2013 in Japanese Baseball
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2013 in Japanese Baseball was notable primarily for a couple record-setting performances. Masahiro Tanaka of the Rakuten Golden Eagles went 24-0 with a 1.27 ERA for one of the top performances in Nippon Pro Baseball history, setting several records, including wins without a loss, consecutive starts with a win and winning streak. Over in the Central League, Yakult Swallows outfielder Wladimir Balentien set a new NPB record with 60 home runs, breaking the mark of 55 shared by Sadaharu Oh, Tuffy Rhodes and Alex Cabrera. The fact that NPB had adopted a newer, livelier ball without telling anyone resulted in penalties to the NPB officials responsible for those decisions. On a minor record note, Ryosuke Kikuchi broke the 8-year-old record for assists at 2B with 528 (the old mar was 496, set by Masahiro Araki.
Four new players joined the meikyukai with 2,000 hits. Alex Ramirez became the first foreigner to join, followed by Norihiro Nakamura, Motonobu Tanishige (the oldest to that point at 42 yrs, 4 mos) and Tadahito Iguchi.
Rakuten won its first Japan Series, topping the Yomiuri Giants in seven games in the 2013 Japan Series. After Tanaka finally took a loss in Game 6 of the Series, lesser light Manabu Mima tossed his second gem of the Series to wrap it up, earning Series MVP honors.
Standings[edit]
- Bold indicates league champion; Italics indicate Nippon Series winner; * indicates playoff team
Central League[edit]
Team | G | W | L | T | WPCT | GB | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ERA | Manager(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yomiuri Giants* | 144 | 84 | 53 | 7 | .613 | -- | 597 | 508 | .262 | .326 | .400 | 3.21 | Tatsunori Hara |
Hanshin Tigers* | 144 | 73 | 67 | 4 | .521 | 12.5 | 531 | 488 | .255 | .326 | .358 | 3.07 | Yutaka Wada |
Hiroshima Toyo Carp* | 144 | 69 | 72 | 3 | .489 | 17 | 557 | 554 | .248 | .319 | .367 | 3.46 | Kenjiro Nomura |
Chunichi Dragons | 144 | 64 | 77 | 3 | .454 | 22 | 526 | 599 | .245 | .315 | .359 | 3.81 | Morimichi Takagi |
Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 144 | 64 | 79 | 1 | .448 | 23 | 630 | 686 | .262 | .325 | .390 | 4.50 | Kiyoshi Nakahata |
Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 144 | 57 | 84 | 4 | .407 | 28.5 | 577 | 682 | .253 | .327 | .377 | 4.26 | Junji Ogawa |
Pacific League[edit]
Team | G | W | L | T | WPCT | GB | RS | RA | AVG | OBP | SLG | ERA | Manager(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles* | 144 | 82 | 59 | 3 | .582 | -- | 628 | 537 | .267 | .338 | .379 | 3.51 | Senichi Hoshino |
Saitama Seibu Lions* | 144 | 74 | 66 | 4 | .529 | 7.5 | 570 | 562 | .257 | .331 | .363 | 3.54 | Hisanobu Watanabe |
Chiba Lotte Marines* | 144 | 74 | 68 | 2 | .521 | 8.5 | 572 | 584 | .262 | .331 | .374 | 3.77 | Tsutomu Itoh |
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 144 | 73 | 69 | 2 | .514 | 9.5 | 660 | 562 | .274 | .339 | .409 | 3.56 | Koji Akiyama |
Orix Buffaloes | 144 | 66 | 73 | 5 | .475 | 15 | 513 | 529 | .256 | .323 | .366 | 3.31 | Hiroshi Moriwaki |
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 144 | 64 | 78 | 2 | .451 | 18.5 | 534 | 604 | .256 | .326 | .368 | 3.74 | Hideki Kuriyama |
Leaders[edit]
- Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record
Batting[edit]
Statistic | Central League | Pacific League | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leader | Team | Number | Leader | Team | Number | |||
Batting Average | Tony Blanco | Chunichi Dragons | .333 | Yuya Hasegawa | Softbank Hawks | .341 | ||
