NPB first momentarily halted spring training before resuming exhibition games played in empty ballparksGETTY IMAGES
Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball is "turning out to be a cautionary tale, exposing the pitfalls of re-starting any sport before the coronavirus threat has been silenced, or even adequately contained," according to David Lennon of NEWSDAY. NPB "first momentarily halted spring training before resuming exhibition games" played in empty ballparks. But three Hanshin Tigers players "tested positive for COVID-19 last week, a jarring development that now has some league officials reconsidering the April 24 opener." Before the three players contracted the virus, NPB "thought they had exercised the proper precautions, quarantining their teams and even taking the temperatures of players, staff and whatever media was permitted in the building." Yet the virus still "leaked through, infecting the very faces of the sport and casting serious doubt on the NPB's ability to protect their players." Once that happens, it "should be Game Over, which is why MLB not only has to follow the CDC’s recommendations to the letter, but arguably has to go even further to prevent such a calamity" (NEWSDAY, 4/1).
ANOTHER DELAY? KYODO NEWS cited a source as saying that the six team presidents of NPB's Pacific League agreed that it will be "difficult to open the season on April 24" during the ongoing pandemic. Both of NPB's six-team, top-flight leagues, the Central and Pacific, were "originally slated to open play on March 20." Representatives of the 12 teams are "set to meet on Friday," when the Pacific League is "expected to suggest another postponement" past April 24. Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks President Yoshimitsu Goto said that the "original plan for each team to play 143 regular season games may have to be sacrificed" (KYODO NEWS, 4/1).
