Is one all-star game enough? Are three games too many? Whatever happened to two? Those questions were being bantered about as Japan pro baseball took its weeklong, midsummer regular-season break July 21-27, during which a trio of all-star contests were played, from Tokyo to Nagasaki, with a stop in Kobe.
Still up in the air is the decision on next year's all-star gathering but, in spite of the Japan Pro Baseball Players Union stated preference for only one game, it appears we're headed for another three-game series.
A little history here. The three-game set had been the norm for Japanese baseball from 1963 through 1992, but when the players asked for a reduction to two games, the Central and Pacific Leagues and the commissioner's office agreed to meet halfway: two games annually except during leap years, when a third contest would be played at a regional stadium.