Nippon Professional Baseball

Nippon Professional Baseball, known as NPB, is the professional baseball league that forms the highest level of baseball in Japan. Its roots lie in the Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club formed in 1934 and the Japanese Baseball League founded two years later; the organization of today took shape in 1950, when that league reorganized and divided its 15 teams into two leagues. NPB now has twelve teams split equally between the Central League and the Pacific League, and the champions meet each year in the Japan Series, first played in 1950. Teams are generally named after their corporate owners, such as Yomiuri and Softbank, and NPB also oversees two affiliated minor leagues, the Western League and the Eastern League. The Yomiuri Giants have won the most Japan Series titles.