2011 Nippon Professional Baseball season

2011 NPB season
League Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport Baseball
Duration April 12, 2011 – November 20, 2011
Central League Pennant
League champions Chunichi Dragons
  Runners-up Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Season MVP Takuya Asao (CHU)
Pacific League Pennant
League champions Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
  Runners-up Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Season MVP Seiichi Uchikawa (SOF)
Climax Series
CL champions Chunichi Dragons
  CL runners-up Tokyo Yakult Swallows
PL champions Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
  PL runners-up Saitama Seibu Lions
Japan Series
Champions Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
  Runners-up Chunichi Dragons
Finals MVP Hiroki Kokubo (SOF)

The 2011 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 62nd season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. The season was delayed by the Tohoku earthquake. The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, based in northern Japan, and coached by Senichi Hoshino, were particularly affected by the quake, as the Miyagi Baseball Stadium was badly damaged.

Because of energy concerns following the earthquake, NPB also imposed restrictions on games during the regular season. A three-hour-thirty-minute rule was imposed. If a game went past the 3:30 mark, regardless of inning, the inning in question would be the last inning. A game would be called should any blackout occur during the game. The 3:30 clock starts at the first pitch of the game and continues in case of any delay.

As the season ends, the Yokohama BayStars was renamed as Yokohama DeNA BayStars as the owner changes.

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings
Team G W L T Pct. GB
Chunichi Dragons 144 75 59 10 .560 —
Tokyo Yakult Swallows 144 70 59 15 .543 2.5
Yomiuri Giants 144 71 62 11 .534 3.5
Hanshin Tigers 144 68 70 6 .493 9.0
Hiroshima Toyo Carp 144 60 76 8 .441 16.0
Yokohama BayStars 144 47 86 11 .353 27.5
Pacific League regular season standings
Team G W L T Pct. GB
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 144 88 46 10 .657 —
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 144 72 65 7 .526 17.5
Saitama Seibu Lions 144 68 67 9 .504 20.5
Orix Buffaloes 144 69 68 7 .504 20.5
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 144 66 71 7 .482 23.5
Chiba Lotte Marines 144 54 79 11 .406 33.5

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 stage     Final stage     Japan Series
                           
  Central League     C1  Chunichi Dragons 4  
  C2  Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2     C2  Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2    
  C3  Yomiuri Giants 1         C1  Chunichi Dragons 3
      P1  Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4
  Pacific League     P1  Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 4    
  P2  Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 0     P3  Saitama Seibu Lions 0  
  P3  Saitama Seibu Lions 2  

First stage

The regular season league champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL) and the Chunichi Dragons (CL), received byes to the championship round.

Central League

Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2) vs. Yomiuri Giants (1)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 29Yomiuri Giants – 2, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 3Meiji Jingu Stadium3:2832,339[1] 
2October 30Yomiuri Giants – 6, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 2Meiji Jingu Stadium3:2432,148[2] 
3October 31Yomiuri Giants – 1, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 3Meiji Jingu Stadium2:5131,687[3]

Pacific League

Saitama Seibu Lions (2) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (0)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1October 29Saitama Seibu Lions – 5, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2Sapporo Dome3:5542,063[4] 
2October 30Saitama Seibu Lions – 8, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1Sapporo Dome3:1541,926[5]

Final stage

The regular season league champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL) and the Chunichi Dragons (CL), received a one-game advantage.

Central League

Chunichi Dragons (4) vs. Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1November 2Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 2Nagoya Dome3:0534,689[6] 
2November 3Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 3, Chunichi Dragons – 1Nagoya Dome2:5338,414[7] 
3November 4Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 2, Chunichi Dragons – 1Nagoya Dome3:5037,599[8] 
4November 5Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 5Nagoya Dome3:0838,342[9] 
5November 6Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 2Nagoya Dome2:5138,252[10]

Pacific League

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (4) vs. Saitama Seibu Lions (0)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1November 3Saitama Seibu Lions – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4Yahoo Dome2:5737,025[11] 
2November 4Saitama Seibu Lions – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 7Yahoo Dome3:1035,021[12] 
3November 5Saitama Seibu Lions – 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2Yahoo Dome4:0037,025[13]

Japan Series

Main article: 2011 Japan Series

PL Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (4) vs. CL Chunichi Dragons (3)

GameDateScoreLocationTimeAttendance 
1November 12Chunichi Dragons – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1Fukuoka Dome3:3134,457[14] 
2November 13Chunichi Dragons – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1Fukuoka Dome3:4434,758[15] 
3November 15Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4, Chunichi Dragons – 2Nagoya Dome3:2238,041[16] 
4November 16Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2, Chunichi Dragons – 1Nagoya Dome3:4038,041[17] 
5November 17Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 5, Chunichi Dragons – 0Nagoya Dome3:4938,051[18] 
6November 19Chunichi Dragons – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1Fukuoka Dome3:0734,927[19] 
7November 20Chunichi Dragons – 0, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3Fukuoka Dome3:3034,737[20]

League leaders

Central League

Batting leaders
Stat Player Team Total
Batting average Hisayoshi Chono Yomiuri Giants .316
Home runs Wladimir Balentien Tokyo Yakult Swallows 31
Runs batted in Takahiro Arai Hanshin Tigers 93
Runs Norichika Aoki Tokyo Yakult Swallows 73
Hits Matt Murton Hanshin Tigers 180
Stolen bases Daisuke Fujimura Yomiuri Giants 28
Pitching leaders
Stat Player Team Total
Wins Tetsuya Utsumi
Kazuki Yoshimi 		Yomiuri Giants
Chunichi Dragons 		18
Losses Kentaro Takasaki Yokohama BayStars 15
Earned run average Kazuki Yoshimi Chunichi Dragons 1.65
Strikeouts Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 192
Innings pitched Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 216
Saves Kyuji Fujikawa Hanshin Tigers 41

Pacific League

Batting leaders
Stat Player Team Total
Batting average Seiichi Uchikawa Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks .338
Home runs Takeya Nakamura Saitama Seibu Lions 48
Runs batted in Takeya Nakamura Saitama Seibu Lions 116
Runs Takeya Nakamura Saitama Seibu Lions 97
Hits Tomotaka Sakaguchi Orix Buffaloes 175
Stolen bases Yuichi Honda Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 60
Pitching leaders
Stat Player Team Total
Wins D. J. Houlton
Masahiro Tanaka 		Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 		19
Losses Yoshihisa Naruse
Masaru Takeda
Hideaki Wakui 		Chiba Lotte Marines
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Saitama Seibu Lions 		12
Earned run average Masahiro Tanaka Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 1.27
Strikeouts Yu Darvish Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 276
Innings pitched Yu Darvish Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 232
Saves Hisashi Takeda Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 37

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2011 in Nippon Professional Baseball.
  1. ↑ "Saturday, October 29, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Sunday, October 30, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Monday, October 31, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Saturday, October 29, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Sunday, October 30, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Wednesday, November 2, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Thursday, November 3, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Friday, November 4, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Saturday, November 5, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Sunday, November 6, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Thursday, November 3, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Friday, November 4, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Saturday, November 5, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Saturday, November 12, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Sunday, November 13, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Tuesday, November 15, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Wednesday, November 16, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  18. ↑ "Thursday, November 17, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Saturday, November 19, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Sunday, November 20, 2011". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
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