2021 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 2021 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 2021 in baseball.

2021 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Duration	March 26 – November 21
Number of games	143
Number of teams	12
Central League Pennant
League champions	Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Runners-up	Hanshin Tigers
Pacific League Pennant
League champions	Orix Buffaloes
Runners-up	Chiba Lotte Marines
Climax Series
CL champions	Tokyo Yakult Swallows
CL runners-up	Yomiuri Giants
PL champions	Orix Buffaloes
PL runners-up	Chiba Lotte Marines
Japan Series

The 2021 Nippon Professional Baseball season is the 72nd 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.

Following the All-Star Series held from 16-17 July, the regular season went on hiatus in preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics baseball tournament. The season resumed on 13 August.

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings

Pos	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	143	73	52	18	.584	—	36–29–7	37–23–11
2	Hanshin Tigers	143	77	56	10	.579	1	36–31–4	41–25–6
3	Yomiuri Giants	143	61	62	20	.496	11½	32–30–10	29–32–10
4	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	143	63	68	12	.481	14	30–34–8	33–34–4
5	Chunichi Dragons	143	55	71	17	.437	19	33–27–11	22–44–6
6	Yokohama DeNA BayStars	143	54	73	16	.425	20½	27–37–7	27–36–9

Pacific League regular season standings

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
1	Orix Buffaloes	143	70	55	18	.560	—	38–22–12	32–33–6
2	Chiba Lotte Marines	143	67	57	19	.540	2½	33–32–7	34–25–12
3	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	143	66	62	15	.514	5½	31–33–8	35–29–7
4	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	143	60	62	21	.492	8½	31–29–11	29–33–10
5	Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	143	55	68	20	.447	14	25–36–10	30–32–10
6	Saitama Seibu Lions	143	55	70	18	.440	15	30–34–7	25–36–11

Interleague

Regular season interleague standings

Team	G	W	L	T	Win%	GB	Home	Away
Orix Buffaloes	18	12	5	1	.706	—	7–1–1	5–4
Hanshin Tigers	18	11	7	0	.611	1½	3–6	8–1
Yokohama DeNA BayStars	18	9	6	3	.600	2	6–2–1	3–4–2
Chunichi Dragons	18	9	7	2	.563	2½	5–2–2	4–5
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	18	10	8	0	.556	2½	5–4	5–4
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	18	9	8	1	.529	3	3–5–1	6–3
Saitama Seibu Lions	18	7	7	4	.500	3½	5–3–1	2–4–3
Chiba Lotte Marines	18	8	9	1	.471	4	5–4	3–5–1
Yomiuri Giants	18	7	8	3	.467	4	4–3–2	3–5–1
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	18	7	11	0	.389	5½	2–7	5–4
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	18	5	9	4	.357	5½	3–4–2	2–5–2
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	18	3	12	3	.200	8	2–6–1	1–6–2

Climax Series

Main articles: 2021 Pacific League Climax Series and 2021 Central League Climax Series

	First Stage					Final Stage					Japan Series
	Central League					1	Tokyo Yakult Swallows	3
	2	Hanshin Tigers	0			3	Yomiuri Giants	0
	3	Yomiuri Giants	2								CL1	Tokyo Yakult Swallows
											PL1	Orix Buffaloes
	Pacific League					1	Orix Buffaloes	3
	2	Chiba Lotte Marines	1			2	Chiba Lotte Marines	0
	3	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	0

First Stage

Central League

Yomiuri Giants won the series, 2–0.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 6	Yomiuri Giants − 4, Hanshin Tigers − 0	Koshien Stadium	3:11	21,478
2	November 7	Yomiuri Giants − 4, Hanshin Tigers − 2	Koshien Stadium	3:33	21,492

Pacific League

Chiba Lotte Marines won the series, 1−0−1 as a higher seed.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 6	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles − 4, Chiba Lotte Marines − 5	Zozo Marine Stadium	3:10	14,904
2	November 7	Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles − 4, Chiba Lotte Marines − 4	Zozo Marine Stadium	3:07	14,891

Final Stage

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

Central League

Tokyo Yakult Swallows won the series, 3−0−1 as a higher seed.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 10	Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 4, Yomiuri Giants − 0	Meiji Jingu Stadium	2:38	17,792
2	November 11	Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 5, Yomiuri Giants − 0	Meiji Jingu Stadium	3:19	17,230
3	November 12	Tokyo Yakult Swallows − 2, Yomiuri Giants − 2	Meiji Jingu Stadium	3:08	19,022

Pacific League

Orix Buffaloes won the series, 3−0−1 as a higher seed.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 10	Orix Buffaloes − 1, Chiba Lotte Marines − 0	Kyocera Dome Osaka	2:23	17,915
2	November 11	Orix Buffaloes − 2, Chiba Lotte Marines − 0	Kyocera Dome Osaka	2:42	17,913
3	November 12	Orix Buffaloes − 3, Chiba Lotte Marines − 3	Kyocera Dome Osaka	3:33	18,006

Japan Series

Main article: 2021 Japan Series

Series tied, 0–0.

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	November 20	Orix Buffaloes – 0, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0	Kyocera Dome Osaka	-	-
2	November 21	Orix Buffaloes – 0, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0	Kyocera Dome Osaka	-	-
3	November 23	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0, Orix Buffaloes – 0	Tokyo Dome	-	-
4	November 24	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0, Orix Buffaloes – 0	Tokyo Dome	-	-
5	November 25	Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0, Orix Buffaloes – 0	Tokyo Dome	-	-
6	November 27	Orix Buffaloes – 0, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0	Hotto Motto Field	-	-
7	November 28	Orix Buffaloes – 0, Tokyo Yakult Swallows – 0	Hotto Motto Field	-	-

If necessary

See also

• 2021 in baseball
• 2021 Major League Baseball season
• 2021 KBO League season
• 2021 Chinese Professional Baseball League season
• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports