The 2022 Pacific League Climax Series (PLCS) was a set of two consecutive playoff series in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). The First Stage began on October 8 and the Final Stage concluded on October 15. The First Stage was a best-of-three series between the second-place Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and the third-place Saitama Seibu Lions. The Final Stage was a best-of-six with the Orix Buffaloes, the Pacific League champion, being awarded a one-win advantage against the Hawks, the winner of the First Stage. The Buffaloes advanced to the 2022 Japan Series to compete against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, the 2022 Central League Climax Series winner. The First Stage in Fukuoka marked the final games for Hatsuhiko Tsuji as a manager, as he would step down and be replaced by former Lions shortstop Kazuo Matsui is a Japanese retired professional baseball player who played as a shortstop and is the current manager of the Saitama Seibu Lions. He is a switch-hitter. Matsui signed with th ...
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2022 Central League Climax Series
The 2022 Central League Climax Series (CLCS) was a set of two consecutive playoff series in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). The First Stage began on October 8 and the Final Stage concluded on October 14. The First Stage was a best-of-three series between the second-place Yokohama DeNA BayStars and the third-place Hanshin Tigers. The Final Series was a best-of-six with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, the Central League champion, being awarded a one-win advantage against the Tigers, the winner of the First Stage. The Tokyo Yakult Swallows advanced to face the 2022 Pacific League Climax Series winner in the 2022 Japan Series The 2022 Japan Series (known as the '' SMBC Nippon Series 2022'' for sponsorship reasons) was the championship series of Nippon Professional Baseball's season. The 73rd edition of the Japan Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the win ... with a 4-0 sweep of the Tigers. First Stage Summary Game 1 Game 2 Game 3 Final Stage Summary Game 1 ...
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