Login
Login

:2006 Nippon Professional Baseball season

{{NPBseason|year=2006}}

{{Infobox sports season

| title =2006 NPB season

| league =Nippon Professional Baseball

| sport =Baseball

| duration =March 25, 2006 – October 26, 2006

| season =Regular Season

| season_champs =

| MVP =CL: Kosuke Fukudome (CHU)
PL: Michihiro Ogasawara (NIP)

| MVP_link =Nippon Professional Baseball Most Valuable Player Award

| playoffs =League Postseason

| conf1 =CL

| conf1_link =Central League

| conf1_champ =Chunichi Dragons

| conf1_runner-up =Hanshin Tigers

| conf2 =PL

| conf2_link =Pacific League

| conf2_champ =Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters

| conf2_runner-up =Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

| finals =Japan Series

| finals_link =2006 Japan Series

| finals_champ =Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

| finals_runner-up =Chunichi Dragons

| finals_MVP =Atsunori Inaba (NIP)

| finals_MVP_link =Japan Series Most Valuable Player Award

| seasonslist =List of Nippon Professional Baseball seasons

| seasonslistnames =NPB

| prevseason_link =2005 Nippon Professional Baseball season

| prevseason_year =2005

| nextseason_link =2007 Nippon Professional Baseball season

| nextseason_year =2007

}}

In {{by|2006}} the Nippon Professional Baseball season ended with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Pacific League defeating the Chunichi Dragons of the Central League in the Japan Series.

Format

=Central League=

  • Season Format
  • Regular Season
  • Regular Season 1st place are the champions

=Pacific League=

  • Season Format
  • Regular Season
  • Playoff 1st Stage: Regular Season 2nd place vs. Regular Season 3rd place – Best of 3
  • Playoff 2nd Stage: Regular Season 1st place vs. Playoff 1st Stage winners – Best of 5 (regular-season 1st place take a one-win advantage)
  • Playoff 2nd Stage winners are the champions

=Japan Series=

  • Central League champions vs. Pacific League champions – Best of 7

Standings

=Central League=

==Regular season==

class="wikitable" width="50%" style="text-align:center;"

! width="35%" | Central League

! width="5%" | G

! width="5%" | W

! width="5%" | L

! width="5%" | T

! width="7%" | Pct.

! width="5%" | GB

align=center

|Chunichi Dragons

14687545.617|
-
align=center

|Hanshin Tigers

14684584.5923.5
align=center

|Tokyo Yakult Swallows

14670733.49018
align=center

|Yomiuri Giants

14665792.45123.5
align=center

|Hiroshima Toyo Carp

14662795.44025
align=center

|Yokohama BayStars

14658844.40829.5

=Pacific League=

==Regular season==

class="wikitable" width="50%" style="text-align:center;"

! width="35%" | Pacific League

! width="5%" | G

! width="5%" | W

! width="5%" | L

! width="5%" | T

! width="7%" | Pct.

! width="5%" | GB

align=center

|Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

13682540.603|
-
align=center

|Seibu Lions

13680542.5971
align=center

|Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

13675565.5734.5
align=center

|Chiba Lotte Marines

13665701.48116.5
align=center

|Orix Buffaloes

13652813.39128.5
align=center

|Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

13647854.35633

==Playoff 1st Stage==

Seibu Lions (1) vs. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (2)

border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3"
style="background: #e3e3e3;"

!|Game

ScoreDateLocationAttendance
style="background: #e3e3e3;"
1Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Seibu Lions – 1October 7Invoice Seibu Dome29,187{{cite web|url=http://bis.npb.or.jp/2006/games/s2006100701664.html|title=2006 PL Playoff 1st Stage Game 1}}
style="background: #e3e3e3;"

|2

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 11, Seibu Lions – 3October 8Invoice Seibu Dome31,338{{cite web|url=http://bis.npb.or.jp/2006/games/s2006100801668.html|title=2006 PL Playoff 1st Stage Game 2}}
3Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6, Seibu Lions – 1October 9Invoice Seibu Dome27,344{{cite web|url=http://bis.npb.or.jp/2006/games/s2006100901671.html|title=2006 PL Playoff 1st Stage Game 3}}

==Playoff 2nd Stage==

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (3) vs. Fukuoka Softbank Hawks (0) The Fighters have a one-game advantage.

border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3"
style="background: #e3e3e3;"

!|Game

ScoreDateLocationAttendance
style="background: #e3e3e3;"
1Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters – 3October 11Sapporo Dome42,380{{cite web|url=http://bis.npb.or.jp/2006/games/s2006101101674.html|title=2006 PL Playoff 2nd Stage Game 1}}
style="background: #e3e3e3;"

|2

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters – 1October 12Sapporo Dome42,380{{cite web|url=http://bis.npb.or.jp/2006/games/s2006101201677.html|title=2006 PL Playoff 2nd Stage Game 2}}

Japan Series

{{Expand section|date=June 2008}}

{{Main|2006 Japan Series}}

It featured the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, champions of the Pacific League, and the Chunichi Dragons, champions of the Central League. The series was played as a best-of-seven format and took place from October 21 to October 26, 2006.{{Cite web |title=2006 Japan Central League |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/league.cgi?id=bd17499f |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}

The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters emerged victorious, defeating the Chunichi Dragons 4 games to 1 to secure their first Japan Series title since 1962. The series began at the Nagoya Dome, home of the Dragons, where the Fighters claimed a narrow victory in Game 1. The remaining games were held at the Sapporo Dome, where the Fighters capitalized on strong pitching and timely hitting to dominate the series.

Atsunori Inaba of the Fighters was named the Japan Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his exceptional performance throughout the series, which included critical offensive contributions and solid defensive play. The Fighters were managed by Trey Hillman, who became the first foreign manager to win the Japan Series since Bobby Valentine in 2005.

Following their Japan Series victory, the Fighters advanced to the Asian Series, representing NPB against other league champions from Asia to compete for the title of the top baseball team in the region.{{Cite web |date=2005-11-06 |title=KONAMI CUP Asia Series 2005 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051106011559/http://asia.npb.or.jp/en/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=web.archive.org}}

Awards

The Eiji Sawamura Award, the award given to the top pitcher in Japan, was given to pitcher Kazumi Saito of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He had a win–loss record of 18-5, 205 strikeouts, and an ERA of 1.75 in 201.0 innings, winning the Pacific League's pitching triple crown.

=Best Nine Awards=

Central League

class="wikitable"
Position

! Player

! Team

P

| Kenshin Kawakami

| Chunichi Dragons

C

| Akihiro Yano

| Hanshin Tigers

1B

| Tyrone Woods

| Chunichi Dragons

2B

| Masahiro Araki

| Chunichi Dragons

3B

| Akinori Iwamura

| Tokyo Yakult Swallows

SS

| Hirokazu Ibata

| Chunichi Dragons

OF

| Norichika Aoki

| Tokyo Yakult Swallows

OF

| Kosuke Fukudome

| Chunichi Dragons

OF

| Tomoaki Kanemoto

| Hanshin Tigers

Pacific League

class="wikitable"
Position

! Player

! Team

P

| Kazumi Saitoh

| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

C

| Tomoya Satozaki

| Chiba Lotte Marines

1B

| Michihiro Ogasawara

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

2B

| Kensuke Tanaka

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

3B

| Jose Fernández

| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

SS

| Munenori Kawasaki

| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

OF

| Atsunori Inaba

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

OF

| Nobuhiko Matsunaka

| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

OF

| Kazuhiro Wada

| Seibu Lions

DH

| Fernando Seguignol

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

=Gold Gloves=

Central League

class="wikitable"
Position

! Player

! Team

P

| Kenshin Kawakami

| Chunichi Dragons

C

| Motonobu Tanishige

| Chunichi Dragons

1B

| Andy Sheets

| Hanshin Tigers

2B

| Masahiro Araki

| Chunichi Dragons

3B

| Akinori Iwamura

| Tokyo Yakult Swallows

SS

| Hirokazu Ibata

| Chunichi Dragons

OF

| Norihiro Akahoshi

| Hanshin Tigers

OF

| Norichika Aoki

| Tokyo Yakult Swallows

OF

| Kosuke Fukudome

| Chunichi Dragons

Pacific League

class="wikitable"
Position

! Player

! Team

P

| Daisuke Matsuzaka

| Seibu Lions

C

| Tomoya Satozaki

| Chiba Lotte Marines

1B

| Michihiro Ogasawara

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

2B

| Kensuke Tanaka

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

3B

| Toshiaki Imae

| Chiba Lotte Marines

SS

| Munenori Kawasaki

| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

OF

| Atsunori Inaba

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

OF

| Hichori Morimoto

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

OF

| SHINJO

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

See also

References

  • [http://bis.npb.or.jp/2006/stats/ 2006 NPB Final standings] (Japanese)

{{reflist}}

{{Nippon Professional Baseball Seasons}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2006 Nippon Professional Baseball Season}}

{{Baseball-season-stub}}

{{Japan-baseball-stub}}