NPB Players of the Month - May 2026 CENTRAL LEAGUE - PITCHER LHP Haruto Takahashi - Hanshin Tigers (2nd time award winner) 4 starts 3 wins 0 losses 1 complete games 1 complete game shutouts 29.2 innings pitched 31 strikeouts 5 runs allowed 5 earned runs allowed 1.52 ERA CENTRAL LEAGUE - BATTER IF Teruaki Sato - Hanshin Tigers (4th time award winner) 25 games 91 official at-bats 33 hits .363 batting average 7 home runs 14 runs batted in .670 slugging percentage .442 on base percentage PACIFIC LEAGUE - PITCHER . LHP Hiromi Itoh - NIppon-Ham Fighters (3rd time award winner) 4 starts 4 wins 0 losses 1 complete games 1 complete game shutouts 29 innings pitched 31 strikeouts 5 runs allowed 4 earned runs allowed 1.24 ERA PACIFIC LEAGUE - BATTER IF Tyler Nevin - Seibu Lions (1st time award winner) 24 games 85 official at-bats 29 hits .341 batting average 9 home runs 19 runs batted in .729 slugging percentage .420 on base percentage
Wednesday 10 June - セ・パ交流戦2026 Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2026-06-10 Lions-Carp went 10 innings
Shinya Hasegawa drove in the walk off run for the second night in a row to give the Seibu Lions a 5-4 sayonara win over the Hiroshima Carp. Hasegawa's two-out timely single scored Masayuki Kuwahara from 2nd base for the game winner. The extra frame was required after Elehuris Montero had tied the game for the Carp with a two-out 2-run bomb in the top of the 9th inning. It was the 9,000th home run in Hiroshima Carp club history. Before the game Tyler Nevin met with the media on his being named PL Player of the Month for May. Shun Mizutani had 3 RBIs including a solo home run to help lead the Nippon-Ham Fighters to a 4-2 victory over the DeNA BayStars. Ruan Ōtsuka also homered for Nippon-Ham on a modasho 3-for-4 night at the plate. Starting pitcher Takayuki Kato allowed just 2 hits and a walk in 7 innings of work to earn his 6th win for the Fighters who have now won 6 in a row. Kensuke Kondoh went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs to lead the SoftBank Hawks to a 6-2 victory over the Hanshin Tigers. With 3 homers in his last 2 games Kondoh brought his season total to 12. Yukiu Yanagita added his 8th blast of the season for SoftBank. Haru Matsumoto fanned 7 batters over 5 innings to earn his 4th win of the year. The Orix Buffaloes scored 7 runs in the 5th inning en route to an 8-4 win over the Yakult Swallows. The Buffaloes sent 11 batters to the plate during the rally that included included four consecutive RBI hits. Yuma Mune and Ryo Ohta keyed the attack with 2 RBIs apiece. Ryuhei Sotani went the distance for the second complete game of his career.
The Chunichi Dragons scored 5 runs in the 1st inning and led 10-0 after the 3rd en route to an 11-4 drubbing of the Lotte Marines. Kosuke Ukai sparked the Chunichi offense going 3-for-5 with a run-scoring double and grand slam to finished with 5 RBIs. Drgons starter Yorinosuke Sakurai pitched a strong 8 innings allowing 3 runs while striking out 6 for his second win of the campaign. Koki Yamaguchi went yard for the Marines. Shosei Togo has struggled on the mound in the past couple of years but he was in vintage form on Wednesday to lead the Yomiuri Giants to a 7-0 blanking of the Rakuten Eagles. A member Samurai's victorious 2023 WBC team, Togo delivered a career-high 14 strikeouts against the Eagles allowing just 5 hits and a walk in a 134-pitch performance for his first complete game shutout and third win overall of the year. The Giants attack was spread out as 5 players drove in 5 earned runs while Go Matsumoto was the only batter to finish with more than one hit. Before the game the Eagles announced that manager Hajime Miki would be taking an unspecified leave of absence with coach Tatsuya Shiokawa taking over the managerial duties. Rakuten are currently bottom of the Pacific League standings with a 21-37-1 record, 7 games behind the 5th place Marines.
