Nippon Pro Baseball 2020 year shortened to 120 games, baseball to restart in mid-June

Nippon Professional Baseball’s two leagues, the Central and Pacific League announced their revised 2020 schedule and announced that the opening day is set for June 19th and that the focus of this season’s schedule was to limit the amount of travel the teams have to partake in, in order to reduce the risk of infection.

The 2020 NPB season was to begin on March 20th but due to the outbreak of the novel coronavrius.  To prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, the games will be played behind close doors.

Opening week will feature the Yomiuri Giants vs. the Hanshin Tigers at Tokyo Dome on June 19th,  Tokyo Yakult Swallows vs. the Chunichi Dragons at Jingu Stadium and the DeNA Baystars vs. the Hiroshima Carp in Yokohama for the Central League.

The Seibu Lions will take on the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at MetLife Dome in Tokorzawa Saitama Prefecture, the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks vs. the Chiba Lotte Marines at PayPay Dome in Fukuoka and the Orix Buffaloes vs. the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles at Kyocera Dome in Osaka for the Pacific League.

The Japan series is scheduled for November 21st.  And the 2020 All-Star Series and Interleague Games have been canceled.

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