# 2015 Nippon Professional Baseball season

The 2015 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 66th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. In the Central League, the Yakult Swallows claimed the pennant and defeated the Yomiuri Giants in the final stage of the Climax Series. In the Pacific League, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the penant and defeated the Chiba Lotte Marines in the final stage of the Climax Series.

## Incidents

A gambling scandal involving members of the Yomiuri Giants was reported in October. Pitchers Satoshi Fukuda, Shoki Kasahara, and Ryuya Matsumoto were found to have bet on both NPB games and Major League Baseball games, as well as high school baseball.

## Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings :
| Team | G | W | L | T | Pct. | GB |
| Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 143 | 76 | 65 | 2 | .539 | – |
| Yomiuri Giants | 143 | 75 | 67 | 1 | .528 | 1.5 |
| Hanshin Tigers | 143 | 70 | 71 | 2 | .496 | 6.0 |
| Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 143 | 69 | 71 | 3 | .493 | 6.5 |
| Chunichi Dragons | 143 | 62 | 77 | 4 | .446 | 13.0 |
| Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 143 | 62 | 80 | 1 | .437 | 14.5 |
Pacific League regular season standings :
| Team | G | W | L | T | Pct. | GB |
| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 143 | 90 | 49 | 4 | .647 | – |
| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 143 | 79 | 62 | 2 | .560 | 12.0 |
| Chiba Lotte Marines | 143 | 73 | 69 | 1 | .511 | 19.0 |
| Saitama Seibu Lions | 143 | 69 | 69 | 5 | .500 | 20.5 |
| Orix Buffaloes | 143 | 61 | 80 | 2 | .433 | 30.0 |
| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 143 | 57 | 83 | 3 | .410 | 33.0 |

## Climax Series

Note: In each league's stepladder playoff system (Climax Series), all games in that series are held at the higher seed's home stadium. The team with the higher regular-season standing also advanced if the round ended in a tie.
| First Stage | First Stage | First Stage | Final Stage | Final Stage | Final Stage | Japan Series | Japan Series | Japan Series |
| Central League | Central League | Central League | 1 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 4 | | | |
| 2 | Yomiuri Giants | 2 | 2 | Yomiuri Giants | 1 | | | |
| 3 | Hanshin Tigers | 1 | | | | CL1 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 1 |
| | | | | | | PL1 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 4 |
| Pacific League | Pacific League | Pacific League | 1 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 4 | | | |
| 2 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 1 | 3 | Chiba Lotte Marines | 0 | | | |
| 3 | Chiba Lotte Marines | 2 | | | | | | |

### First stage

The regular season league champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL) and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows (CL), received byes to the championship round.

#### Central League

Yomiuri Giants (2) vs. Hanshin Tigers (1)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 10 | Hanshin Tigers – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 3 | Tokyo Dome | 3:40 | 45,298 |
| 2 | October 11 | Hanshin Tigers – 4, Yomiuri Giants – 2 | Tokyo Dome | 3:48 | 46,698 |
| 3 | October 12 | Hanshin Tigers – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 3 | Tokyo Dome | 2:48 | 46,067 |

#### Pacific League

Chiba Lotte Marines (2) vs. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (1)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 10 | Chiba Lotte Marines – 9, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3 | Sapporo Dome | 3:28 | 41,138 |
| 2 | October 11 | Chiba Lotte Marines – 2, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4 | Sapporo Dome | 3:06 | 41,138 |
| 3 | October 12 | Chiba Lotte Marines – 2, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1 | Sapporo Dome | 3:42 | 32,201 |

### Final stage

The regular season league champions, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (PL) and the Tokyo Yakult Swallows (CL), received a one-game advantage.

#### Central League

Yomiuri Giants (1) vs. Tokyo Yakult Swallows (4)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 14 | Yomiuri Giants – 4, Tokyo Yakult Swallows– 1 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:38 | 31,502 |
| 2 | October 15 | Yomiuri Giants – 0, Tokyo Yakult Swallows– 4 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 2:51 | 31,274 |
| 3 | October 16 | Yomiuri Giants – 0, Tokyo Yakult Swallows– 2 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:27 | 33,102 |
| 4 | October 17 | Yomiuri Giants – 2, Tokyo Yakult Swallows– 3 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 2:58 | 34,038 |

#### Pacific League

Chiba Lotte Marines (0) vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (4)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 14 | Chiba Lotte Marines – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3 (10 innings) | Fukuoka Dome | 3:43 | 37,360 |
| 2 | October 15 | Chiba Lotte Marines – 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6 | Fukuoka Dome | 2:59 | 37,603 |
| 3 | October 16 | Chiba Lotte Marines – 1, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3 | Fukuoka Dome | 2:53 | 37,235 |

## Japan Series

CL Tokyo Yakult Swallows (1) vs. PL Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (4)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 24 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 2, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4 | Fukuoka Dome | 3:04 | 35,732 |
| 2 | October 25 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4 | Fukuoka Dome | 3:35 | 35,764 |
| 3 | October 27 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 4, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 8 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:38 | 31,037 |
| 4 | October 28 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 4 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 4:06 | 31,288 |
| 5 | October 29 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 5, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:36 | 31,239 |

## League leaders
### Central League

Batting leaders :
| Stat | Player | Team | Total |
| Batting average | Shingo Kawabata | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | .336 |
| Home runs | Tetsuto Yamada | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 38 |
| Runs batted in | Kazuhiro Hatakeyama | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 105 |
| Runs | Tetsuto Yamada | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 119 |
| Hits | Shingo Kawabata | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 195 |
| Stolen bases | Tetsuto Yamada | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 34 |
Pitching leaders :
| Stat | Player | Team | Total |
| Wins | Kenta Maeda | Hiroshima Carp | 15 |
| Losses | Atsushi Nomi | Hanshin Tigers | 13 |
| Earned run average | Kris Johnson | Hiroshima Carp | 1.85 |
| Strikeouts | Shintaro Fujinami | Hanshin Tigers | 221 |
| Innings pitched | Yudai Ono | Chunichi Dragons | 207.1 |
| Saves | Tony Barnette | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 41 |
| Saves | Oh Seung-hwan | Hanshin Tigers | 41 |

### Pacific League

Batting leaders :
| Stat | Player | Team | Total |
| Batting average | Yuki Yanagita | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | .363 |
| Home runs | Takeya Nakamura | Saitama Seibu Lions | 37 |
| Runs batted in | Takeya Nakamura | Saitama Seibu Lions | 124 |
| Runs | Yuki Yanagita | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 110 |
| Hits | Shogo Akiyama | Saitama Seibu Lions | 216 |
| Stolen bases | Takuya Nakashima | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 34 |
Pitching leaders :
| Stat | Player | Team | Total |
| Wins | Shohei Ohtani | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 15 |
| Losses | Ayumu Ishikawa | Chiba Lotte Marines | 12 |
| Earned run average | Shohei Ohtani | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 2.24 |
| Strikeouts | Takahiro Norimoto | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 215 |
| Innings pitched | Takahiro Norimoto | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 194.2 |
| Saves | Dennis Sarfate | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 41 |