MLB Japan All-Star Series: Difference between revisions

| native_name = 日米野球

| frequency = IrregularyIrregularly

| last = [[20142018 MLB Japan All-Star Series|20142018]]

| next = [[2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series|2018]]

| organised = [[Major League Baseball]]<br>[[Nippon Professional Baseball]]<br>[[Japan national baseball team]]

The '''MLB Japan All-Star Series''' is an irregularyirregular end-of-the-season tour of [[Japan]] made by an [[all-star game|All-Star]] team from [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) since [[1986 MLB Japan All-Star Series|1986]], contested in a [[Playoff format#Best-of formats|best-of format]] against the All-Stars from [[Nippon Professional Baseball]] (NPB) or recently as of [[2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series|2014]] their national team [[Japan national baseball team|Samurai Japan]] (SJP).

The series has featured many great players, such as [[Nori Aoki]], [[Barry Bonds]], [[Ken Griffey Jr.]], [[Chase Utley]], [[Ryan Howard]], [[Hideki Matsui]], [[Ichiro Suzuki]], [[Shinnosuke Abe]], [[David Ortiz]], [[Sammy Sosa]], [[Justin Morneau]], [[David Wright (baseball)|David Wright]], [[José Reyes (shortstop)|Jose Reyes]], [[José Altuve]], [[Robinson Canó]] and [[Manny Ramírez]].

In the beginning of all games the [[The Star-Spangled Banner|American]], [[O Canada|Canadian]] and [[Kimi ga Yo|Japanese]] national anthems are all played. Games can end in a tie if it persists through 12 innings, just as in NPB rules.

The Japan All-Star Series was resumed in 2014 after an eight-year break.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/news/2014/06/11/kiji/K20140611008340250.html/|title=US-Japan Baseball 2014 Schedule (in japanese)|work=Sponichi.co.jp|accessdateaccess-date=June 11, 2014}}</ref> It was the outcome of discussions and attempts to realize the Global World Series. [[Katsuhiko Kumazaki]], then the new [[Commissioner of Baseball (NPB)|Commissioner of NPB]], decided to field the national team [[Samurai Japan]], instead of a [[NPB|NPB All-Star]] line-up, for the [[2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series|2014 series]]. Kumazaki saw in this series a big opportunity for the Japanese team to gain hugely useful experience for the [[2017 World Baseball Classic]]. Samurai Japan won the best-of-five series by a margin of three games to two. Particularly noteworthy was a combined [[no-hitter]] by Samurai Japan in Game 3 as their pitchers shut out the MLB All-Stars 4–0.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://m.mlb.com/news/article/101525294/takahiro-norimoto-leads-japans-combined-no-hitter-vs-mlb|author=Joey Nowak|publisherwork=MLB.com|title=Perfect Norimoto leads combined no-no vs. MLB|accessdateaccess-date=20 November 2014|date=15 November 2014}}</ref>

On May 1, 2018, MLB announced that it would send again an All-Star team to tour Japan after the end of current season, with six games scheduled against the Japan national team from November 9 to 15.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/major-league-baseball-returns-to-japan-in-2018-and-2019/c-274713114 | title=Major League Baseball returns to Japan in 2018 and 2019 |work=MLB.com |date=May 1, 2018 | accessdateaccess-date=May 2, 2018 }}</ref>

|style="text-align:center"| TBD1 Game

|style="text-align:center; background-color:#ccffcc"| TBD5 Games

|style="text-align:center"| TBD0 Games

|style="text-align:center"| TBD

|style="text-align:center"| MLB 0–10–2 SJP

[[Category:Major League Baseball international baseball competitions]]