Baseball teams hold practice games as season nears start

TOKYO — Two Japanese teams held intra-squad practice games in empty ballparks on Monday as the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league nears a return from the COVID-19 shutdown.

The NPB season was supposed to start on March 20 but has been delayed due to the pandemic. Earlier this month, NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito suggested the season could start in the second half of June.

The Osaka-based Orix Buffaloes and the SoftBank Hawks, who play further south in Fukuoka, both held intra-squad scrimmages at their grounds on Monday.

Kyodo News reported that the Buffaloes allowed reporters into the stadium after requiring them to wear face masks and undergo temperature checks.

With the number of coronavirus infections falling across Japan, a state of emergency was lifted in Osaka, along with two other western prefectures, last Thursday. The measures had already been lifted in Fukuoka.

Japan will lift a state of emergency for Tokyo and remaining areas still facing restrictions on Monday.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said last week that baseball games can go ahead without fans.

The initial phase of Tokyo's new restrictions is expected to allow events of up to 50 people with later steps, to roll out in the coming weeks, permitting up to 1,000 people to gather.

Japan's baseball stadiums - including the 55,000 capacity Tokyo Dome - are much larger, so games will go ahead without spectators for the foreseeable future.

Several of Japan's top soccer clubs, including Andres Iniesta's Vissel Kobe, also began training on Monday.

J.League chairman Mitsuru Murai said last week that a new schedule of fixtures would be released on May 29.

J.League clubs are expected to be given four-five weeks preparation before the resumption of the season, which was initially suspended in February.

© Thomson Reuters 2020.