Unlike the U.S. majors being operated by MLB, Japan’s two major leagues are preparing for their 2022 season.

I haven’t been writing much about camp and preseason games because of the Olympics and some other things on my plate. But then Rob Manfred comes out and says, “The concerns of our fans are at the very top of our consideration list,” when obviously the concerns of the fans fall well below maximizing future ROI and crushing the union.

And one hears that nonsense, one is happily reminded that elsewhere baseball is going on. In Sapporo, the Fighters, whose new manager has said he knows the secret of how to score runs without hits, got six innings without a hit to execute his top secret plans to no avail