1973 Nippon Professional Baseball season

This article is about the 1973 Nippon Professional Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1973 in baseball.

1973 NPB season
League	Nippon Professional Baseball
Sport	Baseball
Central League Pennant
League champions	Yomiuri Giants
Runners-up	Hanshin Tigers
Season MVP	Sadaharu Oh (YOM)
Pacific League Pennant
League champions	Hankyu Braves
Runners-up	Kintetsu Buffaloes
Season MVP	Katsuya Nomura (NAN)
Japan Series
Champions	Yomiuri Giants
Runners-up	Nankai Hawks
Finals MVP	Tsuneo Horiuchi (YOM)

The 1973 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 24th season of operation of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Regular season standings

Central League regular season standings^[1]

Pos	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	GB
1	Yomiuri Giants	130	66	60	4	.524	—
2	Hanshin Tigers	130	64	59	7	.520	0.5
3	Chunichi Dragons	130	64	61	5	.512	1.5
4	Yakult Atoms	130	62	65	3	.488	4.5
5	Taiyo Whales	130	60	64	6	.484	5.0
6	Hiroshima Toyo Carp	130	60	67	3	.472	6.5

Pacific League regular season standings^[2]

Pos	Team	G	W	L	T	Pct.	1st half rank	2nd half rank
1st half winner	Nankai Hawks	130	68	58	4	.540	1	3
2nd half winner	Hankyu Braves	130	77	48	5	.616	3	1
3	Lotte Orions	130	70	49	11	.588	2	2
4	Taiheiyo Club Lions	130	59	64	7	.480	4	5
5	Nittaku Home Flyers	130	55	69	6	.444	5	3
6	Kintetsu Buffaloes	130	42	83	5	.336	6	6

Pacific League Playoff

The Pacific League teams with the best first and second-half records met in a best-of-five playoff series to determine the league representative in the Japan Series.

Nankai Hawks won the series 3-2.

Game	Score	Date	Location
1	Hawks – 4, Braves – 2	October 19	Osaka Stadium
2	Hawks – 7, Braves – 9	October 20	Osaka Stadium
3	Braves – 3, Hawks – 6	October 22	Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium
4	Braves – 13, Hawks – 1	October 23	Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium
5	Braves – 1, Hawks – 2	October 25	Hankyu Nishinomiya Stadium

Japan Series

Main article: 1973 Japan Series

Yomiuri Giants won the series 4-1.

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Hawks – 4, Giants – 3	October 27	Osaka Stadium	27,027[3]
2	Hawks – 2, Giants – 3	October 28	Osaka Stadium	28,135[3]
3	Giants – 8, Hawks – 2	October 30	Korakuen Stadium	34,713[3]
4	Giants – 6, Hawks – 2	October 31	Korakuen Stadium	38,270[3]
5	Giants – 5, Hawks – 1	November 1	Korakuen Stadium	37,761[3]

References

1. "年度別成績 1973年 セントラル・リーグ" [Results by year 1973 Central League]. Nippon Professional Baseball (in Japanese). Retrieved November 1, 2019.
2. "年度別成績 1972年 1972年 パシフィック・リーグ" [Results by year 1972 Pacific League]. Nippon Professional Baseball (in Japanese). Retrieved November 1, 2019.
3. 1973年日本シリーズ試合結果 (in Japanese). Nippon Professional Baseball. Retrieved November 21, 2017.