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