2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season

The 2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 59th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. The regular season started on March 20 with the Pacific League opener, and on March 28 with the Central League opener. On March 25 and 26, the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics played 2 regular season Major League Baseball games at Tokyo Dome. During their visit, they also played exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants.

This article is about the 2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2008 in baseball.
2008 NPB season
LeagueNippon Professional Baseball
SportBaseball
DurationMarch 20 – November 9
Central League Pennant
League championsYomiuri Giants
  Runners-upHanshin Tigers
Season MVPAlex Ramírez (Yomiuri)
Pacific League Pennant
League championsSaitama Seibu Lions
  Runners-upOrix Buffaloes
Season MVPHisashi Iwakuma (Rakuten)
Climax Series
CL championsYomiuri Giants
  CL runners-upChunichi Dragons
PL championsSaitama Seibu Lions
  PL runners-upHokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Japan Series
ChampionsSaitama Seibu Lions
  Runners-upYomiuri Giants
Finals MVPTakayuki Kishi (Seibu)

Format

Both League
  • Season Format
    • Regular Season
    • Climax Series 1st Stage: Regular Season 2nd place vs. Regular Season 3rd place – Best of 3
    • Climax Series 2nd Stage: Regular Season 1st place vs. Climax Series 1st Stage winner – Best of 7 (regular-season 1st place take a one-win advantage)
  • Regular Season 1st place is the champion

Japan Series
  • Central League Climax Series 2nd Stage winner vs. Pacific League Climax Series 2nd Stage winner – Best of 7

Changes

The Seibu Lions added the prefecture name "Saitama" in front of the team name starting with this season.

As to reduce the interference to teams whose main players would play in the Olympic Games, this year's trade and new foreign players deadlines were pushed to the end of July, instead of the end of June. Also, teams having more than three players selected by National teams were given an extra quota of foreign player limit during the Olympic Games.

The postseason playoff ("Climax Series") regulations have changed to give more advantages to League Champions, now the second stage series will play for 6 games, while the League Champion will have a one-win advantage.

In late June, the Free Agency regulation was amended after negotiation between the players committee and owners. Players are now eligible for free agency after 8 years of service to a team (1 playing year = 145 days on the active roster), players drafted before 2007 are shortened to 7 (University/Company/Independent League) to 8 (High School) years. However, oversea FA right which allow them to play in the Major League Baseball still needs 9 playing years. This amendment is also effective on non-Japanese players. Alex Ramírez, who served 8 playing years in Japan, became a "local player" after the season.[1]

Standings

Regular season

Central League regular season standings
Team Pld W L T PCT GB
Yomiuri Giants 144 84 57 3 .594 —
Hanshin Tigers 144 82 59 3 .580 2
Chunichi Dragons 144 71 68 5 .510 12
Hiroshima Toyo Carp 144 69 70 5 .497 14
Tokyo Yakult Swallows 144 66 74 4 .472 17.5
Yokohama BayStars 144 48 94 2 .340 36.5
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:

Climax Series 1st Stage

Hanshin Tigers (1) vs. Chunichi Dragons (2)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Chunichi Dragons – 2, Hanshin Tigers – 0October 18Kyocera Dome Osaka33,824[2]
2Chunichi Dragons – 3, Hanshin Tigers – 7October 19Kyocera Dome Osaka33,881[3]
3Chunichi Dragons – 2, Hanshin Tigers – 0October 20Kyocera Dome Osaka33,021[4]

Climax Series 2nd Stage

Yomiuri Giants (3) vs. Chunichi Dragons (1) The Giants have a one-game advantage.

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Chunichi Dragons – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 3October 22Tokyo Dome44,072[5]
2Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 11October 23Tokyo Dome43,536[6]
3Chunichi Dragons – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 5 (12 innings)October 24Tokyo Dome45,846[7]
4Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 6October 25Tokyo Dome46,797[8]

Regular season

Pacific League regular season standings
Pos Team Pld W L T GB PCT Home Away
1 Saitama Seibu Lions 144 76 64 4 — .542 44–27–1 32–37–3
2 Orix Buffaloes 144 75 68 1 5.5 .524 41–31–0 34–37–1
3 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 144 73 69 2 6 .514 41–30–1 32–39–1
4 Chiba Lotte Marines 144 73 70 1 7.5 .510 41–30–1 32–40–0
5 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 144 65 76 3 12.5 .462 37–34–1 28–42–2
6 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 144 64 77 3 13.5 .455 36–33–3 28–44–0
Source: [9]

Climax Series 1st Stage

Orix Buffaloes (0) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (2)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4, Orix Buffaloes – 1October 11Kyocera Dome Osaka25,532[10]
2Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 7, Orix Buffaloes – 2October 12Kyocera Dome Osaka26,703[11]

Climax Series 2nd Stage

Saitama Seibu Lions (4) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (2) The Lions have a one-game advantage.

