r/NPB • • Apr 13 '18

New here or coming from a reddit mobile app? Please read through here first

160 Upvotes

Welcome to reddit's little corner for NPB, or as some people call it, AAAA ball :P We've been at this since August of 2013, and are slowly but surely growing.

THE WIKI PROBABLY ALREADY HAS THE INFO YOU'RE LOOKING FOR

The first thing you need to know, is that we have a wiki section that answers a whole bunch of the most commonly asked questions, and offers more information you might need to know. Many reddit mobile apps do not display wiki pages, so some people that have only ever seen reddit from their phones or tablets might not even know they exist. If your reddit app cannot dipslay wiki pages, please try to open the link from a mobile web browser app. If your browser app has desktop mode view, all the better. There you can find some info on how to watch games, find news, how to buy tickets, books, NPB swag, learn some Japanese baseball terminology etc.

BUYING TICKETS (REGARDLESS OF NATIONALITY)

Please, PLease PLEEEEEAAAAASE take literally 5 seconds and type "tickets" into the search bar here. I guarantee somebody has already asked a similar question in the past and there's a goood chance somebody answered it. We also have a wiki page with useful information on buying tickets.
Research first, THEN ASK QUESTIONS

STREAMING GAMES

No, NPB does not have an all in one streaming service for games like MLBTV. There are a few options listed in the wiki, but if you want to watch all 12 teams, you're going to have to get cough cough creative. PacificLeague TV works without a VPN, and others require a VPN. We know it's not an ideal situation, but it is what it is due to "creative differences" among the leagues and clubs and media companies. Please do not post direct links to non-legal game streams, as they will be removed. Please be careful out there when exploring the streaming services, and use an adblocker.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

I'm trying to be consistent, but I'm human so sometimes I won't be able to grab highlights from games. Whatever highlights I find will be posted in the post-games thread. If you have a highlight link, feel free to post it. You can try browsing through highlights on PacificLeague TV, or using one of the handy YouTube search links by team. You might have to filter through quite a bit of junk on YouTube though, as some people post older videos multiple times, or even just news reels as videos. Keep in mind YouTube can remove videos or channels at anytime, so bookmark stuff at your own risk.

STANDINGS AND STATS

There is a mini-standings table and a few stats leaders updated almost daily in the sidebar (mobile app users might not be able to see). We also have a more detailed standings and stats page that is usually updated nightly, after the games are all finished (if you spot any errors, please let us know). If you're looking for complete team stats, there are few more English options listed on the wiki page, but some of them don't update until the next morning, or even a few days later, so always check for the last date updated. Japanese stats pages are updated the fastest, so if you don't read Japanese you can try your luck with google translate.

WHICH TEAM SHOULD I ROOT FOR?

Honestly, just take some time to watch highlights or read up on some teams before you make this decision. MLB and NPB are different, and how teams are managed and games played is different. One NPB team does not 100% correlate to an MLB team. There might be a few similarities now, but once a team changes managers, or once in a blue moon, ownership, that might all change as well. You don't have to have a sound reason for liking a team, and it's perfectly acceptable to like a team just for their cheering style. As long as you love baseball like the rest of us here, you'll fit right in.

DON'T BE SHY

If you have a question that isn't already covered in the wiki, and you at least attempted to see if somebody already asked your question, feel free to make a new post. If you see a news article on Japanese baseball you think is interesting, please share it with us. With over 40,000 subscribers (as of Jan 2025) somebody else is bound to find it interesting. Feel free to comment on post game threads, complain about your team, praise your team, try to create a new NPB meme, or ask about a particular game.

Please remember rediquette, and adhere to reddit site rules.

and finally, /r/NPBへようこそ! (Welcome to /r/NPB)


r/NPB • • 9h ago

Temporary moratorium on ticket related posts until AFTER the Nippon Series is finished

24 Upvotes

In order to keep the front page about DISCUSSION for actual baseball, we are implementing a temporary moratorium on ALL ticket related posts until AFTER the Nippon Series is finished.

ALL ticket posts should go to either r/NPBTickets or r/Japantravel or whatever else you feel is relevant, but NOT HERE.

Any mail requests to the mods or to individual mods will be muted.
Any attempts to circumvent any Automod actions will be met with a temporary ban.
Any and ALL posts removed will be reviewed at the moderating crews own time, and if any corrections are necessary the post/comment will be reinstated when we have time.

Thank you for understanding, as many of us long timers here are tired of it.


r/NPB • • 8h ago

Ready for the Nippon Series

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162 Upvotes

Go Baystars ! ⚾️


r/NPB • • 2h ago

If Oda's US route is a minor league deal, the January 15 signing window he'd need is one MLB proposed eliminating in June

4 Upvotes

Oda said on Thursday he's going to the States through a minor league contract or an American college. If it's the contract, he signs as an international amateur, and the date he's waiting on is January 15, when the next signing period is due to open.

In June, MLB proposed replacing international free agency with an international draft. As proposed, that next signing period disappears, the first international draft lands somewhere between September 2027 and March 2028, the minimum signing age goes from 16 to 18, and undrafted players are capped at $10,000.

None of it's agreed. The union hasn't accepted it, and says MLB's draft proposals, domestic and international together, would take more than a billion dollars out of player pay over five years. The CBA runs out December 1, and MLB has told clubs to get ready for a lockout.

