Professional baseball today opens with no spectators Impact of new corona 4:19 on June 19
Due to the influence of the new coronavirus, professional baseball will start the regular season with no spectators on the 19th, about three months behind the original schedule. The competition has been canceled in various competitions, and the start of the season has been postponed, so more attention than ever has been gathered.
Due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection, this year's professional baseball will be postponed again and again after the opening of the regular season, which was originally 20th March, and it will start on 19th, about 3 months later.
However, as the risk of infection remains, the game will be held by no audience for the time being, and 12 teams and others have created guidelines for infection control. In addition, we have taken safety measures by conducting PCR tests for athletes, staff, and leaders before the opening.
Regarding the opening of professional baseball, Commissioner Atsushi Saito said, “It would be great if we could encourage the public and show the guidelines for sports other than professional baseball.”
As competitions are canceled in various competitions and the season is postponed, how to survive the season that continues until November while preventing the infection of the new coronavirus is one model of the sports world. Since it also becomes a case, professional baseball starting on the 19th will attract more attention than usual.
Opening card for the Par League
First is the Par League. The opening card has three consecutive games, but after that, until the end of August, the same team has six consecutive games in the same stadium.
Seibu vs Nippon Ham
Aiming to win the league title for the third consecutive year, Seibu welcomes Nippon Ham to its home base, MetLife Dome.
In Seibu, Shogo Akiyama has moved to the major league, but Hotaka Yamakawa, the 4th player who aims to be the homerun king for the third consecutive year, made 5 homeruns in the practice game held this month and is still in good shape.
Kohei Arihara, who had the most wins in the Pa League last year, will be the opening pitcher for Nippon Ham.
Softbank vs Lotte
SOFTBANK, which has been ranked No. 2 in the league last year for the third consecutive year in Japan, will compete with Lotte in the PayPa dome in Fukuoka last year for 4th place.
Softbank will be the first opening mound for Giant Higashihama. Although Despine and Glacier are short-lived for the time being, Valentin, who has a professional baseball record of 60 home run seasons, will play a key role with Yuki Yanagita.
Lotte is paying attention to how Shuhei Fukuda, who has transferred from Softbank, will play an active role in the match against Kosu.
Orix vs Rakuten
Last year's bottom Orix will compete with Rakuten, who is third in the Kyocera Dome Osaka.
For Orix, Taisuke Yamaoka, who won the title with the highest winning percentage last year, will be the opening pitcher for the second consecutive year. Also note the new batting Adam Jones who has hit a total of 282 home runs in the Major Leagues.
Rakuten is the sixth opening pitcher for Ace and Norimoto Nobuta. The batting line has been broken by the addition of Daichi Suzuki who transferred from Lotte.
SE LEAGUE opening card
Next is the SE League. All opening games are held in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Giant vs Hanshin
The giant, who won the league title for the first time in five years last year, will welcome the third place Hanshin to Tokyo Dome. Ace, Tomoyuki Kanno, will be the 6th opening pitcher for the giant.
Nishiki Yuki is the first pitcher in two years. In addition, Justin Bohr, a new force who has made three consecutive home runs in this month's practice game, will be in the center axis.
DeNA vs Hiroshima
DeNA, who finished second last year, will face Hiroshima, who finished fourth at Yokohama Stadium. DeNA is the opening mound for Shota Imanaga for the second consecutive year. Yoshitomo Tsutsuka passed out in the major league transfer, but Tyler Austin, who has a long-term batting ability, joined, and the batting line is strong.
In Hiroshima, Pitcher Osera serves as the opening pitcher for the second consecutive year.
Yakult vs China-Japan
Last year's bottom Yakult will compete with Chunichi in 5th place at the Jingu Stadium.
Yakult is the 40-year-old pitcher Masanori Ishikawa, the fifth pitcher in the history of professional baseball in his 40s, and the ninth pitcher himself. On the batting line, last year's rookie, 20-year-old Munetaka Murakami, sits at number 4.
Chunichi will be the opening pitcher for the first time in three years, with Yuta Ohno, who won the title with the highest defensive rate last year and also achieved no-hit no-run.