Japanese Baseball

It consists of two leagues, the Central League and the Pacific League. The teams in the Central League are the Yomiuri Giants, the Chunichi Dragons[?], the Yakuruto Swallows[?], the Hiroshima Carp[?], the Hanshin Tigers[?], and the Yokohama Baystars[?]. The teams in the Pacific League are the Kintetsu Buffaloes[?], the Seibu Lions[?], the Nihonhamu Fighters[?], the Chiba Lotte Marines[?], the Orix Bluewave[?], and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks[?].

The season starts in April and ends in October with three all star games in July. The two leagues play through a regular season that consists of 140 games. The best teams from each league play in the "Nihon Series." In the 2002 season, Yomiuri Giants, which consists of Hideki Matsui[?], Kazuhiro Kiyohara[?] , and Koji Uehara[?], won the Central League regular season. The Seibu Lions[?], which consists of Kazuo Matsui[?], Alex Cabrela[?], and Daisuke Matsuzaka[?], won the Pacific League regular season. And the Yomiuri Giants won the 2002 Nihon Series. Tomohiro Nioka won the Nihon Series MVP.