The new wave of covid-19 can cause difficulties for the incorporation of players from Europe and America.
After overcoming the disruption caused by the 2020 covid-19 pandemic in very good shape, Nippon Proffesional Baseball (NPB) was ready to start its 2021 season without any hiccups.
However, a rebound in the virus in mid-January forced the country’s borders to be closed and to temporarily halt the issuance of work visas.
As a consequence, most of the imported players were unable to report to their respective clubs’ spring training on time and this significantly affected their performance during the first calendar month.
Does the Japanese league have a plan to prevent this problem from happening again this year? The few foreigners who managed to report on time did so because they obtained their work visas and arrived in Japan well in advance.
Will your teams be recommending that you do the same this time? Spring Training 2022 will begin, as is customary every year, on February 1. If by the last days of January all imported products are not in Japan, it is most likely that we will see more delays this year.
Another major inconvenience suffered by foreign players who saw action in the NPB in 2021 was that the Japanese government did not allow their relatives to enter the country, so most of them had to spend the entire season without being able to see their wives and children. . In fact, several decided to resign from their contracts in the middle of the year and return to their countries due to this problem.
Will that issue be resolved in 2022? The league has already announced that it is working on it, but the final decision depends on the Japanese government, usually inflexible with such measures.
For the well-being of the players and the NPB, let’s also hope that the problem will be solved, because otherwise it will be very difficult to convince the higher quality imported ones to go to Japan to play knowing that their families will not be able to accompany them.
The regular season begins on Friday, March 25, with six games. Interleague games will run for three weeks beginning May 24.
The All-Star Series will take place later than usual, at the end of July, but in the traditional two-game format. The first will be at the Pay Pay Dome in Fukuoka on July 26, and the second at the Botchan Stadium in Matsuyama on July 27.
The postseason start date has not been confirmed, but taking into account the 2021 schedule it will most likely occur on Saturday, October 8. The schedule for the Japan Series is already defined. The action will begin on Saturday, October 22 at the stadium of the representative of the Central League.
