MLB Japan All-Star Series
The MLB Japan All-Star Series is a series of games played every two years from 1986 to 2006 between the Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) all-star teams . The Japanese national baseball team (known as Samurai Japan) has competed against the MLB All-Stars under the same name since 2014 . The American , Canadian, and Japanese national anthems are played before all games.
MLB All-Stars versus NPB All-Stars (1986-2006)
| year | series | MLB All-Stars won | NPB All-Stars won (1986-98 as All-Japan) | draw | Best Player ( MVP ) |
| 1986 | Best of 7 | 6 games | 1 game | 0 games | Tony Peña (MLB) |
| 1988 | Best of 7 | 3 games | 2 games | 2 games | Barry Larkin (MLB) |
| 1990 | Best of 8 | 3 games | 4 games | 1 game | Ken Griffey, Jr. (MLB) |
| 1992 | Best of 8 | 6 games | 1 game | 1 game | Mark Grace (MLB) |
| 1994 | Canceled (due to strike by MLB players) | ||||
| 1996 | Best of 8 | 4 games | 2 games | 2 games | Steve Finley (MLB) |
| 1998 | Best of 8 | 6 games | 2 games | 0 games | Sammy Sosa (MLB) |
| 2000 | Best of 8 | 5 games | 2 games | 1 game | Barry Bonds (MLB) |
| 2002 | Best of 8 | 5 games | 3 games | 0 games | Torii Hunter (MLB) |
| 2004 | Best of 8 | 5 games | 3 games | 0 game | Vernon Wells (MLB) |
| 2006 | Best of 5 | 5 games | 0 games | 0 games | Ryan Howard (MLB) |
| 2008 | Dropped (in favor of the World Baseball Classic ) | ||||
| 2010 | |||||
| 2012 | |||||
| Total | MLB 9-1 NPB | 48 games | 20 games | 7 games | MLB 10-0 NPB |
MLB All-Stars against Samurai Japan (since 2014)
The Japan All-Star Series was resumed in 2014 after an eight-year break. The new NPB chairman, Katsuhiko Kumazaki , announced that from 2014, instead of an NPB All-Star line-up, the Japanese national team would take part in the series. Basically, the MLB All-Stars are equivalent to an All-Star Team in the world; therefore, according to the NPB chairman, it was a good opportunity for the national team to gain experience for the upcoming World Baseball Classic in 2017. Japan as an underdog unexpectedly won the series 3 to 2 games. On May 1, 2018 it was announced that the MLB Japan All-Star Series would be played against the Japanese national team again in 2018 as the best-of-6 series.
| year | series | MLB All-Stars won | Japan won | draw | Best Player ( MVP ) |
| 2014 | Best of 5 | 2 games | 3 games | 0 games | Yuki Yanagita (JPN) |
| 2018 | Best of 6 | 1 game | 5 games | 0 games | |
| Total | MLB 0-1 JPN | 3 games | 8 games | 0 games | MLB 0-1 JPN |
Individual evidence
- ↑ US-Japan Baseball 2014 Schedule (in japanese) . In: Sponichi.co.jp . Retrieved June 11, 2014.
- ↑ Major League Baseball returns to Japan in 2018 and 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2018 .
Web links
- MLB Japan Games (English)
- NPB international games (Japanese)