2013 in Japanese Baseball

2013 in 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

Bold indicates league champion; Italics indicate Nippon Series winner; * indicates playoff team

Central League

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

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

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

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

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

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

The following players were part of the 2013 Best Nine teams.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Kenta Maeda	Hiroshima Carp		P		Masahiro Tanaka	Rakuten Golden Eagles
Shinnosuke Abe	Yomiuri Giants		C		Motohiro Shima	Rakuten Golden Eagles
Tony Blanco	Yokohama BayStars		1B		Hideto Asamura	Seibu Lions
Tsuyoshi Nishioka	Hanshin Tigers		2B		Kazuya Fujita	Rakuten Golden Eagles
Shuichi Murata	Yomiuri Giants		3B		Casey McGehee	Rakuten Golden Eagles
Takashi Toritani	Hanshin Tigers		SS		Daichi Suzuki	Chiba Lotte Marines
Hisayoshi Chono	Yomiuri Giants		OF		Sho Nakata	Nippon Ham Fighters
Matt Murton	Hanshin Tigers				Yuya Hasegawa	Softbank Hawks
Wladimir Balentien	Yakult Swallows				Seiichi Uchikawa	SoftBank Hawks
			DH		Michel Abreu	Nippon Ham Fighters

Gold Gloves

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 2013.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Kenta Maeda	Hiroshima Carp		P		Masahiro Tanaka	Rakuten Golden Eagles
Shinnosuke Abe	Yomiuri Giants		C		Motohiro Shima	Rakuten Golden Eagles
José López	Yomiuri Giants		1B		Hideto Asamura	Seibu Lions
Ryosuke Kikuchi	Hiroshima Carp		2B		Kazuya Fujita	Rakuten Golden Eagles
Shuichi Murata	Yomiuri Giants		3B		Nobuhiro Matsuda	Softbank Hawks
Takashi Toritani	Hanshin Tigers		SS		Kenta Imamiya	Softbank Hawks
Hisayoshi Chono	Yomiuri Giants		OF		Dai-Kang Yoh	Nippon Ham Fighters
Sho Aranami	Yokohama BayStars				Yoshio Itoi	Orix Buffaloes
Yoshihiro Maru	Hiroshima Carp				Shogo Akiyama	Seibu Lions

International Baseball

Japan tied for third in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

Hall of Fame

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