2016 Nippon Professional Baseball season

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB, 日本野球機構, Nippon Yakyū Kikō) is a professional baseball league, and the highest level of baseball in Japan. The NPB is organized into two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League. After the regular season, the top three teams of each league play off in the Climax Series, which determines which team from each league will play off in the Japan Series to determine the national championship team. The 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 67th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. The Japan Series championship competition was played between the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, with the Nippon-Ham fighters winning the overall championship.

2016 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 25 – October 29
Central League pennant
League champions	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Runners-up	Yomiuri Giants
Season MVP	Takahiro Arai (Hiroshima)
Pacific League pennant
League champions	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Runners-up	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Season MVP	Shohei Ohtani (Nippon Ham)
Climax Series
CL champions	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
CL runners-up	Yokohama DeNA BayStars
PL champions	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
PL runners-up	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Japan Series
Venue	Mazda Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima, Minami-ku, Hiroshima Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Hokkaidō
Champions	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Runners-up	Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Finals MVP	Brandon Laird (Nippon Ham)
NPB seasons
← 2015 2017 →

Incidents

A gambling scandal involving members of the Yomiuri Giants was reported in October. Pitchers Satoshi Fukuda, Shoki Kasahara, and Ryuya Matsumoto were found to have bet on both NPB games and Major League Baseball games, as well as high school baseball. While there was no suspicion of match fixing, Sports Gambling is illegal in Japan. The players involved were received suspensions, and members of team management resigned to take responsibility for the scandal.

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings

Pos	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	143	89	52	2	.631	—	51–20–1	38–32–1
2	Yomiuri Giants	143	71	69	3	.507	17.5	40–31–1	31–38–2
3	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	143	69	71	3	.493	19.5	38–33–1	31–38–2
4	Hanshin Tigers	143	64	76	3	.457	24.5	31–39–1	33–37–2
5	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	143	64	78	1	.451	25.5	40–30–1	24–48–0
6	Chunichi Dragons	143	58	82	3	.414	30.5	32–36–3	26–46–0

Pacific League regular season standings

Pos	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	143	87	53	3	.621	—	45–24–2	42–29–1
2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	143	83	54	6	.606	2.5	40–28–3	43–26–3
3	Chiba Lotte Marines	143	72	68	3	.514	15.0	38–33–1	34–35–2
4	Saitama Seibu Lions	143	64	76	3	.457	23.0	34–36–1	30–40–2
5	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	143	62	78	3	.443	25.0	36–35–1	26–43–2
6	Orix Buffaloes	143	57	83	3	.407	30.0	30–40–2	27–43–1

Climax Series

Note: In each league's stepladder playoff system (Climax Series), all games in that series are held at the higher seed's home stadium. The team with the higher regular-season standing also advanced if the round ended in a tie.

	First stage					Final stage					Japan Series
	Central League					1	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	4
	2	Yomiuri Giants	1			3	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	1
	3	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	2								CL1	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	2
											PL1	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	4
	Pacific League					1	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	4
	2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	2			2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	2
	3	Chiba Lotte Marines	0

First stage

Central League

Yomiuri Giants (1) vs. Yokohama DeNA BayStars (2)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 8	Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	3:19	45,633
2	October 9	Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 2	Tokyo Dome	2:47	45,683
3	October 10*	Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	4:21	45,477

Pacific League

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2) vs. Chiba Lotte Marines (0)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 8	Chiba Lotte Marines – 3, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:10	36,077
2	October 9	Chiba Lotte Marines – 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4	Fukuoka Yahuoku! Dome	3:16	38,500

Final stage

Central League

Hiroshima Toyo Carp (4) vs. Yokohama DeNA BayStars (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 12	Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 0, Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 5	Mazda Stadium	2:48	31,276
2	October 13	Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 0, Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 3	Mazda Stadium	2:58	31,264
3	October 14	Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 3, Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 0	Mazda Stadium	3:19	31,291
4	October 15	Yokohama DeNA BayStars – 7, Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 8	Mazda Stadium	3:26	31,313

Pacific League

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (4) vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 12	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 6	Sapporo Dome	2:55	36,633
2	October 13	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4	Sapporo Dome	3:40	26,548
3	October 14	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4	Sapporo Dome	3:17	39,456
4	October 15	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 5, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2	Sapporo Dome	3:07	41,138
5	October 16	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 7	Sapporo Dome	3:15	41,138

Japan Series

Hiroshima Toyo Carp (2) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (4)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 22	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1, Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 5	Mazda Stadium	3:39	30,619
2	October 23	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1, Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 5	Mazda Stadium	3:18	30,638
3	October 25	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 3, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4 (10)	Sapporo Dome	3:51	40,503
4	October 26	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 1, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3	Sapporo Dome	3:30	40,599
5	October 27	Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 1, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 5	Sapporo Dome	3:32	40,633
6	October 29	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 10, Hiroshima Toyo Carp – 4	Mazda Stadium	4:01	30,693

League leaders

Central League

Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting average Hayato Sakamoto Yomiuri Giants .344 Home runs Yoshitomo Tsutsugo Yokohama DeNA BayStars 44 Runs batted in Yoshitomo Tsutsugo Yokohama DeNA BayStars 110 Runs Tetsuto Yamada Kosuke Tanaka Tokyo Yakult Swallows Hiroshima Toyo Carp 102 Hits Ryosuke Kikuchi Hiroshima Toyo Carp 181 Stolen bases Tetsuto Yamada Tokyo Yakult Swallows 30

Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total Wins Yusuke Nomura Hiroshima Toyo Carp 16 Losses Atsushi Nomi Hirofumi Yamanaka Hanshin Tigers Tokyo Yakult Swallows 12 Earned run average Tomoyuki Sugano Yomiuri Giants 2.01 Strikeouts Tomoyuki Sugano Yomiuri Giants 189 Innings pitched Randy Messenger Hanshin Tigers 185.1 Saves Hirokazu Sawamura Yomiuri Giants 37

Pacific League

Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting average Katsuya Kakunaka Chiba Lotte Marines .339 Home runs Brandon Laird Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 39 Runs batted in Sho Nakata Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 110 Runs Shogo Akiyama Saitama Seibu Lions 98 Hits Katsuya Kakunaka Chiba Lotte Marines 176 Stolen bases Yoshio Itoi Yuji Kaneko Orix Buffaloes Saitama Seibu Lions 53

Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total Wins Tsuyoshi Wada Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 15 Losses Yuki Nishi Orix Buffaloes 12 Earned run average Ayumu Ishikawa Chiba Lotte Marines 2.16 Strikeouts Takahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 216 Innings pitched Takahiro Norimoto Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 195 Saves Yoshihisa Hirano Orix Buffaloes 31

Attendances

Team	Total attendance	Home average
Yomiuri Giants	3,004,108	41,724
Hanshin Tigers	2,910,562	40,994
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	2,492,983	35,112
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	2,157,331	29,963
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	2,078,981	29,281
Chunichi Dragons	2,058,381	28,991
Yokohama DeNA Baystars	1,939,146	26,933
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	1,779,460	25,063
ORIX Buffaloes	1,794,475	24,923
Saitama Seibu Lions	1,618,194	22,791
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1,620,961	22,513
Chiba Lotte Marines	1,526,932	21,207

This was a very small increase on attendance from the 2015 season.

See also

• 2016 KBO League season
• 2016 Major League Baseball season