Sunday, February 16, 2020

2020 NPB Schedule reaction


The 2020 NPB Schedule was released last August due to the 2020 Summer Olympics taking place in the country. This is a rather late reaction with notes, irregularities and thoughts since it came out:

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Notable Lions notes

-Opening Day was bumped to March 20, where the Saitama Seibu Lions will host the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in what will be a day game at 14:00. The entire opening weekend will have day games except one (Giants vs Baystars on 3/20).

-The Lions will play two games in Kobe against the Orix Buffaloes for the weekend of 3/28 and 3/29. Orix will be wearing Blue Wave apparel for all eight games in Kobe this season as a remembrance of the 25-year anniversary of the Kobe (Great Hanshin) Earthquake.

-Omiya's three games will be on 4/7 (vs Orix), 5/19 (vs Chiba Lotte) and 8/27 (vs Hokkaido).

-For the second time in three years, the Lions will host a game at Tokyo Dome on 4/21, which will be against the Marines. They will wear throwback apparel, though it will have a gradient on the numbers and letters, showing the past colors.

-Interleague play will begin on 5/26 against the Hiroshima Carp. This 18-game stretch will run through June 14. Any games rained out can be made up until June 18.

-For the fifth consecutive season, the Lions will host on game in Maebashi, Gunma. This year's edition will take place on 6/19 against the Fighters.

-The final series before the All-Star break and Olympic break will take place in Tokyo Dome in two road games against the Fighters on 7/17 and 7/18.

-The Lions last regular season game on schedule is on 10/12 with a road game against the Fighters up in Sapporo Dome. The final listed regular season game is on 10.16 with the Giants hosting the Dragons.

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League notes:

-On 6/30, the Marines will host a rare game away from Zozo Marine Stadium and even outside Kanto with an outing in Toyama prefecture against the Softbank Hawks.

-A second irregular Marines home game will take place in Mito, Ibaraki on 9/8 against the Fighters.

-Multiple teams will have home games in Tokyo Dome, including the Yakult Swallows and Yokohama DeNA Baystars as with other normal hosts (Softbank Hawks, Rakuten Eagles etc.)

-For the annual two games in Naha, Okinawa, the Fighters will be hosting the Hawks on 7/4 and 7/5.

-The All-Star series takes place on 7/19 in Fukuoka's PayPay Dome and 7/20 in Nagoya Dome.

-With the extended break due to the Olympics, regular season games for NPB will not return until 8/14.

-The Climax Series will begin on 10/24.  The final stage is set for 10/28 and the Japan Series is scheduled to begin on 11/7.

-The NPB Draft will take place on 11/5.

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Farm team without a home

The Lions ni-gun will not play any home games in their traditional Seibu II Stadium nextdoor to MetLife Dome until 7/15 due to construction. The Farm Stadium will have seats and is renamed to CAR3219 Stadium.

Home games will physically be away games at other Eastern League opponent's Stadiums while a handful will be in irregular cities like Hanno, Saitama and Omiya, Saitama. Some will also take place in MetLife Dome with a small general admission price. It is unclear if ni-gun games at CAR3219 Stadium will remain free or not for the public to see.

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Another trip on the horizon

When I saw the schedule come early as well as a flight deal in August that I couldn't refuse, I pounced on the plane tickets as I will come back to Japan only nine months removed from my last trip in June.
As announced on Twitter, the plan is to see all Lions games from March 26 to April 4. A window to travel came up in my schedule and the early start to the season gave an opportunity to take a vacation. Barring no rain, I hope to see games at Zozo Marine Stadium (3/26), Hotto Motto Kobe (3/28-3/29), PayPay Dome (3/31-4/1) before a return to Kanto in Tokorozawa (4/3-4/4).

I'm open to any suggestions and other places to see as nothing is set in stone minus the games themselves. Can send a message on Twitter or elsewhere.

As a result, the Weekly Digest will have a hiatus to begin the year minus Opening Weekend.

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