2022 Pacific League NPB set

 The Orix Buffaloes won their second straight PL crown on their way to the championship. They clinched it on the first pennant tie breaker in NPB history, as the Hawks had an identical 76-65-2 record. Masataka Yoshida helped lead them to the championship before requesting to be posted and signing for big money with the Boston Red Sox. The other big departure to the MLB was long-time Hawks ace, Koudai Senga, signing with the NY Mets. But as talent leaves, talent emerges. Roki Sasaki who was poised to blow up after a cup of coffee last season, certainly did just that. You should know about his perfect game by now, but if not here. He can make a claim already as the best pitcher in Japan at just 21 years old. Although, most still give the edge to the 24 year old, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, due to his longer track record and proven ace status. Yamamoto won the PL MVP (again) and the pitching Triple Crown (again). He's as bona fide as it gets. Both will get BIG pay days if/when they get posted to the MLB. 

2022 NPB Central League

While the cards in this post will focus on the Central League, I wanted to briefly discuss the 2022 NPB season as a whole before we get into it. Not unlike the MLB, offense was way down across the board. In April, Roki Sasaki had a 19 strikeout perfect game and then followed it up with another 8 perfect innings (and 14 strike outs) before being pulled due to pitch count. There were 4 other no-hitters, the first time there have been 5 in a season since 1940. The others were by Nao Higashihama of the Hawks, Shota Imanaga of the BayStars, Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Buffaloes, and American Cody Ponce of the Fighters. 

The Orix Buffaloes won their first championship since 1996 (back when they were the Orix Blue Waves and Ichiro was leading the team). They defeated the defending champions, Tokyo Yakult Swallows, in four straight games after being down 0-2-1 (yes, there was a tie in Game 2).

Speaking of the Swallows, the player that kicked off my fascination (read: obsession) with the NPB all those years ago, Munetaka Murakami, put up a season for the ages. He broke the Japanese-born single-season home run record set by the legendary Sadaharu Oh (if you don't know him by now, please refer to the super seasons card post). He hit an astounding 56 home runs on the season (The Dragons as a team hit 62). He actually had a chance to get the single season overall record, but after tying Oh, the pressure seemed to get to him and he slumped, going 48 straight at-bats without a home run before hitting number 56 on the final day of the season. For good measure, he won the Triple Crown. It was the first offensive triple crown in the NPB since 2004, first in the Central League since 1986 (Randy Bass)Nobuhiko Matsunaka), and he was the youngest to ever win it at 22 years old. He won Central League MVP unanimously as well. This offseason he singed a 3-year deal with the Swallows, which stipulates that he will be posted to the MLB after the 2025 season. So 3 more years of NPB cards, before we see what the Showdown Bot has for him! 

Quick Note: Generally Pennant Run is for cards that had less than ~250 PAs, and partial seasons for pitchers. 

NPB 2021 Pacific League

 The Pacific League was dominated by one man: Yoshinobu Yamamoto. At 22 years old, he won the Sawamura Award (given to the top pitcher in all of the NPB), the Best 9 award, the Pacific League MVP, the pitching triple crown, a gold glove, and the Olympic best pitcher award and gold medal to boot. He helped Orix go from worst to first and end the stranglehold that the Hawks have had on the Pacific League. 

Orix Buffaloes 70-55-18 (1st place Central League, Lost to the Swallows in the Japan Series)

Besides Yamamoto, Orix had the next top 3 MVP vote recepients as well. Sugimoto finished 2nd, Masataka Yoshida 3rd, and Hiroya Miyagi 4th. Yoshida led the PL in batting average, while Sugimoto led in home runs. Yoshida has a really great OB 10 card, maybe you'd want a bit more pop from him since he's only Speed C(13), but he provides a lot for under 500 points. Sugimoto is a good power bat that you'll probably want to have DHing for you. Yuma Mune won the Best 9 and gold glove award at 3B, but he's more solid than spectacular. I like both catchers as viable options. 

