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
Japan Series 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)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 29	Yomiuri Giants – 2, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 3	Meiji Jingu Stadium	3:28	32,339[1]
2	October 30	Yomiuri Giants – 6, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 2	Meiji Jingu Stadium	3:24	32,148[2]
3	October 31	Yomiuri Giants – 1, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 3	Meiji Jingu Stadium	2:51	31,687[3]

Pacific League

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

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 29	Saitama Seibu Lions – 5, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2	Sapporo Dome	3:55	42,063[4]
2	October 30	Saitama Seibu Lions – 8, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1	Sapporo Dome	3:15	41,926[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)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 2	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 2	Nagoya Dome	3:05	34,689[6]
2	November 3	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 3, Chunichi Dragons – 1	Nagoya Dome	2:53	38,414[7]
3	November 4	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 2, Chunichi Dragons – 1	Nagoya Dome	3:50	37,599[8]
4	November 5	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 5	Nagoya Dome	3:08	38,342[9]
5	November 6	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 2	Nagoya Dome	2:51	38,252[10]

Pacific League

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

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 3	Saitama Seibu Lions – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4	Yahoo Dome	2:57	37,025[11]
2	November 4	Saitama Seibu Lions – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 7	Yahoo Dome	3:10	35,021[12]
3	November 5	Saitama Seibu Lions – 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2	Yahoo Dome	4:00	37,025[13]

Japan Series

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

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 12	Chunichi Dragons – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1	Fukuoka Dome	3:31	34,457[14]
2	November 13	Chunichi Dragons – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1	Fukuoka Dome	3:44	34,758[15]
3	November 15	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4, Chunichi Dragons – 2	Nagoya Dome	3:22	38,041[16]
4	November 16	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2, Chunichi Dragons – 1	Nagoya Dome	3:40	38,041[17]
5	November 17	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 5, Chunichi Dragons – 0	Nagoya Dome	3:49	38,051[18]
6	November 19	Chunichi Dragons – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1	Fukuoka Dome	3:07	34,927[19]
7	November 20	Chunichi Dragons – 0, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3	Fukuoka Dome	3:30	34,737[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

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.