2015 in Japanese Baseball

2015 in baseball
Cuban National League
Japanese baseball
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The 2015 season in Nippon Pro Baseball was notable for some offensive performances. Tetsuto Yamada of the Yakult Swallows and Yuki Yanagita of the Softbank Hawks had the 9th and 10th 30-30 seasons in league history; both led their leagues in OPS, Yamada becoming the first player to lead his league in home runs and steals and Yanagita the first to win a batting title while going 30-30. Both were runaway MVP selections. Shogo Akiyama of the Seibu Lions set a new NPB record for hits in a season while Dennis Sarfate of Softbank set a short-lived new Pacific League record for saves as he would top his own mark the next year. Yasuaki Yamasaki of Yokohama set a NPB record for saves by a rookie.

The league also had its first gambling scandal in years as Yomiuri Giants hurlers Satoshi Fukuda, Shoki Kasahara and Ryuya Matsumoto were banned for betting on games.

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)
Yakult Swallows*	143	76	65	2	.539	--	574	518	.257	.322	.377	3.62	Mitsuru Manaka
Yomiuri Giants*	143	75	67	1	.528	1.5	489	443	.243	.313	.354	2.78	Tatsunori Hara
Hanshin Tigers*	143	70	71	2	.496	6	465	550	.247	.317	.343	3.49	Yutaka Wada
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	143	69	71	3	.521	6.5	425	474	.246	.306	.363	3.31	Koichi Ogata
Chunichi Dragons	143	62	77	4	.446	10	473	504	.253	.313	.344	3.52	Motonobu Tanishige
Yokohama DeNA BayStars	143	62	80	1	.437	14.5	508	598	.249	.306	.373	4.18	Kiyoshi Nakahata

Pacific League

Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS	RA	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	Manager(s)
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks*	143	90	49	4	.647	--	651	491	.267	.340	.408	3.43	Kimiyasu Kudoh
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters*	143	79	62	2	.560	12	615	581	.258	.330	.378	4.06	Hideki Kuriyama
Chiba Lotte Marines*	143	73	69	1	.514	18.5	561	563	.257	.320	.368	3.94	Tsutomu Itoh
Saitama Seibu Lions	143	69	69	5	.500	20.5	631	573	.263	.335	.406	3.71	Norio Tanabe
Orix Buffaloes	143	61	60	2	.433	30	519	548	.249	.321	.354	3.59	Hiroshi Moriwaki
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	143	57	83	3	.407	33.5	435	610	.242	.309	.342	3.82	Hiromoto Okubo

Leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic		Central League				Pacific League
		Leader	Team	Number		Leader	Team	Number
Batting Average		Shingo Kawabata	Yakult Swallows	.336		Yuki Yanagita	Softbank Hawks	.363
Runs		Tetsuto Yamada	Yakult Swallows	119		Yuki Yanagita	Softbank Hawks	110
Hits		Shingo Kawabata	Yakult Swallows	195		Shogo Akiyama	Seibu Lions	216
Doubles		Tetsuto Yamada	Yakult Swallows	39		Ikuhiro Kiyota	Chiba Lotte Marines	38
Triples		Kosuke Tanaka	Hiroshima Carp	9		Shogo Akiyama	Seibu Lions	10
Home Runs		Tetsuto Yamada	Yakult Swallows	38		Takeya Nakamura	Seibu Lions	37
Runs Batted In		Kazuhiro Hatakeyama	Yakult Swallows	105		Takeya Nakamura	Seibu Lions	124
Stolen Bases		Tetsuto Yamada	Yakult Swallows	34		Takuya Nakashima	Nippon Ham Fighters	34
Walks		Yoshihiro Maru	Hiroshima Carp	94		Yuki Yanagita	Softbank Hawks	88

