# 2012 Nippon Professional Baseball season

The 2012 Nippon Professional Baseball season was 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 | First Stage | First Stage | Final Stage | Final Stage | Final Stage | Japan Series | Japan Series | Japan Series |
| Central League | Central League | Central League | 1 | Yomiuri Giants | 4 | | | |
| 2 | Chunichi Dragons | 2 | 2 | Chunichi Dragons | 3 | | | |
| 3 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 1 | | | | CL1 | Yomiuri Giants | 4 |
| | | | | | | PL1 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 2 |
| Pacific League | Pacific League | Pacific League | 1 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 4 | | | |
| 2 | Saitama Seibu Lions | 1 | 3 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 0 | | | |
| 3 | 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 |
| 2 | October 14 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 0 | Nagoya Dome | 3:26 | 33,852 |
| 3 | October 15 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 1, Chunichi Dragons – 4 | Nagoya Dome | 3:39 | 23,264 |

#### 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 |
| 2 | October 14 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Saitama Seibu Lions – 8 | Seibu Dome | 3:23 | 33,918 |
| 3 | October 15 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 3, Saitama Seibu Lions – 2 | Seibu Dome | 3:23 | 25,002 |

### 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 |
| 2 | October 18 | Chunichi Dragons – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 2 | Tokyo Dome | 3:40 | 39,135 |
| 3 | October 19 | Chunichi Dragons – 5, Yomiuri Giants – 4 | Tokyo Dome | 3:41 | 44,744 |
| 4 | October 20 | Chunichi Dragons – 1, Yomiuri Giants – 3 | Tokyo Dome | 2:57 | 46,158 |
| 5 | October 21 | Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 3 | Tokyo Dome | 3:40 | 45,897 |
| 6 | October 22 | Chunichi Dragons – 2, Yomiuri Giants – 4 | Tokyo Dome | 3:18 | 44,351 |

#### 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 |
| 2 | October 18 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3 | Sapporo Dome | 3:17 | 23,610 |
| 3 | October 19 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 2, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 4 | Sapporo Dome | 3:16 | 37,166 |

## 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 |
| 2 | October 28 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 0, Yomiuri Giants – 1 | Tokyo Dome | 2:51 | 44,932 |
| 3 | October 30 | Yomiuri Giants – 3, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 7 | Sapporo Dome | 4:04 | 36,942 |
| 4 | October 31 | Yomiuri Giants – 0, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 1 | Sapporo Dome | 4:15 | 40,433 |
| 5 | November 1 | Yomiuri Giants – 10, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2 | Sapporo Dome | 3:52 | 40,579 |
| 6 | November 3 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters – 3, Yomiuri Giants – 4 | Tokyo Dome | 3:22 | 45,018 |

## 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 | 2061⁄3 |
| 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 | 2002⁄3 |
| Saves | Hisashi Takeda | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 32 |