Thursday 11 June - セ・パ交流戦2026 Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2026-06-11 Marines-Dragons went 10 innings
A 2-run double from Yume Mune capped a 3-run 5th inning that helped the Orix Buffaloes defeat the Yakult Swallows 4-2. Starting pitcher Anderson Espinoza threw a strong 7 innings allowing an unearned run on 4 hits to earn his 6th win of the season. Yakult's Yasutaka Shiomi, who has had his outstanding career hindered by injuries in recent years, hit his first home run since 2024 in the 9th inning. 21 year old Taiwanese flamethrower Yi-Lei Sun pitched a strong 6 inning debut as the Nippon-Ham Fighters won their 7th consecutive game following their 3-0 shutout victory over the DeNA BayStars. Sun was perfect through 4 innings and ultimately allowed just 2 hits and one walk while striking out 8 in his first NPB appearance. His fastball consistently hit the 154-156 kmh range, topping out at 157 (98 mph). Of the 6 games played on Thursday, this was the second game to be completed and when the final out was made it confirmed the Pacific League had won the Interleague series for the 4th consecutive year and the 18th time overall since the "Exchange Series" began in 2005. Kaima Taira tossed 6 innings of 1-hit ball in leading the Seibu Lions to a 4-1 win over the Hiroshima Carp. Seibu relievers Trey Wingenter (back from injury in his first appearance of the season), Masaya Kuroda and Hiroshi Kaino held Hiroshima to just the one hit the rest of the way. The Carp were still hitless when they took the lead in the 4th inning on two walks, a hit by pitch, and wild pitch. In the bottom half of the 4th a 2-RBI single from Taiga Kojima flipped the score and was the game winning hit in the Lions favor.
Taisei Makihara's RBI knock in the 7th inning provided victory for the SoftBnk Hawks 3-2 over the Hanshin Tigers to complete the three game sweep. Tomoya Masaki hit his 5th home run of the season for the Hawks. Yusuke Ohyama homered for the Tigers who out-hit SoftBank 9-7 but stranded 10 runners on base including 6 in scoring position. Carson McCusker drove in 4 runs including a 3-run home run as the Rakuten Eagles halted the Yomiuri Giants 8-game unbeaten streak with an 8-2 trouncing in Sendai. The game marked the first appearance of Masahiro Tanaka against his former team. A club legend, Tanaka debuted for the then-recently expansion Golden Eagles in 2007 where he spent a magnificent 7 seasons which culminated in a 24-0 record with a 1.27 ERA in 2013 leading the club to the Nippon Series championship. The New York Yankees took note and Tanaka spent the next 7 years in the Big Apple where he won over the die hards from the start. A reportedly controversial moment during the 2020 covid season supposedly upset Tanaka enough that he decided to return to his former team in 2021. This also allowed for his participation in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics where he helped Japan capture the gold medal on home soil. The big right-hander had up and down moments during his second stint in NPB and after an injury-hit 2024 season that saw him make only one appearance, Tanaka and the Eagles mutually agreed to part ways. The former superstar signed with the Giants in 2024 where he won the needed 3 games to reach the 200 win total (NPB/MLB combined). On Thursday facing his former team for the first time, Tanaka was rocked for 5 runs in just 2 innings of work, allowing 6 hits and 2 walks without registering a single strikeout. A disappointed homecoming, indeed. A 2-out single from Toshiya Satō scored Atsuki Tomosugi to give the Lotte Marines a 3-2 sayonara victory in 10 innings over the Chunichi Dragons. Neftali Soto put the Marines up with two RBI hits early on. Seiya Hosokawa and Miguel Sano provided the Dragons scoring with solo home runs. The walk off win meant that for the 8th time in Interleague history the Pacific League swept all 6 games played on a single gameday.
Weekend series matchups, 12-14 June These are the final full slate of Interleague games originally scheduled. 3 postponed games are scheduled to be made up next week.
