# 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season

The 2022 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 73rd season of professional baseball in Japan since Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was reorganized in 1950. There are 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific League.
On April 10, Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Rōki Sasaki threw a perfect game, the first in 28 years and the 16th in NPB history. Sasaki tied an existing NPB record by striking out 19 batters, and set a new record by striking out 13 consecutive batters.
Including Sasaki's perfect game, for the first time since 1940, there were five no-hitters this season, with Nao Higashihama of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks throwing one on May 11 against the Saitama Seibu Lions, Shōta Imanaga of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars doing so on June 7 during interleague play against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (also being the first no hitter in the history of the Sapporo Dome in its final season as the home of the Fighters), and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Orix Buffaloes throwing one also against the Lions on June 18. One was nearly thrown on July 20, with rookie Ren Mukunoki of the Buffaloes nearly doing so against the Fighters, but he fell 1 strike short, as he gave up a hit to Fighters infielder Ryusei Satoh, in which fans called as a similar incident to former MLB pitcher Dave Stieb, in which he lost a perfect game and a no hitter in the same game with only 1 strike to go. A 5th one would eventually be thrown on August 27 by Cody Ponce of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, in just his 2nd start, tying 2022 with 1940 with the most no-hitters in a season in Japanese pro baseball history, as well as becoming the first foreign player since Rick Guttormson of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in 2006 to throw a no-hitter, and the first Pacific League foreign player to do so since the now late Narciso Elvira did so with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes in 2000.
The Tokyo Yakult Swallows took home the Central League pennant for the second year in a row over the Yokohama DeNA BayStars while the Orix Buffaloes took the Pacific League pennant over the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks via the first pennant tiebreaker in NPB history.

## Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings :
| Rank | Team | G | W | L | T | Pct. | GB |
| 1 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 143 | 80 | 59 | 4 | .576 | — |
| 2 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 143 | 73 | 68 | 2 | .518 | 8 |
| 3 | Hanshin Tigers | 143 | 68 | 71 | 4 | .489 | 12 |
| 4 | Yomiuri Giants | 143 | 68 | 72 | 3 | .486 | 12½ |
| 5 | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 143 | 66 | 74 | 3 | .471 | 14½ |
| 6 | Chunichi Dragons | 143 | 66 | 75 | 2 | .468 | 15 |
Pacific League regular season standings :
| Rank | Team | G | W | L | T | Pct. | GB |
| 1 | Orix Buffaloes | 143 | 76 | 65 | 2 | .539 | — |
| 2 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 143 | 76 | 65 | 2 | .539 | — |
| 3 | Saitama Seibu Lions | 143 | 72 | 68 | 3 | .514 | 3½ |
| 4 | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 143 | 69 | 71 | 3 | .493 | 6½ |
| 5 | Chiba Lotte Marines | 143 | 69 | 73 | 1 | .486 | 7½ |
| 6 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 143 | 59 | 81 | 3 | .421 | 16½ |

### Interleague

Regular season interleague standings :
| Team | G | W | L | T | Win% | GB | Home | Away |
| Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | .778 | — | 7–2 | 7–2 |
| Hanshin Tigers | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | .667 | 2 | 6–3 | 6–3 |
| Chiba Lotte Marines | 18 | 10 | 8 | 0 | .556 | 4 | 6–3 | 4–5 |
| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | .500 | 5 | 5–4 | 4–5 |
| Saitama Seibu Lions | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | .500 | 5 | 6–3 | 3–6 |
| Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | .500 | 5 | 5–4 | 4–5 |
| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | .500 | 5 | 5–4 | 4–5 |
| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | .444 | 6 | 6–3 | 2–7 |
| Orix Buffaloes | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | .444 | 6 | 2–7 | 6–3 |
| Yomiuri Giants | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0 | .444 | 6 | 5–4 | 3–6 |
| Chunichi Dragons | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | .389 | 7 | 5–4 | 2–7 |
| Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 18 | 5 | 13 | 0 | .279 | 9 | 3–6 | 2–7 |

## Climax Series

| 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 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 1 | 3 | Hanshin Tigers | 0 | | | |
| 3 | Hanshin Tigers | 2 | | | | CL1 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 2 |
| | | | | | | PL1 | Orix Buffaloes | 4 |
| Pacific League | Pacific League | Pacific League | 1 | Orix Buffaloes | 4 | | | |
| 2 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 2 | 2 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 1 | | | |
| 3 | Saitama Seibu Lions | 0 | | | | | | |

### First stage
#### Central League

Hanshin Tigers won the series, 2–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 8 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars − 0, Hanshin Tigers − 2 | Yokohama Stadium | 3:34 | 33,033 |
| 2 | October 9 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars − 1, Hanshin Tigers − 0 | Yokohama Stadium | 2:48 | 33,037 |
| 3 | October 10 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars − 2, Hanshin Tigers − 3 | Yokohama Stadium | 3:19 | 32,977 |

#### Pacific League

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks won the series, 2–0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 8 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 5, Saitama Seibu Lions − 3 | Fukuoka PayPay Dome | 3:01 | 32,134 |
| 2 | October 9 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 8, Saitama Seibu Lions − 2 | Fukuoka PayPay Dome | 3:07 | 39,354 |

### Final Stage

The series started with a 1–0 advantage for the first-placed team.

#### Central League

Tokyo Yakult Swallows won the series, 4−0.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 12 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 7, Hanshin Tigers − 1 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:03 | 26,499 |
| 2 | October 13 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 5, Hanshin Tigers − 3 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:49 | 26,071 |
| 3 | October 14 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 6, Hanshin Tigers − 3 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:39 | 29,343 |

#### Pacific League

Orix Buffaloes won the series, 4−1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 12 | Orix Buffaloes − 5, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 0 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:08 | 24,509 |
| 2 | October 13 | Orix Buffaloes − 4, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 3 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:27 | 18,572 |
| 3 | October 14 | Orix Buffaloes − 0, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 3 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:05 | 27,526 |
| 4 | October 15 | Orix Buffaloes − 3, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks − 2 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:12 | 33,717 |

## Japan Series

Orix Buffaloes won the series, 4–2–1.
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
| 1 | October 22 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 5, Orix Buffaloes – 3 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:48 | 29,402 |
| 2 | October 23 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 3, Orix Buffaloes – 3 (12) | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 5:03 | 29,410 |
| 3 | October 25 | Orix Buffaloes – 1, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 7 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:28 | 33,098 |
| 4 | October 26 | Orix Buffaloes – 1, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:28 | 33,210 |
| 5 | October 27 | Orix Buffaloes − 6, Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 4 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | 3:40 | 33,135 |
| 6 | October 29 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows - 0, Orix Buffaloes - 3 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:11 | 29,379 |
| 7 | October 30 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows- 4, Orix Buffaloes - 5 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | 3:12 | 29,381 |

## 2022 NPB attendance

| # | Football club | Average attendance |
| 1 | Hanshin Tigers | 36,370 |
| 2 | Yomiuri Giants | 32,199 |
| 3 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 31,221 |
| 4 | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 27,732 |
| 5 | Chunichi Dragons | 25,459 |
| 6 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 24,708 |
| 7 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 22,741 |
| 8 | Chiba Lotte Marines | 20,685 |
| 9 | ORIX Buffaloes | 19,896 |
| 10 | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 18,748 |
| 11 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 17,937 |
| 12 | Saitama Seibu Lions | 16,837 |