July 7 is the date for the big meeting in Japanese baseball. Owners of the 12 Central and Pacific League teams are to get together to decide what will happen with regard to the proposed merger of two PL clubs, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave.

Following is a list of questions that may or may not be answered at the meeting, but they will have to be answered quickly.

The draft of the 2005 schedule needs to be drawn up, and the schedule makers will need to know how many clubs -- how many teams -- will be playing, and who will be playing whom.