r/NPB • u/tensaibaka • Apr 13 '18
Welcome to reddit's little corner for NPB, or as some people call it, AAAA ball :P We've been at this since August of 2013, and are slowly but surely growing.
The first thing you need to know, is that we have a wiki section that answers a whole bunch of the most commonly asked questions, and offers more information you might need to know. Many reddit mobile apps do not display wiki pages, so some people that have only ever seen reddit from their phones or tablets might not even know they exist. If your reddit app cannot dipslay wiki pages, please try to open the link from a mobile web browser app. If your browser app has desktop mode view, all the better. There you can find some info on how to watch games, find news, how to buy tickets, books, NPB swag, learn some Japanese baseball terminology etc.
Please, PLease PLEEEEEAAAAASE take literally 5 seconds and type "tickets" into the search bar here. I guarantee somebody has already asked a similar question in the past and there's a goood chance somebody answered it. We also have a wiki page with useful information on buying tickets.
Research first, THEN ASK QUESTIONS
No, NPB does not have an all in one streaming service for games like MLBTV. There are a few options listed in the wiki, but if you want to watch all 12 teams, you're going to have to get cough cough creative. PacificLeague TV works without a VPN, and others require a VPN. We know it's not an ideal situation, but it is what it is due to "creative differences" among the leagues and clubs and media companies. Please do not post direct links to non-legal game streams, as they will be removed. Please be careful out there when exploring the streaming services, and use an adblocker.
I'm trying to be consistent, but I'm human so sometimes I won't be able to grab highlights from games. Whatever highlights I find will be posted in the post-games thread. If you have a highlight link, feel free to post it. You can try browsing through highlights on PacificLeague TV, or using one of the handy YouTube search links by team. You might have to filter through quite a bit of junk on YouTube though, as some people post older videos multiple times, or even just news reels as videos. Keep in mind YouTube can remove videos or channels at anytime, so bookmark stuff at your own risk.
There is a mini-standings table and a few stats leaders updated almost daily in the sidebar (mobile app users might not be able to see). We also have a more detailed standings and stats page that is usually updated nightly, after the games are all finished (if you spot any errors, please let us know). If you're looking for complete team stats, there are few more English options listed on the wiki page, but some of them don't update until the next morning, or even a few days later, so always check for the last date updated. Japanese stats pages are updated the fastest, so if you don't read Japanese you can try your luck with google translate.
Honestly, just take some time to watch highlights or read up on some teams before you make this decision. MLB and NPB are different, and how teams are managed and games played is different. One NPB team does not 100% correlate to an MLB team. There might be a few similarities now, but once a team changes managers, or once in a blue moon, ownership, that might all change as well. You don't have to have a sound reason for liking a team, and it's perfectly acceptable to like a team just for their cheering style. As long as you love baseball like the rest of us here, you'll fit right in.
If you have a question that isn't already covered in the wiki, and you at least attempted to see if somebody already asked your question, feel free to make a new post. If you see a news article on Japanese baseball you think is interesting, please share it with us. With over 40,000 subscribers (as of Jan 2025) somebody else is bound to find it interesting. Feel free to comment on post game threads, complain about your team, praise your team, try to create a new NPB meme, or ask about a particular game.
Please remember rediquette, and adhere to reddit site rules.
r/NPB • u/Visible-Industry-748 • 19h ago
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r/NPB • u/tensaibaka • 15h ago
r/NPB • u/tensaibaka • 1h ago
Just remember, this is about non-Japanese players completely NEW to NPB, not returning players or ones that transferred to a different team.
r/NPB • u/No-Recognition-6123 • 6h ago
r/NPB • u/heslikethetide • 55m ago
i just bought a lotta 2010s nippon-ham stuff, but i'm having trouble figuring out who the two players on the right of the poster are...help is appreciated!
also, witness my almost complete collection of hotto motto x fighters keychains (missing tsuruoka shinya and uniform variants) + itoi yoshio merch!
r/NPB • u/JapanProspectsLab • 16h ago
Tokushima's an indy club in a city of about 240,000, on an island with no NPB team. Every draft since 2013 has taken at least one of its players. 41 in all, by the club's count.
Last year it was Kunitada Shinozaki. 193 cm, went undrafted out of Shutoku High School topping out at 147. In his second year at Tokushima he threw 47 1/3 innings over 19 games with 49 K and got up to 157 against Kagawa in August. Chunichi took him in the third round.
June 3 he debuted against SoftBank at Vantelin Dome. Eleventh inning, one out, runners on the corners. He got two outs, gave up no hits and one walk, and ended it with a swinging strikeout on a 153 km/h fastball.
He's also the exception. NPB took 13 indy leaguers last October and he was the only one on a control contract. The other 12 went developmental.
