The Nippon Professional Baseball league announced its season will begin June 19, the league announced Monday after receiving official approval from its government to start playing without fans in attendance.
“We’ve caused a lot of problems and worry for the players, staff and, first and foremost, the fans by constantly changing the schedule,” said NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito, whose league had been caught in limbo since postponing its original March 20 opening day due to the pandemic.
“But we hope to provide encouragement to the public, which has had to endure the feeling of being locked down during the quarantine period and also give guidance to other sports.