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NPB commissioner sees more games in future

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Nippon Professional Baseball Commissioner Atsushi Saito said Tuesday Japan’s two top-tier leagues are considering playing more than their current 143-game schedule after 2021 in order to make up for the losses incurred in the coronavirus-hit 2020 season, the Nikkan Sports reported.

“One thing we can consider is related to the number of games. We now have 143, but if we increase the number of games, we can increase revenue.”

–NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito

Saito said preparations are in the works for combatting the coronavirus this year, when Japan is set to host the Summer Olympics, and even next, and said he’s heard that some players would be on board with an expanded schedule.

Saito didn’t say why NPB didn’t consider MLB’s scorched-earth model of firing scouts, coaches and minor leaguers.

Viral tale

NPB’s coronavirus response mirrored the stance of Japan’s central government. In February 2020, when the virus was considered a threat to holding the the Olympics on schedule, preseason games were held behind closed doors and NPB mimicked the government by first saying the season would start on schedule and then repeatedly announcing new starting dates.

All that changed on March 24, the day Japan bowed to the obvious, that a July-August 2020 Tokyo Olympics were impossible when the IOC said it was a no-go.

No longer needing the illusion that Tokyo would be safe to host the Olympics from July, Japan’s infection count jumped by a factor of eight, and the fiction that pro baseball’s season would begin in April was abandoned.

The government soon announced its first state of emergency, and when it was lifted in May, NPB announced its June 13 Opening Day behind closed doors for a 120-game season with no all-star break or interleague play. Teams were allowed to admit up to 5,000 fans from July 10.

Teams were permitted to admit roughly half their venues’ attendance from the start of September.

Japan is now on the verge of announcing another state of emergency with infection rates hitting record levels. The government is also restricting entry to non-resident foreign nationals following the emergence of new strains of the coronavirus, and there is concern about the ability of players to travel here in time for the start of Spring Training on Feb. 1.

On Monday, the Orix Buffaloes announced that infielder Steven Moya arrived in Japan on Sunday in order to avoid any entry hassle. This year, he will be competing for playing time with both Adam Jones and returning slugger Stefen Romero, who had a productive 2020 season with the Rakuten Eagles.

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NPB 2020 6-29 NEWS

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Union: You want cuts? show us your books

The executive director of the Japanese Professional Baseball Players Association said Monday he expected tough salary negotiations in the autumn after this year’s games have been reduced and played behind closed doors but said teams would have to be open about their losses if they want concessions.

Speaking as the union announced that the average salary of Japan’s 727 domestically registered players surpassed 40 million yen ($360,000) for the first time, Mori said according to the Nikkan Sports, that the players side needed to be taken into consideration.

“Anyone can tell that profits are going to be down, but a lot of players have essentially been in camp all this time,” Mori said. “I want negotiations in good faith with the teams revealing their profit statements.”

Unlike in the majors, Nippon Professional Baseball does not have a collective bargaining agreement. Rather, Japanese law gives the players association the right to negotiate all changes to the working situation. Imported players do not typically join the union.

For that reason, the teams are likely to take Mori’s advice with a grain of sand, since the union has zero role to play in individual salary negotiations.

The figures are for the numbers stated on each individual player’s uniform player contract and would not include any additional revenues stipulated in the supplemental contracts most players agree to with their teams.

The Pacific League’s SoftBank Hawks were the biggest spenders for the first time in two years at an average of 71.1 million yen, while the PL’s Lotte Marines were at the bottom at 30.4 million yen, roughly 30,000 yen ($270) lower than last-years 12th-placed club, the PL’s Orix Buffaloes. The Rakuten Eagles, who were formed in 2005, moved into third place in the domestic-spending rankings for the first time.