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1973 Nippon Professional Baseball season

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1973 NPB season
LeagueNippon Professional Baseball
SportBaseball
Central League pennant
League championsYomiuri Giants
  Runners-upHanshin Tigers
Season MVPSadaharu Oh (YOM)
Pacific League pennant
League championsHankyu Braves
  Runners-upKintetsu Buffaloes
Season MVPKatsuya Nomura (NAN)
Japan Series
ChampionsYomiuri Giants
  Runners-upNankai Hawks
Finals MVPTsuneo Horiuchi (YOM)
NPB seasons

The 1973 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 24th season of operation of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). This was the first season with a playoff system, albeit only in the Pacific League, which would match the first-place teams of the first half and second half of the season; if a team finished first place in both halves of the season, they automatically were the champion of the league and therefore went on to play in the Japan Series. On July 11, 1973, a 9-8 victory by the Nittaku Flyers over the Lotte Orions meant that the Nankai Hawks won the inaugural first-half championship.[1] On July 27, the second half began for the Pacific League.[2] On October 5, the Hankyu Braves clinched the second-half in the Pacific when the Lotte Orions lost to the Taiheiyo Lions that would set up a Braves-Hawks playoff series starting on October 19.[3] Meanwhile, the Central League went down to the wire, with the Hanshin Tigers leading with two games remaining before the Tigers hit a lull as the Yomiuri Giants rallied to win the pennant again with a 9-0 victory on October 22 over the Tigers.[4][5]

This system would continue until 1982.

Regular season standings

[edit]
Central League regular season standings[6]
Pos Team G W L T Pct. GB
1 Yomiuri Giants 13066604.524—
2 Hanshin Tigers 13064597.5200.5
3 Chunichi Dragons 13064615.5121.5
4 Yakult Atoms 13062653.4884.5
5 Taiyo Whales 13060646.4845.0
6 Hiroshima Toyo Carp 13060673.4726.5
Pacific League regular season standings[7]
Pos Team G W L T Pct. 1st half rank 2nd half rank
1st half winner Nankai Hawks 13068584.54013
2nd half winner Hankyu Braves 13077485.61631
3 Lotte Orions 130704911.58822
4 Taiheiyo Club Lions 13059647.48045
5 Nittaku Home Flyers 13055696.44453
6 Kintetsu Buffaloes 13042835.33666

Pacific League playoff

[edit]

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. 13,800 turned out for the first ever Pacific League playoff game on October 19.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

Nankai Hawks won the series 3-2.

GameScoreDateLocation
1Hawks – 4, Braves – 2October 19Osaka Stadium
2Hawks – 7, Braves – 9October 20Osaka Stadium
3Braves – 3, Hawks – 6October 22Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium
4Braves – 13, Hawks – 1October 23Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium
5Braves – 1, Hawks – 2October 24Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium

Japan Series

[edit]

Yomiuri Giants won the series 4-1.

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Hawks – 4, Giants – 3October 27Osaka Stadium27,027[18]
2Hawks – 2, Giants – 3October 28Osaka Stadium28,135[18]
3Giants – 8, Hawks – 2October 30Korakuen Stadium34,713[18]
4Giants – 6, Hawks – 2October 31Korakuen Stadium38,270[18]
5Giants – 5, Hawks – 1November 1Korakuen Stadium37,761[18]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Pacific Stars And Stripes Archives, Jul 13, 1973, p. 19". NewspaperArchive.com. July 13, 1973.
  2. ↑ "Pacific Stars And Stripes Archives, Jul 29, 1973, p. 23". NewspaperArchive.com. July 29, 1973.
  3. ↑ "Pacific Stars And Stripes Archives, Oct 7, 1973, p. 24". NewspaperArchive.com. October 7, 1973.
  4. ↑ "Pacific Stars And Stripes Archives, Oct 21, 1973, p. 21". NewspaperArchive.com. October 21, 1973.
  5. ↑ "Pacific Stars And Stripes Archives, Oct 24, 1973, p. 18". NewspaperArchive.com. October 24, 1973.
  6. ↑ "年度別成績 1973年 セントラル・リーグ" [Results by year 1973 Central League]. Nippon Professional Baseball (in Japanese). Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  7. ↑ "年度別成績 1972年 1972年 パシフィック・リーグ" [Results by year 1972 Pacific League]. Nippon Professional Baseball (in Japanese). Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Other-Oct-21-1973-5442133 | NewspaperArchive". newspaperarchive.com.
  9. ↑ "Other-Oct-22-1973-5442136 | NewspaperArchive". newspaperarchive.com.
  10. ↑ "Other-Oct-24-1973-5442138 | NewspaperArchive". newspaperarchive.com.
  11. ↑ "Other-Oct-25-1973-5442139 | NewspaperArchive". newspaperarchive.com.
  12. ↑ "Other-Oct-26-1973-5442141 | NewspaperArchive". newspaperarchive.com.
  13. ↑ "Nankai Hawks vs Hankyu Braves Climax Series | Final Stage | 1973-10-19 | Game 1". ProEyeKyuu. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Nankai Hawks vs Hankyu Braves Climax Series | Final Stage | 1973-10-20 | Game 2". ProEyeKyuu. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Hankyu Braves vs Nankai Hawks Climax Series | Final Stage | 1973-10-22 | Game 3". ProEyeKyuu. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Hankyu Braves vs Nankai Hawks Climax Series | Final Stage | 1973-10-23 | Game 4". ProEyeKyuu. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Hankyu Braves vs Nankai Hawks Climax Series | Final Stage | 1973-10-24 | Game 5". ProEyeKyuu. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 1973年日本シリーズ試合結果 (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 21, 2017.


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