The Hanshin Tigers ended the Curse of Colonel (Sanders) and took home their first championship since 1985. They were absolutely loaded, they scored the most runs and had the best ERA in the CL. They had the Rookie of the Year and MVP in starting pitcher, Shoki Murakami (oddly though, he didn't win the Best 9 pitcher award...). The Carp were a bit of a surprise and finished 2nd beating out a fairly loaded BayStars team and the vaunted Giants. The Swallows were a very big disappointment in 2023 after making the Japan Series the year before. And the Dragons...well, they're the Dragons.
If you want to follow NPB at all going forward, I can't recommend Yakyu Cosmopolitan and Gaijin Baseball enough. Both are active on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube and are invaluable resources for learning about the NPB, both past and present.
If you want to follow NPB at all going forward, I can't recommend Yakyu Cosmopolitan and Gaijin Baseball enough. Both are active on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube and are invaluable resources for learning about the NPB, both past and present.
1st place - Hanshin Tigers (85-53-5) - Won Japan Series in 7 games over the Orix Buffaloes
This team is absolutely stacked. Their usual ace, Koyo Aoyagi, had a rough season overall, but threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings in Game 7 of the Japan Series. New ace, Shoki Murakami, emerged and was absolutely sensational. A 1.75 ERA and 0.74 WHIP with a 9:1 strikeout to walk ratio. He's undersized at 5'8", and a bit old for a rookie, will be 26 next season, but hard to argue with those results.
Koji Chikamoto led CL position players in WAR with 7.2 (2nd in NPB to Kondoh). He's always really solid, but this year found a more consistent approach to get on base where his speed can wreak havoc. He led the CL in steals in 28 on 31 attempts. He was also the Japan Series MVP as he went 14-29 (.483 AVG). Dude is just a baller, fractured his ribs on a HBP and then made this play.
Another solid contributor that had a banner year for them was Yusuke Ohyama. His .403 OBP led the CL and was second in the NPB only to Kondoh's .431 mark.
Young star, Teruaki Sato, put up another really solid season. The pop has been there since his debut (3 straight 20 homer seasons to start his career), but this was his best season by OBP and he still maintained that pop (actually set a career high SLG too). He went to Driveline this winter, perhaps he unlocks the next level this season.
Their worse player by WAR, was American, Sheldon Neuse. He had a -1.5 WAR for the season. But he hit a homer run off Yamamoto in Game 6 of the JS, and then followed that with a 3-run homer off Miyagi in Game 7. And his Showdown card isn't that bad. Certainly not for a team's worst player.
As good as the team is, their starting pitching is probably their strength. The aforementioned Murakami leads the way, but Hiroto Saiki is a year younger and also put up a sub 2 ERA. Koutaro Ohtake and Masashi Itoh are both lefties that put up very good seasons as well. If they get a return to form next season from their usual ace, Aoyagi, teams will have no reprieve when facing them.
And of course, their closer, Suguru Iwazaki, put up an elite season as well, just to cap things off.
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2nd place - Hiroshima Toyo Carp (74-65-4) - Lost 4-0 in the final stage of the Climax Series to the Tigers
A bit of a surprise for them to finish in 2nd, but credit to them they seem to have been greater than the sum of their parts (at least in Showdown card terms).
Shota Suekane only had 146 PAs, but showed some tremendous pop in that small sample size. Ryoma Nishikawa actually had a slightly down year by his standards, but still was 2nd in the CL with a .305 average and won Best 9. He signed with the Buffaloes in the offseason though, a big loss for the Carp. Shogo Akiyama started out the year very hot (was batting .408 on May 2), but still finished with a really nice card overall. Shogo Sakakura led position players in WAR with 3.3, he's been really solid in his young career, and seems poised to have a big breakout season at some point.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention former White Sox great, Matt Davidson. He struggled with the batting avg. and OBP all season (was slashing a paltry .195/.250/.369 on July 15th), but led the team with 19 homer runs and worked his way back to a respectable .698 OPS. But he's off to the KBO now.
On the pitching side, Hiroki Tokoda has had back-to-back great seasons and seems to be establishing himself nicely. Aren Kuri was great and also a workhorse; he led all NPB pitchers with 174 1/3 innings pitched (had 3 shutouts too). Young star closer, Ryoji Kurebayashi, got hurt during the WBC and never really got on track this season, getting him back 100% would be a big boost for this team in 2024.
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3rd place - Yokohama DeNA BayStars (74-66-3) - Lost 2-0 to the Carp in the first round
Toshiro Miyazaki is usually very reliable, but he unlocked a new level in 2023. He led all qualified batters in batting average (.326), 3rd in OBP (.395), and 2nd in SLG(.539).
Shugo Maki has now strung together 3 straight great seasons since his debut in 2021. He's usually a null defender, but this year he seemed to have figured it out.
