| 2020 NPB season | |
| League: | Nippon Professional Baseball |
| Sport: | Baseball |
| Duration: | June 19 - November 25 |
| No Of Games: | 120 |
| No Of Teams: | 12 |
| Season2: | Central League Pennant |
| League Champs2: | Yomiuri Giants |
| Second Place2: | Hanshin Tigers |
| Mvp2: | Tomoyuki Sugano (Yomiuri) |
| Mvp Link2: | Nippon Professional Baseball Most Valuable Player Award |
| Season3: | Pacific League Pennant |
| League Champs3: | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks |
| Second Place3: | Chiba Lotte Marines |
| Mvp3: | Yuki Yanagita (SoftBank) |
| Mvp Link3: | Nippon Professional Baseball Most Valuable Player Award |
| Playoffs: | Climax Series |
| Conf1: | CL |
| Conf1 Champ: | N/A |
| Conf1 Runner-Up: | N/A |
| Conf2: | PL |
| Conf2 Link: | 2020 Pacific League Climax Series |
| Conf2 Champ: | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks |
| Conf2 Runner-Up: | Chiba Lotte Marines |
| Finals: | Japan Series |
| Finals Link: | 2020 Japan Series |
| Finals Champ: | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Yomiuri Giants |
| Finals Mvp: | Ryoya Kurihara (SoftBank) |
| Finals Mvp Link: | Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award |
| Seasonslist: | List of Nippon Professional Baseball seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | NPB |
| Prevseason Link: | 2019 Nippon Professional Baseball season |
| Prevseason Year: | 2019 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2021 Nippon Professional Baseball season |
| Nextseason Year: | 2021 |
The 2020 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 71st season of professional baseball in Japan since Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) was reorganized in 1950. There were 12 NPB teams, split evenly between the Central League and Pacific League.
The 2020 season was originally scheduled to begin on 20 March, with a break from 21 July to 13 August, for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.[1] On 26 February 2020, the league announced that its remaining spring training games would be held without fans in attendance, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.[2] [3] With health related precautions in place, the media was allowed into some ballparks.[4] Following another league meeting on 9 March, commissioner Atsushi Saito stated that the 2020 season would be postponed until April.[5] [6] Saito also said that the league aimed to retain a full regular season schedule of 143 games.[7] This announcement marked the first time since 2011 that a Nippon Professional Baseball season was delayed.[8]
On 18 April, the league announced that it would remain delayed indefinitely through the entirety of May, with the 18-game interleague schedule removed to accommodate a 125-game schedule. The delay of the 2020 Olympics meant that the three-week Olympic break would no longer be needed. Therefore, it was removed from the schedule.[9] Before the league began play, the 2020 season was shortened to 120 games, and scheduled to end on 7 November.[10] [11] As a result of the condensed schedule, it was also announced that the First Stage of the Pacific League Climax Series would not be played, with the top two teams from the regular season competing in a best-of-5 Final Stage which the regular season winner enters with a one-game advantage. The Central League would do away with its Climax Series entirely, with its regular season winner advancing directly to the 2020 Japan Series.[12]
With the lifting of states of emergency over major Japanese cities, NPB announced that it would begin its regular season on 19 June behind closed doors. "Warm-up" games began 26 May.[13] All twelve NPB teams played on as scheduled on 19 June.[10] On 10 July NPB began allowing a limited number of fans to attend games, with plans to further ease restrictions in the near future.[14] On 19 September, attendance was expanded to a maximum of 20,000 fans per game, or 50% of stadium capacity.[15]
| Team | G | W | L | T | GB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yomiuri Giants | 120 | 67 | 45 | 8 | .598 | - | ||
| 2 | Hanshin Tigers | 120 | 60 | 53 | 7 | .531 | 7.5 | ||
| 3 | Chunichi Dragons | 120 | 60 | 55 | 5 | .522 | 8.5 | ||
| 4 | Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 120 | 56 | 58 | 6 | .491 | 12 | ||
| 5 | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 120 | 52 | 56 | 12 | .481 | 13 | ||
| 6 | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 120 | 41 | 69 | 10 | .373 | 25 | ||
| Team | G | W | L | T | GB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 120 | 73 | 42 | 5 | .635 | - | ||
| 2 | Chiba Lotte Marines | 120 | 60 | 57 | 3 | .513 | 14 | ||
| 3 | Saitama Seibu Lions | 120 | 58 | 58 | 4 | .500 | 15.5 | ||
| 4 | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | 120 | 55 | 57 | 8 | .491 | 16.5 | ||
| 5 | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | 120 | 53 | 62 | 5 | .461 | 20 | ||
| 6 | Orix Buffaloes | 120 | 45 | 68 | 7 | .398 | 27 | ||
See main article: 2020 Pacific League Climax Series.
See main article: 2020 Japan Series.
| Player | Team | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting average | .328 | |||
| Home runs | 31 | |||
| Runs batted in | 97 | |||
| Runs | 97 | |||
| Hits | 146 | |||
| Stolen bases | 31 | |||
| On-base percentage | .427 | |||
| Slugging percentage | .585 |
| Player | Team | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | 14 | |||
| Earned run average | 1.82 | |||
| Strikeouts | 148 | |||
| Innings pitched | 148.2 | |||
| Saves | 25 | |||
| Holds | 30 | |||
| Winning percentage | .875 |
| Player | Team | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting average | .350 | |||
| Home runs | 32 | |||
| Runs batted in | 108 | |||
| Runs | 90 | |||
| Hits | 146 | |||
| Stolen bases | 50 | |||
| On-base percentage | .465 | |||
| Slugging percentage | .623 |
| Player | Team | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Shuta Ishikawa Kodai Senga | 11 | ||
| Earned run average | 2.16 | |||
| Strikeouts | 149 | |||
| Innings pitched | 133.1 | |||
| Saves | 33 | |||
| Holds | 40 | |||
| Winning percentage | .733 |
| Central League | Pacific League | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Award | Player | Team | Player | Team | ||||
| Rookie of the Year | Saitama Seibu Lions | |||||||
| Most Valuable Player | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | |||||||
| Eiji Sawamura Award | ||||||||
| Best Relief Pitcher | Tokyo Yakult Swallows Chunichi Dragons Chunichi Dragons | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | ||||||
| Matsutaro Shoriki Award | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | |||||||
| Best Nine Award | ||||||||
| Position | Player | Team | Player | Team | ||||
| Pitcher | Tomoyuki Sugano | Yomiuri Giants | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | |||||
| Catcher | Yomiuri Giants | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | ||||||
| 1st Base | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | ||||||
| 2nd Base | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | ||||||
| 3rd Base | Yomiuri Giants | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | ||||||
| Shortstop | Yomiuri Giants | Saitama Seibu Lions | ||||||
| Outfield | Yomiuri Giants | Orix Buffaloes | ||||||
| Hiroshima Toyo Carp | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | |||||||
| Yuki Yanagita | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | |||||||
| Designated hitter | Not applicable | Saitama Seibu Lions | ||||||
| Central League | Pacific League | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Player | Team | Player | Team |
| Pitcher | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | |||
| Catcher | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | |||
| 1st Base | Akira Nakamura Sho Nakata | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | ||
| 2nd Base | Saitama Seibu Lions | |||
| 3rd Base | Chunichi Dragons | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | ||
| Shortstop | Yomiuri Giants | Saitama Seibu Lions | ||
| Outfield | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | ||
| Chunichi Dragons | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | |||
| Haruki Nishikawa | Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters | |||
1.The 2020 Central League Climax Series was cancelled. As a result, the regular season champion Yomiuri Giants advanced directly to the Japan Series.