2006 Nippon Professional Baseball season

In 2006 the Nippon Professional Baseball season ended with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Pacific League defeating the Chunichi Dragons of the Central League in the Japan Series.

2006 NPB season
LeagueNippon Professional Baseball
SportBaseball
DurationMarch 25, 2006 – October 26, 2006
Regular Season
Season MVPCL: Kosuke Fukudome (CHU)
PL: Michihiro Ogasawara (NIP)
League Postseason
CL championsChunichi Dragons
  CL runners-upHanshin Tigers
PL championsHokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters
  PL runners-upFukuoka SoftBank Hawks
Japan Series
ChampionsHokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
  Runners-upChunichi Dragons
Finals MVPAtsunori Inaba (NIP)
NPB seasons

Format

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Central League

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  • Season Format
    • Regular Season
  • Regular Season 1st place are the champions

Pacific League

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  • Season Format
    • Regular Season
    • Playoff 1st Stage: Regular Season 2nd place vs. Regular Season 3rd place – Best of 3
    • Playoff 2nd Stage: Regular Season 1st place vs. Playoff 1st Stage winners – Best of 5 (regular-season 1st place take a one-win advantage)
  • Playoff 2nd Stage winners are the champions

Japan Series

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  • Central League champions vs. Pacific League champions – Best of 7

Standings

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Central League

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Regular season

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Central League G W L T Pct. GB
Chunichi Dragons 146 87 54 5 .617 --
Hanshin Tigers 146 84 58 4 .592 3.5
Tokyo Yakult Swallows 146 70 73 3 .490 18
Yomiuri Giants 146 65 79 2 .451 23.5
Hiroshima Toyo Carp 146 62 79 5 .440 25
Yokohama BayStars 146 58 84 4 .408 29.5

Pacific League

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Regular season

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Pacific League G W L T Pct. GB
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 136 82 54 0 .603 --
Seibu Lions 136 80 54 2 .597 1
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks 136 75 56 5 .573 4.5
Chiba Lotte Marines 136 65 70 1 .481 16.5
Orix Buffaloes 136 52 81 3 .391 28.5
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles 136 47 85 4 .356 33

Playoff 1st Stage

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Seibu Lions (1) vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2)

Game Score Date Location Attendance
1 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Seibu Lions – 1 October 7 Invoice Seibu Dome 29,187[1]
2 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 11, Seibu Lions – 3 October 8 Invoice Seibu Dome 31,338[2]
3 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6, Seibu Lions – 1 October 9 Invoice Seibu Dome 27,344[3]

Playoff 2nd Stage

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Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (3) vs. Fukuoka Softbank Hawks (0) The Fighters have a one-game advantage.

Game Score Date Location Attendance
1 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters – 3 October 11 Sapporo Dome 42,380[4]
2 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters – 1 October 12 Sapporo Dome 42,380[5]

Japan Series

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In the 2006 Japan Series, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters defeated the Chunichi Dragons 4 games to 1 in five games.

After the Japan Series, the Fighters moved on to the Asian Series, a series which determines the champion of the four major Asian baseball leagues.

Awards

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The Eiji Sawamura Award, the award given to the top pitcher in Japan, was given to pitcher Kazumi Saito of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He had a win–loss record of 18-5, 205 strikeouts, and an ERA of 1.75 in 201.0 innings, winning the Pacific League's pitching triple crown.

Best Nine Awards

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Central League

Position Player Team
P Kenshin Kawakami Chunichi Dragons
C Akihiro Yano Hanshin Tigers
1B Tyrone Woods Chunichi Dragons
2B Masahiro Araki Chunichi Dragons
3B Akinori Iwamura Tokyo Yakult Swallows
SS Hirokazu Ibata Chunichi Dragons
OF Norichika Aoki Tokyo Yakult Swallows
OF Kosuke Fukudome Chunichi Dragons
OF Tomoaki Kanemoto Hanshin Tigers

Pacific League

Position Player Team
P Kazumi Saitoh Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
C Tomoya Satozaki Chiba Lotte Marines
1B Michihiro Ogasawara Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
2B Kensuke Tanaka Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
3B Jose Fernández Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
SS Munenori Kawasaki Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
OF Atsunori Inaba Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
OF Nobuhiko Matsunaka Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
OF Kazuhiro Wada Seibu Lions
DH Fernando Seguignol Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

Gold Gloves

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Central League

Position Player Team
P Kenshin Kawakami Chunichi Dragons
C Motonobu Tanishige Chunichi Dragons
1B Andy Sheets Hanshin Tigers
2B Masahiro Araki Chunichi Dragons
3B Akinori Iwamura Tokyo Yakult Swallows
SS Hirokazu Ibata Chunichi Dragons
OF Norihiro Akahoshi Hanshin Tigers
OF Norichika Aoki Tokyo Yakult Swallows
OF Kosuke Fukudome Chunichi Dragons

Pacific League

Position Player Team
P Daisuke Matsuzaka Seibu Lions
C Tomoya Satozaki Chiba Lotte Marines
1B Michihiro Ogasawara Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
2B Kensuke Tanaka Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
3B Toshiaki Imae Chiba Lotte Marines
SS Munenori Kawasaki Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
OF Atsunori Inaba Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
OF Hichori Morimoto Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
OF SHINJO Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "2006 PL Playoff 1st Stage Game 1".
  2. ^ "2006 PL Playoff 1st Stage Game 2".
  3. ^ "2006 PL Playoff 1st Stage Game 3".
  4. ^ "2006 PL Playoff 2nd Stage Game 1".
  5. ^ "2006 PL Playoff 2nd Stage Game 2".