Central League
The Central League or Ce League, also known as the JERA Central League for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country. Unlike the Pacific League, designated hitters are not used during Central League home games. The Central League has voted to adopt the designated hitter beginning in 2027.
History
The Central League was founded in 1949 with eight teams: four holdovers from the previous Japanese Baseball League — the Chunichi Dragons, the Hanshin Tigers, the Yomiuri Giants, and the Shochiku Robins — and four new teams — the Hiroshima Carp, the Kokutetsu Swallows, the Nishi Nippon Pirates, and the Taiyō Whales.The Nishi Nippon Pirates existed for one season — they placed sixth in 1950, and the following season merged with the also Fukuoka-based Nishitetsu Clippers to form the Nishitetsu Lions, who joined the Pacific League. This brought the number of Central League teams down to an ungainly arrangement of seven.
Ryuji Suzuki became president of the Central League in 1952.
In 1952, it was decided that any team ending the season with a winning percentage below.300 would be disbanded or merged with other teams. The Shochiku Robins fell into this category, and were merged with the Taiyō Whales to become the Taiyō Shochiku Robins in January 1953. This enabled the Central League to shrink to an even number of six teams.
Ryuji Suzuki retired as CL president in 1984 after 33 years at the post.
In 2007, a new Climax Series was introduced. This playoff series was inspired by the stepladder playoff used in the Pacific League introduced in 2004 for the top three teams of the league to determine which one progressed to the Japan Series. Under the previous system, there was no post-season playoff and the winner of the pennant automatically qualified for the Japan Series.
Current teams
Central League pennant winners
Climax Series winners
- 2025 Hanshin Tigers
- 2024 Yokohama DeNA BayStars
- 2023 Hanshin Tigers
- 2022 Tokyo Yakult Swallows
- 2021 Tokyo Yakult Swallows
- 2020 Yomiuri Giants
- 2019 Yomiuri Giants
- 2018 Hiroshima Toyo Carp
- 2017 Yokohama DeNA BayStars
- 2016 Hiroshima Toyo Carp
- 2015 Tokyo Yakult Swallows
- 2014 Hanshin Tigers
- 2013 Yomiuri Giants
- 2012 Yomiuri Giants
- 2011 Chunichi Dragons
- 2010 Chunichi Dragons
- 2009 Yomiuri Giants
- 2008 Yomiuri Giants
- 2007 Chunichi Dragons
Central League statistics