2010 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 2010 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2010 in baseball.

The 2010 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 61st season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950.

2010 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 20 – November 7
Central League Pennant
League champions	Chunichi Dragons
Runners-up	Hanshin Tigers
Season MVP	Kazuhiro Wada (Chunichi)
Pacific League Pennant
League champions	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Runners-up	Saitama Seibu Lions
Season MVP	Tsuyoshi Wada (SoftBank)
Climax Series
CL champions	Chunichi Dragons
CL runners-up	Yomiuri Giants
PL champions	Chiba Lotte Marines
PL runners-up	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Japan Series
Champions	Chiba Lotte Marines
Runners-up	Chunichi Dragons
Finals MVP	Toshiaki Imae (Lotte)

Final standings

Central League

2010 Central League standings

Team	Pld	W	L	T	PCT	GB
Chunichi Dragons	144	79	62	3	.559	—
Hanshin Tigers	144	78	63	3	.552	1
Yomiuri Giants	144	79	64	1	.552	1
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	144	72	68	4	.514	6.5
Hiroshima Carp	144	58	84	2	.410	21.5
Yokohama BayStars	144	48	95	1	.337	32

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pacific League

2010 Pacific League standings

Team	Pld	W	L	T	PCT	GB
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	144	76	63	5	.545	—
Saitama Seibu Lions	144	78	65	1	.545	—
Chiba Lotte Marines	144	75	67	2	.528	2.5
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	144	74	67	3	.524	3
Orix Buffaloes	144	69	71	4	.493	7.5
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	144	62	79	3	.441	15

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Climax Series

Main articles: 2010 Central League Climax Series and 2010 Pacific League 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					1	Chunichi Dragons	4
	2	Hanshin Tigers	0			3	Yomiuri Giants	1
	3	Yomiuri Giants	2								CL1	Chunichi Dragons	2
											PL3	Chiba Lotte Marines	4
	Pacific League					1	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	3
	2	Saitama Seibu Lions	0			3	Chiba Lotte Marines	4
	3	Chiba Lotte Marines	2

Central League First Stage

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Hanshin Tigers 1 – 3 Yomiuri Giants	October 16	Koshien Stadium	46,868
2	Hanshin Tigers 6 – 7 Yomiuri Giants	October 17	Koshien Stadium	46,875

Yomiuri Giants win series 2–0

Central League Final Stage

Chunichi Dragons have one-win advantage

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Chunichi Dragons 5 – 0 Yomiuri Giants	October 20	Nagoya Dome	37,659
2	Chunichi Dragons 2 – 0 Yomiuri Giants	October 21	Nagoya Dome	37,298
3	Chunichi Dragons 2 – 3 Yomiuri Giants	October 22	Nagoya Dome	38,432
4	Chunichi Dragons 4 – 3 Yomiuri Giants	October 23	Nagoya Dome	38,432

Chunichi Dragons win series 4–1.

Pacific League First Stage

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Saitama Seibu Lions 5 – 6 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 9	Seibu Dome	33,918
2	Saitama Seibu Lions 4 – 5 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 10	Seibu Dome	33,911

Chiba Lotte Marines win series 2–0

Pacific League Final Stage

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have one-win advantage

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 1 – 3 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 14	Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome	35,118
2	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 3 – 1 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 15	Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome	35,876
3	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 1 – 0 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 16	Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome	36,664
4	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2 – 4 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 17	Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome	36,235
5	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 2 – 5 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 18	Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome	33,108
6	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 0 – 7 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 19	Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome	33,515

Chiba Lotte Marines win series 4–3.

Japan Series

Main article: 2010 Japan Series

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Chunichi Dragons 2 – 5 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 30	Nagoya Dome	38,066
2	Chunichi Dragons 12 – 1 Chiba Lotte Marines	October 31	Nagoya Dome	38,065
3	Chiba Lotte Marines 7 – 1 Chunichi Dragons	November 2	Chiba Marine Stadium	26,923
4	Chiba Lotte Marines 3 – 4 Chunichi Dragons	November 3	Chiba Marine Stadium	27,197
5	Chiba Lotte Marines 10 – 4 Chunichi Dragons	November 4	Chiba Marine Stadium	27,209
6	Chunichi Dragons 2 – 2 Chiba Lotte Marines	November 6	Nagoya Dome	38,094
7	Chunichi Dragons 7 – 8 Chiba Lotte Marines	November 7	Nagoya Dome	38,075

Chiba Lotte Marines win series 4–2

League leaders

Central League

Batting leaders[1] Stat Player Team Total Batting average Norichika Aoki Tokyo Yakult Swallows .358 Home runs Alex Ramirez Yomiuri Giants 49 Runs batted in Alex Ramirez Yomiuri Giants 129 Runs Hayato Sakamoto Yomiuri Giants 107 Hits Matt Murton Hanshin Tigers 214 Stolen bases Eishin Soyogi Hiroshima Toyo Carp 43

Pitching leaders[2] Stat Player Team Total Wins Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 15 Earned run average Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 2.21 Strikeouts Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 174 Innings pitched Kenta Maeda Hiroshima Toyo Carp 215.2 Saves Hitoki Iwase Chunichi Dragons 42 Holds Takuya Asao Chunichi Dragons 47 Winning percentage Yasutomo Kubo Hanshin Tigers .737

Pacific League

Batting leaders[3] Stat Player Team Total Batting average Tsuyoshi Nishioka Chiba Lotte Marines .346 Home runs Takahiro Okada Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 33 Runs batted in Eiichi Koyano Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 109 Runs Tsuyoshi Nishioka Chiba Lotte Marines 121 Hits Tsuyoshi Nishioka Chiba Lotte Marines 206 Stolen bases Yuichi Honda Yasuyuki Kataoka Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Saitama Seibu Lions 59

Pitching leaders[4] Stat Player Team Total Wins Tsuyoshi Wada Chihiro Kaneko Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Orix Buffaloes 17 Earned run average Yu Darvish Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 1.78 Strikeouts Yu Darvish Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 222 Innings pitched Chihiro Kaneko Orix Buffaloes 204.1 Saves Brian Sikorski Saitama Seibu Lions 33 Holds Brian Falkenborg Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 39 Winning percentage Toshiya Sugiuchi Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks .696

See also

• 2010 Korea Professional Baseball season
• 2010 Major League Baseball season