The is given to the player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the

Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...

, which is the final round of the

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB) postseason. The award was first presented in 1950. The series follows a

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 ...

format and occurs after the two-stage

Climax Series The is the current annual playoff system implemented by Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). It determines which team from the Central League (CL) and from the Pacific League (PL) will advance to compete for the championship in the Japan ...

. It is played by the winners of the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...

Stage 2 series and the

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

Stage 2 series.

Kaoru Betto was a Nippon Professional Baseball player. After playing for the Ōsaka Tigers for two years, Betto played for the Mainichi Orions from 1950 to 1957. In his first season with the Orions, Betto won the NPB's first Pacific League MVP Award and help ...

won the inaugural award in 1950 with the

Mainichi Orions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. History The Marines franchise began in 1950 as the Mainichi Orions, an inaugural ...

. 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 The is a museum which includes a library, reference rooms and . It first opened in 1959 next door to Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. In 1988, the museum moved to a new site within the Tokyo Dome. The Hall of Fame and Museum was created as ...

;

Osamu Higashio is a former Japanese baseball player who played in the Japanese professional leagues from 1969–1988, being remembered as one of the leading Japanese pitchers in the 1980s. He also was manager of the Seibu Lions from 1995 to 2001. Professiona ...

(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 In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

to appear solely as a

reliever In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather ...

to win the Japan Series MVP. Eight of the ten Japan Series MVPs who have won the award since 2000 are still active in professional baseball— Atsuya Furuta and Takashi Ishii are the Japan Series MVPs from that period who are inactive.

Hideki Matsui , nicknamed " Godzilla", is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter who played baseball in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Mats ...

and

Norihiro Nakamura is a Japanese former professional baseball third baseman. Nakamura spent almost all of his professional career in Japan with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. Nakamura had a .266 career batting average, 404 home runs and 1338 RBI, and was an eight-t ...

are they only two Japan Series MVPs to play in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). While Nakamura's MLB career lasted less than one season, Matsui's lasted seven seasons. He became the only player to be named both a Japan Series and a

World Series MVP The Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the World Series, which is the final round of the MLB postseason. The aw ...

after winning the latter award in 2009. The reigning Japan Series MVP is

Yuhei Nakamura is a Japanese professional baseball player. He plays catcher for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Career Nakamura was selected to the . In the 2021 Japan Series, he batted 7-for-22 (a team-best .318 average) with three RBIs and threw out a couple of ...

of the

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 Yom ...

. Sixteen of the 60 Japan Series MVPs have also won the NPB MVP or the

Eiji Sawamura Award The , commonly known as the Sawamura Award, is an honor bestowed upon the top starting pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball each year. The award was originally established by Japanese magazine "Nekkyū" in 1947 to honor the career of Eiji Sawa ...

in the same season. Shigeru Sugishita (1954),

Tsuneo Horiuchi is a former professional baseball player in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, and a politician. A right-handed pitcher, in he was voted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball career Horiuchi played for the Yomiuri Giants his ...

(1972) and

Takehiro Ishii Takehiro Ishii (石井丈裕, born October 25, 1964) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He played for the Japan national baseball team in 1988, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Seibu Lions and the Nippon-Ham Fig ...

(1992) are the only players to have won all three awards in the same season. Two players won the Eiji Sawamura Award and the Japan Series MVP in the same season:

Takehiko Bessho , born , was a Japanese baseball player whose professional career as a player lasted from 1942 until 1960. Bessho first achieved fame as a pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher ...

(1955) and

Takashi Nishimoto is a Japanese baseball coach and retired pitcher. He played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yomiuri Giants, Chunichi Dragons, and Orix Blue Wave from 1976 through 1993. In 1981, Nishimoto won the Eiji Sawamura Award. Winning the ...

(1981). Ten players have won the Japan Series MVP in the same season in which they won the NPB MVP: Betto (1950), Bessho (1952),

Kazuhisa Inao was a Japanese professional baseball pitcher. In 1957, he won 20 consecutive games. In 1958 Japan Series, he pitched six games and won 4 consecutive games after his team lost 3 games. He even hit a home run in fifth game of Japan Series. He was t ...

(1958),

Tadashi Sugiura was a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player with the Nankai Hawks. He debuted in the 1958 and went on to join the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame for his skills as a pitcher. he won the Japanese Triple Crown in (1959) Early life Sugiura ...

(1959),

Shigeo Nagashima is a Japanese former professional baseball player and manager. Biography Nagashima played baseball at his local high school, and on the Rikkyo University baseball team from 1954–1957. He joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1958. His jersey number ...

(1963), Stanka (1964),

Hisashi Yamada is a retired Japanese professional baseball submarine pitcher. He played with the Hankyu Braves in Nippon Professional Baseball from to . Yamada won the Pacific League MVP for three years in a row (1976–1978), sharing a record with Ichiro Su ...

(1977),

Randy Bass Randy William Bass (born March 13, 1954) is an American politician and former baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and served in the Oklahoma Senate. Bass made his MLB debut in 1977, a ...

(1985),

Tom O'Malley Thomas Patrick O'Malley (born December 25, 1960) is a former Major League baseball player born in Orange, New Jersey, and raised in Montoursville, Pennsylvania in the United States. He played for the San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Balt ...

(1995), Furuta (1997) and Matsui (2000). Five players have won the award multiple times. Nagashima has won the most Japan Series MVP awards with four wins (1963, 1965, 1969–1970). The remaining four players all won the award twice: Bessho (1952, 1955), Horiuchi (1972–1973), Kimiyasu Kudoh (1986–1987), Koji Akiyama (1991–1999) and Furuta (1997, 2001); Akiyama is the only player to have won the award with different teams. There has been one occasion on which multiple winners were awarded in the same Japan Series: Masayuki Dobashi and Masayuki Tanemo in 1962.

Pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

s have been named Series MVP 21 times, 13 of which appeared in both starting and relief roles in the Series.

Winners

References

{{Nippon Professional Baseball Awards established in 1950 Nippon Professional Baseball trophies and awards Baseball most valuable player awards Most valuable player awards 1950 establishments in Japan

Winners

See also

References