Yamamoto's 2021: 18-5, 1.39 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 7 HRs allowed in 193.67 IP, 5.8 H/9, 9.6 K/9, 5.15 K/BB, 6 complete games, 4 shutouts. Here's a video from Pitching Ninja on his curveball 

The pitching is obviously headlined by the Tier 0 Yamamoto, but Hiroya Miyagi was only 19 years old and had an incredible season in his own right (and somehow stole one first place MVP vote from Yamamoto). The rest of the staff has a lot of usable Tier 3 arms, although the closer, Yoshihisa Hirano, is a solid Tier 2 option.  

Best 9: Masataka Yoshida, Yutaro Sugimoto, Yuma Mune, Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Foils: Masataka Yoshida, Yutaro Sugimoto, Yuma Mune, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Hiroya Miyagi

2020/1 Olympians: Masataka Yoshida, Yoshinobu Yamamoto

NPB 2021 Central League

 With the 2021 MLB set release also comes the 2021 NPB set (spring training has already started over in Japan)! It was a more normal season than the Covid shortened 2020 season. Although some special Covid rules still applied (there were no extra inning games), and there was a break mid-season to accommodate the Olympic games. Which, I'm sure if you're reading this then you probably already know that Japan won the Gold medal, albeit against a very watered down field, as the MLB obviously didn't take a break. 

The Japan Series featured 2 teams that went from worst to first between 2020 and 2021, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and the Orix Buffaloes. The Swallows beat the Buffaloes in 6 games to take the championship, their first since 2001. I won't recap the whole series, but a fun note is that former MLBer, Adam Jones, hit a pinch-hit game-winning home run in the 9th inning of Game 5. Catcher for the Swallows, Yuhei Nakamura, took home series MVP.

Quick note about card design, I decided to add the "Best 9" logo to the eighteen winners of the award (nine in each league). The Best 9 award is essentially the equivalent of the All-MLB team, except only with one pitcher rather than seven. I borrowed the design of the logo from Jason M, who some may be familiar with from Discord. I really love his card designs and highly recommend you check them out. Here is a link to his blog. 

Another note before we get to the cards is about the new (—) On-Base position players. While making the set I noticed a handful of players with large amounts of games played, but very few at bats. Koshiro Wada of the Marines is a perfect example. 96 games played (9th most on the team), 24 PAs, and 25 stolen bases, and 25 runs scored. He was a pinch runner and defensive replacement extraordinaire. I wanted a way to bring these players in to the set. The special rule for them is they function like a pitcher hitting. They never have the advantage. We shall see how much of an impact they make in league play. As you will soon find out there's quite a few good bats with speed and/or defensive liabilities. I think the Null On-Base players will be usable.

Tokyo Yakult Swallows 73-52-18 (1st place in Central League, Japan Series Champions)

The aforementioned worst to first Swallows had a magical turnaround and season. They had the HR leader and MVP of the league in 21 year old superstar (Munetaka Murakami), four Best 9 winners (tied for the most with the Buffaloes), two Olympians (Murakami and Tetsuto Yamada), and most importantly the Holds leader (Noboru Shimizu). 

Murakami has a monster card for the second season in a row and seems like he's only getting better.  Yamada has a great card although not as great as some of his recent 30-30 seasons. He's still the best second baseman by 60 points, and he won the Olympic MVP Award. Yasutaka Shiomi played his first real full season and put up some great numbers. And Yuhei Nakamura rounds out their Best 9 winners with another solid catcher card. Special mention to fomer MLBers, Nori Aoki (who came back down to earth a bit after a huge 2020 campaign), Domingo Santana, José Osuna, and closer Scott McGough.