Their offense isn't amazing behind those two stars. The usually stellar, Keita Sano, had a down year at the dish by his standards, and his defense is always very bad.
Their pitching is very strong all around. They are losing their longtime ace, Shota Imanaga, to the Cubs. 2023 wasn't his best NPB season, but it was still very good, and I think he opened a lot of eyes at the WBC, starting against the US in the Final.
Katsuki Azuma somehow took Best 9 from Shoki Murakami. No question he had an amazing year, but I'm not sure how you can award Murakami the MVP, but not vote him the best starting pitcher in the CL.
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4th place - Yomiuri Giants (71-70-2) - Missed playoffs
Another difficult season for this storied franchise, and again a very talented team that couldn't quite put it together.
Kazuma Okamoto is a true star. Leading all of NPB with 41 bombs, he's now had 6 straight seasons of 30+ homers. His homer in the WBC Final displayed his power to the world.
Hayato Sakamoto may be the best shortstop ever in Japan (go check out my Legends and Super Seasons cards for more on him). He didn't play in the WBC due to some personal issues, but he came out in 2023 and added another very good year to his legacy.
Speaking of shortstops, Makoto Kadowaki, burst onto the scene with all sorts of highlight plays, and was the top-rated defender (according to 1point02.jp) in the entire league. He especially seemed to excel at the hot corner, though. I mean look at this. Sakamoto will be moving to the hot corner with Kadowaki taking the full time shortstop position going forward.
Another rookie, the 6'6", Yuto Akihiro, had a really nice debut season at 20 years old. His .720 OPS to start the career is solid, but with his unique size it would be surprising if he doesn't develop some more pop as he progresses.
Shosei Togo pitched against the USA in the WBC final and has really established himself as one of the elite young arms in the league. He's also a workhorse, pitching 4 complete games, 2 of them shutouts.
Iori Yamasaki is only a year older than Togo, and had an equally strong 2023.
Foster Griffin had a really great first season in the NPB and re-signed with the Giants for 2024.
The bullpen was definitely the weak link for this team. Especially with young star closer, Taisei Ota, being injured for much of the year. He only pitched 26 innings, he just missed getting a card. It would have been pretty bad, and I didn't think it'd be fair to him.
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5th place - Tokyo Yakult Swallows (57-83-3) - Missed playoffs
Another mega talented team that severely underperformed. Their offense scored the 2nd most runs in the CL, but their pitching was dead last...by a lot.
Munetaka Murakami followed up his record breaking season in 2022 with a slump in both the WBC (although he had the walk-off double against Mexico and a homer run against the US in the championship game) and the early part of the season. He managed to turn it around and put together a great season for anyone not following up a legendary season. Second in Japan with 31 homers, 8th in OBP (.375), and 7th in SLG (.500). These are down years most batters dream of having as their best seasons. He'll just be 24 years old for the 2024 season, and he signed a deal where he will be posted by the Swallows after the 2025 season.
Domingo Santana is probably the best foreign hitter in the NPB, and had another very good season at the plate.
Yasutaka Shiomi was hurt until May, but performed admirably when he came back. A full season out of him would go a long way.
Tetsuto Yamada is another legendary player. He was still only 30 years old in 2023, so not sure if he's starting to show signs of aging or if it was just a down year. He only played 105 games, so was battling some injuries. If he bounces back to form, this team could bounce back as well.
Nori Aoki is still playing (41 years old for the 2023 season) and still getting on base well in a relatively limited role.
Another limited role player, Shingo Kawabata, only had 105 PAs, but I thought it was too fun to have a 10 OB player who did a lot of pinch hitting.
There's not a whole lot to say about the pitching. Their closer, Kazuto Taguchi, is very good. Their up-and-coming ace, Keiji Takahashi, was pretty dreadful. They need a lot more out of him to get back to the playoffs.
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Last place - Chunichi Dragons (56-82-5) - Missed playoffs
The Dragons desperately need an offensive overhaul. The scored the least amount of runs in the CL with 390, which was 103 less than the Carp. Their pitching is actually pretty solid, but it's hard to win too many games with that bad of an offense.
Second year star, Yuki Okabayashi, set the Dragons hit streak record, and was 4 away from tying the NPB record of 33 when it was snapped at 29.
Seiya Hosokawa had a really solid break out year. He hit 24 home runs which is a third of the Dragons 71 (!).
Kaito Muramatsu and Ryuku Tsuchida are really fun Showdown options, but having two all defense, no offense players playing every day is a tough way to live.
Raidel Martinez is absolutely unequivocally elite. He didn't give up an earned run until August 13th and only gave up 2 on the year, his 0.39 ERA is not a typo.
Hiroto Takahashi (20 years old at the time), pitched in the WBC Final against team USA, and struck out Mike Trout and Paul Goldschmidt in a scoreless inning. He had a solid 2023 campaign, but the potential for so much more is there. He's someone to watch for.
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