2012 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 2012 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2012 in baseball.

2012 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 30, 2012 – November 3, 2012
Central League Pennant
League champions	Yomiuri Giants
Runners-up	Chunichi Dragons
Season MVP	Shinnosuke Abe (YOM)
Pacific League Pennant
League champions	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Runners-up	Saitama Seibu Lions
Season MVP	Mitsuo Yoshikawa (NIP)
Climax Series
CL champions	Yomiuri Giants
CL runners-up	Chunichi Dragons
PL champions	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
PL runners-up	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Japan Series
Champions	Yomiuri Giants
Runners-up	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
Japan Series MVP	Tetsuya Utsumi (YOM)

The 2012 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 63rd season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950.

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings

Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB
Yomiuri Giants	144	86	43	15	.667	—
Chunichi Dragons	144	75	53	16	.586	10.5
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	144	68	65	11	.511	20.0
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	144	61	71	12	.462	26.5
Hanshin Tigers	144	55	75	14	.423	31.5
Yokohama DeNA BayStars	144	46	85	13	.351	41.0

Pacific League regular season standings

Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	144	74	59	11	.556	—
Saitama Seibu Lions	144	72	63	9	.533	3.0
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	144	67	65	12	.508	6.5
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	144	67	67	10	.500	7.5
Chiba Lotte Marines	144	62	67	15	.481	10.0
Orix Buffaloes	144	57	77	10	.425	17.5

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

2012 Japan Series

Central League

C1

Yomiuri Giants

4

C2

Chunichi Dragons

2

C2

Chunichi Dragons

3

C3

Tokyo Yakult Swallows

1

C1

Yomiuri Giants

4

P1

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

2

Pacific League

P1

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

4

P2

Saitama Seibu Lions

1

P3

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

0

P3

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

2

First stage

The regular season league champions, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (PL) and the Yomiuri Giants (CL), received byes to the championship round.

Central League

Chunichi Dragons (2) vs. Tokyo Yakult Swallows (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 13	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 6	Nagoya Dome	3:11	31,146[1]
2	October 14	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 0	Nagoya Dome	3:26	33,852[2]
3	October 15	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 4	Nagoya Dome	3:39	23,264[3]

Pacific League

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2) vs. Saitama Seibu Lions (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 13	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2, Saitama Seibu Lions – 1	Seibu Dome	2:54	32,074[4]
2	October 14	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Saitama Seibu Lions – 8	Seibu Dome	3:23	33,918[5]
3	October 15	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3, Saitama Seibu Lions – 2	Seibu Dome	3:23	25,002[6]

Final stage

The regular season league champions, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (PL) and the Yomiuri Giants (CL), received a one-game advantage.

Central League

Yomiuri Giants (4) vs. Chunichi Dragons (3)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 17	Chunichi Dragons – 3, Yomiuri Giants – 1	Tokyo Dome	3:21	40,039[7]
2	October 18	Chunichi Dragons – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 2	Tokyo Dome	3:40	39,135[8]
3	October 19	Chunichi Dragons – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 4	Tokyo Dome	3:41	44,744[9]
4	October 20	Chunichi Dragons – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	2:57	46,158[10]
5	October 21	Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 3	Tokyo Dome	3:40	45,897[11]
6	October 22	Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 4	Tokyo Dome	3:18	44,351[12]

Pacific League

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (4) vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (0)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 17	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3	Sapporo Dome	2:56	31,022[13]
2	October 18	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3	Sapporo Dome	3:17	23,610[14]
3	October 19	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4	Sapporo Dome	3:16	37,166[15]

Japan Series

CL Yomiuri Giants (4) vs. PL Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (2)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 27	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 8	Tokyo Dome	3:13	44,981[16]
2	October 28	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 0, Yomiuri Giants – 1	Tokyo Dome	2:51	44,932[17]
3	October 30	Yomiuri Giants – 3, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 7	Sapporo Dome	4:04	36,942[18]
4	October 31	Yomiuri Giants – 0, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1	Sapporo Dome	4:15	40,433[19]
5	November 1	Yomiuri Giants – 10, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2	Sapporo Dome	3:52	40,579[20]
6	November 3	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3, Yomiuri Giants – 4	Tokyo Dome	3:22	45,018[21]

League leaders

Central League

Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting average Shinnosuke Abe Yomiuri Giants .340 Home runs Wladimir Balentien Tokyo Yakult Swallows 31 Runs batted in Shinnosuke Abe Yomiuri Giants 104 Runs Hayato Sakamoto Yomiuri Giants 87 Hits Hayato Sakamoto Hisayoshi Chono Yomiuri Giants Yomiuri Giants 173 Stolen bases Yohei Oshima Chunichi Dragons 32

Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total Wins Tetsuya Utsumi Yomiuri Giants 15 Losses Bryan Bullington Minoru Iwata Hiroshima Toyo Carp Hanshin Tigers 14 Earned run average Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 1.53 Strikeouts Toshiya Sugiuchi Atsushi Nomi Yomiuri Giants Hanshin Tigers 172 Innings pitched Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 206^1⁄3 Saves Tony Barnette Hitoki Iwase Tokyo Yakult Swallows Chunichi Dragons 33

Pacific League

Batting leaders Stat Player Team Total Batting average Katsuya Kakunaka Chiba Lotte Marines .312 Home runs Takeya Nakamura Saitama Seibu Lions 27 Runs batted in Lee Dae-Ho Orix Buffaloes 91 Runs Sho Nakata Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 79 Hits Seiichi Uchikawa Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 157 Stolen bases Ryo Hijirisawa Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 54

Pitching leaders Stat Player Team Total Wins Tadashi Settsu Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 17 Losses Takayuki Kishi Saitama Seibu Lions 12 Earned run average Mitsuo Yoshikawa Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 1.71 Strikeouts Masahiro Tanaka Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 169 Innings pitched Yoshihisa Naruse Chiba Lotte Marines 200^2⁄3 Saves Hisashi Takeda Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 32

References

1. "Saturday, October 13, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
2. "Sunday, October 14, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
3. "Monday, October 15, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
4. "Saturday, October 13, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
5. "Sunday, October 14, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
6. "Monday, October 15, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
7. "Wednesday, October 17, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
8. "Thursday, October 18, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
9. "Friday, October 19, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
10. "Saturday, October 20, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
11. "Sunday, October 21, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
12. "Monday, October 22, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
13. "Wednesday, October 17, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
14. "Thursday, October 18, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
15. "Friday, October 19, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 29, 2012.
16. "Saturday, October 27, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
17. "Sunday, October 28, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 28, 2012.
18. "Tuesday, October 30, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
19. "Wednesday, October 31, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
20. "Thursday, November 1, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
21. "Saturday, November 3, 2012". Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 3, 2012.