While the offense is pretty loaded, the young pitching coming through was really what propelled their turnaround. Yasunobu Okugawa put up a great season at 20 years old. And 24 year old Keiji Takahashi went from a 10 point card in 2019, no card in 2020 (although he was mediocre in his 48 innings), to a delightful 550 point card that is sure to get drafted. And he spun a 133-pitch complete game shut out in Game 2 of the Japan Series. There was also 20 year veteran, Masanori Ishikawa, who provided some steady innings as usual. He's pitched so long that he's faced original Showdown set foil, Tony Batista, when Batista played in Japan. And it led to this incredible clip 

Best 9 winners: Munetaka Murakami, Tetsuto Yamada, Yasutaka Shiomi, Yuhei Nakamura

Foils: Munetaka Murakami, Tetsuto Yamada, Yasutaka Shiomi, Keiji Takahashi, Yasunobu Okugawa, Yuhei Nakamura

2020/1 Olympians: Munetaka Murakami, Tetsuto Yamada

2019 NPB Japanese Baseball set Part 2 of 2 Pacific League

Part 2 of 2 will cover the Pacific League. The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks finished second to the Saitama Seibu Lions, however, they beat them 4-1 in the playoffs to advance to the Japan Series. Both teams were loaded with 6 foils apiece. The Hawks then swept the Giants in the Japan Series. The league MVP was Tomoya Mori of the Lions, who gives you the rare 10 OB catcher. And the best player in the entire set is on the worst team, so you'll have to make it through everyone to see (or skip to the bottom).  

Saitama Seibu Lions 80-62-1 1st place Pacific League

A really strong team, with some standout cards including the aforementioned MVP, Tomoya Mori. I love the Mori card. You give up a bit of defense at catcher, but you have to love the bat. Shuta Tonosaki is one of my favorite cards from an aesthetics and play perspective. Might be a touch expensive for an 8 OB, but I think you get enough out of him to accept the cost. Hotaka Yamakawa walks a lot and he homers a lot. One of those cards that probably frustrates you, but also can carry your team if he gets hot. Sosuke Genda has another standout defensive card. Shogo Akiyama had a really solid season before he headed stateside to play for the Reds. I know Yuji Kaneko will be drafted early, even if he can only Single+. Zach Neal had a 10 point card in the 2020 set, but was great in 2019 and gets the '00 PR Bret Saberhagen special. 

Foils: Tomoya Mori, Sosuke Genda, Shuta Tonosaki, Hotaka Yamakawa, Shogo Akiyama, Zach Neal

2019 NPB Japanese Baseball set Part 1 Central League

 The 2021 NPB regular season is set to wrap up soon (they took a couple weeks off for the Olympics) so what better time to look back at the 2019 season? Just like the 2020 season, the Softbank Hawks won the Japan series over the Yomiuri Giants.

Hayato Sakamoto headlined the Giants and took the MVP award in the Central league. Oddly enough, no one was awarded the Sawamura Award for the best pitcher overall (it covers both Central and Pacific League). As no one met the award committee's, "high standards". It's especially odd when you see Yoshinobu Yamamoto's card when I cover the Pacific League. I suspect they overlooked him since he was only 20 years old in 2019 and Japan really likes to acknowledge the veterans. If you recall, Yamamoto had a great card in 2020. And he's been the best pitcher again in 2021 (1.46 ERA in 186 innings at the time of writing this post). I'm really hoping he makes the jump to the MLB at some point. 

I went with a 2001 aesthetic this time around. Although the way I did the points stayed the same so that the sets could be used together, if desired. I ran a few multiple regression analysis models for the points to try and eliminate outliers, so I am hoping I cleaned up that area from the previous set I made. There are a few cards I would adjust from that set (which is on TTS available for anyone to use). I believe the photographs I was able to use are a step up from 2020, as I realized I could search for names using Japanese characters (through Google translate) and I would find a much better sampling to select from. 

Special thanks to all the card creators. Matt, Peter, Bob, Jeff, Matt Gula. And anyone else from the discord that weighed in on design choices. As always, I welcome feedback!

Let's start with the Central League!

Yomiuri Giants 77-64-2 1st place Central League. Lost to the Hawks in the Japan Series. 

