This is the foreign league I've been most excited to do, and why I saved it for last. I've been a big fan of this league since I did a big world baseball project my freshman year at Wabash. NPB was founded in 1950, but professional baseball in Japan goes back to the 1930's. The quality of baseball is quite high. Most people describe it as a "Four-A" level. I don't think it's a coincidence that Japan won the first two World Baseball Classics and came in third in the last two. Personally, I actually find NPB more enjoyable to watch than MLB. The style of play is more to my tastes, which was only further cemented when the National League adopted the DH, which the Central League has not. The league currently has twelve teams, eleven of which have been there since 1950. The only newcomer is the Golden Eagles, who started play in 2005. Many teams were founded before NPB was organized, though, so it's still worth looking at the founding dates on these teams. The teams are split up between the Central and Pacific Leagues. And, if anybody was curious, the Hiroshima Carp are my favorite team, and also happen to be the hardest to watch in the US. I wish the NPB would come up with something comparable to MLB.TV, but they don't seem inclined to do that any time soon. I should also note here that league pennants work a little different here than in MLB. It is awarded by regular season record, not by winning the league in the playoffs. Chunichi DragonsFrom: Nagoya Founded: 1936 Stadium: Vantelin Dome Opened: 1997 Capacity: 40,500 Central League Pennants: 9 (1954, 1974, 1982, 1988, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011) Japan Series Championships: 2 (1954, 2007) Hanshin TigersFrom: Nishinomiya Founded: 1935 Stadium: Koshien Stadium Opened: 1924 Capacity: 47,508 Central League Pennants: 5 (1962, 1964, 1985, 2004, 2005) Japan Series Championships: 1 (1985) Hiroshima Toyo CarpFrom: Hiroshima Founded: 1950 Stadium: Mazda Stadium Opened: 2009 Capacity: 32,000 Central League Pennants: 9 (1975, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1991, 2016, 2017, 2018) Japan Series Championships: 3 (1979, 1980, 1984) Tokyo Yakult SwallowsFrom: Tokyo Founded: 1950 Stadium: Meiji Jingu Stadium Opened: 1926 Capacity: 37,933 Central League Pennants: 8 (1978, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2015, 2021) Japan Series Championships: 6 (1978, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2021) Yokohama DeNA BayStarsFrom: Yokohama Founded: 1949 Stadium: Yokohama Stadium Opened: 1978 Capacity: 34,046 Central League Pennants: 2 (1960, 1988) Japan Series Championships: 2 (1960, 1988) Yomiuri GiantsFrom: Tokyo Founded: 1934 Stadium: Tokyo Dome Opened: 1988 Capacity: 45,600 Central League Pennants: 38 (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020) Japan Series Championships: 22 (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1981, 1989, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2009, 2012) Chiba Lotte MarinesFrom: Chiba Founded: 1949 Stadium: ZOZO Marine Stadium Opened: 1990 Capacity: 30,118 Pacific League Pennants: 5 (1950, 1960, 1970, 1974, 2005) Japan Series Championships: 4 (1950, 1974, 2005, 2010) Fukuoka SoftBank HawksFrom: Fukuoka Founded: 1938 Stadium: PayPay Dome Opened: 1993 Capacity: 40,178 Pacific League Pennants: 19 (1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1973, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020) Japan Series Championships: 11 (1959, 1964, 1999, 2003, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) Hokkaido Nippon-Ham FightersFrom: Sapporo Founded: 1945 Stadium: Sapporo Dome Opened: 2001 Capacity: 41,484 Pacific League Pennants: 7 (1962, 1981, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2016) Japan Series Championships: 3 (1962, 2006, 2016) Orix BuffaloesFrom: Osaka (top) and Kobe (bottom) Founded: 1936 Stadiums: Kyocera Dome (top) and Kobe Sports Park (bottom) Opened: 1997 (top) and 1988 (bottom) Capacity: 36,627 (top) and 35,000 (bottom) Pacific League Pennants: 13 (1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1984, 1995, 1996, 2021) Japan Series Championships: 4 (1975, 1976, 1977, 1996) Saitama Seibu LionsFrom: Saitama Founded: 1950 Stadium: Belluna Dome Opened: 1979 Capacity: 33,921 Pacific League Pennants: 23 (1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2018, 2019) Japan Series Championships: 13 (1956, 1957, 1958, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2004, 2008) Tohoku Rakuten Golden EaglesFrom: Sendai
Founded: 2005 Stadium: Rakuten Seimei Park Opened: 1950 Capacity: 30,508 Pacific League Pennants: 1 (2013) Japan Series Championships: 1 (2013) Comments are closed.
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