The Japanese baseball players' union is moving to accept management's plan to add five regular-season games in the 2001 calendar, backing down on a threat to boycott part of the upcoming season in a worst-case scenario.
Representatives of the 12 Central and Pacific League clubs, who met with their counterparts from the players union Thursday, said they felt both sides had narrowed their differences and a final agreement on a 140-game format is expected by the end of this month.
Union representatives apparently relented after the management showed signs of accepting some of their demands, including raising salaries for all top-team players to meet an increased workload under the new 140-game season. A union request for interleague play was put on the agenda for the first time in Thursday's meeting in a compromise gesture from the management.