MLB Japan All-Star Series

The MLB Japan All-Star Series is an irregular end-of-the-season tour of Japan made by an All-Star team from Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1986, contested in a best-of format against the All-Stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) or recently as of 2014 their national team Samurai Japan (SJP).

MLB Japan All-Star Series
日米野球
FrequencyIrregularly
Location(s) Japan
Country United States
 Canada
 Japan
Inaugurated1986
Most recent2018
ParticipantsUnited StatesCanada MLB All-Stars
Japan NPB All-Stars (1986–2006)
Japan Samurai Japan (2014– )
Organised byMajor League Baseball
Nippon Professional Baseball
Japan national baseball team

The series has featured many great players, such as Nori Aoki, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, Shinnosuke Abe, David Ortiz, Sammy Sosa, Justin Morneau, David Wright, Jose Reyes, José Altuve, Robinson Canó and Manny Ramírez.

In the beginning of all games the American, Canadian and Japanese national anthems are all played. Games can end in a tie if it persists through 12 innings, just as in NPB rules.

List of series

MLB vs. NPB (1986–2006)
Year Format MLB All-Stars Won NPB All-Stars Won
(1986–98 as All-Japan)		 Tied Most Valuable Player
1986 Best-of-7 6 Games 1 Game 0 Games Tony Peña (MLB)
1988 Best-of-7 3 Games 2 Games 2 Games Barry Larkin (MLB)
1990 Best-of-8 3 Games 4 Games 1 Game Ken Griffey Jr. (MLB)
1992 Best-of-8 6 Games 1 Game 1 Game Mark Grace (MLB)
1994 Cancelled (due to the MLB players strike)
1996 Best-of-8 4 Games 2 Games 2 Games Steve Finley (MLB)
1998 Best-of-8 6 Games 2 Games 0 Games Sammy Sosa (MLB)
2000 Best-of-8 5 Games 2 Games 1 Game Barry Bonds (MLB)
2002 Best-of-8 5 Games 3 Games 0 Games Torii Hunter (MLB)
2004 Best-of-8 5 Games 3 Games 0 Games Vernon Wells (MLB)
2006 Best-of-5 5 Games 0 Games 0 Games Ryan Howard (MLB)
Total MLB 9–1 NPB 48 Games 20 Games 7 Games MLB 10–0 NPB

MLB vs. SJP (2014, 2018)

The Japan All-Star Series was resumed in 2014 after an eight-year break.[1] Katsuhiko Kumazaki, then the new Commissioner of NPB, decided to field the national team Samurai Japan, instead of a NPB All-Star line-up, for the 2014 series. Kumazaki saw in this series a big opportunity for the Japanese team to gain hugely useful experience for the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Samurai Japan won the best-of-five series by a margin of three games to two. Particularly noteworthy was a combined no-hitter by Samurai Japan in Game 3 as their pitchers shut out the MLB All-Stars 4–0.[2]

On May 1, 2018, MLB announced that it would send again an All-Star team to tour Japan after the end of current season, with six games scheduled against the Japan national team from November 9 to 15.[3]

Year Format MLB All-Stars Won Samurai Japan Won Tied Most Valuable Player
2014 Best-of-5 2 Games 3 Games 0 Games Yuki Yanagita (SJP)
2018 Best-of-6 1 Game 5 Games 0 Games
Total MLB 0–2 SJP 3 Games 8 Games 0 Games MLB 0–1 SJP

See also

References
  1. "US-Japan Baseball 2014 Schedule (in japanese)". Sponichi.co.jp. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  2. Joey Nowak (November 15, 2014). "Perfect Norimoto leads combined no-no vs. MLB". MLB.com. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  3. "Major League Baseball returns to Japan in 2018 and 2019". MLB.com. May 1, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
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