2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season
| 2008 NPB season | |
|---|---|
| League | Nippon Professional Baseball |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Duration | March 20, 2008 – November 9, 2008 |
| Regular Season | |
| Season MVP |
CL: Alex Ramírez (YOM) PL: Hisashi Iwakuma (RAK) |
| League Postseason | |
| CL champions | Yomiuri Giants |
| CL runners-up | Chunichi Dragons |
| PL champions | Saitama Seibu Lions |
| PL runners-up | Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters |
| Japan Series | |
| Champions | Saitama Seibu Lions |
| Runners-up | Yomiuri Giants |
| Finals MVP | Takayuki Kishi (SEI) |
The 2008 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 59th season since the NPB was reorganized in 1950. The regular season started on March 20 with the Pacific League opener, and on March 28 with the Central League opener. On March 25 and 26, the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics played 2 regular season Major League Baseball games at Tokyo Dome. During their visit, they also played exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants.
The Seibu Lions added the prefecture name "Saitama" in front of the team name starting with this season.
As to reduce the interference to teams whose main players would play in the Olympic Games, this year's trade and new foreign players deadlines were pushed to the end of July, instead of the end of June. Also, teams having more than three players selected by National teams were given an extra quota of foreign player limit during the Olympic Games.
The postseason playoff ("Climax Series") regulations have changed to give more advantages to League Champions, now the second stage series will play for 6 games, while the League Champion will have a one-win advantage.
In late June, the Free Agency regulation was amended after negotiation between the players committee and owners. Players are now eligible for free agency after 8 years of service to a team (1 playing year = 145 days on the active roster), players drafted before 2007 are shortened to 7 (University/Company/Independent League) to 8 (High School) years. However, oversea FA right which allow them to play in the Major League Baseball still needs 9 playing years. This amendment is also effective on non-Japanese players. Alex Ramírez, who served 8 playing years in Japan, became a "local player" after the season.
Chunichi Dragons win the series, 2-1
Yomiuri Giants win the series, 3-1-1 (Yomiuri Giants have a one-win advantage)
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