1982 Nippon Professional Baseball season
Sports season
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The 1982 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 33rd season of operation for the league. This was the last season of the first-half/second-half playoff system for the Pacific League, which changed their system for 1983 that would see the first-place team play the second-place team in a playoff only if they finished within five games of each other (in contrast, the ten-season tenure of matching the champion of the halves saw two occasions where one team won both halves). As it never ended up being used until its dissolution in 1985, the next season in which either league had a playoff system until 2004. The Chunichi Dragons narrowly won the Central pennant by defeating the fifth-place Taiyo Whales, who they played three times to end the season and needed to beat twice.[1]
PL: Hiromitsu Ochiai (LOT)
| 1982 NPB season | |
|---|---|
| League | Nippon Professional Baseball |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Regular season | |
| Season MVP | CL: Takayoshi Nakao (CHU) PL: Hiromitsu Ochiai (LOT) |
| League postseason | |
| CL champions | Chunichi Dragons |
| CL runners-up | Yomiuri Giants |
| PL champions | Seibu Lions |
| PL runners-up | Nippon-Ham Fighters |
| Japan Series | |
| Champions | Seibu Lions |
| Runners-up | Chunichi Dragons |
| Finals MVP | Osamu Higashio (SEI) |
Regular season standings
Central League
| Central League[2] | G | W | L | T | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chunichi Dragons | 130 | 64 | 47 | 19 | .577 | – |
| Yomiuri Giants | 130 | 66 | 50 | 14 | .569 | 0.5 |
| Hanshin Tigers | 130 | 65 | 57 | 8 | .533 | 4.5 |
| Hiroshima Toyo Carp | 130 | 59 | 58 | 13 | .504 | 8.0 |
| Yokohama Taiyo Whales | 130 | 53 | 65 | 12 | .449 | 14.5 |
| Yakult Swallows | 130 | 45 | 75 | 10 | .375 | 23.5 |
Pacific League
| Pacific League[3] | G | W | L | T | Pct. | 1st half ranking | 2nd half ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seibu Lions | 130 | 68 | 58 | 4 | .540 | 1 | 3 |
| Nippon-Ham Fighters | 130 | 67 | 52 | 11 | .563 | 4 | 1 |
| Kintetsu Buffaloes | 130 | 63 | 57 | 10 | .525 | 3 | 2 |
| Hankyu Braves | 130 | 62 | 60 | 8 | .508 | 2 | 5 |
| Lotte Orions | 130 | 54 | 69 | 7 | .439 | 6 | 4 |
| Nankai Hawks | 130 | 53 | 71 | 6 | .427 | 5 | 6 |
Pacific League playoff
The Pacific League teams with the best first and second-half records met in a best-of-five playoff series to determine the league representative in the Japan Series. Terry Whitfield hit two home runs in the deciding Game 4 to send the Lions to the Japan Series.[4][5][6][7][8]
Seibu Lions won the series 3–1.
Seibu Lions (3) vs. Nippon-Ham Fighters (1)
| Game | Date | Score | Location | Time | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 9 | Nippon-Ham Fighters – 0, Seibu Lions – 6 | Seibu Lions Stadium | - | - |
| 2 | October 10 | Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2, Seibu Lions – 3 | Seibu Lions Stadium | - | - |
| 3 | October 12 | Seibu Lions – 1, Nippon-Ham Fighters – 2 | Korakuen Stadium | - | - |
| 4 | October 14 | Seibu Lions – 7, Nippon-Ham Fighters – 5 | Korakuen Stadium | - | 24,000 |
Japan Series
Seibu Lions won the series 4–2.
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dragons – 3, Lions – 7 | October 23 | Nagoya Stadium | 29,196[9] |
| 2 | Dragons – 1, Lions – 7 | October 24 | Nagoya Stadium | 29,194[9] |
| 3 | Lions – 3, Dragons – 4 | October 26 | Seibu Lions Stadium | 25,342[9] |
| 4 | Lions – 3, Dragons – 5 | October 27 | Seibu Lions Stadium | 29,323[9] |
| 5 | Lions – 3, Dragons – 1 | October 28 | Seibu Lions Stadium | 26,230[9] |
| 6 | Dragons – 4, Lions – 9 | October 30 | Nagoya Stadium | 28,725[9] |