The signs of baseball spring are popping up all across Japan this month. Veteran players are emerging from winter vacations and ramping up their individual workouts for the upcoming season. Rookies are stirring too, with some with their teams taking part in voluntary individual training that is actually neither voluntary nor individual. The flow of foreign players returning to Japan has also gotten underway.
While NPB is barreling toward the start of spring camp next month, the league is also bracing for yet another season with the threat of COVID-19 hanging perilously overhead.
Japanese baseball revealed itself to be surprisingly adept at walking the coronavirus tightrope last season. NPB, despite a few hiccups and a prolonged break for the Tokyo Olympics, managed to complete the entire 2021 regular season and then stage a full postseason that ended with a thrilling Japan Series between the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and Orix Buffaloes.
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