Pitching

Statistic		Central League				Pacific League
		Leader	Team	Number		Leader	Team	Number
ERA		Kris Johnson	Hiroshima Carp	1.85		Shohei Otani	Nippon Ham Fighters	2.24
Wins		Kenta Maeda	Hiroshima Carp	15		Shohei Otani Hideaki Wakui	Nippon Ham Fighters Chiba Lotte Marines	15
Losses		Atsushi Nohmi	Hanshin Tigers	13		Ayumu Ishikawa	Chiba Lotte Marines	12
Saves		Seung-hwan Oh Tony Barnette	Hanshin Tigers Yakult Swallows	41		Dennis Sarfate	Softbank Hawks	41
Innings Pitched		Yudai Ono	Chunichi Dragons	2071/3		Takahiro Norimoto	Rakuten Golden Eagles	194 2/3
Appearances		Ryo Akiyoshi	Yakult Swallows	72		Tatsushi Masuda	Seibu Lions	72
Hits Allowed		Atsushi Nohmi	Hanshin Tigers	170		Ayumu Ishikawa	Chiba Lotte Marines	191
Home Runs Allowed		Yasuhiro Ogawa	Yakult Swallows	18		Ken Togame	Seibu Lions	19
Strikeouts		Shintaro Fujinami	Hanshin Tigers	221		Takahiro Norimoto	Rakuten Golden Eagles	215
Base-on-Balls		Shintaro Fujinami	Hanshin Tigers	82		Dae-eun Rhee	Chiba Lotte Marines	63

Awards

The winner of the 2015 Sawamura Award was Kenta Maeda of the Hiroshima Carp. He had a 15-8 win-loss record, 175 strikeouts, and a 1.98 ERA in 206 1/3 innings, leading the Central League in wins and finishing 3rd in ERA and 4th in strikeouts.

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	Tetsuto Yamada	Yakult Swallows	2B	646	119	183	38	100	34	.329	.416	.610	Did not pitch
	PL	Yuki Yanagita	Softbank Hawks	OF	502	110	182	34	99	32	.363	.469	.631	Did not pitch
Rookie of the Year	CL	Yasuaki Yamasaki	Yokohama BayStars	P	Did not bat									2 - 4	37	56 1/3	38	2	11	66	1.92
	PL	Kohei Arihara	Nippon Ham Fighters	P	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	8 - 6	0	103 1/3	113	13	32	81	4.79

Best Nine

The following players were part of the 2015 Best Nine teams.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Kenta Maeda	Hiroshima Carp		P		Shohei Otani	Nippon Ham Fighters
Yuhei Nakamura	Yakult Swallows		C		Ginjiro Sumitani	Seibu Lions
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama	Yakult Swallows		1B		Sho Nakata	Nippon Ham Fighters
Tetsuto Yamada	Yakult Swallows		2B		Kensuke Tanaka	Nippon Ham Fighters
Shingo Kawabata	Yakult Swallows		3B		Takeya Nakamura	Seibu Lions
Takashi Toritani	Hanshin Tigers		SS		Takuya Nakashima	Nippon Ham Fighters
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo	Yokohama BayStars		OF		Shogo Akiyama	Seibu Lions
Kosuke Fukudome	Hanshin Tigers				Ikuhiro Kiyota	Chiba Lotte Marines
Ryosuke Hirata	Chunichi Dragons				Yuki Yanagita	SoftBank Hawks
			DH		Dae-ho Lee	Softbank Hawks

Gold Gloves

The following players were the recipients of the Gold Glove Award in 2015.

Central League			Position		Pacific League
Player	Team				Player	Team
Kenta Maeda	Hiroshima Carp		P		Hideaki Wakui	Chiba Lotte Marines
Yuhei Nakamura	Yakult Swallows		C		Ginjiro Sumitani	Seibu Lions
Kazuhiro Hatakeyama	Yakult Swallows		1B		Sho Nakata	Nippon Ham Fighters
Ryosuke Kikuchi	Hiroshima Carp		2B		Luis Cruz	Chiba Lotte Marines
Shingo Kawabata	Yakult Swallows		3B		Nobuhiro Matsuda	Softbank Hawks
Takashi Toritani	Hanshin Tigers		SS		Kenta Imamiya	Softbank Hawks
Yohei Oshima	Chunichi Dragons		OF		Ikuhiro Kiyota	Chiba Lotte Marines
Kosuke Fukudome	Hanshin Tigers				Shogo Akiyama	Seibu Lions
Yoshihiro Maru	Hiroshima Carp				Yuki Yanagita	Softbank Hawks

International Baseball

Japan won Bronze Medals in both the 2015 Asian Championship and 2015 Premier 12.

Hall of Fame

The following people were elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame:

• Atsuya Furuta, by the Sportswriters Committee
• Kazuo Hayashi, by the Special Committee
• Ryohei Murayama, by the Special Committee