Central League

Central League
Sport	Baseball
Founded	1949
No. of teams	6
Country	Japan
Most recent; champion(s)	Yomiuri Giants (38)
Most titles	Yomiuri Giants (38)

The Central League (セントラル・リーグ, Sentoraru Rīgu) or Ce League (セ・リーグ, Se Rīgu) is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country. Unlike the Pacific League, designated hitters are not used during Central League home games.

History[]

The Central League was founded in 1949 with eight teams: four holdovers from the previous Japanese Baseball League — the Chunichi Dragons, the Hanshin Tigers, the Yomiuri Giants, and the Shochiku Robins (formerly the Taiyō Robins) — and four new teams — the Hiroshima Carp, the Kokutetsu Swallows, the Nishi Nippon Pirates, and the Taiyō Whales.

The Nishi Nippon Pirates existed for one season — they placed sixth in 1950, and the following season merged with the also Fukuoka-based Nishitetsu Clippers (a member of the Pacific League) to form the Nishitetsu Lions, who joined the Pacific League. This brought the number of Central League teams down to an ungainly arrangement of seven.

became president of the Central League in 1952.^[1]

In 1952, it was decided that any team ending the season with a winning percentage below .300 would be disbanded or merged with other teams. The Shochiku Robins fell into this category, and were merged with the Taiyō Whales to become the Taiyō Shochiku Robins in January 1953. This enabled the Central League to shrink to an even number of six teams.

Ryuji Suzuki retired as CL president in 1984 after 33 years at the post.^[1]

In 2007, a new Climax Series was introduced. This playoff series was inspired by the stepladder playoff used in the Pacific League for the top three teams of the league to determine which one progressed to the Japan Series. Under the previous system, there was no post-season playoff and the winner of the pennant automatically qualified for the Japan Series.

Current teams[]

Team	Japanese Name	Place	Stadium	Sponsor
Chunichi Dragons	中日ドラゴンズ Chūnichi Doragonzu	Nagoya, Aichi	Nagoya Dome	Chunichi Shimbun
Hanshin Tigers	阪神タイガース Hanshin Taigāsu	Nishinomiya, Hyōgo	Hanshin Koshien Stadium	Hanshin Electric Railway
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	広島東洋カープ Hiroshima Tōyō Kāpu	Hiroshima, Hiroshima	MAZDA Zoom-Zoom Stadium Hiroshima	Matsuda family (founding family of Mazda)
Tokyo Yakult Swallows	東京ヤクルトスワローズ Tōkyō Yakuruto Suwarōzu	Shinjuku, Tokyo	Meiji Jingu Stadium	Yakult
Yokohama DeNA BayStars	横浜DeNAベイスターズ Yokohama DeNA Beisutāzu	Yokohama, Kanagawa	Yokohama Stadium	DeNA
Yomiuri Giants	読売ジャイアンツ Yomiuri Jaiantsu	Bunkyo, Tokyo	Tokyo Dome	Yomiuri Shimbun

Central League pennant winners[]

Climax Series winners[]

2019 Yomiuri Giants
2018 Hiroshima Toyo Carp
2017 Yokohama DeNA BayStars
2016 Hiroshima Toyo Carp
2015 Tokyo Yakult Swallows
2014 Hanshin Tigers
2013 Yomiuri Giants
2012 Yomiuri Giants
2011 Chunichi Dragons
2010 Chunichi Dragons
2009 Yomiuri Giants
2008 Yomiuri Giants
2007 Chunichi Dragons

Central League statistics[]

Team	First	Second	Third
Yomiuri Giants	37	12	12
Chunichi Dragons	9	23	14
Hiroshima Toyo Carp	9	6	10
Yakult Swallows	7	5	6
Hanshin Tigers	5	18	15
Yokohama BayStars	2	4	11
Shochiku Robins	1	0	0
Nishi Nippon Pirates	0	0	0

Most Valuable Pitcher[]

See: Best Nine Award#Other notes

Best Nine Awards[]

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b "SUZUKI, Ryuji," Archived 2020-07-27 at the Wayback Machine The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (Japan). Accessed March 27, 2015.

External links[]

[Suzuki-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b "SUZUKI, Ryuji," Archived 2020-07-27 at the Wayback Machine The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (Japan). Accessed March 27, 2015.

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