The Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Game is an annual baseball series of All-Star Games (in most years, two games are played, but three such games can and have been played as well) between players from the Central League and the Pacific League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers. The All-Star Game usually occurs in early to mid-July and marks the symbolic halfway point in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) season (though not the mathematical halfway point; in most seasons, that takes place one week earlier).
The first NPB All-Star game was played in 1951.
For many years, mimicking the gaijin waku rule of the NPB,[1] each All-Star team was limited to two foreign players.[2]
| Date | Winning League | Score | Overall Record | Venue | Host Team | Attendance | MVP | Winning Pitcher | Losing Pitcher | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 (Game 1) | Pacific | 3–1 | Pacific 1-0 | Nagoya Dome | Chunichi Dragons | Daisuke Matsuzaka | ||||
| 2004 (Game 2) | Pacific | 2–1 | Pacific 2-0 | Nagano Olympic Stadium | none | Tsuyoshi Shinjo | ||||
| 2005 (Game 1) | Central | 6–5 | Pacific 2-1 | Seibu Dome | Seibu Lions | Tatsuhiko Kinjo | ||||
| 2005 (Game 2) | Central | 5–3 | Tie 2-2 | Koshien Stadium | Hanshin Tigers | Tomonori Maeda | ||||
| 2006 (Game 1) | Central | 3–1 | Central 3-2 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | Yakult Swallows | Norichika Aoki | ||||
| 2006 (Game 2) | Central | 7–4 | Central 4-2 | Sun Marine Stadium | none | Atsushi Fujimoto | ||||
| 2007 (Game 1) | Central | 4–0 | Central 5-2 | Tokyo Dome | Yomiuri Giants | Alex Ramírez | ||||
| 2007 (Game 2) | Central | 11–5 | Central 6-2 | Fullcast Stadium | Rakuten Eagles | Shinnosuke Abe | ||||
| 2008 (Game 1) | Pacific | 5–4 | Central 6-3 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | Orix Buffaloes | Takeshi Yamasaki | ||||
| 2008 (Game 2) | Central | 11–6 | Central 7-3 | Yokohama Stadium | Yokohama BayStars | Masahiro Araki | ||||
| 2009 (Game 1) | Central | 10–8 | Central 8-3 | Sapporo Dome | Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters | 38,370 | Norichika Aoki | |||
| 2009 (Game 2) | Pacific | 7–4 | Central 8-4 | Mazda Stadium | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | Nobuhiko Matsunaka | ||||
| 2010 (Game 1) | Central | 4–1 | Central 8-5 | Yahoo Dome | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | Shinnosuke Abe | ||||
| 2010 (Game 2) | Tie | 5–5 | Central 8-5-1 | Hard Off Eco Stadium | none | Yasuyuki Kataoka | ||||
| 2011 (Game 1) | Central | 9–4 | Central 9-5-1 | Nagoya Dome | Chunichi Dragons | Kazuhiro Hatakeyama | ||||
| 2011 (Game 2) | Pacific | 4–3 | Central 9-6-1 | QVC Marine Field | Chiba Lotte Marines | Takeya Nakamura | ||||
| 2011 (Game 3) | Pacific | 5–0 | Central 9-7-1 | Kleenex Stadium | Rakuten Eagles | Atsunori Inaba | ||||
| 2012 (Game 1) | Central | 4–1 | Central 10-7-1 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | Orix Buffaloes | Norihiro Nakamura | ||||
| 2012 (Game 2) | Central | 4–0 | Central 11-7-1 | Botchan Stadium | none | Kenta Maeda | ||||
| 2012 (Game 3) | Pacific | 6–2 | Central 11-8-1 | Iwate Prefectural Baseball Stadium | none | DaiKan Yoh | ||||
| 2013 (Game 1) | Tie | 1–1 | Central 11-8-2 | Sapporo Dome | Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters | Hirokazu Sawamura | ||||
| 2013 (Game 2) | Central | 3–1 | Central 12-8-2 | Meiji Jingu Stadium | Tokyo Yakult Swallows | Takahiro Arai | ||||
| 2013 (Game 3) | Pacific | 3–1 | Central 12-9-2 | Iwaki Green Stadium | none | Seiichi Uchikawa | ||||
| 2014 (Game 1) | Central | 7–0 | Central 13-9-2 | Seibu Dome | Saitama Seibu Lions | Brad Eldred | ||||
| 2014 (Game 2) | Pacific | 12–6 | Central 13-10-2 | Koshien Stadium | Hanshin Tigers | Yuki Yanagita | ||||
| 2015 (Game 1) | Central | 8–6 | Central 14-10-2 | Tokyo Dome | Yomiuri Giants | Shintaro Fujinami | ||||
| 2015 (Game 2) | Central | 8–3 | Central 15-10-2 | Mazda Stadium | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | Tsubasa Aizawa | ||||
| 2016 (Game 1) | Central | 5–4 | Central 16-10-2 | Yahoo Dome | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | Yoshitomo Tsutsugoh | ||||
| 2016 (Game 2) | Tie | 5–5 | Central 16-10-3 | Yokohama Stadium | Yokohama DeNA BayStars | Shohei Ohtani | ||||
| 2017 (Game 1) | Pacific | 6–2 | Central 16-11-3 | Nagoya Dome | Chunichi Dragons | Seiichi Uchikawa | ||||
| 2017 (Game 2) | Pacific | 3–1 | Central 16-12-3 | Zozo Marine Stadium | Chiba Lotte Marines | Alfredo Despaigne | ||||
| 2018 (Game 1) | Pacific | 7–6 | Central 16-13-3 | Kyocera Dome Osaka | Orix Buffaloes | Tomoya Mori | ||||
| 2018 (Game 2) | Pacific | 5–1 | Central 16-14-3 | Fujisakidai Prefectural Baseball Stadium | none | Sōsuke Genda | ||||
| 2019 (Game 1) | Pacific | 6–3 | Central 16-15-3 | Tokyo Dome | Yomiuri Giants | Tomoya Mori | ||||
| 2019 (Game 2) | Central | 11–3 | Central 17-15-3 | Koshien Stadium | Hanshin Tigers | Kōji Chikamoto | ||||
| 2020 | Series canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | |||||||||
| 2021 (Game 1) | Central | 5-4 | Central 18-15-3 | MetLife Dome | Saitama Seibu Lions | Ryosuke Kikuchi | ||||
| 2021 (Game 2) | Pacific | 4-3 | Central 18-16-3 | Rakuten Seimei Park Miyagi | Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles | Hiroaki Shimauchi | ||||
| 2022 (Game 1)[3] | Pacific | 3-2 | Central 18-17-3 | Fukuoka PayPay Dome | Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks | 35,534 people | Kotaro Kiyomiya | |||
| 2022 (Game 2)[4] | Pacific | 2-1 | Tie 18-18-3 | Matsuyama Central Park Baseball Stadium | None | 25,530 people | Yuki Yanagita | |||
| 2023 (Game 1) | Pacific | 8-1 | Pacific 19-18-3 | Nagoya Dome | Chunichi Dragons | Yuki Yanagita | ||||
| 2023 (Game 2) | Pacific | 6-1 | Pacific 20-18-3 | Mazda Stadium | Hiroshima Toyo Carp | Chusei Mannami | ||||
The fan votes of the starters of the 2023 All Star Series revealed 9 of the 10 highest voted starters were Hanshin Tigers players. It was the third time in NPB players from the same team led the voting in all positions. [5] The controversy was garnered as some of the positions, such as catcher, which in question was Ryutaro Umeno, were voted in for the sole purpose of being voted in by fans, as he did not produce numbers good enough to be considered an All Star Game appearance, compared to that of a player like Takumi Ohshiro. Others, like Teruaki Sato at 3rd base, were good, but there had been players who were much more deserving to start, like Toshiro Miyazaki and Kazuma Okamoto.[6]