Happy New Year, and a reminder as we are in 2014, it was 10 years ago when Japanese baseball went into a crisis. There was a threat of contraction to 10 or even eight teams and a long hot summer of uncertainty as team owners and players negotiated and finally agreed to maintain the two-league, 12-team system.
The image of Japanese baseball was again tarnished somewhat in 2013 by the "secret ball-altering scandal" and, with that in mind, following are some questions about the coming season asked recently by fans, with my comments.
What, if any, changes will be made by new NPB commissioner Katsuhiko Kumazaki?