Pacific League

Pacific League
Sport	Baseball
Founded	1949
No. of teams	6
Country	Japan
Most recent; champion(s)	Seibu Lions (23rd)
Most titles	Seibu Lions (23)

The Pacific League (パシフィック・リーグ, Pashifikku Rīgu) or Pa League (パリーグ, Pa Rīgu) is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around Japan.

History

The circuit was founded as the Taiheiyo Baseball Union in 1949 (the name changing to its current form in 1980). Daiei Stars owner Masaichi Nagata was the first president of the Pacific League.[1]

The league began with seven teams: four holdovers from the previous iteration, the Japanese Baseball League — the Hankyu Braves, the Nankai Hawks, the Daiei Stars, and the Tokyu Flyers — and three new teams — the Kintetsu Pearls, the Mainichi Orions, and the Nishitetsu Clippers.

In 1954, an eighth Pacific League team was founded, the Takahashi Unions, to increase the number of teams to eight. Although the team was stocked with players from the other Pacific League teams, the Unions struggled from the outset and finished in the second division every season. In 1957, the Unions were merged with the Daiei Stars to form the Daiei Unions (and again bringing the number of Pacific League teams down to seven). In their first season, the Unions finished in last place, 43-1/2 games out of first. In 1958, the Unions merged with the Mainichi Orions to form the Daimai Orions. This enabled the Pacific League to shrink from the ungainly seven-team arrangement to six teams.

Fujio Nakazawa, a former player and television commentator, became the PL's first full-time president in 1959, serving through 1965.[2]

From 1973 to 1982, the Pacific League employed a split season, with the first-half winner playing against the second-half winner in a mini-playoff to determine its champion.

Beginning in 1975, the Pacific League began using the designated hitter (DH), as in the American League in Major League Baseball. During interleague play (adopted in 2005), the DH is used in Pacific League teams' home games.

After the 2004 season, the Orix BlueWave and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes merged to form the Orix Buffaloes. A franchise was granted to the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to fill the void caused by the merger.

Also since 2004, a three-team playoff system was introduced in the Pacific League (Pacific League Championship Series). The teams with the second- and third-best records play in the three-game first stage, with the winner advancing to the five-game final against the top team. The winner becomes the representative of the Pacific League to the Japan Series.

Since the Pacific League won every Japan Series after introducing this system, an identical system was introduced to the Central League in 2007, and the post-season intra-league games were renamed the "Climax Series" in both leagues. Player statistics and drafting order based on team records are not affected by these postseason games.

Current teams

Team	Japanese Name	Place	Stadium	Sponsor
Chiba Lotte Marines	千葉ロッテマリーンズ Chiba Rotte Marīnzu	Chiba, Chiba	ZOZO Marine Stadium	Lotte
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	福岡ソフトバンクホークス Fukuoka Sofutobanku Hōkusu	Fukuoka, Fukuoka	Fukuoka PayPay Dome	SoftBank
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	北海道日本ハムファイターズ Hokkaidō Nippon-Hamu Faitāzu	Sapporo, Hokkaidō	Sapporo Dome	Nippon Ham
Orix Buffaloes	オリックス・バファローズ Orikkusu Bafarōzu	Osaka, Osaka	Kyocera Dome Osaka	ORIX
Saitama Seibu Lions	埼玉西武ライオンズ Saitama Seibu Raionzu	Tokorozawa, Saitama	MetLife Dome	Seibu Railway
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	東北楽天ゴールデンイーグルス Tōhoku Rakuten Gōruden Īgurusu	Sendai, Miyagi	Kobo Park Miyagi	Rakuten

Pacific League pennant winners

*From 2004 to 2006 the winner of the play-offs was considered Pacific League Champion, afterwards the regular season champion again.

Climax Series winners

2020 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
2019 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
2018 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
2017 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
2016 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
2015 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
2014 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
2013 Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
2012 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
2011 Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
2010 Chiba Lotte Marines
2009 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
2008 Saitama Seibu Lions
2007 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

From 2004 to 2006 the play-off series was not called Climax Series yet.

2006 Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters
2005 Chiba Lotte Marines
2004 Seibu Lions

Pacific League statistics

Team	First	Second	Third
Saitama Seibu Lions	23	12	13
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	18	16	7
Orix Buffaloes	12	15	8
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters	7	8	15
Chiba Lotte Marines	5	7	14
Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes	4	9	8
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	1	1	2
Daiei Unions	0	0	2
Takahashi Unions	0	0	0

Most Valuable Pitcher

See: Best Nine Award#Other notes

Best Nine Awards

References

"Nagata, Masaichi". Hall of Famers List. The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
"Nakazawa, Fujio," The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (Japan). Accessed March 27, 2015.

External links

(in Japanese) Official website
(in Japanese) PACIFIC LEAGUE.JP
Japanese Baseball Data Archive at The Baseball Guru
List of players at Japanese Baseball

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[Fame-1] "Nagata, Masaichi". Hall of Famers List. The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2011.

[2] "Nakazawa, Fujio," The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (Japan). Accessed March 27, 2015.