Beginning this season, Nippon Professional Baseball will reorganize its farm league, the highest level of the minor leagues, dissolving the two-league structure of the Eastern League (eight teams) and Western League (six teams) in favor of a geographically based three-group alignment.
Under the new format, farm teams will be organized into East, Central, and West divisions. Each club will play between 135 and 146 games, slightly more than in previous seasons, with no makeup games scheduled for rainouts. Despite the introduction of divisions, the farm will function as a single league in practice, with overall standings determined by winning percentage across all 14 teams, rather than by group champions.
Here is the new alignment, including the location of each team’s farm stadium:
East Group
Hokkaido Nipponham Fighters (Kamagaya, Chiba -> Hokkaido)
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (Sendai, Miyagi)
Chiba Lotte Marines (Urawa, Saitama)
Tokyo Yakult Swallows (Toda, Saitama -> Ibaraki)
Oisix Albirex Niigata (Niigata, Niigata)
Central Group
Yokohama DeNA BayStars (Yokosuka, Kanagawa)
Yomiuri Giants (Inagi, Tokyo)
Saitama Seibu Lions (Tokorazawa, Saitama)
Chunichi Dragons (Nagoya, Aichi)
Hayate Ventures Shizuoka (Shizuoka, Shizuoka)
West Group
Hanshin Tigers (Amagasaki, Hyogo)
Orix Buffaloes (Osaka, Osaka)
Hiroshima Toyo Carp (Iwakuni, Yamaguchi)
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (Chikugo, Fukuoka)
Yakult is scheduled to move to Ibaraki after 2026. Nipponham is scheduled to move to Hokkaido after 2030.
The realignment is part of a broader NPB initiative to improve the financial viability of the farm system, as several clubs have invested in new minor league parks and placed a greater emphasis on boosting attendance. The 2024 expansion of two unaffiliated teams, Oisix Albirex Niigata and Hayate Ventures Shizuoka, was a key step in that direction, marking the first time independent clubs could compete against NPB farm teams year-round. The shift has strengthened overall competition while providing fringe players with additional opportunities to potentially work their way up (or back) to NPB.
NPB officials are still evaluating how traditional events such as the Fresh All-Star Game and the Farm League Championship will be handled, as both have historically been contested between the Eastern and Western Leagues. The new alignment is not intended to be permanent and will be reviewed periodically, with the possibility of adjustments every few years. The structure enables future expansion and broader geographic reach for both affiliated and independent teams.
