Nippon Professional Baseball's Central and Pacific leagues agreed Monday to switch to an 18-game interleague format next season.

The representatives for NPB's 12 teams adopted the change from 24 games to 18 as the Pacific League clubs gave in to the Central League demands for a shorter interleague season. The PL had sought to keep the current system, in which each club plays each team from the other league in two sets of two-game series.

The new format will see each team play a three-game home series against three of the other league's teams, while playing the other three on the road. The following season, home and road interleague matchups will be reversed. The change will see both leagues go from a 144-game season to 143.