Runs | Wladimir Balentien | Yakult Swallows | 94 | Dai-Kang Yang | Nippon Ham Fighters | 93 | ||
Hits | Matt Murton | Hanshin Tigers | 178 | Yuya Hasegawa | Softbank Hawks | 198 | ||
Doubles | Matt Murton | Hanshin Tigers | 37 | Hideto Asamura | Seibu Lions | 38 | ||
Triples | Yoshihiro Maru | Hiroshima Carp | 5 | Daichi Suzuki | Chiba Lotte Marines | 11 | ||
Home Runs | Wladimir Balentien | Yakult Swallows | 60 | Michel Abreu | Nippon Ham Fighters | 31 | ||
Runs Batted In | Tony Blanco | Chunichi Dragons | 136 | Hideto Asamura | Seibu Lions | 110 | ||
Stolen Bases | Yoshihiro Maru | Hiroshima Carp | 29 | Dai-Kang Yang | Nippon Ham Fighters | 47 | ||
Walks | Takashi Toritani | Hanshin Tigers | 104 | Andruw Jones | Rakuten Golden Eagles | 105 |
Pitching[edit]
Statistic | Central League | Pacific League | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leader | Team | Number | Leader | Team | Number | |||
ERA | Kenta Maeda | Hiroshima Carp | 2.10 | Masahiro Tanaka | Rakuten Golden Eagles | 1.27 | ||
Wins | Yasuhiro Ogawa | Yakult Swallows | 16 | Masahiro Tanaka | Rakuten Golden Eagles | 24 | ||
Losses | Daisuke Miura Ryosuke Yagi |
Yokohama BayStars Yakult Swallows |
13 | Mitsuo Yoshikawa | Nippon Ham Fighters | 15 | ||
Saves | Kentaro Nishimura | Yomiuri Giants | 42 | Naoya Masuda | Chiba Lotte Marines | 33 | ||
Innings Pitched | Randy Messenger | Hanshin Tigers | 196 1/3 | Chihiro Kaneko | Orix Buffaloes | 223 2/3 | ||
Appearances | Kentaro Nishimura | Yomiuri Giants | 71 | Naoya Masuda | Chiba Lotte Marines | 68 | ||
Hits Allowed | Daisuke Miura | Yokohama BayStars | 181 | Yuri Karakawa | Chiba Lotte Marines | 185 | ||
Home Runs Allowed | Daisuke Miura | Yokohama BayStars | 26 | Takayuki Kishi Ryoma Nogami |
Seibu Lions Seibu Lions |
17 | ||
Strikeouts | Randy Messenger | Hanshin Tigers | 183 | Chihiro Kaneko | Orix Buffaloes | 200 | ||
Base-on-Balls | Kazuki Mishima | Yokohama BayStars | 79 | Shota Takeda | Softbank Hawks | 68 |
Awards[edit]
The winner of the 2013 Sawamura Award was Masahiro Tanaka of the Rakuten Golden Eagles. He had a 24-0 win-loss record, 183 strikeouts, and a 1.27 ERA in 213 innings, leading the Pacific League in ERA and wins.
Award | League | Player | Team | Position | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | W - L | SV | IP | HA | HRA | BB | SO | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Most Valuable Player | CL | Wladimir Balentien | Yakult Swallows | OF | 439 | 94 | 145 | 60 | 131 | 0 | .330 | .455 | .779 | Did not pitch | |||||||
PL | Masahiro Tanaka | Rakuten Golden Eagles | P | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .167 | .167 | .333 | 24 - 0 | 1 | 212 | 168 | 6 | 32 | 183 | 1.27 | |
Rookie of the Year | CL | Yasuhiro Ogawa | Yakult Swallows | P | 54 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .093 | .093 | .148 | 16 - 4 | 0 | 178 | 155 | 9 | 45 | 135 | 2.93 |
PL | Takahiro Norimoto | Rakuten Golden Eagles | P | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .125 | .000 | 15 - 8 | 0 | 170 | 142 | 14 | 51 | 134 | 3.34 |
Best Nine[edit]
The following players were part of the 2013 Best Nine teams.
Gold Gloves[edit]
The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 2013.
International Baseball[edit]
Japan tied for third in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
Hall of Fame[edit]
The following people were elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame:
- Yutaka Ono, by the Sportswriters Committee
- Yoshiro Sotokoba, by the Sportswriters Committee
- Kazuo Fukushima, by the Special Committee
Japanese Baseball Seasons
Pre-Professional Era
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