May 10, 2021
There was something different about the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters during pregame warmups Friday at Sapporo Dome. The players were wearing their special Hokkaido appreciation tops — which are predominantly blue this year — with white pants for their matchup with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. They went through all the normal pregame machinations — stretching, batting and fielding.
The difference was they did it wearing masks.
It might have looked a little strange, but the club was taking no chances after being forced off the field for nearly a week by COVID-19.
The Fighters’ game against the Eagles that night was their first since May 2. The previous four games — including a three-game series against the Chiba Lotte Marines that was set to start last week — were postponed after an outbreak of COVID-19 within the team. Instead of hitting the field, the team was waiting for the results of polymerase chain reaction tests and wondering when it would play again.