Nippon Professional Baseball in the context of "Central League"

In baseball statistics, a hit (denoted by H), also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches or passes first base after hitting the ball into fair territory with neither the benefit of an error nor a fielder's choice.

The Hanshin Tigers (阪神タイガース, Hanshin Taigāsu) are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium.

The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc.

Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent years it has occasionally fallen in the last week of March. As of 2025, Opening Day falls on the last Thursday of March or the first Thursday of April. In Nippon Professional Baseball, this day typically falls during the last week of March.

For baseball fans, Opening Day serves as a symbol of rebirth; writer Thomas Boswell once penned a book titled Why Time Begins on Opening Day. Pre-season exhibition games are usually played in the month before Opening Day, during spring training. A home opener is a team's first game of the season on their home field.

Tsukiji Market (築地市場, Tsukiji shijō) is a former seafood market and major tourist attraction in Tokyo.Located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo between the Sumida River and the upmarket Ginza shopping district, the area contains retail markets, restaurants, and associated restaurant supply stores. Before 2018, it was the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world.The market opened on 11 February 1935 as a replacement for an older market that was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. It was closed on 6 October 2018, with wholesale operations moving to the new Toyosu Market. The old market was demolished and will be rebuilt into a new complex featuring a stadium for the Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball.

The market was supervised by the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market (東京都中央卸売市場, Tōkyō-to Chūō Oroshiuri Shijō) of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs.

The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as a fielder or a pitcher during a game. Due to their specialized offensive-only role, the designated hitter is generally expected to produce above average offensive stats and production compared to other players who play defense.

In Major League Baseball, the position is authorized by Rule 5.11 of the Official Baseball Rules. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and by the National League in 2022, making it universal in MLB. Within that time frame, nearly all amateur, collegiate, and professional leagues worldwide adopted the designated hitter or some variant, except for Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League.

Ichiro Suzuki /ˈiːtʃɪroʊ/ (鈴木 一朗, Suzuki Ichirō; born October 22, 1973), also known mononymously as Ichiro (イチロー, Ichirō), is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played for 28 seasons. He played the first nine years of his career with the Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the next 12 years with the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball (MLB). Suzuki then played two and a half seasons with the New York Yankees and three with the Miami Marlins before returning to the Mariners for his final two seasons. He won two World Baseball Classic titles as part of the Japanese national team. One of the greatest contact hitters, leadoff hitters and defensive outfielders in baseball history, he is also considered as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

In his combined playing time in the NPB and MLB, Suzuki received 17 consecutive selections as an All-Star and Gold Glove winner, won nine league batting titles, and was named his league's most valuable player (MVP) four times. In the NPB, he won seven consecutive batting titles and three consecutive Pacific League MVP Awards. In 2001, Suzuki became the first Japanese-born position player to be posted and signed to an MLB club. He led the American League (AL) in batting average and stolen bases en route to being named AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP.

Shōta Imanaga (今永 昇太, Imanaga Shōta; born September 1, 1993), nicknamed "The Throwing Philosopher", and "Mike Imanaga II" is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars from 2016 to 2023. Imanaga is a two-time NPB All-Star and he led the Central League in strikeouts in 2023 before signing with the Cubs during the 2023–24 offseason. In his first season as a Cub, Imanaga was an All-Star.

On September 4, 2024, Imanaga pitched a combined no-hitter with relief pitchers Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge. The game, which was against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field, was the first no-hitter to be thrown at Wrigley by the Cubs since Milt Pappas no-hit the San Diego Padres in Chicago 52 years and 2 days prior, on September 2, 1972.