Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) has showcased an influx of talent, most of which translated well to Major League Baseball (MLB), the marquee league of the sport.
Over the years, NPB has also presented us some pretty fascinating teams; some were in-your-face, some were over/underachievers, while some were simply dominant - and by "dominant," we meant dynasty - an evil empire, if you will.
Here now are the 3 NPB dynasties that shook the league for years.
Yomiuri Giants (1951-1973)
This is the dynasty to challenge all dynasties. The dominance and monster-like numbers of these teams were almost impossible. During that 22-year stretch, they went to 19 Japan Series and won 15 of them. The brightest names of their reign included Shigeru Mizuhara, Testuharu Kawakami, Sadaharu Oh, Shigeo Nagashima, Motoshi Fujita, and Akira Bessho - all became considered by many as certified all-time greats.
Hankyu Braves (Late 60s-Late 70s)
Despite being a perennial runner-up team, no one can deny their greatness. They dominated the Pacific League the way Giants dominated the Central League. In a span of 13 years, the Braves went to 9 Japan series, and although they only won 3 of those trips, they had all-around talent with the likes of Hisashi Yamada, Hideji Kato, Bobby Marcano, Kinji Shimatani, Yutaka Ohashi, among others.
Seibu Lions (1982-1992)
Led by Tsutomu Ito, Kazuhiro Kiyohara, Hiromichi Ishige, Koji Akiyama, Kimiyasu Kudo, and Hisanobu Watanabe, these Seibu Lions became an incarnation of the 60s Giants. During their 11-year run as one of NPB's powerhouse teams, they collected 8 championships.