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3, Saitama Seibu Lions – 10October 17Omiya Park Baseball Stadium20,500[12]
2Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 5, Saitama Seibu Lions – 0October 18Seibu Dome30,918[13]
3Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 7, Saitama Seibu Lions – 4October 19Seibu Dome33,078[14]
4Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4, Saitama Seibu Lions – 9October 21Seibu Dome18,704[15]
5Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 0, Saitama Seibu Lions – 9October 22Seibu Dome21,731[16]

Interleague Games

Team Pld HW HL AW AL GB PCT
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 24 10 2 5 7 — .625
Hanshin Tigers 24 10 2 5 7 — .625
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 24 8 4 6 6 1 .583
Yomiuri Giants 24 9 3 5 7 1 .583
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 24 6 6 7 5 2 .542
Hiroshima Toyo Carp 24 6 6 7 5 2 .542
Chunichi Dragons 24 8 4 4 8 3 .500
Orix Buffaloes 24 6 6 5 7 4 .458
Tokyo Yakult Swallows 24 4 8 7 5 4 .458
Chiba Lotte Marines 24 6 6 4 8 5 .417
Saitama Seibu Lions 24 7 5 3 9 5 .417
Yokohama BayStars 24 5 7 1 11 9 .250
Updated to match(es) played on compute. Source: [17]
Rules for classification: Whenever multiple teams have same number of wins, the team having better standings in last year's interleague games will have advantage, thus Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the interleague title, despite Hanshin Tigers beating the Hawks 3 out of 4 games. A similar rule applies to other teams tied in wins.

Climax Series
Main articles: 2008 Central League Climax Series and 2008 Pacific League Climax Series

Note: All of the games that are played in the first two rounds of the Climax Series are held at the higher seed's home stadium. The team with the higher regular-season standing also advances if the round ends in a tie.

First StageFinal StageJapan Series
Central League
1Yomiuri Giants3
2Hanshin Tigers13Chunichi Dragons1
3Chunichi Dragons2CL1Yomiuri Giants3
PL1Saitama Seibu Lions4
Pacific League
1Saitama Seibu Lions4
2Orix Buffaloes03Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters2
3Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters2

Japan Series

Saitama Seibu Lions (4) vs. Yomiuri Giants (3)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Saitama Seibu Lions – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 1November 1Tokyo Dome44,757[18]
2Saitama Seibu Lions – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 3November 2Tokyo Dome44,814[19]
3Yomiuri Giants – 6, Saitama Seibu Lions – 4November 4Seibu Dome24,495[20]
4Yomiuri Giants – 0, Saitama Seibu Lions – 5November 5Seibu Dome27,930[21]
5Yomiuri Giants – 7, Saitama Seibu Lions – 3November 6Seibu Dome28,763[22]
6Saitama Seibu Lions – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 1November 8Tokyo Dome44,749[23]
7Saitama Seibu Lions – 3, Yomiuri Giants – 2November 9Tokyo Dome44,737[24]

See also

References
  1. In NPB, no team can have more than 4 "non-local" players in their active roster, and they cannot be all pitchers or all fielders, non-Japanese players who entered NPB by draft, or obtained the FA right are not bounded with this restriction.
  2. "2008 CL Climax Series 1st Stage Game 1". Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  3. "2008 CL Climax Series 1st Stage Game 2". Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2008.
  4. "2008 CL Climax Series 1st Stage Game 3". Retrieved 21 October 2008.
  5. "2008 CL Climax Series 2nd Stage Game 1". Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  6. "2008 CL Climax Series 2nd Stage Game 2". Archived from the original on 27 October 2008. Retrieved 24 October 2008.
  7. "2008 CL Climax Series 2nd Stage Game 3". Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  8. "2008 CL Climax Series 2nd Stage Game 4". Retrieved 26 October 2008.
  9. "2008 Pacific League Standings". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  10. "2008 PL Climax Series 1st Stage Game 1". Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  11. "2008 PL Climax Series 1st Stage Game 2". Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  12. "2008 PL Climax Series 2nd Stage Game 1". Archived from the original on 21 October 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  13. "2008 PL Climax Series 2nd Stage Game 2". Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  14. "2008 PL Climax Series 2nd Stage Game 3". Archived from the original on 23 October 2008. Retrieved 20 October 2008.
  15. "2008 PL Climax Series 2nd Stage Game 4". Retrieved 22 October 2008.
  16. "2008 PL Climax Series 2nd Stage Game 5". Archived from the original on 26 October 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  17. "2008年度 交流戦" [2008 Interleague Play] (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  18. "2008 Japan Series Game 1". Retrieved 3 November 2008.
  19. "2008 Japan Series Game 2". Retrieved 3 November 2008.
  20. "2008 Japan Series Game 3". Retrieved 5 November 2008.
  21. "2008 Japan Series Game 4". Retrieved 7 November 2008.
  22. "2008 Japan Series Game 5". Retrieved 7 November 2008.
  23. "2008 Japan Series Game 6". Retrieved 8 November 2008.
  24. "2008 Japan Series Game 7". Retrieved 9 November 2008.
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