2015 in Japanese Baseball
| 2015 in baseball |
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| Cuban National League |
| Japanese baseball |
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| National League |
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The 2015 season in Nippon Pro Baseball was notable for some offensive performances. Tetsuto Yamada of the Yakult Swallows and Yuki Yanagita of the Softbank Hawks had the 9th and 10th 30-30 seasons in league history; both led their leagues in OPS, Yamada becoming the first player to lead his league in home runs and steals and Yanagita the first to win a batting title while going 30-30. Both were runaway MVP selections. Shogo Akiyama of the Seibu Lions set a new NPB record for hits in a season while Dennis Sarfate of Softbank set a short-lived new Pacific League record for saves as he would top his own mark the next year. Yasuaki Yamasaki of Yokohama set a NPB record for saves by a rookie.
The league also had its first gambling scandal in years as Yomiuri Giants hurlers Satoshi Fukuda, Shoki Kasahara and Ryuya Matsumoto were banned for betting on games.
Standings[edit]
- Bold indicates league champion; Italics indicate Nippon Series winner; * indicates playoff team
Central League[edit]
| Team | G | W | L | T | WPCT | GB | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ERA | Manager(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yakult Swallows* | 143 | 76 | 65 | 2 | .539 | -- | 574 | 518 | .257 | .322 | .377 | 3.62 | Mitsuru Manaka |
| Yomiuri Giants* | 143 | 75 | 67 | 1 | .528 | 1.5 | 489 | 443 | .243 | .313 | .354 | 2.78 | Tatsunori Hara |
| Hanshin Tigers* | 143 | 70 | 71 | 2 | .496 | 6 | 465 | 550 | .247 | .317 | .343 | 3.49 | Yutaka Wada |
| Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 143 | 69 | 71 | 3 | .521 | 6.5 | 425 | 474 | .246 | .306 | .363 | 3.31 | Koichi Ogata |
| Chunichi Dragons | 143 | 62 | 77 | 4 | .446 | 10 | 473 | 504 | .253 | .313 | .344 | 3.52 | Motonobu Tanishige |
| Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 143 | 62 | 80 | 1 | .437 | 14.5 | 508 | 598 | .249 | .306 | .373 | 4.18 | Kiyoshi Nakahata |
Pacific League[edit]
| Team | G | W | L | T | WPCT | GB | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ERA | Manager(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks* | 143 | 90 | 49 | 4 | .647 | -- | 651 | 491 | .267 | .340 | .408 | 3.43 | Kimiyasu Kudoh |
| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters* | 143 | 79 | 62 | 2 | .560 | 12 | 615 | 581 | .258 | .330 | .378 | 4.06 | Hideki Kuriyama |
| Chiba Lotte Marines* | 143 | 73 | 69 | 1 | .514 | 18.5 | 561 | 563 | .257 | .320 | .368 | 3.94 | Tsutomu Itoh |
| Saitama Seibu Lions | 143 | 69 | 69 | 5 | .500 | 20.5 | 631 | 573 | .263 | .335 | .406 | 3.71 | Norio Tanabe |
| Orix Buffaloes | 143 | 61 | 60 | 2 | .433 | 30 | 519 | 548 | .249 | .321 | .354 | 3.59 | Hiroshi Moriwaki |
| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 143 | 57 | 83 | 3 | .407 | 33.5 | 435 | 610 | .242 | .309 | .342 | 3.82 | Hiromoto Okubo |
Leaders[edit]
- Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record
Batting[edit]
| Statistic | Central League | Pacific League | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leader | Team | Number | Leader | Team | Number | |||
| Batting Average | Shingo Kawabata | Yakult Swallows | .336 | Yuki Yanagita | Softbank Hawks | .363 | ||
| Runs | Tetsuto Yamada | Yakult Swallows | 119 | Yuki Yanagita | Softbank Hawks | 110 | ||
| Hits | Shingo Kawabata | Yakult Swallows | 195 | Shogo Akiyama | Seibu Lions | 216 | ||
| Doubles | Tetsuto Yamada | Yakult Swallows | 39 | Ikuhiro Kiyota | Chiba Lotte Marines | 38 | ||
| Triples | Kosuke Tanaka | Hiroshima Carp | 9 | Shogo Akiyama | Seibu Lions | 10 | ||
| Home Runs | Tetsuto Yamada | Yakult Swallows | 38 | Takeya Nakamura | Seibu Lions | 37 | ||
| Runs Batted In | Kazuhiro Hatakeyama | Yakult Swallows | 105 | Takeya Nakamura | Seibu Lions | 124 | ||
| Stolen Bases | Tetsuto Yamada | Yakult Swallows | 34 | Takuya Nakashima | Nippon Ham Fighters | 34 | ||
| Walks | Yoshihiro Maru | Hiroshima Carp | 94 | Yuki Yanagita | Softbank Hawks | 88 | ||
Pitching[edit]
Awards[edit]
The winner of the 2015 Sawamura Award was Kenta Maeda of the Hiroshima Carp. He had a 15-8 win-loss record, 175 strikeouts, and a 1.98 ERA in 206 1/3 innings, leading the Central League in wins and finishing 3rd in ERA and 4th in strikeouts.
