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In a competitive Japan League North Division, Saitama narrowly took first at 99-63 for their third division title. Sapporo’s bid for a league three-peat was stopped, as they and Tokyo both finished two games back at 97-65. Meanwhile, Nagoya dominated the South at 11-51, giving them a fourth consecutive division title.

The Sting had the MVP in 28-year old LF Yahashi Hinata. After missing almost all of the prior year with a broken elbow, Hinata posted a career year with 48 homers, a 1.002 OPS, 232 wRC+, and 10.8 WAR. Sapporo’s Joon-Kyu Cho won his second Pitcher of the Year in three years, leading in strikeouts (359) for the fourth time in five years.



Suwon won the Korea League North Division for the second time in a row, winning firmly at 107-55. Busan won their third straight South Division at 111-51, outracing a solid 103-59 from Ulsan.

The Swallows had the MVP in 3B Kyu-Min Ri, who led in the triple slash (.346/.407/.642) and in RBI (127). Seongnam’s Hyung-Mo So won his second Pitcher of the Year, five years after his first one. The 30-year old had 7.9 WAR and 28/34 quality starts.

Nagoya swept Saitama in the JLCS for their second Japan League title and Busan handled Suwon in five in the KLCS for back-to-back Korean Titles. The East Asian Championship was a seven game thriller, won by the Nightowls over the Blue Jays. For Nagoya, it’s their second overall title in four years.





Other notes: Sendai’s Yoshimatsu Sakamoto became the fourth EAB pitcher to 3000 career strikeouts. Nagoya’s Michiro Yabuta became the second pitcher to 200 career wins. Suwon’s Ho-Seong Na became a three-time Reliever of the Year winner. Fukuoka’s Kota Takada won his ninth Silver Slugger at right field.