Sayonara of the Month - May 2026 Sponsored by SKY PerfecTV!, "Awarded to the players who hit the most impactful walk-off hit throughout the month." CENTRAL LEAGUE IF Hayato Sakamoto - Yomiuri Giants (5th time award winner) Wednesday 13 May Seiren Dream Stadium, Fukui Bottom of the 12th inning, Hiroshima Carp lead 2-1. Shunsuke Sasaki led off by striking out. Yukinori Kishida singled to left field. Bobby Dalbec singled to left field. Sakamoto walked it off by connecting on a first pitch off speed delivery for a 3-run home run over the left field fence. Adding to the moment was that it marked Sakamoto's 300th home run of his career. PACIFIC LEAGUE C Kenta Tanigawara - SoftBank Hawks (1st time award winner) Friday 8 May Mizuho/PayPay Dome, Fukuoka Bottom of the 9th inning, Lotte Marines lead 5-3. Ryoya Kurihara led off with a solo home run, cutting the deficit to 5-4. Tatsuru Yanagimachi flied out to left field. Isami Nomura singled to left field. Akira Nakamura popped out to second base. Taisei Makihara doubled to left field scoring Nomura to tie the game. Tanigawara singled to right field scoring Makihara with the game winning run. It was Tanigawara's first career sayonara.
4 runs in the 6th inning catapulted the Yakult Swallows to a 4-2 victory over the SoftBank Hawks at the Mizuho/PayPay Dome. The rally was highlighted by a 2-RBI bases loaded single from Yukihiro Iwata that tied the score at 2-2. Yasutaka Shiomi and Shu Masuda drove in two more runs as the win put a halt to the Swallows 7 game losing streak. SoftBank's defeat was compounded by the news that catcher Yūdai Yamamoto underwent surgery on the hamate bone in his left wrist and is expected to miss the next 2-3 months. Natsuo Takizawa went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs including a run scoring triple as the Seibu Lions extended their winning streak to 6 games following their 3-0 shutout win over the Yomiuri Giants in Saitama. Kona Takahashi continued his impressive year on the mound by allowing just one hit and 2 walks with 10 strikeouts over 7 dominating innings. Giants starter Kazuyuki Takemaru also pitched well with a career high 12 strikeouts over 7 plus innings adding to his credentials as the likely favorite to be named Central League Rookie of the Year. Seibu's win combined with the Hawks loss allowed the Lions to leapfrog into first place in the Interleague standings with 2 days of play remaining. The Kansai Derby kicked off with the Orix Buffaloes defeating the Hanshin Tigers 2-1 at the Kyocera Dome. Back to back home runs by Ryoma Nishikawa and Kotaro Kurebayashi in the 1st inning were enough to give the Buffaloes the win. Orix starter Luis Perdomo worked 3 innings followed by a succession of 7 relievers to help preserve the lead. Tigers starter Shoki Murakami settled after giving up the two bombs, going 7 frames but was unable to avoid taking the loss.
Haruki Hosono struck out 11 batters in 6-2/3 innings as the Nippon-Ham Fighters defeated the Chunichi Dragons 3-1 at Es Con Field Hokkaido. The strong performance earned Hosono his first win since throwing a no hit, no run gem in the Fighters season home opener back on March 31. A timely 2-run double from Itsuki Murabayashi in the 7th inning flipped a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win for the Rakuten Golden Eagles over the Hiroshima Carp. Starting pitchers Takayuki Kishi of the Eagles and Shōgo Tamamura of the Carp engaged in a quality 7 inning pitching duel. Murabayashi's game winning knock allowed Kishi to pick up his first win of the season. 20 year old Rikai Jyumile Waters made his first NPB start at second base and delivered his first hit as a professional. Born in Virginia to an American father and Japanese mother, "Jumi" moved with his family when he was 2 to Okinawa where he learned the game. Daito Yamamoto poked a well timed hit into right field to give the Lotte Marines a 3-2 sayonara victory over the DeNA BayStars in Chiba. It was Lotte's second consecutive walk off win. Koki Yamaguchi and Neftali Soto each homered for the Marines. For Soto, the home run against his former team made him the 50th player in NPB history to have gone yard against all 12 NPB teams.
