The 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season was 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.
On April 10, Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Rōki Sasaki threw a perfect game, the first in 28 yearsIn the 5th game of the 2007 Japan Series, Daisuke Yamai and Hitoki Iwase combined to throw a perfect game for the Chunichi Dragons against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters; in NPB, no-hitters or perfect games achieved by multiple pitchers in one game are considered unofficial. However, it is recognized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (the international governing body of baseball) as a perfect game. and the 16th in NPB history. Sasaki tied an existing NPB record by striking out 19 batters, and set a new record by striking out 13 consecutive batters.
Including Sasaki's perfect game, for the first time since 1940, there were five no-hitters this season, with Nao Higashihama of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks throwing one on May 11 against the Saitama Seibu Lions, Shōta Imanaga of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars doing so on June 7 during interleague play against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (also being the first no hitter in the history of the Sapporo Dome in its final season as the home of the Fighters), and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Orix Buffaloes throwing one also against the Lions on June 18. One was nearly thrown on July 20, with rookie Ren Mukunoki of the Buffaloes nearly doing so against the Fighters, but he fell 1 strike short, as he gave up a hit to Fighters infielder Ryusei Satoh, in which fans called as a similar incident to former MLB pitcher Dave Stieb, in which he lost a perfect game and a no hitter in the same game with only 1 strike to go. A 5th one would eventually be thrown on August 27 by Cody Ponce of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, in just his 2nd start, tying 2022 with 1940 with the most no-hitters in a season in Japanese pro baseball history, as well as becoming the first foreign player since Rick Guttormson of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2006 to throw a no-hitter, and the first Pacific League foreign player to do so since the now late Narciso Elvira did so with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes in 2000.
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows took home the Central League pennant for the second year in a row over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars while the Orix Buffaloes took the Pacific League pennant over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks via the first pennant tiebreaker in NPB history.
Regular season standings + Central League regular season standings Rank Team G W L T Pct. GB1Tokyo Yakult Swallows14380594—2Yokohama DeNA BayStars1437368283Hanshin Tigers14368714124Yomiuri Giants1436872312½5Hiroshima Toyo Carp1436674314½6Chunichi Dragons1436675215
+ Pacific League regular season standings Rank Team G W L T Pct. GB1Orix Buffaloes14376652—2Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks14376652—Orix won the season series against the Hawks 15-10-0, which gave Orix the pennant over SoftBank.3Saitama Seibu Lions143726833½4Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles143697136½5Chiba Lotte Marines143697317½6Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters1435981316½
Interleague + Regular season interleague standings Team G W L T Win% GB Home AwayTokyo Yakult Swallows181440.778—7–27–2Hanshin Tigers181260.66726–36–3Chiba Lotte Marines181080.55646–34–5Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks18990.50055–44–5Saitama Seibu Lions18990.50056–33–6Yokohama DeNA BayStars18990.50055–44–5Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles18990.50055–44–5Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters188100.44466–32–7Orix Buffaloes188100.44462–76–3Yomiuri Giants188100.44465–43–6Chunichi Dragons187110.38975–42–7Hiroshima Toyo Carp185130.27993–62–7
Climax Series
First stage
Central League
Pacific League
Final stage The series started with a 1–0 advantage for the first-placed team.
Central League
Pacific League
Japan Series
2022 NPB attendance
See also 2022 in baseball 2022 Major League Baseball season 2022 KBO League season 2022 Chinese Professional Baseball League season
References