The 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Games were played at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, home of the Orix Buffaloes, on Wednesday, and Yokohama Stadium, home of the DeNA BayStars, on Thursday.
Shugo Maki won the Home Run Derby in front of his home fans in Yokohama, defeating Seiji Uebayashi, Chusei Mannami, and Kotaro Kiyomiya along the way in the bracket. He launched a total of 18 home runs across three rounds, each consisting of a two-minute period with unlimited swings and no breaks.
The Pacific League came out on top over the Central League in both games, with scores of 5-1 and 10-7. Orix Buffaloes first baseman Yuma Tongu was named MVP of Game 1 after blasting a three-run homer, while Nippon-Ham Fighters third baseman Kotaro Kiyomiya took home MVP honors in Game 2 after finishing just a triple shy of the cycle.
Here’s a detailed recap of the two days of All-Star festivities.
Home Run Derby
Winner: Shugo Maki
Hometown star Shugo Maki is the 2025 NPB Home Run Derby Champion 🏆
He defeated Kotaro Kiyomiya, 7-6, in the final 2-minute round. pic.twitter.com/Au5gUWvFnM
— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) July 24, 2025
Participants
Seiji Uebayashi (Chunichi Dragons)
Shugo Maki (DeNA BayStars)
Teruaki Sato (Hanshin Tigers)
Shota Morishita (Hanshin Tigers)
Kotaro Kiyomiya (Nippon-Ham Fighters)
Chusei Mannami (Nippon-Ham Fighters)
Franmil Reyes (Nippon-Ham Fighters)
Yuma Tongu (Orix Buffaloes)
Round 1
Teruaki Sato defeats Yuma Tongu, 5-3
Kotaro Kiyomiya defeats Shota Morishita, 2-1
Shugo Maki defeats Franmil Reyes, 4-2
Chusei Mannami defeats Seiji Uebayashi, 3-2
Round 2
Kotaro Kiyomiya defeats Teruaki Sato, 7-6
Shugo Maki defeats Chusei Mannami, 7-6
Round 3
Shugo Maki defeats Kotaro Kiyomiya, 7-6
Orix Buffaloes ace Hiroya Miyagi kicked off the game for the Pacific League in front of his home fans with flair, throwing three consecutive eephus-like curveballs that dipped below 60 mph. In a crafty 22-pitch outing, he relied exclusively on slow curves and fastballs, tossing two scoreless innings.
Yomiuri Giants closer Raidel Martinez served as the Central League’s opener and took a page from Miyagi’s playbook, mixing in a few eephus pitches of his own, including one that sailed behind Yuma Tongu. He needed just six pitches to get through a clean inning, topping out at 96 mph.
The Pacific League struck first in the second inning when Ukyo Shuto drove in a run with a single off Takahiro Matsuba. The following inning, Tongu broke things open with a three-run blast, stretching the PL’s lead to 4-0.
In the fourth inning, left-hander Livan Moinelo turned heads among fans and players alike by switching sides and pitching right-handed to Sandro Fabian. He threw three pitches and reached 77 mph, getting Fabian to pop out to third. In the bottom half, Ukyo Shuto stole two bases off his former teammate Takuya Kai.
The CL answered in the fifth when Yuki Okabayashi ripped a triple and came all the way home on an error for a little league home run, cutting the deficit to 4-1. In the sixth, Koki Kitayama lit up the radar gun with a career-best 98 mph fastball. The PL extended their lead back to four in the seventh, as Kenya Wakatsuki led off the inning with a towering solo shot off Sotaro Shimauchi.
That proved to be the final run of the night, as the PL secured a 5-1 win in a brisk 2 hours and 11 minutes. The hometown hero Yuma Tongu earned MVP honors for his early three-run homer.
The PL jumped on Hanshin Tigers ace Shoki Murakami early, with Daito Yamamoto opening the scoring on a two-run double in the first inning. They continued to pile on hits and built a 6-0 lead by the second. Seibu Lions teammates Tatsuya Imai and Chihiro Sumida took care of the first three innings on the mound for the PL, giving up just one run.
The scoring continued for the PL as they added runs off Iori Yamasaki, Foster Griffin, and Hiroki Ohnishi over the next three frames, highlighted by a solo homer from Kotaro Kiyomiya in the fourth.
