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 Central League Flag | |
| League | Nippon Professional Baseball |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Founded | December 15, 1949; 75 years ago (1949-12-15) |
| No. of teams | 6 |
| Country | Japan |
| Most recent champion | Hanshin Tigers (7) |
| Most titles | Yomiuri Giants (39) |
TheCentral League (セントラル・リーグ,Sentoraru Rīgu) orCe League (セ・リーグ,Se Rīgu), also known as theJERA Central League (JERAセ・リーグ,JERA Se Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professionalbaseball leagues that constituteNippon Professional Baseball inJapan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of thePacific League in the annualJapan 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. The Central League has voted to adopt thedesignated hitter beginning in 2027.[1]
The Central League was founded in1949 with eight teams: four holdovers from the previousJapanese Baseball League — theChunichi Dragons, theHanshin Tigers, theYomiuri Giants, and theShochiku Robins (formerly the Taiyō Robins) — and four new teams — theHiroshima Carp, theKokutetsu Swallows, theNishi Nippon Pirates, and theTaiyō Whales.
TheNishi Nippon Pirates existed for one season — they placed sixth in 1950, and the following season merged with the alsoFukuoka-basedNishitetsu Clippers (a member of thePacific League) to form theNishitetsu Lions, who joined the Pacific League. This brought the number of Central League teams down to an ungainly arrangement of seven.
Ryuji Suzuki became president of the Central League in 1952.[2]
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. TheShochiku Robins fell into this category, and were merged with theTaiyō Whales to become theTaiyō 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.[2]
In 2007, a newClimax Series was introduced. This playoff series was inspired by the stepladder playoff used in thePacific League introduced in 2004 for the top three teams of the league to determine which one progressed to theJapan Series. Under the previous system, there was no post-season playoff and the winner of the pennant automatically qualified for the Japan Series.
| Team | Japanese name | Founded[3] | Location | Stadium | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chunichi Dragons | 中日ドラゴンズ Chūnichi Doragonzu | January 15, 1936 | Higashi-ku,Nagoya,Aichi | Vantelin Dome Nagoya | Chunichi Shimbun |
| Hanshin Tigers | 阪神タイガース Hanshin Taigāsu | December 10, 1935 | HQ inNishinomiya,Hyōgo | Hanshin Koshien Stadium | Hankyu Hanshin Holdings |
| Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 広島東洋カープ Hiroshima Tōyō Kāpu | December 5, 1949 | Minami-ku,Hiroshima,Hiroshima | Mazda Stadium | Matsuda family [66.7%] Mazda [33.3%] |
| Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 東京ヤクルトスワローズ Tōkyō Yakuruto Suwarōzu | January 12, 1950 | Shinjuku,Tokyo | Meiji Jingu Stadium | Yakult Honsha |
| Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 横浜DeNAベイスターズ Yokohama DeNA Beisutāzu | December 15, 1949 | Naka-ku,Yokohama,Kanagawa | Yokohama Stadium | DeNA |
| Yomiuri Giants | 読売ジャイアンツ Yomiuri Jaiantsu | December 26, 1934 | Bunkyo,Tokyo | Tokyo Dome | Yomiuri Shimbun |
| Team | First | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yomiuri Giants | 39 | 12 | 13 |
| Chunichi Dragons | 9 | 23 | 14 |
| Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 9 | 7 | 10 |
| Tokyo Yakult Swallows | 9 | 5 | 6 |
| Hanshin Tigers | 6 | 19 | 16 |
| Yokohama DeNA BayStars | 2 | 6 | 12 |
| Shochiku Robins | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Nishi Nippon Pirates | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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