2006 Nippon Professional Baseball season

{{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	146	87	54	5	.617\|
-
align=center \|Hanshin Tigers	146	84	58	4	.592	3.5
align=center \|Tokyo Yakult Swallows	146	70	73	3	.490	18
align=center \|Yomiuri Giants	146	65	79	2	.451	23.5
align=center \|Hiroshima Toyo Carp	146	62	79	5	.440	25
align=center \|Yokohama BayStars	146	58	84	4	.408	29.5

=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	136	82	54	0	.603\|
-
align=center \|Seibu Lions	136	80	54	2	.597	1
align=center \|Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks	136	75	56	5	.573	4.5
align=center \|Chiba Lotte Marines	136	65	70	1	.481	16.5
align=center \|Orix Buffaloes	136	52	81	3	.391	28.5
align=center \|Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles	136	47	85	4	.356	33

==Playoff 1st Stage==

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

border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3"
style="background: #e3e3e3;" !\|Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
style="background: #e3e3e3;"
1	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 0, Seibu Lions – 1	October 7	Invoice Seibu Dome	29,187{{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 – 3	October 8	Invoice Seibu Dome	31,338{{cite web\|url=http://bis.npb.or.jp/2006/games/s2006100801668.html\|title=2006 PL Playoff 1st Stage Game 2}}
3	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 6, Seibu Lions – 1	October 9	Invoice Seibu Dome	27,344{{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	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
style="background: #e3e3e3;"
1	Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks – 1, Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters – 3	October 11	Sapporo Dome	42,380{{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 – 1	October 12	Sapporo Dome	42,380{{cite web\|url=http://bis.npb.or.jp/2006/games/s2006101201677.html\|title=2006 PL Playoff 2nd Stage Game 2}}

Japan Series

In the 2006 Japan Series, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters defeated the Chunichi Dragons 4 games to 1 in five games.

After the Japan Series, the Fighters moved on to the Asian Series, a series which determines the champion of the four major Asian baseball leagues.

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

class="wikitable"

Position

! Player

! Team

| Tokyo Yakult Swallows

| Hirokazu Ibata

| Chunichi Dragons

| Norichika Aoki

| Tokyo Yakult Swallows

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

class="wikitable"

Position

! Player

! Team

| Kazumi Saitoh

| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

| Tomoya Satozaki

| Chiba Lotte Marines

| Michihiro Ogasawara

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

| Kensuke Tanaka

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

| Jose Fernández

| Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

| Munenori Kawasaki

| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

| Atsunori Inaba

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

| Nobuhiko Matsunaka

| Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

| Kazuhiro Wada

| Seibu Lions

| 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

class="wikitable"

Position

! Player

! Team

| Tokyo Yakult Swallows

| Tokyo Yakult Swallows

| 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

class="wikitable"

Position

! Player

! Team

| Daisuke Matsuzaka

| Seibu Lions

| Tomoya Satozaki

| Chiba Lotte Marines

| Michihiro Ogasawara

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

| Kensuke Tanaka

| Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters