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.
