Editing Nippon Professional Baseball (section)

==International play==
{{main|Japan national baseball team|MLB Japan All-Star Series}}

The [[Japan national baseball team]], long composed of amateur players, began to include NPB players in the [[Baseball at the 2000 Summer Olympics|2000 Sydney Olympics]], and has been composed of NPB players only since the [[Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics|2004 Athens Olympics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://japan-baseball.nittsu.co.jp/article/1619/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815081332/https://japan-baseball.nittsu.co.jp/article/1619/|title=侍ジャパン悲願達成へ 元日本代表守護神が語る戦い方 「全勝と掲げてしまうと…」|publisher=[[Nippon Express]]|date=30 January 2019|archive-date=15 August 2020}}</ref> As of 2023, the Japan national baseball team composed of NPB players had won three [[World Baseball Classic]]s, one [[WBSC Premier 12]], and one [[Baseball at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]], and was ranked No. 1 in the [[WBSC World Rankings]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://olympics.com/ja/news/baseball-wbsc-world-ranking|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311175448/https://olympics.com/ja/news/baseball-wbsc-world-ranking|title=世界ランキング最新版！男子・日本代表・WBSC世界ランク|publisher=[[Nippon Express]]|date=5 October 2023|archive-date=11 March 2023}}</ref>

Since [[1986 MLB Japan All-Star Series|1986]] an [[all-star game|All-Star]] team from [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) is sent to a biennial end-of-the-season tour of Japan, dubbed as [[MLB Japan All-Star Series]], playing exhibition games in a [[Playoff format#Best-of formats|best-of format]] against the All-Stars from NPB or recently as of [[2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series|2014]] the national team [[Samurai Japan]].

The 2014 series also celebrated the 80th anniversary of the establishment of Japan's professional baseball by holding an exhibition game of a joint team of Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants against the MLB All-Stars at the [[Koshien Stadium]] on November 11, 2014.