Down 9-1 in the bottom of the fifth, the CL finally responded as Naoki Yoshikawa and Teruaki Sato each launched home runs off Shunsuke Nakamori to cut the deficit to 9-3. In the seventh, Shota Morishita delivered a two-run double and Keita Sano followed with an RBI single off Kaima Taira, bringing the score to 9-6. Despite allowing three runners to cross the plate, Taira put on a show, topping at 99 mph.
Koji Chikamoto added a solo blast off Kota Tatsu in the eighth to make it a two-run game. Yoshikawa then collected his third hit of the night, and Morishita followed with another double, this one deflecting off the glove of Shuto in center field, putting the tying run in scoring position. But the comeback fell short as Sato struck out to end the threat.
Yuma Tongu pushed the PL into double-digits with a pinch-hit bomb in the ninth, his second of the All-Star Series. Kiyomiya was named MVP after finishing just a triple shy of the cycle in a 10-7 Pacific League victory.
Manager and Coaches:
Shinnosuke Abe (Yomiuri)
Kyuji Fujikawa (Hanshin)
Daisuke Miura (DeNA)
Pitchers:
Takahiro Matsuba (Chunichi)
Shinya Matsuyama (Chunichi)*
Tatsuya Shimizu (Chunichi)
Kento Fujishima (Chunichi)**
Andre Jackson (DeNA)
Hiromu Ise (DeNA)**
Taisei Irie (DeNA)*
Masaki Oyokawa (Hanshin)
Shoki Murakami (Hanshin)
Daichi Ishii (Hanshin)
Daisuke Moriura (Hiroshima)
Sotaro Shimauchi (Hiroshima)
Taichi Ishiyama (Yakult)*
Hiroki Ohnishi (Yakult)**
Foster Griffin (Yomiuri)
Raidel Martinez (Yomiuri)
Taisei (Yomiuri)
Iori Yamasaki (Yomiuri)
Catchers:
Seishiro Sakamoto (Hanshin)
Shogo Sakakura (Hiroshima)
Takuya Kai (Yomiuri)
Infielders:
Tyler Austin (DeNA)*
Shugo Maki (DeNA)
Yusuke Ohyama (Hanshin)
Takumu Nakano (Hanshin)
Teruaki Sato (Hanshin)
Masaya Yano (Hiroshima)
Naoki Yoshikawa (Yomiuri)
Yuta Izuguchi (Yomiuri)
Outfielders:
Yuki Okabayashi (Chunichi)
Seiji Uebayashi (Chunichi)
Keita Sano (DeNA)**
Shota Morishita (Hanshin)
Koji Chikamoto (Hanshin)
Sandro Fabian (Hiroshima)
Manager and Coaches:
Hiroki Kokubo (SoftBank)
Tsuyoshi Shinjo (Nippon-Ham)
Masato Yoshii (Lotte)
Pitchers:
Shunsuke Nakamori (Lotte)
Seigi Tanaka (Nippon-Ham)
Kota Tatsu (Nippon-Ham)
Koki Kitayama (Nippon-Ham)
Hiroya Miyagi (Orix)
Allen Kuri (Orix)
Naoto Nishiguchi (Rakuten)
Hiroshi Kaino (Seibu)
Tatsuya Imai (Seibu)
Chihiro Sumida (Seibu)
Kaima Taira (Seibu)
Livan Moinelo (SoftBank)
Kazuki Sugiyama (SoftBank)
Catchers:
Ryusei Terachi (Lotte)
Kenya Wakatsuki (Orix)
Infielders:
Kotaro Kiyomiya (Nippon-Ham)
Yuma Tongu (Orix)
Ryo Ota (Orix)
Kotaro Kurebayashi (Orix)*
Rui Muneyama (Rakuten)
Itsuki Murabayashi (Rakuten)
Natsuo Takizawa (Seibu)
Hotaka Yamakawa (SoftBank)
Isami Nomura (SoftBank)**
Outfielders:
Kyota Fujiwara (Lotte)**
Daito Yamamoto (Lotte)
Chusei Mannami (Nippon-Ham)
Ryoma Nishikawa (Orix)*
Manaya Nishikawa (Seibu)
Seiya Watanabe (Seibu)
Ukyo Shuto (SoftBank)
Tatsuru Yanagimachi (SoftBank)
Designated Hitter:
Franmil Reyes (Nippon-Ham)
* = Injured
** = Injury Replacement
WBN Japan: https://worldbaseball.com/league/japan/
