Japanese Baseball vs MLB

I'm convinced that many of the old Japanese HOF'ers could have dominated in the majors. Players such as Oh, Nomura, Nagashima, Isao, Yamamoto, Ochiai, Kinguasa, Inao, Kaneda, Keishi Suzuki, Bessho, and many more could have competed in the majors in my opinion.

Before 1946, it is possible that Japanese stars wouldn't have done as well. After that, we can see what major leaguers did in Japan, what Japanese players did in exhibitions against major leaguers, etc. While Japanese gopher ball pitchers like Keishi Suzuki might have struggled in the majors, and relatively low average guys like Kinugasa would have had low averages in the majors (think .240's and lower), I think they would have performed essentially around what I project they would have done. I'm a little more confident about hitters, but I think the pitching projections are OK. Even Kazuo Matsui has performed around where I expected him to hit - the real surprise with him has been his defense in the majors. I've never seen enough of him to form a reasonable opinion as to whether or not his injuries are a major source of his difficulties in that area.

Jim Albright

Why do some Americans say that the NPB is Double A calibuer, yet Americans say the Japanese are the most fundamentaly sound players right now? Are they just being biased? I think any NPB team can beat any MLB team in a 7 game series. Just my opinion.

- Why do some Americans say that the NPB is Double A calibuer ...

Without starting another arguement, it was Joe Morgan who said that NPB was of AA caliber. Morgan is best to ingore as he makes downright hypocritical comments most of the time when he's in a position to know better most of the time.

Most people think of the NPB as a major league caliber league and one that is of a major league quality and equal to the Majors.

- Most people think of the NPB as a major league caliber league and one that is of a major league quality and equal to the Majors.

Equal to the Majors? I think you're probably overstating your case. The leagues are not equal, but considering that MLB will take talent from any country without any limits, this shouldn't be surprising.

I don't think one can accurately compare the NPB to any level of baseball in America because NPB teams all have a mix of legit MLB talent, "4-A" and AAA talent, and probably some AA talent. It's not comparable to any other professional baseball league, IMO.

Hideki Matsui mentioned earlier this year that it is like comparing "apples to oranges" (well that is what his translater said).

NPB does not fit into the our ML, AAA, AA, A system of classification. The starters on Japanese teams are of Major League caliber. The bench is where the talent level drops off. Lack of depth on the bench is the difference.

I know that from the standpoint of why players are in the league, the Negro League comparison isn't apt, and there probably was more top shelf talent in the Negro Leagues compared to even the 1960's in Japan (with Oh, Nagashima, Nomura, Harimoto, Kaneda, and Inao), but probably the most comparable leagues are the Negro Leagues, which had HOF-caliber players, major leaguers, top-level minor leaguers, and some guys a step down from that. The top in Japan is slipping from that with a number of departures for the majors, but overall the analogy is as close as you are going to get.

Jim Albright

In the manga (Japanese comic) Major, the young progagonist asks his father (a ficticious character on a ficticious pro baseball team in Japan) if the Japanese teams could compete with the Americans. His father's answer is basically that on average the players in the MLB are bigger, stronger, and faster.

Of course this is far from a technical source, but I don't think many people truly believe that the whole of the NPB is on par with the MLB. Just by the fact that the MLB is basically a global all-star league makes the concept all but impossible. The fact that the league is the height of heights in North America greatly affects the lesser professional leauges to the point where making comparisons is impossible.

The bottom line is that good baseball players are good baseball players in any leauge. Matsui, Nomo, Suzuki, Ichirou, etc. have all proven it. Even Shinjo, although he didn't put up all-star calliber numbers, put up comperable numbers to his Japanese career and showcased amazing fielding ability.

- Of course this is far from a technical source, but I don't think many people truly believe that the whole of the NPB is on par with the MLB.

Bobby Valentine has indicated he believes just that. He has said that there is no difference between the two leagues now and wants to test his Marines against the World Series Champions.

- He has said that there is no difference between the two leagues now and wants to test his Marines against the World Series Champions.

And hopefully we will be able to have this series. I know I wish for a best of 7 game series where the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Chicago White Sox would play in. It should definetly be a most interesting proposal, I would hope MLB would accept it.

The Konami Asia Series 2005 is the perfect setup for a True World Series. The winner of the Asia series (CBA, CPBL, KBO, or NPB) should logically play against the MLB champion as I have proposed for over a decade.

We can debate back and forth about how each team would fare until teams actually take the field.

Honolulu's Aloha Stadium would be the good venue - The Mets and Padres played a regular season game there a few years ago as well as the old PCL Hawaii Islanders.

I think you make a very good point. As with the NBA, which has players from all over the world, MLB is the strongest league. I do not think there is any real doubt there.

It is impossible to fit NPB into the continental American model, but certainly it is often better than AA. I would say it is very good AAA and the best teams are as good as average MLB. However comparison is really impossible and until Kiyoshi's idea of MLB vs. East Asian Champs is realised it will all be speculation.

What's the difference between Japanese and American baseball? Please let me know because I don't know and I would love to hear what you have to say.

The difference is the amount of people in both countries. If there are more players to choose from in America, you have more chance of getting better quality. Also, foreigners will go to MLB, because the get way more money. The best players in MLB are Dominican, so how come the league in the Dominican Republic is not the best in the world? So the answer is money!

Strategy. That's the biggest difference. But like everything else, this is changing.

Jim Allen's Do Sacrifice Bunts Really Provide an Edge is a good introduction to a strategy that many NPB managers stick with. Mori-kantoku, the manager of the Seibu Lions in 1995 when that article was written, is also one of the main proponents of "Kanri Yakyu," a term I'd suggest you look up.

Besides the usual Robert Whiting books, Rob Fitts' Remembering Japanese Baseball will give you details about the differences straight from the players' mouths. In fact, after "Wa," this is probably the best book about Japanese baseball written in English ever published. You'll get a lot out of these two books.

Still, some differences are in the background, not standing out so much. For example, all of the stadiums in Japan are symmetrical. Other than wind effects, parks don't favor left handed or right handed batters, as the fenses are the same height to left and right, as are the dimensions.

The baseball itself in NPB is just a little bit smaller. But talks are underway to make it conform to international baseball standards.

While the rule book is the same, some things had been lost in translation. For example, once in motion to deliver a pitch to the plate, the pitcher is not permitted to stop. Not hard to get wrong, right? Well, up until this past season, many pitchers have had a kind of two-step motion - where they lift their front leg, kick up and down a couple of times, then come down with their delivery. The motion never came to a stop, but Japanese pitchers who have moved to the MLB have had balks called on them for this. So the interpretation of this rule has been different between NPB and MLB. (NPB will be using the MLB interpretation of that rule starting in 2006.)

Over the past several years, the selling of ad space on uniforms has started. At first a couple of Pacific League teams were selling the side of their helmets to place stickers for a sponsor, and this has slowly grown to include sleave patches. I don't like this trend at all, but do understand that the red-inked Pacific League teams need to create more revenue streams. I don't think that MLB has allowed this sort of thing yet.

That's all of the more obscure differences I can think of off hand.

I think the recent win in the WBC by Japan might have opened some eyes in the USA concerning Japanese baseball. At the very least, I would say the top Japanese teams would be competitive in MLB.