Isami Nomura hit 2 home runs to lead the SoftBank Hawks to an 8-1 win over the Yakult Swallows. Kensuke Kondoh also homered for the Hawks, a 2-run blast for number 13 on the year. On the mound Yugo Maeda had the best outing of his young career allowing only one run in 7 innings for his fourth win of the season. The Hawks could clinch the Interleague title if they win and both the Lions and Fighters lose on Sunday. Richard Sunagawa hit a home run in his first at-bat of the season and it ended up as the game winner as the Yomiuri Giants defeated the Seibu Lions 2-1. Sunagawa's bomb in the 2nd inning followed Bobby Dalbec's homer in the 1st which provided enough offense for the Giants win. Forrest Whitley allowed 3 hits over 6 innings to earn his second win of the year. The early innings setback hurt Lions pitcher Chihiro Sumida who ended up going the 9 inning distance registering 13 strikeouts with no walks along the way but was saddled with the loss. Tatsuki Mizuno homered in the bottom of the 9th inning to give Nippon-Ham Fighters a wild 4-3 sayonara victory over the Chunichi Dragons. Leading 2-1 in the 8th, the Fighters added a run on birthday boy Yua Tamiya's solo home run that required video review to confirm. The Dragons came back to tie it in the 9th on a 2 RBI single from Kosuke Ukai. But Mizuno's walkoff blast meant the Fighters had extended their winning streak to 9 consecutive games.
Masato Morishita delivered his first complete game shutout since June 2024 as the Hiroshima Carp blanked the Rakuten Eagles 2-0. Morishita allowed just 2 hits and a walk in a dominating performance. Shogo Sakakura drove in Minoru Ohmori in the 1st inning which held up as the game winning run. Atsushi Katsumata hit his first career home run and Tatsuo Ebina added a grand slam as the DeNA BayStars routed the Lotte Marines 16-6. The BayStars sent 12 batters to the plate in a 8-run rally to lead 10-0 after just 2 innings before Ebina's grand slam in the 5th made it 15-0. In total, the visitors scattered 19 hits throughout the game. Neftali Soto, who spent 6 seasons in Yokohama before signing with the Marines in 2024, played in his 1000th NPB game, the 15th foreign player to reach the mark. A 2-RBI double from Takahiro Kumagai in the 6th inning keyed a 6-3 victory for the Hanshin Tigers over the Orix Buffaloes. With the Tigers leading 4-3 in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Buffaloes threatened with two runners on base and the dangerous Ryo Ohta at bat. With the count at 2-1, reliever Rito Kinoshita was brought in and fanned Ohta on 3 pitches to earn Hero of the Game status.
Sunday 14 June - セ・パ交流戦2026 Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2026-06-14 Buffaloes-Tigers went 10 innings
Yasunobu Okugawa allowed just 5 hits with no walks and 9 strikeouts in recording his first career complete game shutout as the Yakult Swallows shut down the SoftBank Hawks 4-0 in Fukuoka. The 25 tear old Okugawa threw 111 pitches, did not allow any extra base hits against the Hawks vaunted offense and it’s the most strikeouts he’s recorded since 15 August 2021 against the BayStars. Rookie infielder Ayuto Matsushita went 2-for-4 driving in 3 runs, the first RBIs of his career. Domingo Santana added insurance with his 12th home run of the season. The Hawks, who entered Sunday atop the Interleague standings, finish with a 14-4 record but must wait until Tuesday's results to find out if they successfully defend their title. Seiya Hosokawa crushed a 138m (452 ft) home run as the Chunichi Dragons snapped the Nippon-Ham Fighters 9 game winning streak with a 9-5 win. Takaya Ishikawa also homered while Yūki Okabayashi and Kosuke Ukai each drove in 2 runs to power the Dragons to victory. Franmil Reyes and Chusei Mannami each hit their 13th home runs of the year for the Fighters who could have put themselves in good position to claim the Interleague title with a victory but they must now win their makeup in Hiroshima on Tuesday to still be in the running. Kazunari Ishii hit his third home run of the year to give the Seibu Lions a 1-0 win over the Yomiuri Giants. Seibu starter Allan Winans struck out 7 batters in 6-2/3 innings for his second win of the season. The win puts the Lions back into first place with destiny in their own hands as a victory over the Tigers on Tuesday would give the club their first ever Interleague title.
