Editing Nippon Professional Baseball (section)

==League structure==
Nippon Professional Baseball consists of two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League, which each have six teams. There are also two secondary-level professional minor leagues, the [[Eastern League (Japanese baseball)|Eastern League]] and the [[Western League (Japanese baseball)|Western League]], that play shorter schedules for developing players. NPB teams are allowed to have more than one minor league team as long as they are outside of the established minor league system, with the [[Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks]] and [[Yomiuri Giants]] being the only teams taking advantage of this. As of 2023, the Hawks have three minor league teams,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/86b3fa413180e898d0f689a1d7e6c261c83afa6c | title=【ソフトバンク】来季から球界初「４軍制」創設へ ２０日ドラフト会議で育成選手を大量指名（スポーツ報知） |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015184959/https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/86b3fa413180e898d0f689a1d7e6c261c83afa6c |archive-date=Oct 15, 2022 }}</ref> the Giants have two, and the other ten teams only have one minor league team each. Teams below the Eastern and Western Leagues play exhibition matches against various teams of collegiate, [[Baseball in Japan#Amateur baseball|industrial]], [[Shikoku Island League Plus]], and other NPB minor league statuses.

The Central League and Pacific League operate as separate entities, unlike the [[Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada|four major professional sports leagues of North America]] whose leagues each operate as one singular entity. TV rights for games are always held by a game's home team. The Pacific League has used the [[designated hitter]] (DH) rule since 1975, while the Central League has not used the DH outside of [[interleague play (NPB)|interleague play]] where a Pacific League team is the home team and in the [[1985 Japan Series]].

The season starts in late March or early April, and ends in October, with two or three [[all-star game]]s in July. In recent decades prior to 2007, the two leagues each scheduled between 130 and 140 regular season games, with the 146 games played by the Central League in 2005 and 2006 being the only exception. Both leagues have since adopted 143-game seasons, 71 or 72 each at home and on road, facing their five respective intra-league opponents 25 times each and facing their six interleague opponents three times each in late May to early June in interleague play, with a separate champion being crowned for the team with the best record through the 18 games of interleague play. In general, Japanese teams play six games a week, with every Monday off (except on specific occasions, such as a game being played outside of the home team's primary stadium or if a [[rainout (sports)|rainout]] forced a game to be postponed to a Monday).<ref name=Waldstein>Waldstein, David. [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/sports/baseball/rangers-yu-darvish-pushes-for-a-six-man-pitching-rotation.html?_r=0 "Ace Favors Fewer Starts to Protect Pitchers' Arms: Rangers' Yu Darvish Pushes for a Six-Man Pitching Rotation"], New York Times (July 21, 2014).</ref> Unlike in [[Major League Baseball]], [[doubleheader (baseball)|doubleheaders]] have not been featured in NPB since the late 1990s.

Following the conclusion of each regular season, the top three teams from each league go on to play in the [[Climax Series]] championship play-off tournament, with the winner of each play-off tournament facing off in a best-of-seven championship series known as the [[Japan Series]] (known locally as the Nippon Series). Implemented in {{npby|2004}} by the Pacific League (then known as the Pacific League Playoffs) and in {{npby|2007}} by the Central League, the Climax Series is a two-stage system; in the "first stage", the second and third-place ranking teams face off in a best-of-three series played entirely in the second place team's home stadium. In the case of an instance where the series ends 1–1–1, the higher seed always advances to the final stage. In the "final stage", the winner of the first stage will face off against the league's pennant winner in a best-of-six series played entirely in the pennant winner's home stadium. The higher seed always starts with a "ghost win", or a 1–0 advantage in the series before any games have been played, meaning the higher seed only has to win three games whereas the lower seed has to win four games. In the event of a tie, the higher seed would subsequently only need to win two games. The winners of each league's final stage then face off in the Japan Series, a best-of-seven series mirroring the format of the [[World Series]]. In the rare instance where the series ends 3–3–1 after seven games, a Game 8 will be played with unlimited innings at the stadium with [[home-field advantage]]. Hypothetically, a Japan Series can go up to 14 games in length if each of the first seven games resulted in a 12-inning tie. Since its inception, home-field advantage alternates from year to year between the CL and PL, with the CL representative getting home-field advantage in even years and the PL representative getting home-field advantage in odd years.

Since its adoption by both leagues in 2007, Climax Series does not determine who won each league's [[pennant (sports)|pennant]], rather the team with the best regular season record in each league wins the pennant, regardless of their result in the Climax Series. This has led to four occasions where the Japan Series champion did not win their league's pennant that year, with those being the {{npby|2007}} [[Chunichi Dragons]], {{npby|2010}} [[Chiba Lotte Marines]], and the {{npby|2018}} and {{npby|2019}} [[Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks]]. However, from {{npby|2004}} to {{npby|2006}}, the winner of the Pacific League Playoffs was given the Pacific League pennant for that year.