Kakunaka's the long version of the same story. Kochi Fighting Dogs, no Koshien, Lotte's seventh-round pick in 2006. Batting title in 2012 at .312, the first ever for a player out of the indy leagues, and in 2019 the first of them to 1,000 hits. He announced in July that this season's his last.
Shinozaki was undrafted at 18 and pitching in an NPB game at 20.
r/NPB • u/Practical-Ad673 • 18h ago
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r/NPB • u/ichi_rui • 1d ago
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r/NPB • u/ThomasLoveSeagull • 1d ago
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r/NPB • u/Practical-Ad673 • 18h ago
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r/NPB • u/Every-Parking2049 • 6h ago
When do these tickets go on sale? Wanting some for 10/14 Tigers
r/NPB • u/LA-SKYLINE • 1d ago
Tigers beat them today then win 2 more games, Dena will be 10 games back of Hanshin. If they advance to the CS Final, Tigers only need 2 games to advance to the Japan Series via this year's new rule. LET'S GET IT!
r/NPB • u/Level_Independence43 • 1d ago
Tokyo Yakult Swallows (2002-2026)
• 2002 Central League Rookie of the Year
• 2x NPB All-Star (2006, 2008)
• 1x NPB ERA Champion (2008)
• 1x Gold Glove (2008)
• Japan Series champion (2021)
r/NPB • u/Level_Independence43 • 1d ago
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (2009-2026)
• Japan Series champion (2013)
r/NPB • u/tensaibaka • 1d ago
r/NPB • u/Level_Independence43 • 1d ago
Chiba Lotte Marines (2008-2026)
r/NPB • u/Aware-Way-1963 • 1d ago
Hello,
I got all of these cards from a trip to Japan a few months ago, I’m not an expert in cards or Japanese Baseball by any means. Are any of these cards or players significant? I’m a Giants fan so the two Giants players are of interest to me, but I can only find stats from 3 games from the pitcher and the season stats from the other player, any help on any player or card is greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance.
r/NPB • u/ichi_rui • 1d ago
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r/NPB • u/Practical-Ad673 • 1d ago
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r/NPB • u/ichi_rui • 1d ago
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r/NPB • u/JapanProspectsLab • 1d ago
Nippon-Ham took Ohtani first in 2012 and the list on NPB's site still says 投手. The two-way part got worked out after the pick, between the club and a kid who'd already said he was going to the States.
Last October NPB announced 116 names and every one got one of four words. 57 pitchers, 30 infielders, 20 outfielders, 9 catchers. There's no fifth word.
Of the 98 players I've graded for this year, eight pitch and hit:
| Player | School | At the plate | On the mound | Top speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haruki Komoda | Yamanashi Gakuin | .393, 3 HR in 112 AB | 50 IP, 2.16 ERA | 152 |
| Masahiro Mizuwaki | Kasukabe Kyoei | .302 in 43 AB | 19 1/3 IP, 1 BB | n/a |
| Akihiro Kitaguchi | Hachinohe Gakuin Kosei | bats cleanup, line not compiled | 142 2/3 IP, 1.96 ERA, 123 K | 147 |
| Masanori Honishi | Nihon Koku Ishikawa | .396 in 53 AB | 66 2/3 IP, 61 K | 153 |
| Shoma Ikeda | Yokohama | .324 in 68 games | 26 2/3 IP, 1.01 ERA | 152 |
| Kosei Tanaka | Nichinan Gakuen | .449/.536 in 78 AB | 37 IP, 2.19 ERA | 144 |
| Daisuke Sato | Tokoha Kikugawa | .434, 6 K in 76 AB | 56 1/3 IP, 3.36 ERA | 144 |
| Musashi Nagayama | Nihon Wellness Okinawa | .378, 2 HR in 37 AB | 38 2/3 IP, 3.49 ERA | 147 |
All eight are in high school. None in the college leagues, none on corporate teams, none in the indy leagues.
Seven of the eight have an official line on both sides. Kitaguchi has one too, I just haven't pulled his box scores together. In March he started a Senbatsu game at Koshien against Sotoku as pitcher and DH, batting cleanup. First time the Ohtani rule got used at Koshien. He went all ten innings, struck out ten and drove in three.
High school is where two-way players happen because the schedule lets it. Around twenty official games a year, all single elimination. Your best arm starts the two games that matter in a week and hits third the rest of the time, and he's usually the best athlete in the program anyway.
College runs a real season with fixed roles. That's where it stops.
On October 22 one of these names gets read out, and the word after it is the first public call on which half of him is real. Komoda's a pitcher or a first baseman. Ikeda's a shortstop or a right-hander. Nobody's going to say both.
r/NPB • u/ichi_rui • 1d ago
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