JapanBall

Saitama Seibu Lions Clinch First Interleague Title in Franchise History 🦁

https://japanball.com/japanese-baseball-news/saitama-seibu-lions-clinch-interleague-title/

🇯🇵⚾️ NPB Imports: Foreign Players Currently Playing in Japan.

The list has been updated for 2026, including the newest signings in Jerar Encarnacion and Osvaldo Bido!

NPB Import Players: Foreign Players Currently Playing in Japan The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters slugger Franmil Reyes The table below lists all of the players in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) who are not from Japan. Click here for a list of Japanese former Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players currently playing in NPB. Last u...

⚾️ Exciting news for JapanBall: Yuri Karasawa has accepted a promotion to Editor-in-Chief! This is just the first step towards improving the JapanBall brand and we can't wait to roll them out to you in the coming weeks, months, and years! Let us know if you have any ideas to share!

🔻 “Japanese baseball has never had more global interest, and with my focus now primarily on our tours, I wanted to ensure JapanBall receives the attention it deserves by offering this post to Yuri. With Yuri at the helm, JapanBall can fulfill its potential as the true leader in English-language coverage of Japanese baseball.

Yuri will continue to operate Yakyu Cosmopolitan, which has become a go-to destination for contemporary stats and analysis of NPB players. At the same time, he will bring more resources, timely and historical articles, podcasts, and interactive opportunities to the JapanBall community.”
— Shane Barclay, Owner & President of JapanBall

🔻 “JapanBall has been a premier English-language resource on the Japanese scene for more than two decades, and while this is only be fourth year with the company, I’m very excited to help expand it further with more frequent content from myself and others, including many new writers from my network who have excellent insights into both the deep history and exciting contemporary state of NPB.”
— Yuri Karasawa, Editor-in-Chief of JapanBall

New Sheriff in Sendai

Rakuten Eagles Name New Manager The latest NPB action from across Japan, featuring key results, standout performances, and the biggest storylines from another busy week around the league.

Check out our new profile on the legend of Eiji Sawamura!

The Legend of Eiji Sawamura Eiji Sawamura is one of the most legendary figures in Japanese sports history (Photo: Number Web). Every baseball fan knows the number 511. It is Cy Young’s career win total, and it has been unreachable since the day he retired in 1911. It is one of the most unbreakable records in history. Young p...

On this day in 1999, Tsuyoshi Shinjo pulled off one of the most legendary moments in NPB history.

With the game tied in the 12th inning at Koshien, the Yomiuri Giants tried to intentionally walk Shinjo to set up a force play. Instead, after secretly practicing swings at balls outside the strike zone for days, Shinjo went after the intentional ball and lined a walk-off single through the left side for an “intentional sayonara.”

A play so absurd that it sounded impossible…until Shinjo actually did it.