Aiming for opening of baseball in April Aiming to open in April 17:31 on March 9 due to the spread of new virus infection
With the spread of the new coronavirus infection, Professional Baseball decided to postpone the season opening on the 20th of this month and aim for the opening next month based on advice from infectious disease experts.
The 12 professional baseball teams and others held a representative meeting in Tokyo on the afternoon of the 9th to discuss how to handle the seasonal opening on the 20th of this month as the spread of the new coronavirus spreads.
At the meeting, in the second "meeting liaison meeting" by professional baseball and soccer J-League held in the morning, experts from infectious diseases advised that postponing the current stage should be postponed in terms of crisis management. With that in mind, we decided to postpone the season opening and aim for the opening next month.
The opening of the season has been postponed since 2011, nine years before the Great East Japan Earthquake.
"Our unanimous idea is to play 143 games with spectators. The situation of the new coronavirus is changing every day. I want to aim for the opening. "
Nippon Ham President Koji Kawamura, who attended the meeting, said that the decision to postpone the opening of the professional baseball season on the 20th of this month due to the spread of the new coronavirus said, "It is a bitter decision. While we wanted to play 143 games as usual, we discussed various things about what should be done with our schedule, the desire to start the game, and the society, and how to set the standards for holding games. I think the conclusion will come out on the 12th of this month, and it's time for a new opening date. "