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
May 1, 2021
Wednesday marked three months until the start of the Tokyo Olympic baseball tournament assuming the coronavirus doesn’t blow another fastball past the organizers, who, if we’re being honest, are probably sitting on a 2-2 count at best.
Let’s assume, however, the games will take place.
The original plan for Samurai Japan was to use the Premier12 in November 2019 as a final testing ground and head into the Olympics the following summer. That was before the postponement of the games in March 2020.
It’s now been over a year since Samurai Japan’s victory over South Korea in the Premier12 final. The extra time has given manager Atsunori Inaba more things to think about as he goes about building a squad that can capture Japan’s first Olympic gold medal in baseball.
Apr 26, 2021
Last week began with a crowd of 17,712 at Tokyo Dome for a showdown between the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants, the top two teams in the Central League.
There were 15,345 fans present at the Big Egg on Sunday, when the Kyojin faced the Hiroshima Carp.
The tally for this week, however, will be zero, as Japanese baseball moves partially behind closed doors due to the start of Japan’s third state of emergency covering Tokyo, Hyogo, Kyoto and Osaka prefectures on Sunday Starting Tuesday, games hosted at Tokyo Dome, Jingu Stadium, Koshien Stadium and Osaka Dome will be played in front of empty seats until the measure ends, which is scheduled to happen May 11. Five games were postponed in hopes they can be played in front of fans at later dates.