Major honours
Japan's first professional club and the absolute reference point of NPB. Founded in 1934, it drove the league's 1936 launch; twenty-two Japan Series titles and thirty-nine Central League pennants are both national records. What defines the franchise is the V9 under manager Tetsuharu Kawakami — nine straight Japan Series from 1965 to 1973, one of the longest championship runs in world pro sport. At its centre sat Sadaharu Oh's 868 career home runs and "Mr. Giants" Shigeo Nagashima; Hideki Matsui later carried the lineage to the Yankees. Nationwide TV through the Yomiuri Shimbun and Nippon TV made the Giants Japan's default club for decades. Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988 with about 45,600 seats, again led NPB attendance in 2024 with roughly three million home fans.
Record comparison
Bars are scaled to the strongest team in this list.
Club legends
Rivalry
The matchup with the Hanshin Tigers is called the Traditional Rivalry and is Japanese baseball's archetypal feud — Tokyo media-and-corporate power against Kansai outsider identity, running since the league's first season in 1936.