1974 Nippon Professional Baseball season

The 1974 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 25th season of operation for the league. For the first time since 1964, the Yomiuri Giants did not qualify for the Japan Series. On October 12, the Chunichi Dragons prevailed to win the Central League pennant by winning a double-header over the Taiyo Whales to prevail by percentage points over the Giants with two games remaining; at the end of the season, with ties not counting in the standings, the Dragons were at .588 with their record of 70-49 while the Giants were at .587 with a record of 71-50. Dragons manager Wally Yonamine (born in Hawaii) became the first American-born manager to lead a team to the pennant.^[1] It was the final season for Giants star Shigeo Nagashima, who subsequently became manager of the team following the retirement of Tetsuharu Kawakami.^[2][3] For the first time in ten years, the Central League awarded its MVP to a player from a team that did not win the league pennant, as Sadaharu Oh was named MVP for the seventh time in his career.^[4] Clarence Jones of the Kintetsu Buffaloes became the first foreign-born player to win the home run title in the two-league system with his 38 home runs leading all of the Pacific League.^[5]

In the Pacific League, the Hankyu Braves clinched the first-half. On September 26, the Lotte Orions were guaranteed the second-half pennant when the Fighters and Hawks game ended in a tie that eliminated the possibility of a tie with percentage points.^[6] The Lotte Orions, champions of the second-half, defeated the first-half champion Hankyu Braves to reach their second Japan Series in four years. Lotte defeated Chunichi in six games for their first championship since 1950.