Ryōma Yamanaka's deep fly into the left-centerfield alley scored Ryoma Nishikawa from third base to give the Orix Buffaloes a sayonara 3-2 win in 10 innings over the Hanshin Tigers to win the rubber game of the Kansai Derby. Neftali Soto launched 2 home runs as the Lotte Marines defeated the DeNA BayStars 6-4 in an entertaining cross-Tokyo Bay affair. Kyuto Ueda and Toshiya Satō also went yard for the Marines. Asahi Miyashita went 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs including a late 2-run home run in a valiant effort for the BayStars. A solo home run in the 1st inning from Minoru Ohmori held up as the game winner as the Hiroshima Carp shutout the Rakuten Eagles 3-0. Shun Okamoto fanned 8 batters over 7 scoreless inning to earn his 5th win of the year. Despite having a rained out game to make up, Sunday's defeat confirmed that the Eagles will finish bottom of the Interleague table.
The Interleague championship has come down to 2 games that were originally rained out on June 2 and will be made up on Tuesday 16 June: Hanshin Tigers vs Seibu Lions Hiroshima Carp vs Nippon-Ham Fighters 3 teams are in the hunt for the crown. The Seibu Lions control their own destiny. If they win or tie their game against the Tigers, they will win their first ever Interleague title. if the Lions lose, it opens the door for the Nippon-Ham Fighters or Softbank Hawks to claim the title. The Fighters must beat the Carp to finish with the same record as the Hawks. If this happens, the championship will come down to the tiebreak of Team Quality Balance, or TQB. The Hawks have finished their Interleague schedule and have a TQB of .197 The Fighters TQB currently is at .178 Simply put, if the Lions lose, the Fighters must beat the Carp by at least 5 runs to overtake the Hawks for the title (assuming the game is completed after 9 innings). If they win by 4 runs or less, the Hawks would claim their 10th crown. The Hawks also capture the title if the Fighters lose or tie in Hiroshima (assuming the Lions also lose). But all eyes will primarily be focused on Koshien Stadium to see how the Lions are doing.
Update on fan voting for the 2026 NPB All-Star Series. (updated online totals as released on Monday 15 June): CENTRAL LEAGUE STARTING PITCHER 199,944 Taichi Yamano (Swallows) 179,024 Haruto Takahashi (Tigers) 76,514 Hiroto Saiki (Tigers) MIDDLE RELIEVER 288,944 Taisei Ota (Giants) 189,195 Tomoya Hoshi (Swallows) 64,732 Sean Reynolds (BayStars) CLOSER 354,448 José Quijada (Swallows) 151,437 Suguru Iwazaki (Tigers) 120,993 Raidel Martínez (Giants) CATCHER 214,451 Yudai Koga (Swallows) 181,417 Seishiro Sakamoto (Tigers) 152,144 Yuta Ishii (Dragons) 1st BASE 364,145 Yusuke Ohyama (Tigers) 180,247 José Osuna (Swallows) 134,732 Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (BayStars) 2nd BASE 288,267 Takumu Nakano (Tigers) 180,150 Shugo Maki (BayStars) 131,327 Souma Uchiyama (Swallows) 3rd BASE 429,416 Teruaki Sato (Tigers) 186,104 Ryūsei Takeoka (Swallows) 96,959 Hayato Sakamoto (Giants) SHORTSTOP 279,350 Hideki Nagaoka (Swallows) 254,675 Kaito Muramatsu (Dragons) 149,984 Seiya Kinami (Tigers) OUTFIELDERS 464,956 Shota Morishita (Tigers) 251,905 Seiya Hosokawa (Dragons) 247,396 Shu Masuda (Swallows) 