The 1981 Nippon Professional Baseball season was the 32nd season of operation for the league.
Regular season standings
Central League Central League G W L T Pct. GBYomiuri Giants 130 73 48 9 .603 –Hiroshima Toyo Carp 130 67 54 9 .554 6.0Hanshin Tigers 130 67 58 5 .536 8.0Yakult Swallows 130 56 58 16 .491 13.5Chunichi Dragons 130 58 65 7 .472 16.0Yokohama Taiyo Whales 130 42 80 8 .344 31.5
Pacific League Pacific League G W L T Pct. 1st half ranking 2nd half rankingNippon-Ham Fighters 130 68 54 8 .557 4 1Hankyu Braves 130 68 58 4 .540 3 2Lotte Orions 130 63 57 10 .525 1 3Seibu Lions 130 61 61 8 .500 2 5Nankai Hawks 130 53 65 12 .449 5 6Kintetsu Buffaloes 130 54 72 4 .429 6 4
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.
Nippon-Ham Fighters won the series 3–1–1. GameScoreDateLocation1 Orions – 1, Fighters – 4 October 7Kawasaki Stadium2 Orions – 5, Fighters – 5 October 10Kawasaki Stadium3 Fighters – 4, Orions – 1 October 11Korakuen Stadium4 Fighters – 6, Orions – 11 October 12Korakuen Stadium5 Fighters – 8, Orions – 4 October 13Korakuen Stadium
Japan Series
Yomiuri Giants won the series 4–2. GameScoreDateLocationAttendance1 Fighters – 6, Giants – 5 October 17Korakuen Stadium 36,0562 Fighters – 1, Giants – 2 October 18Korakuen Stadium 42,3763 Giants – 2, Fighters – 3 October 20Korakuen Stadium 36,1804 Giants – 8, Fighters – 2 October 21Korakuen Stadium 38,6275 Giants – 9, Fighters – 0 October 23Korakuen Stadium 31,4196 Fighters – 3, Giants – 6 October 25Korakuen Stadium 43,604
See also 1981 Major League Baseball season
References