A lockout by itself shouldn't stop a January signing. In 2022 the international signings went ahead on January 15 in the middle of one, because they're minor league contracts. What would stop it is a new deal that deletes the window.

That's where the college option comes in. A player at an American four-year school goes into the regular MLB draft instead, eligible after his third year or at 21. It's the road Rintaro Sasaki took from Stanford to the Marlins.

And it's why the draft on the 22nd still matters. A club that takes him anyway holds his rights until the end of March. That's after January 15, so it would find out whether the window opened while it still had him.


r/NPB • • 15h ago

How did the Baystars have a terrible season but make it to the Japan Series by sweeping the Tigers?

39 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 1d ago

Down to their last strike, BayStars take the lead on a 2-run RBI from Masaki Mimori!

130 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 1d ago

BayStars 2B Shugo Maki named CLCS MVP, LF Ryuki Watari named CLCS Jera Award winner

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94 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 1d ago

Tigers Shota Morishita blasts 2 home runs

44 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 1d ago

Post-game thread [Oct 17 Post Game Thread] NPB game scores, highlights and news

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73 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 16h ago

How many games will the Baystars win in the Japan Series?

4 Upvotes
203 votes, 2d left
0
1
2
3
4

r/NPB • • 1d ago

Farewell Hanshin

60 Upvotes

Well done DeNA.


r/NPB • • 1d ago

BayStars Shuto Naruse hits a home run

23 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 1d ago

9th inning of the Tigers vs Baystars game is why I don’t want to see the pitch clock

17 Upvotes

That 9th inning was brutal for the Tigers, but the tense moments between pitches made the inning so much more dramatic. Cut scenes of players, fans, pitcher and catcher during the at bats creates so much drama.

Pitch clock is good to speed up games but I do feel you lose a sense of build up. I know people like pitch clock but I’m not a fan, when I catch MLB games it just feels rushed.

What are other people’s thoughts?


r/NPB • • 1d ago

43 of the 116 players NPB drafted last October got no signing bonus. 12 of the 13 independent-league picks were among them.

4 Upvotes

Once the network TV coverage is over, the room runs the development draft. Last October it took 43 players, more than a third of everyone drafted.

A development pick gets no signing bonus, a preparation payment of ¥2 to 3.5 million, and a minimum salary of ¥2.4 million, about $16,000 a year. A first-rounder can get up to ¥100 million plus ¥50 million in incentives.

Where last year's 116 came from:

From Drafted On development deals
College (Japan) 52 14
High school 33 14
Corporate teams 13 1
Independent leagues 13 12
Oisix Niigata (NPB farm league) 3 2
US college 2 0

The indy guys are already pros, some of them 24 or 25, and almost all of them signed for nothing. The corporate row is the opposite. A club has to pull those players out of a salaried job, so only one of the 13 went in the development round.

Senga's the one everybody points to. Fourth round of the 2010 development draft out of Gamagori High School, ¥3 million prep payment, ¥2.7 million salary in 2011. Promoted during 2012. Mets, five years, $75 million, December 2022.

The downside for the club is ¥2.4 million a year. That's why they keep taking shots at 18-year-olds in that round.


r/NPB • • 1d ago

Shoki Oda to skip NPB Draft to pursue MLB dreams

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14 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 2d ago

Post-game thread [Oct 16 Post Game Thread] NPB game scores, highlights and news

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87 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 2d ago

NPB announced that umpire Takuto Kawakami, who had fallen into a coma after being struck in the head by a bat, has regained consciousness

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232 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 2d ago

Hawks Win the Pacific League Series

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94 Upvotes

And this time they didn't even need the advantage they earned in the regular season.


r/NPB • • 1d ago

Where to buy NPB jerseys in Tokyo?

6 Upvotes

I've heard of Selection, but they are overpriced and tiny in stock. Anyone have any suggestions not to far from Shinjuku or Shibuya?


r/NPB • • 2d ago

BayStars Shugo Maki blasts a home run

58 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 2d ago

Keita Sano 3-Run Home Run!

66 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 2d ago

Four NPB stars who could be Major League-bound

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20 Upvotes

r/NPB • • 2d ago

SoftBank Hawks SS Yudai Shoji is the 2026 PLCS MVP!

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29 Upvotes

Series: 5-for-11, 2 RBI, 4 R

G1: 1-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 R
G2: 2-for-3, 2 R
G3: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 SB


r/NPB • • 2d ago

SoftBank Hawks 1B Tomoya Masaki is the 2026 PLCS Persol Award winner (not to be confused with MVP)

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24 Upvotes

Series: 4-for-12, 4 RBI, 2 R, 1 HR

G1: 1-for-3, 1 RBI
G2: 2-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 R
G3: 1-for-5, 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 HR


r/NPB • • 2d ago

BayStars pitching ; eating crow time

25 Upvotes

I must credit the BayStars management with having developed and delivered a quality pitching staff that is showing so well at this point in the Climax series.

I was extremely frustrated earlier in the season, but some key changes ( departures of formerly top pitchers) and the growth in skills of younger pitchers seems to be key to their success so far.

At this stage of the Climax series I might be premature in this conclusion, ahem, but hopefully not.

The rookie Katayama-sans performance tonight - 8 strikeouts- no runs in the 4-0 win over Hanshin reflects this development.