233,487 Ryūki Watarai (BayStars) 219,348 Domingo Santana (Swallows) 193,486 Yukihiro Iwata (Swallows) PACIFIC LEAGUE STARTING PITCHER 159,543 Hiromi Itoh (Fighters) 123,532 Kaima Taira (Lions) 89,622 Ryosuke Ohtsu (Hawks) MIDDLE RELIEVER 184,480 Shota Suzuki (Marines) 160,781 Hiroshi Kaino (Lions) 153,466 Ren Mukunoki (Buffaloes) CLOSER 225,393 Andrés Machado (Buffaloes) 189,550 Rikuto Yokoyama (Marines) 140,859 Taisei Yanagawa (Fighters) CATCHER 238,385 Yua Tamiya (Fighters) 158,686 Kenya Wakatsuki (Buffaloes) 141,213 Takashi Umino (Hawks) 1st BASE 298,692 Kotaro Kiyomiya (Fighters) 252,944 Tyler Nevin (Lions) 179,820 Neftali Soto (Marines) 2nd BASE 233,158 Ryusei Ogawa (Marines) 217,883 Ryo Ohta (Buffaloes) 174,842 Taisei Makihara (Hawks) 3rd BASE 372,209 Ryoya Kurihara (Hawks) 180,499 Yūya Gunji (Fighters) 128,074 Yuma Mune (Buffaloes) SHORTSTOP 178,066 Atsuki Tomosugi (Marines) 166,293 Tatsuki Mizuno (Fighters) 153,464 Itsuki Murabayashi (Eagles) OUTFIELDERS 380,242 Chusei Mannami (Fighters) 309,791 Misho Nishikawa (Marines) 286,268 Ukyo Shuto (Hawks) 259,772 Kensuke Kondoh (Hawks) 173,768 Ryoma Nishikawa (Buffaloes) 169,768 Kyota Fujiwara (Marines) DESIGNATED HITTER 319,163 Franmil Reyes (Fighters) 230,891 Yuki Yanagita (Hawks) 144,856 Gregory Polanco (Marines)
The Saitama Seibu Lions captured their first ever Interleague championship after defeating the Hanshin Tigers 1-0 at Koshien Stadium. A timely single to center field from Masayuki Kuwahara scored Manaya Nishikawa from second base in the 5th inning for the game's only run. Lions southpaw starter Natsuki Takeuchi struck out 10 batters over 6 innings and combined with relievers Trey Wingenter, Hibiki Shinohara and Hiroshi Kaino to shut down Hanshin's vaunted bats. In the top of the 7th inning Tigers reliever Taisei Kudo achieved an immaculate inning (3 strikeouts on 9 pitches), the 28th time the feat has been accomplished in NPB history.
Koki Kitayama struck out 9 batters in 5-2/3 innings to help the Nippon-Ham Fighters to a 2-0 shutout win over the Hiroshima Carp at Mazda Stadium. The Fighters opened the scoring in typical Tsuyoshi Shinjo fashion, a 2-out safety squeeze with Ruan Ōtsuka successfully bunting home Kota Yazawa in the 4th inning. Chusei Mannami added an insurance run in the 9th with his 14th home run of the year. 22 year old Hiroshima prospect Yuta Saitoh allowed just 3 hits and a walk in a 5 inning season debut, his fastball topping out at 155 kmh (97 mph). If the Lions had lost against the Tigers, the Fighters could have claimed the Interleague title with a win by at least a 5 run margin, but with destiny out of their hands they were still able to get the victory win on the night.
Wednesday 17 June - セ・パ交流戦2026 Boxscores: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/schedule/?date=2026-06-17 Yusuke Ohyama drove in 3 runs including a 2-run home run as Interleague play came to an end with the Hanshin Tigers defeating the Rakuten Eagles 10-3 at Koshien. Kotaro Otake picked up the win allowing just 3 hits in 6 shutout innings. NPB will resume normal service on Friday as Intra-League rivalries will fill up the rest of the regular season schedule until early October when the pennant races will be decided.