Some familiar faces on this team from the 2020 set. The aforementioned MVP winner Sakamoto had a prodigious season and card to match. Shun Yamaguchi is a workhorse and would be someone's early draft pick. Hirokazu Sawamura came over and pitched for the Red Sox in 2021 and gets a solid, if not spectacular, card with the Giants. Tomoyuki Sugano won the Sawamura Award in 2017, 2018, and the Best 9 award in 2020, but in 2019 was only so-so. 

Foils: Hayato Sakamoto, Yoshihiro Maru, Shun Yamaguchi

2020 NPB Japanese Baseball Set

I'm new here! My name is Kevin. I found this blog a few months back and that's what got me back into Showdown, so I feel honored to be posting on here. I used to work overnights for a sports data company, and some of my responsibilities were recording NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) games, monitoring data feeds, etc. So I've always had an interest in the league and the players. Obviously, with Ohtani's runaway success this year it's made me think a bit about the next big star who could make the jump. 

I also still watch the occassional NPB game for that same company, tracking pitches. Seeing young stars like Munetaka Murakami and Masato Morishita is really what drove me to make this set. In 2020, Murakami was 20 years old and put up very similar numbers to Alex Bregman and Christian Yelich in 2019. So I set off to make a card for him. Then I figured why not just do the Best 9 (an official award given out, similar to an All-pro team) of the Pacific and Central Leagues. But once you've gotten that far, you may as well finish off the whole set. 

Due to Covid the NPB had a shortened season just like the MLB in 2020. However, it wasn’t shortened to the same extremes as the MLB, so there were 120 games played for each team which allowed for cards to be mostly "true".

Shout out and thanks to all the card designers out there (especially those on this blog, Peter, Matt, and Bob) who have shared their secrets, advice, and design input. The Showdown community is truly welcoming and wonderful. 

I welcome any and all feedback or constructive criticism. If something looks off, you see a blatant error, or want to share design tips/input please feel free to comment below or reach out on the Showdown Discord. 

Methodology:

I tried to capture the top 3 starters in IP for each team. Occasionally adding a 4th. I used the most played position player for each team, occasionally bending that rule, as there are quite a few players with multiple position availability. I did my best to line up with players from the MLB 2020 set so that it could play along side that set (or hopefully any set) reasonably well. For example, Jeimer Candelario had a .369 OBP in 2020 and was given 9 OB with 5 outs for his card. Hiroyuki Nakajima had a .369 OBP for the Yomiuri Giants in 2020. So he gets a 9 OB with 5 outs. I would also use the Showdown Bot as a check for points, or OB, HR rate, etc. 

Used the Tier system that Peter and his college buddies pioneered back in 2014 for pitching. I won’t go into detail on that as it’s been covered before. I will say again I tried though that I tried to match the 2020 set to some extent. There are Bieber and Bauer (the top 2 pitchers by points in the 2020 set) “clones,” and I tried to have some bad pitchers even if some other guys may have thrown more innings for their respective teams. 

Fielding...was a unique challenge. Especially since many players played several different positions. I couldn’t find defensive runs saved. But there were some other advanced fielding statistics I was able to track down from a Japanese site. Mostly UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), but they had a couple of other metrics to supplement that. On this website you could only see qualifying players (unless you paid for a subscription) so if they didn’t qualify in 2020 I would check 2019, 2018, or 2021 and see how they were and try to make my best guess.

For catchers I couldn’t find caught stealing %, however, I did know each catcher’s SB allowed and their innings caught. So Stolen bases allowed per inning took the place of SB% essentially. 

Special note on the ground ball ranges. Simply put...they are huge. Less strikeouts overall than the MLB, and some of these guys have ridiculous ground ball rates. The average ground ball rate for pitchers represented in the set was 60.63%. (Koyo Aoyogi of the Hanshin Tigers had an absurd 78.90% ground ball rate in 120 ⅔ IP). I was initially thinking I may adjust everyone down a ground ball by 1 or 2, but decided to embrace the high ground ball rates to highlight the differences in the NPB and MLB games. I guess we’ll all find out how much infield defense really matters!

Enough about this. Let's get to the cards!