| Award | League | Player | Team | Position | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | W - L | SV | IP | HA | HRA | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player | CL | Tetsuto Yamada | Yakult Swallows | 2B | 646 | 119 | 183 | 38 | 100 | 34 | .329 | .416 | .610 | Did not pitch | |||||||
| PL | Yuki Yanagita | Softbank Hawks | OF | 502 | 110 | 182 | 34 | 99 | 32 | .363 | .469 | .631 | Did not pitch | ||||||||
| Rookie of the Year | CL | Yasuaki Yamasaki | Yokohama BayStars | P | Did not bat | 2 - 4 | 37 | 56 1/3 | 38 | 2 | 11 | 66 | 1.92 | ||||||||
| PL | Kohei Arihara | Nippon Ham Fighters | P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 8 - 6 | 0 | 103 1/3 | 113 | 13 | 32 | 81 | 4.79 | |
Best Nine[edit]
The following players were part of the 2015 Best Nine teams.
Gold Gloves[edit]
The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 2015.
All-Star Game[edit]
The NPB All-Star Game featured two games and both were won by the Central League. The first game was played at Tokyo Dome and was won by the CL, 8 - 6. The second game was played at Hiroshima Municipal Baseball Stadium and was won by the CL, 8 - 3.
High School Baseball[edit]
The 97th National High School Baseball Championship featured a total of 3,906 schools competing for 49 spots in the finals at Koshien. In the championship game, Tokai University Sagami High School (Kanagawa) defeated Sendai Ikuei High School (Miyagi) by a score of 10 - 6.
The 87th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament featured 32 schools competing in the tournament at Koshien. In the championship game, Tsuruga Kehi High School (Fukui) defeated Tokai University Sapporo High School (Hokkaido) by a score of 3 - 1.
University Baseball[edit]
All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series[edit]
The 2015 All-Japan University Baseball Championship Series featured 27 schools competing in the tournament at Meiji-Jingu Stadium. In the championship game Waseda University defeated Ryutsu Keizai University by a score of 8 - 5.
Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention[edit]
In the Meiji Jingu Baseball Convention, Asia University defeated Waseda University by a score of 2 - 1.
International Baseball[edit]
Japan won Bronze Medals in both the 2015 Asian Championship and 2015 Premier 12.
Tokyo Big6 Baseball League[edit]
| Season | First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | Waseda | Hosei | Keio | Meiji | Rikkio | Tokyo |
| Fall | Waseda | Meiji | Keio | Rikkio | Hosei | Tokyo |
Kansai 6 University Baseball League[edit]
| Season | First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | Ritsumeikan | Kindai | Kansai | Kwansei Gakuin | Doshisha | Kyoto |
| Fall | Ritsumeikan | Kansai | Kindai | Kwansei Gakuin | Doshisha | Kyoto |
International Baseball[edit]
Japanese Players in Other Countries[edit]
- Italics indicate a Major League appearance
- Nori Aoki: San Francisco Giants
- Yu Darvish: Texas Rangers
- Kyuji Fujikawa: Texas Rangers; Round Rock Express, Pacific Coast (TEX-AAA) ; Frisco RoughRiders, Texas (TEX-A)
- Ryohei Fujiwara: Melbourne Aces, Australian Baseball League
- Masato Fukae: Melbourne Aces, Australian Baseball League
- Jumpei Hayashi: Perth Heat, Australian Baseball League
- Takanori Hoshi: Melbourne Aces, Australian Baseball League
- Hisashi Iwakuma: Seattle Mariners; Tacoma Rainiers, Pacific Coast (SEA-AAA); Everett AquaSox, Northwest (SEA-Short-season A)
- Gosuke Katoh: Charleston RiverDogs, South Atlantic (NYY-A); Pulaski Yankees, Appalachian (NYY-R)
- Munenori Kawasaki: Toronto Blue Jays
- Toru Murata: Cleveland Indians
- Masato Sakata: Melbourne Aces, Australian Baseball League
- Ichiro Suzuki: Miami Marlins
- Masahiro Tanaka: New York Yankees
- Junichi Tazawa: Boston Red Sox
- Kohsuke Tomita: Spokane Indians, Northwest (TEX-Short-season A), Melbourne Aces, Australian Baseball League
- Koji Uehara: Boston Red Sox
- Keiji Uezono: Sydney Blue Sox, Australian Baseball League
- Tsuyoshi Wada: Chicago Cubs; Iowa Cubs, Pacific Coast (CHC-AAA); Tennessee Smokies, Southern (CHC-AA)
- Takayuki Yamaguchi: Melbourne Aces, Australian Baseball League
- Sachiya Yamasaki: Indios de Mayaguez, Puerto Rican Winter League
- Kazumasa Yoshida: Indios de Mayaguez, Puerto Rican Winter League
Hall of Fame[edit]
The following people were elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame:
- Atsuya Furuta, by the Sportswriters Committee
- Kazuo Hayashi, by the Special Committee
- Ryohei Murayama, by the Special Committee
| Japanese Baseball Seasons
Pre-Professional Era
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