Japan: Baseball set to return in June

Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league season will begin June 19 after being given the go-ahead by the government.

Japan.- Baseball will return in Japan in mid-June as the country begins to lift restrictions on sport following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league season will begin June 19, after receiving official approval from the government to start playing, albeit without fans in attendance.

NPB Commissioner, Atsushi Saito, said: “We’ve caused a lot of problems and worry for the players, staff and, first and foremost, the fans by constantly changing the schedule.

“But we hope to provide encouragement to the public, which has had to endure the feeling of being locked down during the quarantine period and also give guidance to other sports.”

Saito also said that NPB teams will aim to play 120 games each, which is slightly less than the league’s standard 143-game regular season.

The league has already canceled its version of interleague play as well as the All-Star Game.